This Day in History
23 May 1493
King Charles VIII & Maximilian I of Austria signs Peace of Senlis
23 May 1568
Battle of Heiligerlee Groningen Dutch rebels beat Spanish thousands killed
23 May 1568
The Netherlands declares independence from Spain
23 May 1609
Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place
More History
High ranking Nazi official Adolf Eichmann captured
On May 23 1960 Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announces to the world that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured and will stand trial in ...
Forgotten Civil War hero honored
Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery on July 18 1863 while fighting for the Union cause as a member of t...
New York Public Library dedicated
In a ceremony presided over by President William Howard Taft the New York Public Library the largest marble structure ever constructed in the United States i...
Captain Kidd walks the plank
At Londons Execution Dock British privateer William Kidd popularly known as Captain Kidd is hanged for piracy and murder.Born in Strathclyde Scotlan...
Nazi SS Chief Heinrich Himmler dies by suicide
On this day in 1945 Heinrich Himmler chief of the SS assistant chief of the Gestapo and architect of Hitlers program to exterminate European Jews c...
Police kill famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde
On this day in 1934 notorious criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police while driving a stolen car near Sa...
Lord Mountbatten cousin to a king sunk by German dive bombers
On this day in 1941 Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten second cousin of King George VI of Britain and the only man other than the king to hold rank in all three m...
United States widens aerial campaign
Heavy U.S. air attacks that began with an order by President Richard Nixon on May 8 are widened to include more industrial and non-military sites. In 190 strike...
North Vietnamese infiltrators attack U S base
North Vietnamese demolition experts infiltrate the major U.S. air base at Cam Ranh Bay blowing up six tanks of aviation fuel which resulted in the loss of abo...
Congressman claims M 16 rifle is defective
A public controversy over the M-16 the basic combat rifle in Vietnam begins after Representative James J. Howard (D-New Jersey) reads a letter to the House of...
Joe Louis beats Buddy Baer to retain heavyweight title
On May 23 1941 Joe Louis beats Buddy Baer to retain his heavyweight title. The fight was widely considered the most exciting heavyweight match-up since Dempse...
George W Bush recovers from bicycle accident
On this day in 2004 as reported in the Washington Post President George Bush recovers from a bicycle accident hed had the day before. Bush had taken u...
Curley is buried at Little Big Horn
The Crow scout Curley the last man on the army side to see Custer and the 7th Cavalry alive is buried at the National Cemetery of the Big Horn Battlefield in ...
Transcendental writer Margaret Fuller is born
Writer and editor Margaret Fuller who inspired other Americans to devote themselves to learning is born on this day.Fuller was born in Massachusetts and grew ...
Tom Petty defies his record label and files for bankruptcy
The music industry is notorious for its creative accounting practices and for onerous contracts that can keep even some top-selling artists perpetually in debt ...
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