This Day in History on 23 August
The historical events hold a lot of value for aspirants who are sitting for UPSC competitive exams including the IAS Exam.
On this page, we will list all historical events that occurred on 23 August. The students can refer them while preparing for all competitive exams and banking exams.
Important Days
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
Important Events
1573: Akbar left for Agra when he received the report of widespread rebellion. He arrived in Ahmedabad by forced marches on the eleventh day.
1839: United Kingdom captured Hong Kong.
1933: Mahatma Gandhi was released from Poona jail after his hunger strike (against the Government’s attitude to Untouchables) almost kills him. Mahatma Gandhi was released from government detention in the Poona Civil Hospital after doctors warned that his fast was endangering his life. Gandhi, who undertook the fast eight days ago in protest over being arrested again by British authorities, weighed 90 pounds at the time of his release. There was considerable speculation over what the nationalist leader would do upon regaining his strength, but the common assumption was that he would be arrested again by the British authorities if he resumed his civil disobedience.
1947: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was sworn is as the Deputy Prime Minister of India.
1958: Marathwada University was started.
1966: Lunar Orbiter I took a photograph of the Earth from orbit around the moon.
1986: B. G. Deshmukh was appointed as the Cabinet Secretary of India. He held this office till 27th March, 1989.
1991: The World Wide Web opened to the public.
1994: Former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan possessed a nuclear bomb and warned that an attack by India could start a nuclear war in Pakistan.
1995: Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu ushers in the cell phone revolution in India by making the first call to Union Telecom Minister Sukh Ram.
1995: First ever cellular phone service begins in Calcutta.
2000: India, Japan unveil new global partnership and agree to start a formal security dialogue. Sanctions status quo on CTBT.
2011: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown.
Birth/Birth Anniversary
1754: Louis XVI, French monarch responsible for the revolution and the last king of France.
1850: Radha Gobinda Kar, eminent physician, and philanthropist of Bengal.
1852: Radha Gobinda Kar, Indian physician and philanthropist (d. 1918)
1872: Tanguturi Prakasam: great lawyer, journalist, nationalist, politician, leader, social reformer and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, was born at Kanuparthi village in Ongole district in Andhra Pradesh.
1944: Saira Banu, Indian actress.
1947: Willey Russell, English playwright from Liverpool.
1951: Queen Noor, Queen of Jordan.
1973: Vani Kapoor, Indian actress, and model.
Death/ Death Anniversary
93 AD: Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general, renowned for his conquest in Britain.
1892: Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian field marshal, and politician, 1st President of Brazil.
1926: Rudolf Valentino, screen actor, the idol of millions.
1942: Gorabai Katiya, freedom fighter, was shot by police while participating in a procession for freedom movement in Narsihapur.
1982: Stanford Moore, American biochemist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate.
1989: Pandit Krishnarao Shankarrao, great singer of ‘Gwalher Gharana’, passed away.
1994: Arti Saha, first Indian female swimmer who swam across English Chanel. She succumbed to an incurable jaundice.
1997: John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate.
2000: Pronindranath Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, Union Power Minister, dies of a massive heart attack at the AIIMS, New Delhi.
2015: Enrique Reneau, Honduran footballer (b. 1971)
2015: Paul Royle, Australian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1914)
2016: Steven Hill, American actor (b. 1922)
2019: David Koch, American engineer, businessman, and philanthropist (b. 1940)