On this day: March 23

Events on March 23

• 625 The Muslim army under Muhammad suffered a defeat against the Quraysh in the Battle of Uhud. Wikipedia
• 625 The Muslim army under Muhammad suffers a defeat against the Quraysh in the battle of Uhud. Wikipedia
• 1400 The Trần dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official. Wikipedia
• 1839 A massive earthquake destroys the former capital Inwa of the Konbaung dynasty, present-day Myanmar. Wikipedia
• 1879 War of the Pacific: The Battle of Topáter, the first battle of the war, is fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru. Wikipedia
• 1885 Sino-French War: Chinese victory in the Battle of Phu Lam Tao near Hưng Hóa, northern Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1888 Chaired by William McGregor, a meeting of ten English football clubs was held in London, eventually resulting in the establishment of the Football League. Wikipedia
• 1888 In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1908 American diplomat Durham Stevens, an employee of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was fatally shot in San Francisco by two Korean immigrants unhappy with his support of increased Japanese presence in Korea. Wikipedia
• 1909 Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society. Wikipedia
• 1918 First World War: On the third day of the German Spring Offensive, the 10th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment is annihilated with many of the men becoming prisoners of war. Wikipedia
• 1919 In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement. Wikipedia
• 1919 Benito Mussolini and his supporters founded the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, the predecessor of the National Fascist Party. Wikipedia
• 1933 The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany. Wikipedia
• 1956 Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. This date is now celebrated as Republic Day in Pakistan. Wikipedia
• 1978 The first UNIFIL troops arrive in Lebanon for a peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line. Wikipedia
• 1980 Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans. Wikipedia
• 1982 Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García, is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt. Wikipedia
• 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. Wikipedia
• 1991 The Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invades Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh, sparking the 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War. Wikipedia
• 1996 Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President. Wikipedia
• 1999 Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña. Wikipedia
• 2001 The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji. Wikipedia
• 2014 The World Health Organization (WHO) reports cases of Ebola in the forested rural region of southeastern Guinea, marking the beginning of the largest Ebola outbreak in history. Wikipedia
• 2019 The Kazakh capital of Astana is renamed to Nur-Sultan. Wikipedia
• 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson puts the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19. Wikipedia

Born on March 23

• 1749 Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (died 1827) Wikipedia
• 1823 Schuyler Colfax, American journalist and politician, 17th Vice President of the United States (died 1885) Wikipedia
• 1858 Ludwig Quidde, German activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1881 Roger Martin du Gard, French novelist and paleographer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1958) Wikipedia
• 1881 Hermann Staudinger, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1965) Wikipedia
• 1882 Emmy Noether, Jewish German-American mathematician, physicist and academic (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1884 Joseph Boxhall, English sailor, officer aboard the Titanic (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1887 Juan Gris, Spanish painter and sculptor (died 1927) Wikipedia
• 1900 Erich Fromm, German psychologist and sociologist (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1907 Daniel Bovet, Swiss-Italian pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1992) Wikipedia
• 1910 Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1912 Wernher von Braun, German-American physicist and engineer, chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle (died 1977) Wikipedia
• 1931 Viktor Korchnoi, Russian chess player and author (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1942 Michael Haneke, Austrian director, producer and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1950 Phil Lanzon, English keyboard player and songwriter Wikipedia
• 1952 Rex Tillerson, American businessman, engineer and diplomat; 69th United States Secretary of State Wikipedia
• 1956 José Manuel Barroso, Portuguese academic and politician, 115th Prime Minister of Portugal Wikipedia
• 1968 Fernando Hierro, Spanish footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1970 Gianni Infantino, Swiss-Italian football administrator, president of FIFA Wikipedia
• 1976 Michelle Monaghan, American actress Wikipedia
• 1978 Walter Samuel, Argentine footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Kyrie Irving, Australian-American basketball player Wikipedia

Died on March 23

• 59 Agrippina the Younger, Roman empress (born 15) Wikipedia
• 1555 Julius III, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1487) Wikipedia
• 1801 Paul I, Russian emperor (born 1754) Wikipedia
• 1842 Stendhal, French novelist (born 1783) Wikipedia
• 1910 Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (born 1820) Wikipedia
• 1946 Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1955 Artur Bernardes, Brazilian politician, 12th President of Brazil (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1992 Friedrich Hayek, Austrian-German economist, philosopher, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 2001 Margaret Jones, British archaeologist (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 2011 Elizabeth Taylor, American-British actress, socialite and humanitarian (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 2013 Boris Berezovsky, Russian-born Soviet-British mathematician and businessman (born 1946) Wikipedia
• 2014 Adolfo Suárez, Spanish lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Spain (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 2015 Lee Kuan Yew, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Singapore (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 2022 Madeleine Albright, Czechoslovak-American diplomat, 64th United States Secretary of State (born 1937) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Gregory the Illuminator (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gwinear Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joseph Oriol Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ottone Frangipane Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (Maronite Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Turibius of Mogrovejo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Victorian, Frumentius and Companions Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: March 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Hungarian-Polish Friendship (Hungary and Poland) Wikipedia
• Day of the Sea (Bolivia) Wikipedia
• Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Day (Azerbaijan) Wikipedia
• Pakistan Day (Pakistan) Wikipedia
• Promised Messiah Day (Ahmadiyya) Wikipedia
• World Meteorological Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 23” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.