23 August on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

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

The Western Roman army under Stilicho corners and defeats the Ostrogothic army in the battle of Faesulae.

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

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

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.

William Wallace is put on trial and subsequently hanged, drawn and quartered.

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

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.

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.

Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent.

French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.

French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.

Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory.

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.

George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton.

Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned.

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.

British forces under Edward Despard complete the reconquest of the Black River settlements on the Mosquito Coast from the Spanish.

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.

Napoleon Bonaparte leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power.

At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army.

Nat Turner's rebellion of enslaved Virginians is suppressed.

The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for the First Opium War with Qing China.

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.

The Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague.

The Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens.

The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London.

The automobile tire chain is patented.

World War I: Japan declares war on Germany.

World War I: The British Expeditionary Force and the French Fifth Army begin their Great Retreat before the German Army.

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.

Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter perform the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.

Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial.

Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attacks on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine occur, continuing until the next day, resulting in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.

The Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane made landfall in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and went on to cause at least 47 deaths in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region.

World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret protocol to the pact, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania are divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".

World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.

World War II: Kharkiv is liberated by the Soviet Red Army for the second time after the Battle of Kursk.

Freckleton air disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people.

World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is later arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.

World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allied forces.

World War II: Soviet–Japanese War: The USSR State Defense Committee issues Decree no. 9898cc "About Receiving, Accommodation, and Labor Utilization of the Japanese Army Prisoners of War".

Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein.

The World Council of Churches is formed by 147 churches from 44 countries.

The Cruise of the Kings, a royal cruise organised by the Queen Consort of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, departs from Marseille, France.

The first flight of the Lockheed C-130 multi-role aircraft takes place.

Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.

Congo Crisis: In order to stop the secession of South Kasai from the Republic of Congo, Armée Nationale Congolaise forces launched an invasion of South Kasai.

Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.

Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins.

A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome".

The Pontiac Silverdome opens in Pontiac, Michigan, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Detroit, Michigan.

The start of the Wave Hill walk-off by Gurindji people in Australia, lasting eight years, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 Paul Kelly song and an annual celebration.

Waylon Jennings arrested in a drug raid.

Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.

Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands.

Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.

West and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3.

The World Wide Web is opened to the public.

Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143.

Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity.

The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia.

The Manila hostage crisis occurs near the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, Philippines, killing 9 people including the perpetrator while injuring 9 others.

A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington, D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at 200 million–300 million USD.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War.

A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others.

A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people.

A business jet carrying key leadership members of the Russian private military company Wagner Group crashes, killing all ten people on board.

Chandrayaan-3 mission initiates first Moon landing in Indian history.

Louis XVI of France (died 1793)

Kobe Bryant, American basketball player and businessman (died 2020)

Edgar de Wahl, Ukrainian-Estonian linguist and academic (died 1948)

Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, and dancer (died 1996)

Georges Cuvier, French biologist and academic (died 1832)

Halimah Yacob, Singaporean unionist and politician, 9th Speaker and 8th President of Singapore

Kenneth Arrow, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2017)

Konstantin Novoselov, Russian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Giuseppe Meazza, Italian footballer and manager (died 1979)

Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek lawyer, jurist, and politician, 93rd Prime Minister of Greece (died 1936)

Robert Solow, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023)

Houari Boumediene, Algerian colonel and politician, 2nd President of Algeria (died 1978)

River Phoenix, American actor (died 1993)

Robert Curl, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2022)

Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen cleric and politician, 1st President of the Chechen Republic (died 2004)

Thomas A. Steitz, American biochemist best known for his work on the ribosome (died 2018)

Jared Fogle, American spokesman and criminal

Glen Johnson, English footballer

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, French admiral and explorer (died 1788)

Alexander Grin, Russian sailor and author (died 1932)

Alexandre Desplat, French composer and conductor

Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist and academic (died 2006)

Michel Rocard, French civil servant and politician, 160th Prime Minister of France (died 2016)

Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2025)

Demetrio Albertini, Italian footballer and manager

Queen Noor of Jordan

Park Chan-wook, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter

Jeremy Lin, American basketball player

Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, screenwriter, and director (died 2005)

Vicky Leandros, Greek singer and politician

August Ames, Canadian pornographic actress (died 2017)

Vera Miles, American actress

Keith Moon, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (died 1978)

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iranian commander and politician, 54th Mayor of Tehran

Gretchen Whitmer, 49th Governor of Michigan

Barbara Eden, American actress and singer

Scott Caan, American actor

Zoltán Czibor, Hungarian footballer (died 1997)

Shelley Long, American actress

Jay Mohr, American actor, producer, and screenwriter

Julian Casablancas, American singer-songwriter and producer

James Collins, Welsh footballer

Santillana, Spanish footballer

Edgar Lee Masters, American lawyer, author, poet, and playwright (died 1950)

Robert Mulligan, American director and producer (died 2008)

Dick Bruna, Dutch author and illustrator (died 2017)

Olga Govortsova, Belarusian tennis player

Lil Yachty, American rapper and singer

Glória Pires, Brazilian actress

Carlos Cuéllar, Spanish footballer

Jusuf Nurkić, Bosnian basketball player

William Ernest Henley, English poet and critic (died 1903)

Natalie Coughlin, American swimmer

Ray Park, Scottish actor and stuntman

Moritz Cantor, German mathematician and historian (died 1920)

Betty Robinson, American sprinter (died 1999)

Nazik Al-Malaika, Iraqi poet and academic (died 2007)

Arnold Toynbee, English economist and historian (died 1883)

Luigi Delneri, Italian footballer and manager

Trixie Mattel, American drag queen, actor, and country singer