On this day: November 23

Events on November 23

• 1644 In opposition to licensing and censorship during the English Civil War, John Milton's Areopagitica was published, arguing for the right to free expression. Wikipedia
• 1644 John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: Battle of Chattanooga begins: Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and counter-attack Confederate troops. Wikipedia
• 1867 The Manchester Martyrs were hanged in Manchester, England, for involvement in a scheme to free two Irish nationalists from custody in which a police officer was killed. Wikipedia
• 1867 The Manchester Martyrs are hanged in Manchester, England, for killing a police officer while freeing two Irish Republican Brotherhood members from custody. Wikipedia
• 1921 Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, signs the Willis–Campbell Act into law, prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes. Wikipedia
• 1924 The New York Times published evidence from Edwin Hubble stating that the Andromeda Nebula, previously believed to be part of the Milky Way, is in fact another galaxy. Wikipedia
• 1924 Edwin Hubble's discovery, that the Andromeda "nebula" is actually another island galaxy far outside our own Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times. Wikipedia
• 1934 An Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in the Ogaden discovers an Italian garrison at Walwal, well within Ethiopian territory. This leads to the Abyssinia Crisis. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: HMS Rawalpindi is sunk by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is destroyed. It will eventually be rebuilt in 1961 and be called the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The Lotta Svärd Movement is disbanded under the terms of the armistice treaty in Finland after the Continuation War. Wikipedia
• 1955 The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to that of Australia. Wikipedia
• 1959 French President Charles de Gaulle declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals". Wikipedia
• 1971 Representatives of the People's Republic of China attend the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1981 Iran–Contra affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Wikipedia
• 1985 Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 en route from Athens to Cairo. When the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos storm the aircraft, but 60 people die in the raid. Wikipedia
• 1991 Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury announces in a statement that he is HIV-positive. He dies the following day. Wikipedia
• 1992 The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wikipedia
• 1996 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125. Wikipedia
• 2001 The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary. Wikipedia
• 2002 Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-113 to the International Space Station carrying the Expedition 6 crew and the P1 truss. Wikipedia
• 2003 Rose Revolution: Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over flawed elections. Wikipedia
• 2004 The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, the largest religious building in Georgia, is consecrated. Wikipedia
• 2007 MS Explorer, a cruise liner carrying 154 people, sinks in the Antarctic Ocean south of Argentina after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. There are no fatalities. Wikipedia
• 2007 MS Explorer became the first cruise ship to sink in the Southern Ocean. Wikipedia

Born on November 23

• 870 Alexander, Byzantine emperor (died 913) Wikipedia
• 912 Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 973) Wikipedia
• 1190 Pope Clement IV (died 1268) Wikipedia
• 1221 Alfonso X of Castile (died 1284) Wikipedia
• 1760 François-Noël Babeuf, French journalist and activist (died 1797) Wikipedia
• 1804 Franklin Pierce, American general, lawyer, and politician, 14th President of the United States (died 1869) Wikipedia
• 1837 Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Dutch physicist and thermodynamicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1923) Wikipedia
• 1860 Hjalmar Branting, Swedish journalist and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Sweden, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1925) Wikipedia
• 1875 Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian journalist and politician (died 1933) Wikipedia
• 1876 Manuel de Falla, Spanish pianist and composer (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1887 Boris Karloff, English actor (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1896 Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovak politician, President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1920 Paul Celan, Romanian-French poet and translator (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1926 Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philosopher (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1933 Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer and conductor (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1950 Charles Schumer, American lawyer and politician Wikipedia
• 1962 Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan union leader and politician, President of Venezuela Wikipedia
• 1963 Gwynne Shotwell, American businesswoman, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX Wikipedia
• 1966 Vincent Cassel, French actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1982 Asafa Powell, Jamaican sprinter Wikipedia
• 1990 Christopher Quiring, German footballer[better source needed] Wikipedia
• 1992 Miley Cyrus, American singer-songwriter and actress Wikipedia

Died on November 23

• 386 Jin Feidi, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (born 342) Wikipedia
• 955 Eadred, English king (born 923) Wikipedia
• 1572 Bronzino, Italian painter and poet (born 1503) Wikipedia
• 1814 Elbridge Gerry, American merchant and politician, 5th Vice President of the United States (born 1744) Wikipedia
• 1937 Jagadish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist, biologist, botanist, and archaeologist (born 1858) Wikipedia
• 1966 Seán T. O'Kelly, Irish politician, 2nd President of Ireland (born 1882) Wikipedia
• 1976 André Malraux, French theorist and author (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1990 Roald Dahl, British novelist, poet, and screenwriter (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 1991 Klaus Kinski, German-American actor and director (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 1996 Idries Shah, Indian author, thinker and teacher in the Sufi tradition. Wikipedia
• 2006 Alexander Litvinenko, Russian spy and defector (born 1962) Wikipedia
• 2006 Philippe Noiret, French actor (born 1930) Wikipedia
• 2012 Larry Hagman, American actor, director, and producer (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 2015 Douglass North, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Alexander Nevsky (Repose, Russian Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro – one of Saints of the Cristero War (Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Columbanus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Felicitas of Rome Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paulinus of Wales Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Clement I (Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and the Lutheran Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Trudo (or Trond) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Wilfetrudis (or Vulfetrude) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: November 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Labor Thanksgiving Day (Japan) Wikipedia
• Repudiation Day (Frederick County, Maryland, United States) Wikipedia
• St George's Day (Georgia) or Giorgoba (Georgia) Wikipedia

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