July 23 in History

July 23 spans 62 recorded events across recorded history, from 685 to 2018. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.

Holidays and observances on July 23

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Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the firs

1999 — Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander.

The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

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Historical Events 62 events 685 – 2018

More major events on July 23

The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.

  1. 1972 The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite. Read story Source
  2. 2001 Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment. Source

Did you know

In 1999, Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.

Did you know

Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

Did you know

Named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, and the female personification of the United States, Columbia was the first of five Space Shuttle orbiters to fly in space, debuting the Space Shuttle launch vehicle on its maiden flight on April 12, 1981 and becoming the first spacecraft to be re-used after its first flight when it launched on STS-2 on November 12, 1981. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.

Did you know

As only the second full-scale orbiter to be manufactured after the Approach and Landing Test vehicle Enterprise, Columbia retained unique external and internal features compared with later orbiters, such as test instrumentation and distinctive black chines. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.

Did you know

In addition to a heavier aft fuselage and the retention of an internal airlock throughout its lifetime, these made Columbia the heaviest of the five spacefaring orbiters: around 1,000 kilograms heavier than Challenger and 3,600 kilograms heavier than Endeavour when originally constructed. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.


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Showing all 61 events

685 Pope John V

The election of Pope John V following the death of Pope Benedict II two months prior.

Pope John V (Latin: Ioannes V; died 2 August 686) was the bishop of Rome from 23 July 685 to his death on 2 August 686. He was the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy consecrated without prior imperial consent, and the first in a line of ten consecutive popes of Eastern origin. His papacy was marked by reconciliation between the city of Rome and the Empire.
811 Byzantine_Empire

Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum's treasury.

The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, it endured until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. The term 'Byzantine Empire' was coined only after its demise; its citizens used the term 'Roman Empire' and called themselves 'Romans'.
1319 Knights_Hospitaller

A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios.

The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller, was a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had its headquarters there, in Jerusalem and Acre, until 1291, thereafter being based in Kolossi Castle in Cyprus (1302–1310), the island of Rhodes (1310–1522), Malta (1530–1798), and Saint Petersburg (1799–1801).
1632 New_France

Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France.

New France was the territory colonized by France in mainland North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spain in 1763 under the Treaty of Paris.
1677 Scanian_War

Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden.

The Scanian War was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish–Norwegian provinces along the border with Sweden, and in northern Germany. While the latter battles are regarded as a theater of the Scanian war in English, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish historiography, they are seen as a separate war in German historiography, called the Swedish-Brandenburgian War.
1711 Treaty of the Pruth

The treaty of Pruth between the Ottoman and Russian Empire is signed.

The Treaty of the Pruth was signed on the banks of the river Prut between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Russia on 23 July 1711 ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1710–1713 with the assistance of Peter Shafirov. The treaty was a political victory for the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty stipulated the return of Azov Fortress to the Ottomans, Taganrog and several Russian fortresses were to be demolished, and the Tsar pledged to stop interfering in the affairs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which the Russians increasingly saw as under their sphere of influence. The treaty also stipulated the safe return of King Charles XII to Sweden.
1793 Kingdom_of_Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918. It played a significant role in the unification of Germany in 1871 and was a major constituent of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. The Kingdom of Prussia took its name from the historical region of Prussia, and controlled most of said region, although it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and its capital was Berlin.
1813 Thomas Maitland (British Army officer)

Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony.

Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Maitland (10 March 1760 – 17 January 1824) was a British Army officer, politician and colonial administrator. He also served as a Member of Parliament for Haddington from 1790 to 1796, 1802–06 and 1812–13. He was made a Privy Councillor on 23 November 1803. He was the second surviving son of James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale, and the younger brother of James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale. Maitland never married.
1821 Greek War of Independence

While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle.

Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor's coasts.
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence fought by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire from 1821 to 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted by the British Empire, the Kingdom of France, and the Russian Empire, while the Ottomans were aided by their vassals, especially by the Eyalet of Egypt. The war led to the formation of modern Greece, which in subsequent years would be expanded to its current size. The revolution is commemorated by Greeks in Greece and the Greek diaspora on 25 March, as Independence Day. All Greek territory, except the Ionian Islands, came under Ottoman rule in the 15th century, in the decades surrounding the Fall of Constantinople. During the following centuries, there were sporadic but unsuccessful Greek uprisings against Ottoman rule. In 1814, a secret organization called the Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends) was founded by Nikolaos Skoufas, Emmanuil Xanthos, and Athanasios Tsakalov with the aim of liberating Greece. It planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities, and Constantinople. The insurrection was planned for 25 March 1821, the Orthodox Christian Feast of the Annunciation. However, the plans were discovered by the Ottoman authorities, forcing it to start earlier. The first revolt began on 21 February 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. These events urged Greeks in the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821, the Maniots were first to declare war. In September 1821, the Greeks, under the leadership of Theodoros Kolokotronis, captured Tripolitsa. Revolts in Crete, Macedonia, and Central Greece broke out, but were suppressed. Greek fleets achieved success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea and prevented Ottoman reinforcements from arriving by sea. Tensions developed among Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. The Ottoman Sultan called in Muhammad Ali of Egypt, who agreed to send his son, Ibrahim Pasha, to Greece with an army to suppress the revolt in return for territorial gains. Ibrahim landed in the Peloponnese in February 1825 and brought most of the peninsula under Egyptian control by the end of that year. Though an Ottoman–Egyptian invasion of Mani failed, Athens fell, and revolutionary morale decreased. The three great powers—Russia, Britain, and France—decided to intervene, sending their naval squadrons to Greece in 1827. They destroyed the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet at the Battle of Navarino, and turned the tide in favor of the revolutionaries. In 1828, the Egyptian army withdrew under pressure from a French expeditionary force. The Ottoman garrisons in the Peloponnese surrendered and the Greek revolutionaries retook central Greece. The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia allowing for the Russian army to move into the Balkans. This forced the Ottomans to accept Greek autonomy in the Treaty of Adrianople and semi-autonomy for Serbia and the Romanian principalities. After nine years of war, Greece was recognized as an independent state under the London Protocol of February 1830. Further negotiations in 1832 led to the London Conference and the Treaty of Constantinople, which defined the final borders of the new state and established Prince Otto of Bavaria as the first king of Greece. The slogan of the revolution, Eleftheria i thanatos 'Freedom or death', became Greece's national motto.
1829 William Austin Burt

In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.

William Austin Burt (June 13, 1792 – August 18, 1858) was an American inventor, legislator, surveyor, and millwright. Burt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and lived in Michigan from 1822 until his death in 1858. He was a member of the Michigan Territorial Legislature, 1826–7. He served as Mount Vernon's first postmaster from 1832 to 1856. He was a Macomb County Circuit Court judge in 1833, a state legislator in 1853, and a deputy U.S. surveyor from 1833 to 1853. While surveying, he won acclaim for his accurate work on public land surveys. In 1857, Burt moved to Detroit, where he died a year later. Among Burt's numerous inventions were the typographer in 1829, which was a predecessor to the typewriter. He also invented the solar compass, a surveying tool used in the Michigan Survey, employed in regions which had an abundance of minerals that would interfere with accurate readings when using ordinary instruments. While out surveying on September 19, 1844, in what is today Marquette County, Michigan, Burt discovered one of the largest iron ore deposits in the United States. His solar compass and adaptations of it became standard instruments for the government land survey in much of the western US, and were used until GPS was available in the late 20th century. A historical plaque commemorates Burt at Stony Creek, near his home in Mount Vernon, Michigan. He was awarded the John Scott Medal by The Franklin Institute in 1834.
1840 Province of Canada

The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union.

The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of 1837–1838. The Act of Union 1840, passed on 23 July 1840 by the British Parliament and proclaimed by the Crown on 10 February 1841, merged the Colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada by abolishing their separate parliaments and replacing them with a single one with two houses, a Legislative Council as the upper chamber and the Legislative Assembly as the lower chamber. In the aftermath of the Rebellions of 1837–1838, unification of the two Canadas was driven by two factors. Firstly, Upper Canada was near bankruptcy because it lacked stable tax revenues, and needed the resources of the more populous Lower Canada to fund its internal transportation improvements. Secondly, unification was an attempt to swamp the French vote by giving each of the former provinces the same number of parliamentary seats, despite the larger population of Lower Canada. Although Durham's report had called for the Union of the Canadas and for responsible government (a government accountable to an independent local legislature), only the first of the two recommendations was implemented in 1841. For the first seven years, the government was led by an appointed governor general accountable only to the British government. Responsible government was not achieved until the second LaFontaine–Baldwin ministry in 1849, when Governor General James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, agreed that the cabinet would be formed by the largest party in the Legislative Assembly, making the premier the head of the government and reducing the governor general to a more symbolic role. The Province of Canada ceased to exist at Canadian Confederation on 1 July 1867, when it was divided into the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Ontario included the area occupied by the pre-1841 British colony of Upper Canada, while Quebec included the area occupied by the pre-1841 British colony of Lower Canada (which had included Labrador until 1809, when Labrador was transferred to the British colony of Newfoundland). Upper Canada was primarily English-speaking, whereas Lower Canada was primarily French-speaking.
1862 American Civil War

American Civil War: Henry Halleck becomes general-in-chief of the Union Army.

The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States. The South saw slavery as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans. Decades of controversy over slavery came to a head when Abraham Lincoln, a Republican who opposed slavery's expansion, won the 1860 presidential election. Seven slave states in the South responded to Lincoln's victory by seceding from the United States and forming the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy seized US forts and other federal assets in the South. The war began on April 12, 1861, when the Confederacy bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina. A wave of enthusiasm for war swept over the North and South, as military recruitment soared. Four more Southern states seceded after the war began and, led by its president, Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy comprised eleven states, containing a third of the US population. Four years of intense combat, mostly in the South, ensued. During 1861–1862 in the western theater, the Union made permanent gains, though in the eastern theater the conflict was inconclusive. The abolition of slavery became a Union war goal on January 1, 1863, when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all slaves in rebel states to be free, applying to more than 3.5 million of the 4 million enslaved people in the country. To the west, the Union first destroyed the Confederacy's river navy by the summer of 1862, then much of its western armies, and seized New Orleans. The successful 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River, while Confederate general Robert E. Lee's incursion north failed at the Battle of Gettysburg. General Ulysses S. Grant's western successes led Lincoln to promote him to command of all Union armies in 1864. Inflicting an ever-tightening naval blockade of Confederate ports, the Union marshaled resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions. This led to the fall of Atlanta in 1864 to Union general William Tecumseh Sherman, followed by his March to the Sea, which culminated in his taking Savannah. The last significant battles raged around the ten-month siege of Petersburg, gateway to the Confederate capital of Richmond. The Confederates abandoned Richmond, and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant following the Battle of Appomattox Court House, setting in motion the end of the war. Lincoln lived to see this victory but was shot by an assassin on April 14, dying the next day. By the end of the war, much of the South's infrastructure had been destroyed. The Confederacy collapsed, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, and four million enslaved black people were freed. The war-torn nation then entered the Reconstruction era in an attempt to rebuild the country, bring the former Confederate states back into the United States, and grant civil rights to freed slaves. The war is one of the most extensively studied and written about episodes in the history of the United States. It remains the subject of cultural and historiographical debate. Of continuing interest is the myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The war was among the first to use industrial warfare. Railroads, the electrical telegraph, steamships, the ironclad warship, and mass-produced weapons were widely used. The war left an estimated 700,000 soldiers dead, along with an undetermined number of civilian deaths, making it the deadliest in American history. The technology and brutality of the Civil War foreshadowed the coming world wars.
1862

Begin of the Hyde Park Riots.

The Reform League was established in 1865 to press for manhood suffrage and the ballot in Great Britain. It collaborated with the more moderate and middle class Reform Union and gave strong support to the abortive Reform Bill 1866 and the successful Reform Act 1867. It developed into a formidable force of agitation at the very heart of the country.
1874 Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos

Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India.

Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos (18 September 1837 – 28 November 1880) was a Portuguese Roman Catholic Archbishop of Goa. He was born September 18, 1837, in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, a son of Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos Esmeraldo Rolim de Moura and wife Augusta Correia Vasques Salvago de Brito de Olival. On March 6, 1871, he was appointed coadjutor Bishop of Funchal, a diocese in Portugal, and on May 7, 1871, he was ordained as such. On October 27, 1872, he succeeded as Bishop of Funchal, after the death of the previous bishop, Patrício Xavier de Moura. He served as Archbishop of Goa for 6 years, from July 23, 1874, to his death on November 28, 1880.
1881 Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina

The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires.

The Boundary Treaty of 1881 (Spanish: Tratado de Límites de 1881) between Argentina and Chile was signed on 23 July 1881 in Buenos Aires by Bernardo de Irigoyen, for Argentina, and Francisco de Borja Echeverría, for Chile, with the aim of establishing a precise border between the two countries based on the uti possidetis juris principle. Despite dividing largely unexplored lands, the treaty laid the groundwork for nearly all of Chile's and Argentina's 5600 km current border.
1900 Canada

Pressed by expanding immigration, Canada closes its doors to paupers and criminals.

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the second-largest country by total area, with the longest coastline of any country. Its border with the United States is the longest international land border. The country is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and geological regions. With a population of over 41 million, it has widely varying population densities, with the majority residing in its urban areas and large areas being sparsely populated. Its capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
1903 Ford Motor Company

The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.

The Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford, sometimes abbreviated as FoMoCo) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand, and luxury cars under its Lincoln brand. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the single-letter ticker symbol F and is controlled by the Ford family. They have minority ownership but a plurality of the voting power. Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. By 1914, these methods were known around the world as Fordism. Ford's former British subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover, acquired in 1989 and 2000, respectively, were sold to the Indian automaker Tata Motors in March 2008. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010. In the third quarter of 2010, Ford discontinued the Mercury brand, under which it had marketed middle priced cars in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East since 1938. Ford is the second-largest American-based automaker, behind General Motors, and the sixth-largest in the world, behind Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai Motor Group, Stellantis, and General Motors, based on 2022 vehicle production. The company went public in 1956 but the Ford family, through special Class B shares, retain 40 percent of the voting rights. During the 2008–2010 automotive industry crisis, the company struggled financially but did not have to be rescued by the federal government, unlike the other two major US automakers. Ford Motors has since returned to profitability, and was the eleventh-ranked overall American-based company in the 2018 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2017 of $156.7 billion. In 2023, Ford produced 4.4 million automobiles, and employed about 177,000 employees worldwide. The company operates joint ventures in China (Changan Ford and Jiangling Ford), Taiwan (Ford Lio Ho), Thailand (AutoAlliance Thailand), and Turkey (Ford Otosan). Ford owns a 32% stake in China's Jiangling Motors.
1906 Amsden Building collapse

The Amsden Building collapse in Framingham, Massachusetts, U.S., claims 12 lives.

The Amsden Building collapse occurred on July 23, 1906, in Framingham, Massachusetts. 12 people were killed when the building, which was under construction, suddenly collapsed. A 13th person later died from injuries suffered in the accident. The building's contractor and architect were indicted for manslaughter, but the charges were later dropped by the district attorney.
1908 Second_Constitutional_Era

The Second Constitution is accepted by the Ottomans.

The Second Constitutional Era was the period of restored parliamentary rule in the Ottoman Empire between the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and the 1920 retraction of the constitution, after the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, during the empire's twilight years. Alternative end dates for era include 1912 or 1913.
1914 July Crisis

July Crisis: Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28.
The July Crisis was a series of interrelated diplomatic and military escalations among the major powers of Europe in mid-1914, which led to the outbreak of World War I. It began on 28 June 1914 when the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg. A complex web of alliances, coupled with the miscalculations of numerous political and military leaders (who either regarded war as in their best interests, or felt that a general war would not occur), resulted in an outbreak of hostilities amongst most of the major European states by early August 1914. Following the assassination, Austria-Hungary sought to inflict a military blow on Serbia, to demonstrate its own strength and to dampen Serbian support for Yugoslav nationalism, viewing it as a threat to the unity of its multi-national empire. However, Vienna, wary of the reaction of Russia – a major supporter of Serbia – sought a guarantee from its ally, Germany, that Berlin would support Austria in any conflict. Germany guaranteed its support through what came to be known as the "blank cheque", but urged Austria-Hungary to attack quickly to localise the war and avoid drawing in Russia. However, Austro-Hungarian leaders would deliberate into mid-July before deciding to give Serbia a harsh ultimatum which Serbia was certain to reject, and would not attack without a full mobilisation of the army. In the meantime, France met with Russia, reaffirmed their alliance, and agreed they would support Serbia against Austria-Hungary in the event of a war. Austria-Hungary made its ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July; Russia ordered secret, but noticed, preparations for the mobilisation of its armed forces. Although Russia's military leadership knew they were not strong enough for war, they believed that the Austro-Hungarian grievance against Serbia was a pretext orchestrated by Germany, and considered a forceful response as the best course of action. Russia's preparations — the first major military action not undertaken by a direct participant in the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and which were construed at the time as a partial mobilization — increased the willingness of Serbia to defy the threat of an Austro-Hungarian attack; it also alarmed the German leadership, who had not anticipated the idea of needing to fight Russia before France. While the United Kingdom was semi-formally aligned with Russia and France, many British leaders saw no compelling reason to get involved militarily; the UK made repeated offers to mediate, and Germany made various promises to try to ensure British neutrality. However, fearing the possibility of Germany overrunning France, Britain entered the war against them on 4 August, and used the German invasion of Belgium to galvanise popular support. By early August, the ostensible reason for armed conflict—the assassination of an Austro-Hungarian archduke—had already become a side-note to a larger European war.
1919 Alexander_I_of_Yugoslavia

Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana.

Alexander I Karađorđević was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 16 August 1921 to 3 October 1929 and King of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929 until his assassination. His thirteen-year reign was the longest of the kingdom's three monarchs. He was de facto head of state of Serbia from 1914 to 1918 and of Yugoslavia from 1918 to 1921 as regent for his father, Peter I.
1921 Chinese Communist Party

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is established at the founding National Congress.

The Communist Party of China (CPC), commonly known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and sole governing party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP won the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang and proclaimed the establishment of the PRC under the chairmanship of Mao Zedong in October 1949. The CCP has since governed China and has had absolute control over the country's armed forces and law enforcement. As of 2025, the CCP has more than 101 million members, making it the second largest political party by membership in the world. In 1921, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao founded the CCP with the help of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist International. Although the CCP aligned with the Kuomintang (KMT) during its initial years, the rise of the KMT's right-wing under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek and subsequent massacres of tens of thousands of CCP members resulted in a split and a prolonged civil war between the CCP and KMT. During the next ten years of guerrilla warfare, Mao Zedong rose to become the most influential figure in the CCP and the party established a strong base among the rural peasantry with its land reform policies. Support for the CCP continued to grow throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the CCP emerged triumphant in the communist revolution against the Nationalist government. The CCP established the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949, and the remnants of the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan shortly after. Mao Zedong remained the most influential member of the CCP until his death in 1976. Under Mao, the party completed its land reform program, launched a series of five-year plans, and eventually split with the Soviet Union. Although Mao attempted to purge the party of elements deemed capitalist or reactionary during the Cultural Revolution, these policies were only briefly continued by the Gang of Four following his death before a less radical faction seized control. During the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping directed the CCP away from Maoist orthodoxy and towards reform and opening up. Since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CCP has focused on maintaining its relations with the governing parties of the remaining communist states. The CCP has also established relations with several non-communist parties, including dominant nationalist parties of many developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as well as social democratic parties in Europe. As a communist party, the CCP officially seeks to adapt Marxism–Leninism to Chinese material conditions and present-day circumstances, a process it refers to as socialism with Chinese characteristics. The party is organized based on democratic centralism, a principle that entails open policy discussion on the condition of unity among party members in upholding the agreed-upon decision. The highest body of the CCP is the National Congress, convened every five years. When the National Congress is not in session, the Central Committee is the highest body, but since that body usually only meets once a year, most duties and responsibilities are vested in the Politburo and its Standing Committee. Members of the latter are regarded as the party's and the state's top leadership. Today the party's leader holds the offices of general secretary (responsible for civilian party duties, also the top rank official), chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) (commander-in-chief of the military), and president of China (a largely ceremonial position). Because of these posts, the party leader is seen as the country's "paramount leader". The current leader is Xi Jinping, who was elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee held on 15 November 2012 and has been reelected twice, on 25 October 2017 by the 19th Central Committee and on 10 October 2022 by the 20th Central Committee.
1926

Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.

The Fox Film Corporation was an American independent company that produced motion pictures and was formed in 1915 by the theater "chain" pioneer William Fox. It was the corporate successor to his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attraction Company.
1927 All_India_Radio

The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay.

All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani, is India's state-owned public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and is one of the two divisions of Prasar Bharati. Headquartered at the Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi, it houses the Drama Section, FM Section, and National Service. It also serves as the home of the Indian television station Doordarshan Kendra.
1936 Catalonia

In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties.

Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy. Its territory is situated on the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to the south of the Pyrenees mountain range. Catalonia is administratively divided into four provinces or eight vegueries (regions), which are in turn divided into 43 comarques. The capital and largest city, Barcelona, is the second-most populous municipality in Spain and the fifth-most populous urban area in the European Union.
1940

The United States' Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S.

non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Under secretary of state (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the assistant secretaries and below the deputy secretary.
1942 World_War_II

World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin on the Eastern Front.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.
1942 Bulgaria

Bulgarian poet and communist activist Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad.

Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania across the Danube river to the north. It covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), making it the tenth largest within the European Union and the sixteenth-largest country in Europe by area. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities include Plovdiv, Varna, and Burgas.
1943

The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurs in Rayleigh, Essex, England.

The Rayleigh bath chair murder was a 1943 incident of patricide in which a disabled man was killed in Rayleigh, Essex, England. An anti-tank grenade had been rigged to his hooded wheelchair, a conveyance known as a bath chair. The victim, Archibald Brown, was known to be abusive to his family. Eric, 19 at the time, confessed to the murder of his 47-year-old father and claimed such abuse as his motive. The son was declared insane at trial and incarcerated until 1975.
1943 HMS Eclipse (H08)

World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.

HMS Eclipse was an E-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in the Atlantic, Arctic, and Mediterranean theatres during World War II, until sunk by a mine in the Aegean Sea on 24 October 1943.
1945 Philippe_Pétain

The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain, the former president of Vichy France begin.

Henri Philippe Benoni Omar Joseph Pétain, also known as Marshal Pétain, was a French military officer, dictator, and politician who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the Axis-collaborationist regime of Vichy France, from 1940 to 1944, during World War II.
1952 Mohamed_Naguib

General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt.

Major General Mohamed Bey Naguib Youssef Qutb El-Qashlan, known simply as Mohamed Naguib, was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who, along with Gamal Abdel Nasser, was one of the two principal leaders of the Free Officers movement of 1952 that toppled the monarchy of Egypt and the Sudan, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Egypt.
1961 Sandinista_National_Liberation_Front

The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua.

The Sandinista National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto César Sandino, who, in the 1930s, led the resistance against the country's occupation by the United States.
1962 Telstar

Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.

Telstar is a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 was launched atop a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, and relayed the first television pictures, telephone calls, and telegraph images through space. It also provided the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2 was launched May 7, 1963. Telstar 1 and 2—though no longer functional—still orbit the Earth.
1962

The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed.

The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos was an international agreement signed in Geneva on July 23, 1962, between 14 states, including Laos, as a result of the International Conference on the Settlement of the Laotian Question, which lasted from May 16, 1961, to July 23, 1962.
1962 Jackie_Robinson

Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was an American professional baseball player who was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. The Dodgers signing Robinson heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball, which had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s.
1967 1967_Detroit_riot

Detroit Riots: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city.

It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings.
The 1967 Detroit riot, also known as the 12th Street Riot and the Detroit Uprising, was the bloodiest of the urban riots in the United States during the "long, hot summer of 1967". Composed mainly of confrontations between African American residents and the Detroit Police Department, it began in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 23, 1967, in Detroit, Michigan.
1968 Glenville_shootout

Glenville shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization and the Cleveland Police Department occurs.

During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days.
The Glenville shootout was a gun battle that occurred on the night of July 23–24, 1968, in the Glenville section of Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. Gunfire was exchanged for roughly four hours between the Cleveland Police Department and the Black Nationalists of New Libya, a Black Power group. The battle led to the death of three policemen, three suspects, and a bystander. At least 15 others were wounded.
1968 El_Al

The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The aircraft was en route from Rome, Italy to Lod, Israel.
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. trading as El Al is the flag carrier of the State of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve almost 50 destinations, operating scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights within Israel, and to Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Africa, and the Far East, from its main base in Ben Gurion Airport.
1970 Qaboos_bin_Said

Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war.

Qaboos bin Said Al Said was Sultan of Oman from 23 July 1970 until his death in 2020. A fifteenth-generation descendant of the founder of the Al Bu Said dynasty, he was the longest-serving leader in the Middle East and Arab world at the time of his death, having ruled for almost half a century.
1972 Landsat_1

The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite.

Landsat 1 (LS-1), formerly named Earth Resources Technology Satellite ERTS-A or ERTS-1, was the first satellite of the United States' Landsat program. It was a modified version of the Nimbus 4 meteorological satellite and was launched on July 23, 1972, by a Delta 0900 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
1974 Greek_junta

The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece's metapolitefsi era.

The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels was a right-wing military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels overthrew a caretaker government a month before scheduled elections which Georgios Papandreou's Centre Union was favoured to win.
1980 Phạm_Tuân

Phạm Tuân becomes the first Vietnamese citizen and the first Asian in space when he flies aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut.

Phạm Tuân is a retired Vietnamese Air Force fighter pilot and cosmonaut. He became the first Vietnamese cosmonaut, and the first person of Asian origin to be in space when he was launched aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Interkosmos research cosmonaut. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
1982 Santa_Clarita,_California

Outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow and two children are killed when a helicopter crashes onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie.

Santa Clarita is a suburban city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most populous in California, and the 105th-most populous city in the United States. It is located about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and occupies 70.75 square miles (183.2 km2) of land in the Santa Clarita Valley, along the Santa Clara River. It is a classic example of a U.S. edge city, satellite city, or boomburb.
1983 Sri_Lanka_Army

Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The Sri Lanka Army is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back to 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; the army was renamed as the 'Sri Lanka Army' when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972. In 2024, the Army had approximately 150,000 personnel.
1983 Gimli_Glider

Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba.

Air Canada Flight 143 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Montreal and Edmonton. On July 23, 1983, the Boeing 767 servicing the route ran out of fuel midway through the flight. The fuel gauge was not operating, and the plane's tanks had been underfilled because of an incorrect calculation.
1988 Ne_Win

General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.

Ne Win was a Burmese general and politician who served as Burma's head of government from 1958 to 1960 and again from 1962 to 1974; and also as head of state from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's military dictator during the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma period of 1962 to 1988.
1992 Catholic_Church

A Vatican commission, led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that limiting certain rights of homosexual people and non-married couples is not equivalent to discrimination on grounds of race or gender.

The Catholic Church, also called the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with an estimated 1.28 to 1.41 billion baptized members worldwide as of 2026. It consists of 24 autonomous churches. The largest one of these churches is the Latin Church. Besides it, there are 23 smaller Eastern Catholic Churches. Together, the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic churches are organized into nearly 3,500 dioceses and eparchies governed by bishops. Throughout history, the church has had a large role in the development of Western civilization. Catholic communities are present worldwide through missions, immigration, and conversions. The majority of Catholics live in the Global South, reflecting rapid demographic growth in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as well as secularization in parts of Europe and North America.
1992 Abkhazia

Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.

Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, which is internationally recognised by most countries as part of Georgia. It sits on the eastern coast of the Black Sea in West Asia. It covers 8,665 square kilometres (3,346 sq mi) and has a population of around 245,000. Its capital and largest city is Sukhumi.
1993 China_Northwest_Airlines_Flight_2119

China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 crashes during takeoff from Yinchuan Xihuayuan Airport in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China, killing 55 people.

China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 (WH2119) was a domestic flight from Yinchuan Xihuayuan Airport, Ningxia to Beijing Capital International Airport, China. On July 23, 1993, the BAe 146-300 crashed into a lake after it was unable to get airborne while attempting to take off at Yinchuan Airport, killing 54 passengers and 1 crew member on board.
1995 Comet_Hale–Bopp

Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later.

Comet Hale–Bopp is a long-period comet that was one of the most widely observed of the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for many decades.
1997 Digital_Equipment_Corporation

Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel.

Digital Equipment Corporation, using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president until he was forced to resign in 1992, after the company had gone into precipitous decline.
1999 All_Nippon_Airways_Flight_61

ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan by Yuji Nishizawa.

All Nippon Airways Flight 61 was a scheduled domestic flight from Tokyo Haneda Airport in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan and was en route to New Chitose Airport in Chitose, Japan, near Sapporo. On 23 July 1999, the Boeing 747-400 operating the flight with 503 passengers on board, including 14 children and 14 crew members on board, was hijacked by Yūji Nishizawa, a Japanese passenger on the flight.
2001 Megawati_Sukarnoputri

Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment.

Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004 and the eighth vice president under President Abdurrahman Wahid from 1999 to 2001. She is Indonesia's first and only female president to date, and also the first president born in Indonesia after its independence.
2005

Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people.

The 2005 Sharm El Sheikh bombings were committed by Islamist group Abdullah Azzam Brigades on 23 July 2005 in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Eighty-eight people were killed by the three bombings, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were injured, making the attack the deadliest terrorist action in the history of Egypt, until it was surpassed by the 2017 Sinai mosque attack.
2010 One_Direction

The English-Irish boy band One Direction were formed while auditioning for the 2010 series of the British singing competition The X Factor.

One Direction, often shortened to 1D, were an English–Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group consisted of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. The group sold over 70 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.
2011 High-speed_rail

A high-speed train rear-ends another on a viaduct on the Yongtaiwen railway line in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, resulting in 40 deaths.

High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilizing trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single definition or standard that applies worldwide, lines built to handle speeds of at least 250 km/h (155 mph) or upgraded lines of at least 200 km/h (125 mph) are generally considered to be high-speed.
2012 July_2012_solar_storm

The Solar storm of 2012 was an unusually large coronal mass ejection that was emitted by the Sun which barely missed the Earth by nine days.

If it hit, it would have caused up to US$2.6 trillion in damages to electrical equipment worldwide.
On July 23, 2012 at 02:08 UTC, a solar storm involving an unusually large and strong coronal mass ejection occurred. It missed Earth by a margin of roughly nine days, as the Sun's equator rotates around its own axis once over a period of about 27 days. The region that produced the outburst was thus not pointed directly towards Earth at that time. The strength of the eruption has been predicted to be comparable to the 1859 Carrington Event that caused damage to electrical equipment worldwide, which at that time consisted mostly of telegraph systems. Had it hit Earth, it is believed that the storm would have caused widespread technological damage.
2014 TransAsia_Airways_Flight_222

TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Penghu Airport.

Forty-eight of the 58 people on board are killed and five more people on the ground are injured.
TransAsia Airways Flight 222 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by TransAsia Airways from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to Magong, Penghu Island. On 23 July 2014, the ATR 72-500 twin turboprop operating the route crashed into buildings during approach to land in bad weather at Magong Airport. Among the 58 people on board, only 10 survived.
2015 NASA

NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by the Kepler space telescope.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the United States' civil space program, as well as research in aeronautics and space. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NASA operates ten field centers across the US and is organized into three mission directorates: Human Spaceflight, Research and Technology, and Science. Established in 1958 amid the Space Race, NASA succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the US space program a distinct civilian orientation focused on peaceful applications. Since then, it has led most American spaceflight programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the Apollo program, Skylab, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station (ISS), and the ongoing multinational Artemis program.
2018 2018_Attica_wildfires

A wildfire in East Attica kills at least 102 people.

It is the deadliest wildfire in the history of Greece.
A series of wildfires in Greece, during the 2018 European heat wave, began in the coastal areas of Attica in July 2018. 104 people were confirmed dead from the Mati fires. The fires were, at that time, the second-deadliest wildfire event in the 21st century, after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Australia that killed 173.

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