Historical Events on August 23

  • 1244: The Tower of David is surrendered to the Khwarezmian Empire during the Siege of Jerusalem.
  • 1305: Sir William Wallace is executed at Smithfield, London for high treason. He was stripped naked, drug through the city streets, strangled by hanging, drawn and quartered, emasculated, eviscerated, beheaded and then cut into four different parts.
  • 1784: Western North Carolina declares itself an independent state. It’s not accepted into the U.S and it only last for approximately 4 years. It would eventually become a part of eastern Tennessee.
  • 1831: The slave rebellion led by Nat Turner is suppressed.
  • 1904: Touted as a “Grip for Pneumatic Tires,” the automobile tire chain is patented by Harold D. Weed.
  • 1914: The British Army starts to withdrawal during the WWI battle – the Battle of Mons.
  • 1927: Sacco and Vanzetti – Italian anarchists – are executed after they are convicted.
  • 1942: The Battle of Stalingrad begins during WWII.
  • 1943: After the Battle of Kursk, Kharkiv is freed.
  • 1944: The Allies liberate Marseille during World War II.
  • 1958: The People’s Liberation Army bombards Quemoy and begins the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis of the Chinese Civil War.
  • 1966: The Lunar Orbiter I takes a photograph of the Earth from its orbit around the Moon.
  • 1970: César Chávez, leader of the  Mexican American Labor Union, organizes the Salad Bowl Strike; It would become the biggest farm worker strike in United States history.
  • 1973: A bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden turns into a hostage situation. Over the next five days, some of the hostages begin to sympathize with the people holding them captive. This in turn leads to the term “Stockholm Syndrome” being coined.

Famous Birthdays on August 23

  • American Commander Oliver Hazard Perry is born in 1785.
  • Austrian judge Anton von Schmerling is born in 1805.
  • American Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley is born in 1814.
  • German mathematician and historian Moritz Cantor is born in 1829.
  • English drummer Keith Moon is born in 1946
  • English playwright and composer Willy Russell is born in 1947.