Historical Events on May 23

Events 1 - 200 of 217

• 1420 Jews of Syria and Austria expelled
• 1421 Jews of Austria imprisoned & expelled

• 1493 King Charles VIII & Maximilian I of Austria signs Peace of Senlis
• 1536 Pope Paul III installs Portuguese inquisition

• 1555 Giampietro Caraffa elected Pope Paul IV
• 1568 Battle of Heiligerlee, Groningen: Dutch rebels beat Spanish, thousands killed
• 1568 The Netherlands declares independence from Spain

• 1609 Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place
• 1611 Matthias von Habsburg chosen King of Bohemia
• 1618 Second Defenestration of Prague: Two Catholic Lords Regent and their secretary are thrown out of a window and amazingly are not seriously injured by the 70 foot (21m) fall. Triggers the Thirty Years' War.
• 1644 Johan Mauritius van Nassau resigns as head of Civil rights activists


• 1647 Willem II sworn in as viceroy of Holland

• 1667 King Afonso VI of Portugal flees

• 1706 Battle of Ramillies during War of the Spanish Succession.: John Churchill (1st Duke of Marlborough) defeats French; 17,000 killed
• 1750 Carlo Goldoni's "Il Bugiardo" premieres in Mantua
• 1774 Chestertown tea party occurs (tea dumped into Chester River)

• 1844 Declaration of Bab (Baha'i festival) ('Azamat 7, 1)
• 1853 Buenos Aires gains independence from Argentina (reunited 1859)
• 1861 3 fleeing slaves enter Fort Monroe, Virginia
• 1861 Virginia citizens vote 3 to 1 in favor of secession from the Union

• 1863 Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan
• 1864 Battle of North Anna, Virginia, 1st of 3 days of fighting
• 1865 -24] Victory parade in Washington, D.C. (Grand Review)
• 1865 Flag flown at full mast over White House for the first time since Lincoln was shot

• 1873 1st Preakness Stakes: G. Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43 at Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, Maryland
• 1873 Canada's North West Mounted Police Force forms (it didn't get the "Royal" until 1904)
• 1873 Postal cards sold in San Francisco for 1st time
• 1876 1st NL no-hitter (Joe Borden, Boston)
• 1878 Attorney John Henry Smyth named US minister to Liberia
• 1882 6" of snow falls in eastern Iowa
• 1883 9th Kentucky Derby: William Donohue aboard Leonatus wins in 2:43
• 1883 Baseball game between one-armed and one-legged players at Recreation Park, Philadelphia, Snorkeys defeat the Hoppers 33-17
• 1884 12th Preakness: S Fisher aboard Knight of Ellerslie wins in 2:39.5
• 1887 1st transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver, British Columbia
• 1894 William Love hosts groundbreaking ceremonies for Love Canal
• 1898 1st Philippine Expeditionary Troops sail from San Francisco
• 1900 Associated Press News Service forms in NY
• 1900 William Harvey Carney becomes the first African-American soldier awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Civil War at the Battle of Fort Wagner
• 1901 35th Belmont: H Spencer aboard Commando wins in 2:21
• 1901 Indians score 9 runs after 2 outs in 9th to beat Senators 14-13
• 1901 Ottawa Mint Act receives Royal Assent

• 1903 1st automobile trip across US leaves San Francisco for New York, (arrives July 26)
• 1903 1st direct primary election law in US adopted, by Wisconsin
• 1907 The single chamber Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
• 1908 Dirigible explodes over San Francisco Bay, 16 passengers fall, none killed

• 1915 Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary during WW I
• 1917 Dutch 2nd Chamber approves 1908 conscription draft
• 1918 King Oil/Shell refinery on Curacao officially opens
• 1920 Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical Pacem Dei
• 1921 "Shuffle Along" 1st black musical comedy, opens in NYC
• 1922 "Abie's Irish Rose" 1st of over 2,500 performances
• 1922 Harry Greb gives Gene Tunney his only professional boxing defeat

• 1923 Launch of Belgium's SABENA airline: first flight from Brussels to Lympne, England
• 1926 Hack Wilson is 1st to hit a home run off Wrigley Field scoreboard
• 1926 Lebanese constitution forms under French mandate
• 1928 Bomb attack on Italian embassy in Buenos Aires, 22 die
• 1931 Whipsnade Zoo opens in Bedfordshire, England
• 1932 Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman sets 24 hr record of 860 mi, 367 yds

• 1934 The Auto-Lite Strike culminates in the "Battle of Toledo", a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers
• 1935 1st scheduled night game postponed due to rain (Cincinnati)
• 1939 British parliament plans to make Palestine independent by 1949

• 1939 Submarine USS Squalus sinks in the Gulf of Maine, drowning 26, 33 remaining crew rescued from a depth of 243 ft (74 m) by divers using newly developed heliox air systems (divers later awarded the Medal of Honor)
• 1940 1st great dogfight between Spitfires and Luftwaffe

• 1941 Rudolf Harbig runs world record 1k (2:21.5)
• 1943 -24] 826 Allied bombers attack Dortmund

• 1944 British and Canadian troops occupy Pontecorvo, Italy
• 1944 Chinese counter offensive at Hunan front
• 1944 Operation Buffalo: Allied break out from Anzio bridgehead
• 1944 Polo Grounds host 1st NYC night game since 1941

• 1945 German island of Helgoland in the North Sea surrenders to British
• 1945 Lord Haw-Haw (William Joyce) arrested at Danish boundary
• 1947 PC Hooft prize forms for literature

• 1948 Ramat Rahel gateway to Jerusalem is repossessed by Israel
• 1949 Federal Republic of [West] Germany created out of the American, British and French occupation zones
• 1951 Peter Ustinov's "Love of Four Colonels" premieres in London
• 1951 Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet signed in Beijing, formally establishes Chinese sovereignty over Tibet
• 1953 78th Preakness: Eric Guerin aboard Native Dancer wins in 1:57.8
• 1953 WHIZ TV channel 18 in Zanesville, OH (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1956 World Trade Center dedicated in Ferry Building, San Francisco
• 1958 US schools 1st use Cliff's Notes

• 1958 Explorer 1 ceases transmission.
• 1959 "Party with Comden & Green" closes at John Golden NYC after 44 performances
• 1960 "Finian's Rainbow" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 12 performances
• 1960 "Got A Girl" by The Four Preps hits #24

• 1960 WGTV TV channel 8 in Athens-Atlanta, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1960 WKBM TV (now WLII) channel 11 in Caguas/San Juan, PR 1st broadcast
• 1960 WRCA radio changes call letters back to WNBC (NYC)

• 1962 OAS leader general Raoul Salan sentenced to life
• 1962 Scott Carpenter orbits Earth 3 times in US Aurora 7
• 1962 15th Cannes Film Festival: "Keeper of Promises" directed by Anselmo Duarte wins the Palme d'Or
• 1963 NBC purchases 1963 AFL championship game TV rights for $926,000
• 1963 16th Cannes Film Festival: "The Leopard" directed by Luchino Visconti wins the Palme d'Or
• 1964 Dale Greig runs female marathon world record (3:27:45)
• 1965 Franz Jonas elected President of Austria
• 1965 Pontoon ferry overturned on Shire River, Malawi, kills 150


• 1966 The Beatles release "Paperback Writer"
• 1967 Government bans submarines near South Africa
• 1968 AC Milan of Italy win 8th European Cup Winner's Cup against Hamburger SV of West Germany 2-0 in Rotterdam
• 1968 Beatles open 2nd Apple Boutique at 161 New Kings Road, London

• 1969 Lauwerszee Dike in Holland closes
• 1969 The Who release rock opera "Tommy"
• 1969 22nd Cannes Film Festival: "If..." directed by Lindsay Anderson wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
• 1970 Grateful Dead's 1st performance outside US (England)
• 1970 San Diego Padres beat SF Giants 17-16 in 15 innings
• 1970 USSR performs nuclear test (underground)
• 1970 A fire breaks out in the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits in north Wales contributing to its partial destruction and causing approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage
• 1971 Rock group Iron Butterfly disbands
• 1974 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1974 Italian Red Brigade officer Mario Sossi freed
• 1975 28th Cannes Film Festival: "Chronicle of the Years of Fire" directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina wins the Palme d'Or
• 1977 Benin adopts its constitution
• 1977 US Supreme Court refuses to hear appeals of Watergate wrong doers H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman & John Mitchell
• 1977 Moluccan extremists hold 105 schoolchildren & 50 others hostage on a hijacked train in Neth, children released May 27, siege ends June 11
• 1978 AL approves transfer of Red Sox to Jean Yawkey for $15M
• 1978 General strike in Peru
• 1979 1st edition of "Wisden Cricket Monthly"
• 1979 Rocker Tom Petty files chapter 11 bankruptcy
• 1979 West-Germany elects Karl Carstens president
• 1980 ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Neil Burton

• 1981 Barcelona fascists take 200 people hostage
• 1981 NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 501
• 1981 Puerto Rican boxer Wilfred Benítez (22) becomes the youngest 3-division world champion in history by knocking out WBC World Super Welterweight champion Maurice Hope in 12 rounds in Las Vegas


• 1982 BBC warns Britain will bomb Argentina
• 1982 Colin Wilson rides a surfboard 294 miles

• 1983 Radio Moscow announcer Vladimir Danchev praises Afghanistan Muslims standing up to Russia; he is removed from the air
• 1984 Detroit Tigers win AL record tying 16th straight road game

• 1984 37th Cannes Film Festival: "Paris, Texas" directed by Wim Wenders wins the Palme d'Or

• 1986 US & Western Europe veto heavier sanctions against South Africa
• 1988 Maryland stops sale of cheap pistols on Jan 1, 1990
• 1988 41st Cannes Film Festival: "Pelle erobreren" directed by Bille August wins the Palme d'Or
• 1989 3rd American Comedy Award: Paula Poundstone
• 1989 Angela Visser, 22, of Holland, crowned 38th Miss Universe
• 1989 Lincoln Square in Bronx named
• 1989 Cleve loses & drop to 21-22, this is the latest a sub .500 team is in 1st place (AL East)

• 1990 Cost of rescuing savings & loan failures is put at up to $130 billion
• 1990 Dow Jones average hits a record 2,856.26
• 1990 NY Yankees hit 6 home runs to beat Minnesota Twins 12-0
• 1990 34th European Cup: Milan beats Benfica 1-0 at Vienna
• 1991 Last Cubans troops leave Angola
• 1991 Phillie Tommy Greene no-hits Mont Expos, 2-0
• 1991 San Diego Sockers win 4th consecutive Major Soccer League championship
• 1991 US Supreme Court bars subsidized clinics from discussing abortion
• 1992 NY Yankees play in their 4th straight extra inning game

• 1992 NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final: Pittsburgh Penguins beat Boston Bruins, 4 games to 0
• 1994 270 pilgrims die in the bustle round Mina, Saudi-Arabia
• 1994 Roman Herzog elected President of Germany


• 1994 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" finale airs this week in syndication

• 1995 47th time opposing pitchers hit HRs, K Foster (Cubs)/M Freeman (Rocks)
• 1996 Fred Norris of the Howard Stern show changes his name legally to Eric
• 1997 "King David" closes at New Amsterdam Theater NYC
• 1997 Mel Karmazin replaces Peter Lund as CEO of CBS TV
• 1998 The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
• 1999 52nd Cannes Film Festival: "Rosetta" directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne wins the Palme d'Or

• 2001 9th UEFA Champions League Final: Bayern Munich beats Valencia (1-1, 5-4 on penalties) at Milan
• 2001 Marco Siffredi becomes the first person to snowboard down Mount Everest via the Norton Couloir (some share record accreditation with Stefan Gatt)
• 2002 The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland
• 2003 The Euro exceeds its initial trading value as it hits $1.18 for the first time since its introduction in 1999
• 2003 NHL Eastern Conference Final: New Jersey Devils beat Ottawa Senators, 4 games to 3
• 2004 Part of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 2E collapses, killing four people and injuring three others.
• 2006 41st Academy of Country Music Awards: Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans and Keith Urban win
• 2007 UEFA Champions League Final, Athens: Filippo Inzaghi scores twice as AC Milan beats Liverpool, 2-1 for 7th title
• 2008 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.
• 2010 NHL Western Conference Finals: Chicago Black Hawks beat San Jose Sharks, 4 games to 0

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