What Happened on January 23

Significant Events

  • 971 War elephant corps of the Southern Han defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops; Southern Han state forced to submit to the Song Dynasty. 1st regular war elephant corps in Chinese army
  • 1368 In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
  • 1556 Shaanxi Earthquake - deadliest ever recorded kills 830,000 in Shensi Province, China
  • 1950 Israeli Knesset resolves Jerusalem is capital of Israel
  • 1973 US President Richard Nixon announces an accord has been reached to end Vietnam War
  • 1978 Sweden becomes the first nation in the world to ban aerosol sprays, believed to be damaging to earth's ozone layer.
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Did You Know?

Agoston Haraszthy, 1st vintner in Sonoma Valley, California imports 10,000 grape vine cuttings

On January 23, 1862

Famous Birthdays

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Would You Believe?

Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Resulting murder trial of her husband perhaps only case in US history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.

On January 23, 1897

Famous Weddings

  • 1906 Composer Igor Stravinsky (23) weds Yekaterina Nosenko
  • 1976 Actor Sidney Poitier (48) weds actress Joanna Shimkus
  • 1999 Princess of Monaco Caroline (42) weds dynastic head of the House of Hanover and Britain's King George I descendant Prince Ernst August (45) in Monaco
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Famous Deaths

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January in History