August 23

For places named 23 August, see 23 August (disambiguation).

August 23 in recent years

2023 (Wednesday)

2022 (Tuesday)

2021 (Monday)

2020 (Sunday)

2019 (Friday)

2018 (Thursday)

2017 (Wednesday)

2016 (Tuesday)

2015 (Sunday)

2014 (Saturday)

August 23 is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 130 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.
• 20 BC – Ludi Volcanalici are held within the temple precinct of Vulcan, and used by Augustus to mark the treaty with Parthia and the return of the legionary standards that had been lost at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC.
• AD 79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.
• 406 – Gothic king Radagaisus is executed after he is defeated by Roman general Stilicho and 12,000 "barbarians" are incorporated into the Roman army or sold as slaves.
• 476 – Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes (Herulic - Scirian foederati), is proclaimed rex Italiae ("King of Italy") by his troops.
• 634 – Abu Bakr dies at Medina and is succeeded by Umar I who becomes the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.
• 1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to Khwarezmian Empire.
• 1268 – Battle of Tagliacozzo: The army of Charles of Anjou defeats the Ghibellines supporters of Conradin of Hohenstaufen marking the fall of the Hohenstaufen family from the Imperial and Sicilian thrones, and leading to the new chapter of Angevin domination in Southern Italy.
• 1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield, London.
• 1328 – Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers.
• 1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by Tokhtamysh lays siege to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
• 1514 – The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty.
• 1521 – Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent.
• 1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.
• 1572 – French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
• 1595 – Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory.
• 1600 – Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara.
• 1614 – Fettmilch Uprising: Jews are expelled from Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, following the plundering of the Judengasse.
• 1628 – George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton.
• 1650 – Colonel George Monck of the English Army forms Monck's Regiment of Foot, which will later become the Coldstream Guards.
• 1655 – Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• 1703 – Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.
• 1784 – Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years.
• 1799 – Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power.
• 1813 – At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army.
• 1831 – Nat Turner's slave rebellion is suppressed.
• 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.
• 1864 – The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas.
• 1866 – Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague.
• 1873 – Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens.
• 1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London.
• 1901 – Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.
• 1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented.
• 1914 – World War I: Battle of Mons: The British Army begins withdrawal.
• 1921 – British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber estuary. Of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive.
• 1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.
• 1927 – Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial.
• 1929 – Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.
• 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations.
• 1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.
• 1943 – World War II: Kharkiv is liberated after the Battle of Kursk.
• 1944 – World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allies.
• 1944 – World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.
• 1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people.
• 1945 – Soviet–Japanese War: The USSR State Defense Committee issues Decree no. 9898cc "About Receiving, Accommodation, and Labor Utilization of the Japanese Army Prisoners of War".
• 1946 – Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein.
• 1948 – World Council of Churches is formed.
• 1958 – Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
• 1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
• 1970 – Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins.
• 1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome".
• 1985 – Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.
• 1987 – The American male basketball team lost the gold medal to Brazilian team at the Pan American Games in Indianapolis, 120–115.
• 1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands.
• 1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.
• 1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
• 1990 – West and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3.
• 1991 – The World Wide Web is opened to the public.
• 1994 – Eugene Bullard, the only black pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
• 2000 – Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143.
• 2006 – Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity.
• 2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia.
• 2011 – A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at $200 million–$300 million USD.
• 2011 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War.
• 2012 – A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others.
• 2013 – A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people.

Births

• 1482 – Jo Gwang-jo, Korean philosopher (d. 1520)
• 1486 – Sigismund von Herberstein, Slovenian historian and diplomat (d. 1566)
• 1498 – Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal (d. 1500)
• 1524 – François Hotman, French lawyer and jurist (d. 1590)
• 1579 – Thomas Dempster, Scottish scholar and historian (d. 1625)
• 1623 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, theologian, and historian (d. 1675)
• 1659 – Henry Every, English pirate (d. 1696)
• 1724 – Abraham Yates, Jr., American lawyer and civil servant (d. 1796)
• 1741 – Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, French admiral and explorer (d. 1788)
• 1754 – Louis XVI of France (d. 1793)
• 1769 – Georges Cuvier, French biologist and academic (d. 1832)
• 1783 – William Tierney Clark, English engineer, designed the Hammersmith Bridge (d. 1852)
• 1785 – Oliver Hazard Perry, American commander (d. 1819)
• 1805 – Anton von Schmerling, Austrian judge and politician (d. 1893)
• 1814 – James Roosevelt Bayley, American archbishop (d. 1877)
• 1829 – Moritz Cantor, German mathematician and historian (d. 1920)
• 1843 – William Southam, Canadian publisher (d. 1932)
• 1846 – Alexander Milne Calder, Scottish-American sculptor (d. 1923)
• 1847 – Sarah Frances Whiting, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1927)
• 1849 – William Ernest Henley, English poet and critic (d. 1903)
• 1852 – Radha Gobinda Kar, Indian physician and philanthropist (d. 1918)
• 1852 – Clímaco Calderón, Colombian lawyer and politician, 15th President of Colombia (d. 1913)
• 1852 – Arnold Toynbee, English economist and historian (d. 1883)
• 1854 – Moritz Moszkowski, Polish-German pianist and composer (d. 1925)
• 1864 – Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek lawyer, jurist, and politician, 93rd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1936)
• 1867 – Edgar de Wahl, Ukrainian-Estonian linguist and academic (d. 1948)
• 1868 – Edgar Lee Masters, American lawyer, author, poet, and playwright (d. 1950)
• 1872 – Tanguturi Prakasam, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Andhra (d. 1957)
• 1875 – William Eccles, English physicist and engineer (d. 1966)
• 1875 – Eugene Lanceray, Russian painter and sculptor (d. 1946)
• 1877 – István Medgyaszay, Hungarian architect and academic (d. 1959)
• 1880 – Alexander Grin, Russian sailor and author (d. 1932)
• 1883 – Jonathan M. Wainwright, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1953)
• 1884 – Will Cuppy, American author and critic (d. 1949)
• 1884 – Ogden L. Mills, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 50th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1937)
• 1890 – Harry Frank Guggenheim, American businessman and publisher, co-founded Newsday (d. 1971)
• 1891 – Roy Agnew, Australian pianist and composer (d. 1944)
• 1894 – John Auden, English solicitor, deputy coroner and a territorial soldier (d. 1959)
• 1897 – Henry F. Pringle, American historian and journalist (d. 1958)
• 1900 – Ernst Krenek, Austrian-American composer and educator (d. 1991)
• 1900 – Malvina Reynolds, American singer-songwriter and activist (d. 1978)
• 1901 – Guy Bush, American baseball player and manager (d. 1985)
• 1901 – John Sherman Cooper, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 2nd United States Ambassador to East Germany (d. 1991)
• 1903 – William Primrose, Scottish viola player and educator (d. 1982)
• 1905 – Ernie Bushmiller, American cartoonist (d. 1982)
• 1905 – Constant Lambert, English composer and conductor (d. 1951)
• 1906 – Zoltan Sarosy, Hungarian-Canadian chess master (d. 2017)
• 1908 – Hannah Frank, Scottish sculptor and illustrator (d. 2008)
• 1909 – Syd Buller, English cricketer and umpire (d. 1970)
• 1910 – Lonny Frey, American baseball player and soldier (d. 2009)
• 1910 – Giuseppe Meazza, Italian footballer and manager (d. 1979)
• 1912 – Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1996)
• 1912 – Igor Troubetzkoy, Russian aristocrat and racing driver (d. 2008)
• 1913 – Bob Crosby, American swing singer and bandleader (d. 1993)
• 1917 – Tex Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1985)
• 1919 – Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin, Azerbaijani mathematician and theorist (d. 1984)
• 1921 – Kenneth Arrow, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
• 1921 – Sam Cook, English cricketer and umpire (d. 1996)
• 1922 – Nazik Al-Malaika, Iraqi poet and academic (d. 2007)
• 1922 – Jean Darling, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
• 1922 – George Kell, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
• 1923 – Edgar F. Codd, English-American computer scientist and programmer (d. 2003)
• 1924 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, screenwriter, and director (d. 2005)
• 1924 – Robert Solow, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1925 – Robert Mulligan, American director and producer (d. 2008)
• 1926 – Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist and academic (d. 2006)
• 1926 – Gyula Hernádi, Hungarian author and screenwriter (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Dick Bruna, Dutch author and illustrator (d. 2017)
• 1927 – Allan Kaprow, American painter and author (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Martial Solal, Algerian-French pianist and composer
• 1928 – Marian Seldes, American actress (d. 2014)
• 1929 – Vladimir Beekman, Estonian poet and translator (d. 2009)
• 1929 – Zoltán Czibor, Hungarian footballer (d. 1997)
• 1929 – Peter Thomson, Australian golfer
• 1930 – Michel Rocard, French civil servant and politician, 160th Prime Minister of France (d. 2016)
• 1931 – Barbara Eden, American actress and singer
• 1931 – Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1932 – Houari Boumediene, Algerian colonel and politician, 2nd President of Algeria (d. 1978)
• 1932 – Enos Nkala, Zimbabwean soldier and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Defence (d. 2013)
• 1932 – Mark Russell, American comedian and pianist
• 1933 – Robert Curl, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1933 – Pete Wilson, American commander and politician, 36th Governor of California
• 1934 – Sonny Jurgensen, American football player and sportscaster
• 1935 – Roy Strong, English historian, curator, and author
• 1936 – Henry Lee Lucas, American murderer (d. 2001)
• 1938 – Giacomo Bini, Italian priest and missionary (d. 2014)
• 1938 – Roger Greenaway, English singer-songwriter and producer
• 1940 – Galen Rowell, American mountaineer and photographer (d. 2002)
• 1940 – Richard Sanders, American actor and screenwriter
• 1941 – Onora O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, British philosopher, academic, and politician
• 1942 – Nancy Richey, American tennis player
• 1943 – Dale Campbell-Savours, Baron Campbell-Savours, English businessman and politician
• 1943 – Nelson DeMille, American lieutenant and author
• 1943 – Peter Lilley, English politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
• 1943 – Pino Presti, Italian bass player, composer, conductor, and producer
• 1944 – Antonia Novello, Puerto Rican-American physician and admiral, 14th Surgeon General of the United States
• 1945 – Rayfield Wright, American football player and coach
• 1946 – Keith Moon, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 1978)
• 1947 – Willy Russell, English playwright and composer
• 1948 – Atef Bseiso, Palestinian intelligence officer (d. 1992)
• 1948 – Andrei Pleșu, Romanian journalist and politician, 95th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1948 – Rudy Ruettiger, American football player
• 1948 – Lev Zeleny, Russian physicist and academic
• 1949 – Vicky Leandros, Greek singer and politician
• 1949 – Shelley Long, American actress
• 1949 – Rick Springfield, Australian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1951 – Allan Bristow, American basketball player and coach
• 1951 – Mark Hudson, American musician, songwriter, and producer
• 1951 – Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen cleric and politician, 1st President of the Chechen Republic (d. 2004)
• 1951 – Queen Noor of Jordan
• 1952 – Santillana, Spanish footballer
• 1952 – Georgios Paraschos, Greek footballer and manager
• 1954 – Charles Busch, American actor and screenwriter
• 1956 – Andreas Floer, German mathematician and academic (d. 1991)
• 1956 – Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, Norwegian educator and politician, Norwegian Minister of Culture
• 1957 – Tasos Mitropoulos, Greek footballer and politician
• 1958 – Julio Franco, Dominican baseball player and manager
• 1959 – Edwyn Collins, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1959 – George Kalovelonis, Greek tennis player and coach
• 1960 – Rodney Greenblat, American painter and graphic designer
• 1960 – Gary Hoey, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
• 1961 – Alexandre Desplat, French composer and conductor
• 1961 – Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iranian commander and politician, 54th Mayor of Tehran
• 1961 – Gary Mabbutt, English footballer
• 1961 – Hitomi Takahashi, Japanese actress
• 1962 – Martin Cauchon, Canadian lawyer and politician, 46th Canadian Minister of Justice
• 1962 – Shaun Ryder, English singer-songwriter and actor
• 1963 – Park Chan-wook, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1963 – Richard Illingworth, English cricketer and umpire
• 1963 – Kenny Wallace, American race car driver
• 1965 – Roger Avary, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1966 – Rik Smits, Dutch-American basketball player
• 1967 – Jim Murphy, Scottish lawyer and politician, Minister of State for Europe
• 1967 – Richard Petrie, New Zealand cricketer
• 1968 – Laura Claycomb, American soprano
• 1968 – Chris DiMarco, American golfer
• 1969 – Tinus Linee, South African rugby player and coach (d. 2014)
• 1969 – Jack Lopresti, English soldier and politician
• 1969 – Jeremy Schaap, American journalist and author
• 1969 – Keith Tyson, English painter and illustrator
• 1970 – Lawrence Frank, American basketball player and coach
• 1970 – Jason Hetherington, Australian rugby league player
• 1970 – Jay Mohr, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1970 – River Phoenix, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1971 – Demetrio Albertini, Italian footballer and manager
• 1971 – Tim Gutberlet, German footballer
• 1972 – Mark Butcher, English cricketer and singer
• 1972 – Raul Casanova, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
• 1972 – Martin Grainger, English footballer and manager
• 1972 – Manuel Vidrio, Mexican footballer, coach, and manager
• 1973 – Casey Blake, American baseball player
• 1973 – Kerry Walmsley, New Zealand cricketer
• 1974 – Mark Bellhorn, American baseball player
• 1974 – Benjamin Limo, Kenyan runner
• 1974 – Konstantin Novoselov, Russian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1975 – Sean Marks, New Zealand basketball player and manager
• 1976 – Pat Garrity, American basketball player
• 1977 – Douglas Sequeira, Costa Rican footballer and manager
• 1978 – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player and businessman
• 1978 – Randal Tye Thomas, American journalist and politician (d. 2014)
• 1979 – Jessica Bibby, Australian basketball player
• 1979 – Saskia Clark, English sailor
• 1979 – Edgar Sosa, Mexican boxer
• 1979 – Zuzana Váleková, Slovak tennis player
• 1980 – Denny Bautista, Dominican baseball player
• 1980 – Rex Grossman, American football player
• 1980 – Nenad Vučković, Serbian handball player
• 1981 – Carlos Cuéllar, Spanish footballer
• 1981 – Stephan Loboué, Ivorian footballer
• 1982 – Natalie Coughlin, American swimmer
• 1982 – Scott Palguta, American soccer player
• 1982 – Cristian Tudor, Romanian footballer (d. 2012)
• 1983 – James Collins, Welsh footballer
• 1983 – Athena Farrokhzad, Iranian-Swedish poet, playwright, and critic
• 1983 – Sun Mingming, Chinese basketball player
• 1983 – Tony Moll, American football player
• 1983 – Bruno Spengler, Canadian race car driver
• 1984 – Glen Johnson, English footballer
• 1984 – Eric Tai, New Zealand rugby player and actor
• 1985 – Valeria Lukyanova, Moldovan-Ukrainian model and singer
• 1986 – Sky Blu, American rapper
• 1986 – Brett Morris, Australian rugby league player
• 1986 – Josh Morris, Australian rugby league player
• 1988 – Olga Govortsova, Belarusian tennis player
• 1988 – Carl Hagelin, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1988 – Jeremy Lin, American basketball player
• 1989 – Breanna Conrad, American fashion designer
• 1989 – Heiko Schwarz, German footballer
• 1990 – Seth Curry, American basketball player
• 1993 – Iván López Mendoza, Spanish professional footballer
• 1993 – Seo Hye-lin, South Korean girl group EXID member
• 1997 – Lil Yachty, American rapper and singer

Deaths

• 30 BC – Caesarion, Egyptian king (b. 47 BC)
• 30 BC – Marcus Antonius Antyllus, Roman soldier (b. 47 BC)
• AD 93 – Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general and politician (b. AD 40)
• 406 – Radagaisus, Gothic king
• 634 – Abu Bakr, Arabian caliph (b. 573)
• 818 – Ali al-Ridha, Iranian 8th of the Twelve Imams (b. 765)
• 1106 – Magnus, Duke of Saxony (b. 1045)
• 1176 – Emperor Rokujō of Japan (b. 1164)
• 1305 – William Wallace, Scottish rebel commander (b. 1272)
• 1328 – Nicolaas Zannekin, Flemish peasant leader (in the battle of Cassel)
• 1329 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)
• 1335 – Heilwige Bloemardinne, Christian mystic (b. c. 1265)
• 1348 – John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1363 – Chen Youliang, founder of the Dahan regime (b. 1320)
• 1367 – Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz, Spanish cardinal (b. 1310)
• 1387 – Olaf II of Denmark (b. 1370)
• 1478 – Johannes Pullois, Franco-Flemish composer (b. c. 1420?)
• 1481 – Thomas de Littleton, English judge and legal author (b. c. 1407)
• 1498 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, eldest daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1470)
• 1507 – Jean Molinet, French poet and composer (b. 1435)
• 1519 – Philibert Berthelier, Swiss soldier (b. 1465)
• 1540 – Guillaume Budé, French philosopher and scholar (b. 1467)
• 1568 – Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton (b. 1495)
• 1574 – Ebussuud Efendi, Turkish lawyer and jurist (b. 1490)
• 1591 – Luis de León, Spanish poet and academic (b. 1527)
• 1618 – Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero, Dutch poet and playwright (b. 1585)
• 1628 – George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (b. 1592)
• 1652 – John Byron, 1st Baron Byron, English soldier and politician (b. 1600)
• 1706 – Edward Nott, English politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1654)
• 1723 – Increase Mather, American minister and author (b. 1639)
• 1806 – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist and engineer (b. 1736)
• 1813 – Alexander Wilson (ornithologist), Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, and illustrator (b. 1766)
• 1819 – Oliver Hazard Perry, American commander (b. 1785)
• 1831 – Ferenc Kazinczy, Hungarian author and poet (b. 1759)
• 1831 – August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1760)
• 1853 – Alexander Calder, American lawyer and politician (b. 1806)
• 1867 – Auguste-Marseille Barthélemy, French poet and author (b. 1796)
• 1892 – Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian field marshal and politician, 1st President of Brazil (b. 1827)
• 1900 – Kuroda Kiyotaka, Japanese general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
• 1924 – Heinrich Berté, Slovak-Austrian composer (b. 1856)
• 1926 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (b. 1895)
• 1927 – Nicola Sacco, Italian anarchist convicted of murder (b. 1891)
• 1927 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist convicted of murder (b. 1888)
• 1933 – Adolf Loos, Austrian architect and theoretician, designed Villa Müller (b. 1870)
• 1937 – Albert Roussel, French composer and educator (b. 1869)
• 1944 – Abdülmecid II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1868)
• 1944 – Stefan Filipkiewicz, Polish painter and illustrator (b. 1879)
• 1949 – Helen Churchill Candee, American geographer, journalist, and author (b. 1858)
• 1954 – Jaan Sarv, Estonian mathematician and scholar (b. 1877)
• 1960 – Oscar Hammerstein II, American director, producer, and composer (b. 1895)
• 1962 – Walter Anderson, Russian-German ethnologist and academic (b. 1885)
• 1962 – Hoot Gibson, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1892)
• 1966 – Francis X. Bushman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1883)
• 1967 – Georges Berger, Belgian race car driver (b. 1918)
• 1967 – Nathaniel Cartmell, American runner and coach (b. 1883)
• 1974 – Roberto Assagioli, Italian psychiatrist and author (b. 1888)
• 1975 – Faruk Gürler, Turkish general (b. 1913)
• 1977 – Naum Gabo, Russian sculptor and academic (b. 1890)
• 1982 – Stanford Moore, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
• 1987 – Didier Pironi, French race car driver (b. 1952)
• 1989 – Mohammed Abed Elhai, Sudanese poet and academic (b. 1944)
• 1989 – R. D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist and author (b. 1927)
• 1990 – David Rose, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
• 1994 – Zoltán Fábri, Hungarian director and screenwriter (b. 1917)
• 1995 – Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-American photographer and journalist (b. 1898)
• 1996 – Margaret Tucker, Australian author and activist (b. 1904)
• 1997 – Eric Gairy, Grenadian educator and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1922)
• 1997 – John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
• 1999 – Norman Wexler, American screenwriter (b. 1926)
• 2000 – John Anthony Kaiser, American priest and missionary (b. 1932)
• 2001 – Kathleen Freeman, American actress (b. 1919)
• 2001 – Peter Maas, American journalist and author (b. 1929)
• 2002 – Hoyt Wilhelm, American baseball player and coach (b. 1922)
• 2003 – Bobby Bonds, American baseball player and manager (b. 1946)
• 2003 – Jack Dyer, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1913)
• 2003 – Jan Sedivka, Czech-Australian violinist and educator (b. 1917)
• 2003 – Michael Kijana Wamalwa, Kenyan lawyer and politician, 8th Vice President of Kenya (b. 1944)
• 2005 – Brock Peters, American actor (b. 1927)
• 2006 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1928)
• 2008 – John Russell, English-American author and critic (b. 1919)
• 2012 – Merv Neagle, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1958)
• 2012 – Jerry Nelson, American puppeteer and voice actor (b. 1934)
• 2012 – Josepha Sherman, American anthologist and author (b. 1946)
• 2013 – Richard J. Corman, American businessman, founded the R.J. Corman Railroad Group (b. 1955)
• 2013 – William Glasser, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Charles Lisanby, American production designer and set director (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Konstanty Miodowicz, Polish ethnographer and politician (b. 1951)
• 2013 – Vesna Rožič, Slovenian chess player (b. 1987)
• 2013 – Tatyana Zaslavskaya, Russian sociologist and economist (b. 1927)
• 2014 – Albert Ebossé Bodjongo, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1989)
• 2014 – Annefleur Kalvenhaar, Dutch cyclist (b. 1994)
• 2014 – Dan Magill, American swimmer, tennis player, and coach (b. 1921)
• 2014 – Birgitta Stenberg, Swedish author and illustrator (b. 1932)
• 2014 – Jaume Vallcorba Plana, Spanish philologist and publisher (b. 1949)
• 2015 – Augusta Chiwy, Congolese-Belgian nurse (b. 1921)
• 2015 – Guy Ligier, French rugby player and race car driver (b. 1930)
• 2015 – Enrique Reneau, Honduran footballer (b. 1971)
• 2015 – Paul Royle, Australian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1914)
• 2016 – Steven Hill, American actor (b. 1922)

Holidays and observances

• Battle of Kursk Day (Russia)
• Christian feast day:
  • Éogan of Ardstraw
  • Philip Benitius
  • Rose of Lima
  • Tydfil
  • August 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of the National Flag (Ukraine)
• European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism or Black Ribbon Day (European Union and other countries), and related observances:
  • Liberation from Fascist Occupation Day (Romania)
• International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
• National Day for Physicians (Iran)
• Umhlanga Day (Swaziland)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada