Calendar date · August

What happened on August 23

On August 23, 79: Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

Events

67

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Virgo

Featured moment · 79

Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

AD 79 (LXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Titus and Vespasianus. The denomination AD 79 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

People

Born on August 23

Boryana Kaleyn 2000– Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast
P. J. Washington 1998– American basketball player (born 1998)
Lil Yachty 1997– American rapper (born 1997)
Alejo Igoa 1996– Argentine YouTuber (born 1996)
Gabriela Lee 1995– Romanian tennis player (born 1995)
Cameron Norrie 1995– British professional tennis player (born 1995)
August Ames 1994– Canadian pornographic actress (1994–2017)
Jusuf Nurkić 1994– Bosnian basketball player (born 1994)
Taylor Decker 1993– American football player (born 1993)
Show 9 more — notable births on August 23
Tyler Glasnow 1993– American baseball player (born 1993)
Iván López 1993– Spanish footballer
Nicola Docherty 1992– Scottish footballer (born 1992)
Will Toledo 1992– Indie rock musician
Seth Curry 1990– American basketball player (born 1990)
Mike Yastrzemski 1990– American baseball player (born 1990)
Lianne La Havas 1989– British musician
Trixie Mattel 1989– American drag queen and musician (born 1989)
Heiko Schwarz 1989– German footballer

People

Died on August 23

Dmitry Utkin Russian military officer (1970–2023)
Yevgeny Prigozhin Russian oligarch and mercenary leader (1961–2023)
Terry Funk American wrestler (1944–2023)
Elizabeth Blackadder Scottish painter and printmaker (1931–2021)
Augusta Chiwy Belgian nurse (1921–2015)
Guy Ligier French racing driver (1930–2015)
Enrique Reneau Honduran footballer (1971-2015)
Paul Royle Australian airman
Albert Ebossé Bodjongo Cameroonian footballer (1989-2014)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on August 23
Annefleur Kalvenhaar Dutch cyclist and mountain biker (1994–2014
Birgitta Stenberg Swedish author, translator and illustrator (1932–2014)
Jaume Vallcorba Plana Spanish philologist
Richard J. Corman U.S. railroad services company founder
William Glasser American psychiatrist
Charles Lisanby American production designer
Konstanty Miodowicz Polish politician
Vesna Rožič Slovenian chess player (1987–2013)
Tatyana Zaslavskaya Russian sociologist and economist (1927–2013)

Timeline

Every August 23 on record

  1. 79 Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

    Calendar year

    AD 79 (LXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Titus and Vespasianus. The denomination AD 79 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

  2. 476 Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes (Herulic – Scirian foederati), is proclaimed rex Italiae ("King of Italy") by his troops.

    Ruler of Italy (c. 433 – 493)

    Odoacer, also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who was an officer of the Roman army and deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus to become the ruler of Italy (476–493). Odoacer's overthrow of Romulus Augustulus is traditionally understood as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.

  3. 1244 Siege of Jerusalem: The city surrenders to the Khwarazmiyya, ending Christian control of the Jerusalem for the next 672 years.

    Part of the Sixth Crusade

    The siege of Jerusalem of 1244 took place after the Sixth Crusade, when a Khwarazmian army conquered the city on July 15, 1244.

  4. 1268 The Battle of Tagliacozzo: The army of Prince Conradin is nearly destroyed by Charles of Anjou, ending Hohenstaufen control over the Kingdom of Sicily and leaving the Angevins in control.

    1268 dynastic conflict in Italy

    The Battle of Tagliacozzo was fought on 23 August 1268 between the Ghibelline supporters of Conradin of Hohenstaufen and the Guelph army of Charles of Anjou. The battle represented the last act of Hohenstaufen power in Italy. The capture and execution of Conradin several months after the battle also marked the fall of the family from the Imperial and Sicilian thrones, leading to the new chapter of Angevin domination in Southern Italy.

  5. 1328 Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers.

    1328 battle of the 1323–1328 Flemish revolt

    On 23 August 1328, the Battle of Cassel took place near the city of Cassel, 30 km south of Dunkirk in present-day France. Philip VI fought Nicolaas Zannekin, a wealthy farmer from Lampernisse. Zannekin was the leader of a band of Flemish rebels.

  6. 1382 The Golden Horde, led by Khan Tokhtamysh, begins the Siege of Moscow, which ends four days later with the storming of the city and the death of Muscovite Prince Ostei.
  7. 1514 The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty.
  8. 1521 Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent.
  9. 1541 French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.
  10. 1572 French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
  11. 1595 Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory.
  12. 1600 Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara.
  13. 1628 George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton.
  14. 1655 Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
  15. 1703 Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned.
Show 15 earlier entries from August 23
  1. 1775 American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.
  2. 1782 British forces under Edward Despard complete the reconquest of the Black River settlements on the Mosquito Coast from the Spanish.
  3. 1784 Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years.
  4. 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power.
  5. 1813 At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army.
  6. 1831 Nat Turner's rebellion of enslaved Virginians is suppressed.
  7. 1839 The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for the First Opium War with Qing China.
  8. 1864 American Civil War: The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas.
  9. 1866 The Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague.
  10. 1873 The Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens.
  11. 1898 The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London.
  12. 1904 The automobile tire chain is patented.
  13. 1914 World War I: The British Expeditionary Force and the French Fifth Army begin their Great Retreat before the German Army.
  14. 1914 World War I: Japan declares war on Germany.
  15. 1921 British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber Estuary; of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive.

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