On This Day in History

May 23

Historical Events

1618 Second Defenestration of Prague: Two Catholic Lords Regent and their secretary are thrown out of a window and amazingly are not seriously injured by the 70 foot (21m) fall. Triggers the Thirty Years' War.

1785 Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals.

1813 South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (The Liberator).

FBI photo of the car carrying Bonnie and Clyde after the shootout

1934 American outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow - Bonnie and Clyde, are killed by police in an ambush near Sailes, Louisiana.

1949 Federal Republic of [West] Germany created out of the American, British and French occupation zones.

1958 Mao Zedong starts the "Great Leap Forward" movement in China, kills between 23 and 55 million Chinese citizens due to famine and forced labor.

1998 The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes..

More Historical Events

Famous Birthdays

Carl Linnaeus 1707 - 1778 Ambrose Burnside 1824 - 1881

Joan Collins 91st Birthday Drew Carey 66th Birthday

Also Douglas Fairbanks and Jewel Kilcher (50).

More Famous Birthdays

Famous Deaths

William Kidd 1645 - 1701 Heinrich Himmler 1900 - 1945

Also John D. Rockefeller and Roger Moore.

More Famous Deaths

President Falls From Grace

Paul Deschanel had the makings of a fine President of France – until a series of bizarre incidents culminated in him falling out the window of a moving train.

An Unfortunate President