Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History
May 23
| 1430 | Burgundians capture Joan of Arc and sell her to the English. | |
| 1533 | Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void. | |
| 1618 | The Thirty Years War begins. | |
| 1701 | Captain William Kidd, the Scottish pirate, is hanged on the banks of the Thames. | |
| 1785 | Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals. | |
| 1788 | South Carolina becomes the eighth state to ratify U.S. Constitution. | |
| 1861 | Pro-Union and pro-Confederate forces clash in western Virginia. | |
| 1862 | Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson takes Front Royal, Virginia. | |
| 1864 | Union General Ulysses Grant attempts to outflank Confederate Robert E. Lee in the Battle of North Anna, Virginia. | |
| 1900 | Civil War hero Sgt. William H. Carney becomes the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor, thirty-seven years after the Battle of Fort Wagner. | |
| 1901 | American forces capture Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo. | |
| 1915 | Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. | |
| 1934 | Gangsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are killed by Texas Rangers. | |
| 1945 | Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi Gestapo, commits suicide after being captured by Allied forces. | |
| 1949 | The Federal Republic of West Germany is proclaimed. | |
| 1960 | Israel announces the capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. | |
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Born on May 23 |
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| 1707 | Carolus Linnaeus [Carl von Linné], Swedish botanist. | |
| 1734 | Friedrich Anton Mesmer, physician and hypnotist. | |
| 1810 | Margaret Fuller, writer and critic. | |
| 1820 | James Buchanan Eads, engineer of the Eads Bridge in St. Louis | |
| 1875 | Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., president and chairman of the board for General Motors. | |
| 1891 | Par Lagerkvist, Swedish writer (The Dwarf, Barabbas). | |
| 1908 | John Bardeen, physicist, co-inventor of the transistor. | |
| 1910 | Artie Shaw, bandleader and clarinetist. | |
| 1920 | Helen O'Connell, big band vocalist. | |
| 1928 | Rosemary Clooney, singer. | |
| 1934 | Robert A. Moog, electrical engineer, creator of the Moog synthesizer. | |
| 1947 | Jane Kenyon, poet (Let Evening Come, Otherwise). | |
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