On this day: May 23

Events on May 23

• 1430 Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc was captured by Burgundian forces at the Siege of Compiègne. Wikipedia
• 1430 Joan of Arc is captured at the Siege of Compiègne by troops from the Burgundian faction. Wikipedia
• 1498 Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy. Wikipedia
• 1788 South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the United States Constitution. Wikipedia
• 1829 Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson defeated a Union force at the Battle of Front Royal in Virginia, taking around 700 prisoners. Wikipedia
• 1863 The General German Workers' Association, a precursor of the modern Social Democratic Party of Germany, is founded in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony. Wikipedia
• 1900 American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863. Wikipedia
• 1905 Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, publicly announces the creation of the Ullah millet for the Aromanians of the empire, which had been established one day earlier. For this reason, the Aromanian National Day is usually celebrated on May 23, although some do so on May 22 instead. Wikipedia
• 1915 World War I: Italy joins the Allies, fulfilling its part of the Treaty of London. Wikipedia
• 1932 In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a manifestation against the Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, which resulted in the outbreak of the Constitutionalist Revolution several weeks later. Wikipedia
• 1939 The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: German paratroopers start a series of mass executions of Greek civilians in Missiria for their participation in the ongoing Battle of Crete. Wikipedia
• 1948 Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul-General, is assassinated in Jerusalem, Israel. Wikipedia
• 1951 Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement with China. Wikipedia
• 1960 A tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile the previous day kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii. Wikipedia
• 1971 The Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest opens, becoming the second-tallest building in the city. Wikipedia
• 1980 The Shining, the psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, is premiered on 10 screens in New York City and Los Angeles on the Memorial Day weekend. Wikipedia
• 1980 The Shining, the psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, premiered on 10 screens in New York City and Los Angeles. Wikipedia
• 1992 Italy's most prominent anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three body guards are killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily. His friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino will be assassinated less than two months later, making 1992 a turning point in the history of Italian Mafia prosecutions. Wikipedia
• 1998 The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes. Wikipedia
• 2002 The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto Protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland. Wikipedia
• 2008 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries. Wikipedia
• 2016 Eight bombings are carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Jableh and Tartus, coastline cities in Syria. One hundred eighty-four people are killed and at least 200 people injured. Wikipedia
• 2016 Two suicide bombings, conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, kill at least 45 potential army recruits in Aden, Yemen. Wikipedia
• 2021 Ryanair Flight 4978 is forced to land by Belarusian authorities to detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich. Wikipedia

Born on May 23

• 1052 Philip I of France (died 1108) Wikipedia
• 1707 Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (died 1778) Wikipedia
• 1790 Jules Dumont d'Urville, French admiral and explorer (died 1842) Wikipedia
• 1810 Margaret Fuller, American journalist and critic (died 1850) Wikipedia
• 1844 ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Iranian religious leader (died 1921) Wikipedia
• 1848 Otto Lilienthal, German pilot and engineer (died 1896) Wikipedia
• 1865 Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian jurist and politician, 11th President of Brazil (died 1942) Wikipedia
• 1883 Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1939) Wikipedia
• 1891 Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish novelist, playwright, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1896 Felix Steiner, Russian-German SS officer (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1900 Hans Frank, German lawyer and politician (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1908 John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1991) Wikipedia
• 1925 Joshua Lederberg, American biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1933 Joan Collins, English actress Wikipedia
• 1934 Robert Moog, electronic engineer and inventor of the Moog synthesizer (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1949 Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, twice President of Peru (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1951 Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player Wikipedia
• 1951 Antonis Samaras, Greek economist and politician, 185th Prime Minister of Greece Wikipedia
• 1961 Daniele Massaro, Italian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1972 Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian race car driver Wikipedia
• 1974 Ken Jennings, American game show host and contestant[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 1991 Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer-songwriter Wikipedia

Died on May 23

• 230 Urban I, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 1125 Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1086) Wikipedia
• 1498 Girolamo Savonarola, Italian friar and preacher (born 1452) Wikipedia
• 1524 Ismail I, First Emperor of Safavid Empire (born 1487) Wikipedia
• 1857 Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician and academic (born 1789) Wikipedia
• 1886 Leopold von Ranke, German historian and academic (born 1795) Wikipedia
• 1906 Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian director, playwright, and poet (born 1828) Wikipedia
• 1921 August Nilsson, Swedish shot putter and tug of war competitor (born 1872) Wikipedia
• 1934 Clyde Barrow, American criminal (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 1937 John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company and Rockefeller University (born 1839) Wikipedia
• 1945 Heinrich Himmler, German commander and politician, Reich Minister of the Interior and head of the SS (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 2009 Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean soldier and politician, 9th President of South Korea (born 1946) Wikipedia
• 2015 John Forbes Nash Jr., American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2017 Roger Moore, English actor (born 1927) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Aromanian National Day Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Desiderius of Vienne Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Giovanni Battista de' Rossi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Julia of Corsica Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Michael of Synnada Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Quintian, Lucius and Julian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: William of Perth Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Germany) Wikipedia
• Labour Day (Jamaica) Wikipedia
• Students' Day (Mexico) Wikipedia
• World Turtle Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 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.