42BC Brutus, whose army is crushed by Anthony and Octavian at Philippi, commits suicide in Rome by falling on his own sword
425 Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.
502 The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
1086 At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI.
1157 The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the civil war in Denmark. King Sweyn III is killed and Valdemar I restores the country.
1641 Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 - anniversary commemorated by Irish Protestants
1642 The Battle of Edgehill, in the Cotswolds - the first major battle of the English Civil War between King Charles I of England and Parliament
1679 Meal Tub Plot against James II of England
1694 American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phipps, fail to seize Quebec.
1707 The first Parliament of Great Britain, i.e., the United Kingdom, meets.
1739 War of Jenkins' Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.
1775 Continental Congress approves resolution barring blacks from army
1790 Slaves revolt in Haiti
1805 Sailing ship "Aeneus" sinks off Newfoundland killing 340
1812 Claude François de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he was now the commandant of Paris. De Malet is executed on October 29.
1813 The Pacific Fur Company trading post in Astoria, Oregon is turned over to the rival British North West Company (the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest was dominated for the next three decades by the United Kingdom).
1843 The building of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, commemorating Admiral Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, is finally completed
1855 Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their Topeka, Kansas, constitution, which outlaws slavery in the United States territory.
1861 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
1864 Battle of Westport, Missouri. Union forces under General Samuel R Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Sterling Price at Westport, near Kansas City
1867 72 Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.
1870 Franco-Prussian War : the Siege of Metz concludes with a decisive Prussian victory.
1890 The opera "Prince Igor" is produced (St Petersburg)
1906 In Britain, women suffragettes, campaigning for the right to vote, hold a demonstration at the House of Commons. 10 are arrested and sent to prison
1906 Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
1910 Blanche Scott became 1st woman solo a public airplane flight
1911 First use of aircraft in war: An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.
1912 First Balkan War : The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.
1915 In US, 25,000 women march in NYC, demanding right to vote
1917 Lenin calls for the October Revolution.
1927 City of Netanya, Israel founded
1929 Great Depression: After a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic.
1929 The first North American transcontinental air service begins between New York City and Los Angeles, California.
1930 The first miniature golf tournament was completed in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1935 Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard "Lulu" Rosencrantz are fatally shot at a saloon in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.
1941 Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations designed to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the German armies from capturing Moscow.
1941 Burning of the Odessa, Ukraine, Jews: 19,000 Jews are burned alive at Dalnik in Odessa, by Romanian and German troops. The next day, another 10,000 Jews are killed. Romanian Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolae Deleanu administered the executions.
1941 Walt Disney's "Dumbo" released
1942 The start of the decisive battle of El Alemein between Allied forces commanded by British Field Marshall Montgomery and the German and Italian North African armies commanded by Field Marshall Rommel. The Allies gain a significant victory at the end of 16 days' fighting
1942 All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Amongst the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger ("Thanks for the Memory", "Love in Bloom", "Blue Hawaii").
1942 The Battle for Henderson Field begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on October 26.
1944 Soviet army invades Hungary
1944 The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins - The largest naval battle in history begins in the Philippines; and also, the Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.
1946 The United Nations holds its first General Assembly in New York
1947 NAACP petition on racism, "An Appeal to the World" presented to UN
1954 Britain, England, France and USSR agree to end occupation of Germany
1956 1st video recording on magnetic tape televised coast-to-coast
1956 Rioting in Budapest starts the Hungarian Uprising. Demonstrators call for the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Hungary
1957 1st test firing of Vanguard satellite launch vehicle, TV-3
1958 Soviet novelist Boris Pasternak, wins Nobel Prize for Literature
1958 USSR lends money to UAR to build Aswan High Dam
1958 The Springhill Mine Bump - An underground earthquake traps 174 miners in the No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, the deepest coal mine in North America at the time. By November 1, rescuers from around the world had dug out 100 of the victims, marking the death toll at 74.
1958 The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves later popularized in a Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series appear for the first time, in the story Le flute à six schtroumpfs, a Johan and Peewit adventure by Peyo which is serialized in the weekly comics magazine Spirou
1967 British farmers begin slaughtering cattle following a severe outbreak of 'foot and mouth' disease
1965 The 1st Cavalry Division (United States) (Airmobile), in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleiku in the II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).
1973 Nixon agrees to turn over White House tape recordings to Judge Sirica
1973 UN's revised International Telecommunication Convention adopted
1973 A United Nations sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.
1977 Panamanians vote 2:1 to approve the new Canal treaties
1980 Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin resigns, due to illness
1983 Lebanon Civil War : The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. Marines. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
1984 NBC airs BBC footage of Ethiopian famine
1987 In Britain, former Champion Jockey Lester Piggott is jailed for three years for tax evasion
1989 The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szurös, replacing the communist Hungarian People's Republic.
1989 Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas killed 23 and injured 314.
1990 Iraq announces release of 330 French hostages
1991 In Britain, the House of Lords rules that husbands can legally be convicted of raping their wives
1991 Dr Jack Kevorkian's suicide machine kills 2 women
1992 Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.
1998 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land for peace" agreement.
2001 The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks.
2001 Apple releases the iPod.
2002 Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
2004 A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.

October 23rd 2005

Confusion surrounds Nigeria crash

Relief in Mexico as Wilma leaves

Brazil votes on banning weapons

October 23rd 2006

Rubber bullets at Hungary protest

Iraqi officials 'stole millions'

Shanghai scandal 'implicates 50'

October 23rd 2007

Iraq to ban Kurd rebel operations

EU 'Blue Card' to target skilled

Obesity 'epidemic' turns global

October 23rd 2008

Financial crisis 'like a tsunami'

'US missiles' hit Pakistan school

Eight die in Italian helicopter

October 23rd 2009

Nigeria in big scamster crackdown

Aid agency seeks Pakistan access

Iran misses UN nuclear deadline

Birthdates which occurred on October 23rd:

1752 Nicolas Appert inventor (food canning, bouillon tablet)
1844 Louis Riel Manitoba, leader of insurrection of M‚tis
1844 Robert Bridges poet laureate of England (The Testament of Beauty)
1868 Rama V [Chulalongkorn], leader of Thailand (-1910)
19-- Albert Stratton Hubbard Ohio, actor (Paul-Perry Mason, Martin-Sara)
19-- Augusta Dabney Beverly Calif, actress (Robert Montgomery Presents)
19-- Warren Burton actor (Guiding Light)
19-- Wolf Muser actor (Capitol)
1905 Felix Bloch US physicist (Nobel 1952)
1906 Gertrude Ederle US, swimmer (Olympic-gold-1924)
1910 Hayden Rorke Brooklyn NY, actor (Dr Bellows-I Dream of Jeannie)
1912 Ilse D”rffeldt Germany, sprint relay (Olympic-1936)
1914 Frank (Bruiser) Kinard NFL, AAFC tackle (Brooklyn, NY Yankees)
1917 Robert Bray Kalispell Mont, actor (Corey-Lassie, Stagecoach West)
1918 James Daly Wisc, actor (Medical Center)
1922 Coleen Gray Staplehurst Nebraska, actress (Apache Drums)
1923 Frank Sutton Clarksville Tenn, actor (Sgt Carter-Gomer Pyle USMC)
1923 Ned Rorem Richmond Indiana, composer/author (Sky Music)
1925 Johnny Carson Corning Iowa, comedian (Tonight Show, Who Do You Trust)
1927 Dezs” Gyarmati Hungary, water polo player (Olympic-gold-1956, 60, 64)
1931 Diana Dors England, actress (Berserk!, Steaming)
1931 Jim Bunning Phillies pitcher (perfect Game against Mets 1965)
1932 Dimitra Arliss actress (Rich Man Poor Man II)
1935 Chi Chi Rodriguez golfer (PGA Seniors-1987)
1938 John Heinz (Sen-R-Pa)
1938 Jordan Christopher Youngstown Ohio, actor (Secrets of Midland Heights)
1940 Edison Pel‚ Brazil, soccer player extraordinaire (NY Cosmos)
1940 Jordan Christopher Youngston Oh, actor (Return of the 7)
1941 Greg Ridley bassist (Spooky Tooth-It's All About)
1942 Michael Crichton US novelist (Andromeda Strain, Congo, Looker)
1946 Miklos Nemeth Hungary, javelin thrower (Olympic-gold-1976)
1951 Michael Rupert Denver Colo, actor (Pasadena Playhouse)
1956 Darrell Place US, archer (Olympic-gold-1976)
1956 Dwight Yoakum country singer (If There Was a Way)
1959 "Weird Al" Yankovic parody singer (Eat It, UHF, Naked Gun)
1962 Doug Flute WFL/NFL QB (Generals, Bears, Patriots)
1963 Katherine Hushaw Anaheim Ca, playmate (Oct, 1986)
1969 Brooke Theiss Calif, actress (Wendy-Just the 10 of Us, Good & Evil)
1974 Kaleena Kiff Santa Monica Calif, actress (Patti-Love Sidney)

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Deaths which occurred on October 23rd:
1903 Francis Ellingwood Abbot theologian (Scientific Theism), dies at 66
1915 W.G. Grace British cricketer, dies
1978 Maybelle Carter country singer (Johnny Cash Show), dies at 69
1983 Jessica Savitch Margate NJ, newscaster (NBC Weekend), dies at 36
1983 Tamara Shayne actress, dies at 80 of a heart attack
1984 David Gorcey dead end kid actor, dies at 63 in a diabetic coma
1984 Oskar Werner actor, dies of a heart attack at 61