Thursday, August 23, 2012

August 23rd in History


79 - Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

1305 - Sir William Wallace is executed for High Treason at Smithfield in London.

1839 - The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for war with Qing China. The ensuing 3-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War.

1866 - Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague.

1914 - World War I: Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China.


1942 - World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.

1943 - World War II: Kharkov liberated as a result of the Battle of Kursk.

1944 - World War II: Marseille liberated.

1948 - World Council of Churches is formed.

1989 - Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands

1990 - Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

1990 - West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on October 3.

2007 - The skeletal remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Anastasia are found near Yekaterinburg, Russia.

2011 - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the 2011 Libyan civil war.

Famous Birthdays:

1754 - King Louis XVI of France

1852 - Clímaco Calderón, President of Colombia.

1875 - Eugene Lanceray, artist

1927 - Dick Bruna, illustrator

1945 - Bob Peck, actor

1951 -  Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, consort of deceased King Hussein of Jordan.


1964 - Wendy Pepper, designer

1974 - Sir Konstantin Sergeevich "Kostya" Novoselov, physicist, Nobel Laureate

1982 - Trevor Wright, actor

1988 - Carl Hagelin, ice hockey player





No comments:

Post a Comment