On this day: October 23

Events on October 23

• 42 BC Liberators' civil war: Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat an army under Brutus in the second part of the Battle of Philippi, with Brutus committing suicide and ending the civil war. Wikipedia
• 502 The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theoderic, absolves Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius. Wikipedia
• 1295 The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France against England is signed in Paris. Wikipedia
• 1448 Scotland wins a decisive victory over England at the Battle of Sark, the last pitched battle to be fought between the two kingdoms during the Medieval period. Wikipedia
• 1812 General Claude François de Malet begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon, claiming that the Emperor died in the Russian campaign. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: The Battle of Westport is the last significant engagement west of the Mississippi River, ending in a Union victory. Wikipedia
• 1868 Meiji Restoration: Having taken the shogunate's seat of power at Edo and declared it his new capital as Tokyo, Mutsuhito proclaims the start of the new Meiji era. Wikipedia
• 1906 Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe. Wikipedia
• 1927 The Imatra Cinema is destroyed in a fire in Tampere, Finland, during showing the 1924 film Wages of Virtue; 21 people die in the fire and almost 30 are injured. Wikipedia
• 1940 Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco meet at Hendaye to discuss the possibility of Spain entering the Second World War. Wikipedia
• 1941 The Holocaust: Nazi Germany prohibits Jews from emigrating, including in its occupied territories. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Japanese troops began an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands from American forces. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Allied forces commence the Second Battle of El Alamein, which proves to be the key turning point in the North African campaign. Wikipedia
• 1955 The people of the Saar region vote in a referendum to unite with West Germany instead of France. Wikipedia
• 1957 A screening of Mother India, one of the most influential Indian films in history, was held for President Rajendra Prasad and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru two days before its release. Wikipedia
• 1958 Belgian artist Peyo's comic characters, the Smurfs, make their debut in Spirou magazine. Wikipedia
• 1965 Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, launches an operation seeking to destroy Communist forces during the siege of Plei Me. Wikipedia
• 1970 Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas. Wikipedia
• 1972 Vietnam War: Operation Linebacker, a U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to its Easter Offensive, ended after five months. Wikipedia
• 1993 The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb prematurely detonates in Belfast, killing the bomber and nine civilians. Wikipedia
• 1995 Yolanda Saldívar is found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of popular Latin singer Selena. Wikipedia
• 1998 Israel and the Palestinian Authority sign the Wye River Memorandum. Wikipedia
• 2001 Apple Computer releases the iPod. Wikipedia
• 2015 Hurricane Patricia, the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Western Hemisphere, peaked with maximum sustained winds of 215 mph (345 km/h) south of Mexico. Wikipedia
• 2017 War against the Islamic State: Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana declares the end of the Siege of Marawi. Wikipedia
• 2022 Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by the Central Committee, beginning a third term of the paramount leader of China. Wikipedia

Born on October 23

• 1832 Johan Gabriel Ståhlberg, Finnish priest and father of K. J. Ståhlberg, the first President of Finland (died 1873) Wikipedia
• 1835 Adlai Stevenson I, American lawyer and politician, 23rd Vice President of the United States (died 1914) Wikipedia
• 1875 Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist and academic (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1905 Felix Bloch, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1908 Ilya Frank, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1920 Gianni Rodari, Italian writer (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1925 Johnny Carson, American television host (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1928 Zhu Rongji, Chinese engineer and politician, 5th Premier of the People's Republic of China (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1940 Pelé, Brazilian footballer and actor (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1942 Michael Crichton, American author and screenwriter (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1947 Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, co-founder of the Palestinian movement Hamas (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1949 Krešimir Ćosić, Croatian soldier and politician Wikipedia
• 1954 Ang Lee, Taiwanese-American director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1957 Paul Kagame, Rwandan soldier and politician, 6th President of Rwanda Wikipedia
• 1959 "Weird Al" Yankovic, American comedy musician, writer, and actor Wikipedia
• 1959 Sam Raimi, American director, screenwriter and producer Wikipedia
• 1976 Ryan Reynolds, Canadian-American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1979 Prabhas, Telugu film actor Wikipedia
• 1985 Masiela Lusha, Albanian-American actress, poet, and humanitarian Wikipedia
• 1986 Emilia Clarke, English actress Wikipedia
• 1992 Álvaro Morata, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1994 Margaret Qualley, American actress Wikipedia

Died on October 23

• 42 BC Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, Roman general and politician (born 85 BC) Wikipedia
• 1852 Georg August Wallin, Finnish explorer, orientalist, and professor (born 1811) Wikipedia
• 1867 Franz Bopp, German linguist and academic (born 1791) Wikipedia
• 1869 Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1799) Wikipedia
• 1872 Théophile Gautier, French journalist, author, and poet (born 1811) Wikipedia
• 1910 Chulalongkorn, Thai king (born 1853) Wikipedia
• 1921 John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish businessman, founded Dunlop Rubber (born 1840) Wikipedia
• 1944 Hana Brady, Czech holocaust victim (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 1944 Charles Glover Barkla, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1877) Wikipedia
• 1986 Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1893) Wikipedia
• 2003 Soong Mei-ling, Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-shek, 2nd First Lady of the Republic of China (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 2005 Stella Obasanjo, Nigerian wife of Olusegun Obasanjo, 10th First Lady of Nigeria (born 1945) Wikipedia
• 2011 Herbert A. Hauptman, American chemist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2022 Adriano Moreira, Portuguese politician, Minister of the Overseas Provinces, President of the CDS – People's Party (born 1922) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: James the Just (i.e. James, brother of Jesus) (Lutheran, Episcopal Church (USA), Eastern Orthodox) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Allucio of Campugliano Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Amon of Toul (Diocese of Toul) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Boethius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ignatios of Constantinople Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John of Capistrano Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joséphine Leroux Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter Pascual Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Romain (Romanus) of Rouen Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Servandus and Cermanus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Severin of Cologne Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: October 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Christmas or the Feast of Señor Noemi (the Child Jesus) in the Apostolic Catholic Church Wikipedia
• Mole Day (International observance) Wikipedia

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