On this day: July 23

Events on July 23

• 685 The election of Pope John V following the death of Pope Benedict II two months prior. Wikipedia
• 1319 A fleet led by the Knights Hospitaller sank 22 of 28 ships of the Turkish Aydinid emirate. Wikipedia
• 1632 Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France. Wikipedia
• 1677 Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden. Wikipedia
• 1860 The trial of the Eastbourne manslaughter, which later became an important legal precedent in the United Kingdom for discussions of corporal punishment in schools, began in Lewes. Wikipedia
• 1891 During a visit of the French Navy to Kronstadt in Russia, the two nations reached a secret agreement on a joint response to any future war in Europe. Wikipedia
• 1903 The Ford Motor Company sells its first car. Wikipedia
• 1914 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. Wikipedia
• 1921 The first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party opened in a house in Shanghai. Wikipedia
• 1927 Wilfred Rhodes of England and Yorkshire became the only person to play in 1,000 first-class cricket matches. Wikipedia
• 1940 Sumner Welles, U.S. Under Secretary of State, issued a declaration that the U.S. government would not recognize the Soviet Union's annexation of the Baltic states. Wikipedia
• 1942 The Holocaust: The gas chambers at Treblinka extermination camp began operation, killing 6,500 Jews who had been transported from the Warsaw Ghetto the day before. Wikipedia
• 1942 Bulgarian poet and communist activist Nikola Vaptsarov was executed by firing squad. Wikipedia
• 1945 The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain, the former president of Vichy France begin. Wikipedia
• 1952 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. Wikipedia
• 1961 The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua. Wikipedia
• 1968 A shootout between police and a Black power group began in Cleveland, Ohio, sparking three days of rioting. Wikipedia
• 1970 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. Wikipedia
• 1982 A helicopter crashed during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie in Valencia, California, killing actor Vic Morrow and two child actors. Wikipedia
• 1984 Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America, was forced to resign after the magazine Penthouse published nude photos of her without consent. Wikipedia
• 1992 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. Wikipedia
• 1995 Hale–Bopp, one of the most widely observed comets of the 20th century, was independently discovered by astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp. Wikipedia
• 1999 Forty-seven people were arrested in Tulia, Texas, for dealing cocaine; 35 of them were pardoned by the governor of Texas years later. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 2001 Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment. Wikipedia
• 2010 The English-Irish boy band One Direction were formed while auditioning for the 2010 series of the British singing competition The X Factor. Wikipedia

Born on July 23

• 1649 Pope Clement XI (died 1721) Wikipedia
• 1856 Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian lawyer and journalist (died 1920) Wikipedia
• 1884 Emil Jannings, Swiss-German actor (died 1950) Wikipedia
• 1888 Raymond Chandler, American crime novelist and screenwriter (died 1959) Wikipedia
• 1892 Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1899 Gustav Heinemann, German lawyer and politician, 3rd President of West Germany (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1906 Vladimir Prelog, Croatian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1920 Amália Rodrigues, Portuguese fado singer (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1928 Vera Rubin, American astronomer and academic (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1931 Viktor Korchnoi, Russian-Swiss chess grandmaster (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1941 Sergio Mattarella, Italian lawyer, judge, and politician, 12th President of Italy Wikipedia
• 1941 Pierre Agostini, French experimental physicist (2023 Nobel Prize for Physics for attosecond pulses of light) Wikipedia
• 1945 Edie McClurg, American actress and comedian Wikipedia
• 1953 Najib Razak, Malaysian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia Wikipedia
• 1957 Theo van Gogh, Dutch actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1961 Woody Harrelson, American actor and activist Wikipedia
• 1965 Slash, English-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer Wikipedia
• 1967 Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1973 Monica Lewinsky, American activist and former White House intern Wikipedia
• 1976 Judit Polgár, Hungarian chess player Wikipedia
• 1982 Paul Wesley, American actor, director, and producer Wikipedia
• 1989 Daniel Radcliffe, English actor Wikipedia

Died on July 23

• 1373 Bridget of Sweden, Swedish mystic and saint, founded the Bridgettine Order (born 1303) Wikipedia
• 1645 Michael I, Russian tsar (born 1596) Wikipedia
• 1757 Domenico Scarlatti, Italian harpsichord player and composer (born 1685) Wikipedia
• 1885 Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (born 1822) Wikipedia
• 1916 William Ramsay, Scottish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1852) Wikipedia
• 1926 Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (born 1848) Wikipedia
• 1948 D. W. Griffith, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1951 Philippe Pétain, French general and politician, 119th Prime Minister of France (born 1856) Wikipedia
• 1955 Cordell Hull, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 47th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1871) Wikipedia
• 1966 Montgomery Clift, American actor (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 1999 Hassan II of Morocco (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2007 Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 2011 Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter (born 1983) Wikipedia
• 2012 Sally Ride, American physicist and astronaut (born 1951) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari) Wikipedia
• Children's Day (Indonesia) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Basil Hopko Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bridget of Sweden Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Heiromartyr Phocas (Eastern Orthodox) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Giovanna da Orvieto Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Cassian (Western Christianity) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Liborius of Le Mans Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Margarita María Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Martyrs of Daimiel Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rasyphus and Ravennus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: July 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• National Remembrance Day (Papua New Guinea) Wikipedia
• Renaissance Day (Oman) Wikipedia
• Revolution Day (Egypt) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “July 23” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/July 23” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “July 23” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for July 23 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.