23 August in history
8 events that happened on 23 August, from 406 to 1989.
✦ Anniversary of the day
476 CE 1,550 years ago
Odoacer is proclaimed king by the foederati in Italy
After Orestes refused the Germanic foederati land in Italy, they and much of the Italic Roman army proclaimed Odoacer king. He then deposed the young emperor Romulus, a takeover traditionally seen as the end of the Western Roman Empire.
1268 CE 758 years ago
Charles of Anjou defeats Conradin at Tagliacozzo
Using a hidden reserve, Charles I of Anjou defeated Conradin, the sixteen-year-old last heir of the Hohenstaufen, who had come to reclaim the Kingdom of Sicily. Conradin was captured and beheaded in Naples that October, ending Hohenstaufen rule in Italy.
1305 CE 721 years ago
William Wallace is executed in London
Betrayed and captured near Glasgow, William Wallace was hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield. The victor of Stirling Bridge became an enduring symbol of Scottish independence.
1382 CE 644 years ago
Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde lays siege to Moscow
After taking Serpukhov, the army of Tokhtamysh, khan of the Golden Horde, besieged Moscow, which Grand Prince Dmitrij had left under the Lithuanian prince Ostej. Three days later the citizens were tricked into surrendering, and the city was stormed and razed.
1989 CE 37 years ago
Two million people form the Baltic Way human chain
Some two million people joined hands across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on the 50th anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The 675 km chain demanded independence, regained in 1990-91.
Born on 23 August 2
Died on 23 August 6
Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.