July 23 facts for kids

July 23 is the 204th day of the year (205th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 161 days remain until the end of the year.

Every day holds special moments in history, and July 23rd is no different! From big inventions to important world events, let's explore some of the cool things that happened on this day throughout the years.

Events That Shaped History

Early Times (Before 1600)

• 811 – The Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I took over the capital city of Pliska in the Bulgarian Empire. He also captured the treasury of Khan Krum.
• 1319 – A strong fleet of Knights Hospitaller won a huge battle against an Aydinid fleet near Chios.

From 1601 to 1900

• 1632 – Three hundred people left Dieppe, France, to become new settlers in New France (which is now part of Canada).
• 1677 – During the Scanian War, Denmark–Norway successfully took control of the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden.
• 1793 – The Kingdom of Prussia took back the city of Mainz from France.
• 1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland became the first Governor of Malta. This changed the island from a British protectorate to a British colony.
• 1821 – During the Greek War of Independence, Greek fighters captured Monemvasia Castle. The Turkish soldiers and citizens there were moved to the coasts of Asia Minor.
• 1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt received a patent for his typographer. This was an early version of the typewriter we know today!
• 1840 – The Province of Canada was officially created by the Act of Union.
• 1862 – During the American Civil War, Henry Halleck became the top general, known as the general-in-chief, of the Union Army.
• 1881 – The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina was signed in Buenos Aires. This treaty helped define the borders between the two countries.
• 1900 – Because of a lot of new people arriving, Canada decided to close its borders to those who were very poor or had committed crimes.

Modern Times (1901–Present)

• 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sold its very first car! This was a big step for the auto industry.
• 1908 – The Ottomans accepted their Second Constitution, bringing about changes in their government.
• 1914 – Austria-Hungary sent a list of demands, called an ultimatum, to Serbia. They wanted Serbia to let Austrians investigate who was behind the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia agreed to almost all demands, but Austria declared war on July 28th, which helped start World War I.
• 1919 – Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signed a document to create the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.
• 1921 – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was officially started at its first big meeting.
• 1926 – Fox Film bought the rights to the Movietone sound system. This technology allowed sound to be recorded directly onto film, changing movies forever!
• 1927 – The first radio station of the Indian Broadcasting Company began broadcasting in Bombay.
• 1940 – The United States' Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles announced that the U.S. would not recognize the Soviet takeover of the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
• 1942 – World War II: Germany launched two major attacks called Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig.
• 1943 – World War II: British ships HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sank the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean Sea.
• 1945 – Legal actions began against Philippe Pétain after World War II.
• 1952 – General Muhammad Naguib led the Free Officers Movement to overthrow King Farouk of Egypt.
• 1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front was founded in Nicaragua.
• 1962 – Telstar relayed the first live television program across the Atlantic Ocean, featuring news anchor Walter Cronkite.
• 1962 – The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos was signed, aiming to keep Laos a neutral country.
• 1962 – Jackie Robinson became the first African American player to be honored in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
• 1967 – Detroit Riots: One of the biggest riots in United States history started in Detroit. It led to many deaths and injuries, and many buildings were burned.
• 1968 – The only successful hijacking of an El Al airplane happened when a Boeing 707 was taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
• 1970 – Qaboos bin Said al Said became the Sultan of Oman after taking over from his father. He brought many changes and modern programs to the country.
• 1972 – The United States launched Landsat 1, which was the first satellite designed to study Earth's resources.
• 1974 – The military government in Greece ended. Former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis was asked to lead the new government, starting a new era for Greece.
• 1980 – Phạm Tuân became the first person from Vietnam and the first Asian to travel to space. He flew on the Soyuz 37 mission.
• 1983 – Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of fuel but managed to make a safe deadstick landing (landing without engine power) in Gimli, Manitoba.
• 1988 – General Ne Win, who had been the ruler of Burma since 1962, stepped down after protests for democracy.
• 1992 – Abkhazia declared its independence from Georgia.
• 1995 – Comet Hale–Bopp was discovered. It became bright enough to be seen with the naked eye almost a year later.
• 1999 – Space Shuttle Columbia launched on mission STS-93. On this flight, Eileen Collins became the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and launched the Chandra X-ray Observatory, a powerful telescope.
• 2011 – A high-speed train crashed into another train in Wenzhou, China, leading to 40 deaths.
• 2012 – The Solar storm of 2012 was a huge burst of energy from the Sun that just barely missed Earth. If it had hit, it could have caused trillions of dollars in damage to electrical systems worldwide.
• 2015 – NASA announced the discovery of Kepler-452b by the Kepler space telescope. This planet is often called "Earth's older, bigger cousin."
• 2018 – A terrible wildfire in East Attica, Greece caused the deaths of 102 people. It was one of the deadliest wildfires in Greece's history.

Famous Birthdays

Many interesting people were born on July 23rd! Here are a few:

Born Before 1900

• 1401 – Francesco I Sforza, an important Italian leader.
• 1503 – Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, a queen of Bohemia and Hungary.
• 1773 – Thomas Brisbane, a Scottish general and politician who became the Governor of New South Wales.
• 1775 – Étienne-Louis Malus, a French physicist and mathematician.
• 1796 – Franz Berwald, a Swedish surgeon and composer.
• 1851 – Peder Severin Krøyer, a famous Norwegian-Danish painter.
• 1856 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, an Indian lawyer and journalist who was important in India's independence movement.
• 1864 – Apolinario Mabini, a Filipino lawyer and politician who was the first Prime Minister of the Philippines.
• 1884 – Emil Jannings, a Swiss-German actor.
• 1888 – Raymond Chandler, a famous American crime novelist and screenwriter.
• 1892 – Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia.
• 1894 – Arthur Treacher, an English-American actor and TV personality.
• 1899 – Gustav Heinemann, a German lawyer and politician who became the third President of West Germany.

Born After 1900

• 1906 – Vladimir Prelog, a Croatian-Swiss chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 1912 – Michael Wilding, an English actor.
• 1913 – Michael Foot, an English journalist and politician.
• 1918 – Pee Wee Reese, a well-known American baseball player.
• 1925 – Gloria DeHaven, an American actress and singer.
• 1928 – Vera Rubin, an American astronomer who made important discoveries about dark matter.
• 1933 – Richard Rogers, a famous Italian-English architect who designed buildings like the Millennium Dome.
• 1936 – Don Drysdale, an American baseball player and sportscaster.
• 1938 – Ronny Cox, an American singer-songwriter and actor.
• 1941 – Sergio Mattarella, the current President of Italy.
• 1946 – Andy Mackay, an English musician known for playing the oboe.
• 1947 – David Essex, an English singer-songwriter and actor.
• 1953 – Najib Razak, a Malaysian politician who served as the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia.
• 1957 – Jo Brand, an English comedian and actress.
• 1961 – Martin Gore, an English singer-songwriter and guitarist from the band Depeche Mode.
• 1961 – Woody Harrelson, a popular American actor.
• 1962 – Eriq La Salle, an American actor and director.
• 1965 – Slash, a famous English-American guitarist and songwriter, known for being in the band Guns N' Roses.
• 1967 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, a highly respected American actor and director.
• 1968 – Gary Payton, an American basketball player.
• 1970 – Charisma Carpenter, an American actress.
• 1971 – Alison Krauss, an American singer-songwriter and fiddler who has won many awards.
• 1972 – Marlon Wayans, an American actor, director, and producer.
• 1973 – Kathryn Hahn, an American actress.
• 1973 – Monica Lewinsky, an American activist.
• 1976 – Judit Polgár, a Hungarian chess player who is considered one of the greatest female chess players of all time.
• 1989 – Daniel Radcliffe, an English actor famous for playing Harry Potter.
• 1996 – David Dobrik, a popular Slovak YouTube personality.

Notable People Who Passed Away

Here are some well-known individuals who died on July 23rd:

Before 1900

• 1373 – Bridget of Sweden, a Swedish mystic and saint.
• 1536 – Henry FitzRoy, an English politician and son of King Henry VIII.
• 1562 – Götz von Berlichingen, a German knight and poet.
• 1645 – Michael I, the first Russian tsar of the Romanov dynasty.
• 1757 – Domenico Scarlatti, a famous Italian composer.
• 1793 – Roger Sherman, an American lawyer and politician who signed the Declaration of Independence.
• 1875 – Isaac Singer, an American businessman who founded the Singer Corporation, known for sewing machines.
• 1885 – Ulysses S. Grant, an American general during the Civil War and the 18th President of the United States.

After 1900

• 1916 – William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 1930 – Glenn Curtiss, an American pilot and engineer who was important in early aviation.
• 1948 – D. W. Griffith, an American director and producer who was a pioneer in filmmaking.
• 1951 – Philippe Pétain, a French general and politician.
• 1955 – Cordell Hull, an American politician who served as the 47th United States Secretary of State and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1966 – Montgomery Clift, a well-known American actor.
• 1973 – Eddie Rickenbacker, an American pilot and race car driver.
• 1982 – Vic Morrow, an American actor.
• 1999 – Hassan II of Morocco, the King of Morocco.
• 2001 – Eudora Welty, an American novelist and short story writer.
• 2002 – Leo McKern, an Australian-English actor.
• 2007 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, the last King of Afghanistan.
• 2011 – Amy Winehouse, a famous English singer-songwriter.
• 2012 – Margaret Mahy, a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books.
• 2012 – Sally Ride, an American physicist and astronaut who was the first American woman in space.

Special Days and Celebrations

• Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari)
• Children's Day (Indonesia)
• Christian feast day:
  • Bridget of Sweden
  • Heiromartyr Phocas (Eastern Orthodox)
  • John Cassian (Western Christianity)
  • Liborius of Le Mans
  • Margarita María
  • Mercè Prat i Prat
  • Rasyphus and Ravennus
  • July 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• National Remembrance Day (Papua New Guinea)
• Renaissance Day (Oman)
• Revolution Day (Egypt)

Images for kids

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  A friendly robot

See also

In Spanish: 23 de julio para niños