Some of the significant events which took place on July 23 taken from the leaf of History:

636 – Arabs gain control of most of Palestine from Byzantine Empire.

685 – John V begins his reign as Catholic Pope.

1148 – Crusaders attack Damascus.

1215 – Frederick II crowned as The King in Aachen: On this day, Frederick II, the holy Roman Emperor was crowned the King of Romans in Aachen by the German Princess. At the age of three, the mighty emperor was appointed as the King of Sicily.

1253 – Jews are expelled from Vienne France by order of Pope Innocent IV.

1298 – Rindfleisch (“Beef”) Persecutions – Jewish community in Wurzburg Germany massacred

1431 – G Cesarini opens Counsil of Basel (Ferrara/Florence).

1453 – Battle at Gavere: Philip the Good beats Gentse rebellion.

1555 – Humayun reconquers Delhi after defeating Sikandar Suri.

1862 – Henry Halleck takes charge of the Union Army: In an attempt to improvise on the Union war efforts, General Henry Halleck took on the role of general-in-chief for all the Union forces. Before the civil war, Halleck served the Mexican- American War and later became the railroad president as well.

1904: The Great Indian Peninsula Railway starts first class restaurant cars on its trains.

1906: Chandra Shekhar Azad is born in Bhawra, Madhya Pradesh, India. He was only 15 when he joined the non-cooperation movement headed by Mahatma Gandhi, which eventually led to his arrest. On the day of his arrest, Chandra Shekhar took on the name, ‘Azad’, which meant the liberated one. Most of Azad’s revolutionary work was carried out from Shahjahanpur. On 27th February 1931, Azad went to Prayag (then Allahabad) to meet another revolutionary in Alfred Park. On the tip-off, British Police team reached the park to arrest him but Azad had taken a vow not to be ever caught by the police alive. In exchange of bullet fire, only last bullet was left in his pistol. Chandra Shekhar Azad shot himself to death keeping his words of vow.

1914 – Serbia receives an Ultimatum: The ambassador of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Baron Giesl von Gieslingen, issued an ultimatum to Serbia on this day. This was triggered as a result of the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Australian throne and his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Bosnia, nearly one month ago.

1927: Daily radio transmission broadcasting in India started by the first commercial radio station – the Bombay Radio Station.

1930 – Italy shaken by Earthquake: On this day, a high intensity earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7, struck the southern area of Italy, with upper Irpinia being the worst affected. The deadly disaster left close to 1500 people dead and thousands injured. The reason behind this tremor is assigned to the poor quality of construction material of the buildings and the soil on which towns and villages were built.

1931 – US Communist Crack Down: With the growing public discontent at high unemployment and the Government’s failure to do anything a growing movement led by communist infiltrators to the US has meant the government is cracking down on communist activities including propaganda that is distributed to Negroes telling them to take control of the government and companies , Federal Agents have seized a large am mount of literature and is deporting the infiltrators back to Havana where most 1941 – France Douglas Bader: Douglas Bader the British RAF fighter pilot who had lost his legs in a flying accident, was shot down over France and captured by the Germans. During his time as a POW, Douglas Bader made as much trouble as possible and escaped in August 1942, on his recapture by the Germans he was sent to Colditz Castle which provided a more secure prison. Before he was shot down he had claimed 22 German aircraft shot down which was the fifth highest total in the RAF. In 1956 the movie “Reach for the Sky” was based on The Story of Douglas Bader, Hero of the Battle of Britain.”

1945 – Vichy Leader Treason Trial: Marshal Henri Petain, who had headed the Vichy government during World War II and had signed as head of state an armistice with Germany that gave Nazi Germany control over the north and west of the country, this left part of the country not under Nazi control including the resort town of Vichy which is where the administrative center was (hence the name Vichy Government). Marshal Henri Petain is put on trial for treason.

1951- Commander-In-Chief dies in prison: On this day, French General Henri-Philippe Petain, known for his exceptional leadership, died at the age of 95, in prison. He was sentenced to life imprisonment due to his collaboration with the Germans, who occupied France during World War II.

1952 – Egypt Military Coup d’etat: A military coup d’etat in Egypt headed by Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser’s Society of Free Officers seizes control of the government. Following the revolution King Farouk I of Egypt abdicates. The revolutionary redistributed land, tried politicians for corruption, and in 1953 abolished the monarchy. In 1954, Nasser emerged from behind the scenes, removed Naguib from power, and proclaimed himself prime minister of Egypt.

1956 – India celebrates the birth centenary of Lokmanya, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the renowned leader of India’s independence movement.

1957 – Great Britain Bus Workers Strike: Bus drivers throughout Britain have now been on strike for the 5th day causing major disruption to commuters around the country and in some area’s due to the frustration of the travelling public leading to violence.

1962 -International Agreement Signed on the neutrality of Laos: On this day, an international agreement was signed between fourteen states including Laos in Geneva. All the fourteen states agreed on respecting the neutrality of Laos, thereby abstaining from any sort of intervention in the internal affairs of Laos. Despite the agreement, the situations didn’t improve in the region. In fact, it worsened during the Vietnam War.

1964 – US War on Poverty: President Lyndon B. Johnson began pushing for a War on Poverty requesting $962,000 from Congress for improving literacy, drug rehabilitation and employment programs.

1965- President Johnson announces a state of national emergency: On this day, former U.S. President, Lyndon B. Johnson was urged by many to declare a state of emergency in the United States, considering the turbulent situations prevailing in Vietnam. In addition, Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense, suggested Johnson to expand the military in South Vietnam.

1967 – US Detroit Riots: One of the worst riots in U.S. history breaks out in the heart of Detroit’s predominantly African American inner city. By the time it was ended four days later on July 27 by 7,000 National Guard and U.S. Army troops, 43 people were dead, 342 injured, and nearly 1,400 buildings had been burned.

1972 – Eddy Merckx’s 4th Consecutive Tour De France Victory: Belgium based Eddy Merckx won the fourth consecutive Tour de France bicycling competition on this day. He worked hard on his cycling skills and mastered it to an extent where he was given the nickname ‘The Cannibal’, since he didn’t let anyone else win.

1974 – Greece Constantine Karamanlis: Following a military coup seizing power in Greece in April 1967 Constantine Karamanlis had been in self-imposed exile in France. On this day the military leadership has invited him back to form a new government hoping his popularity with both the Greek people and Turkish leadership will avert an all-out war over Cyprus. Turkish forces invaded Cyprus 2 days earlier.

1976 – First Cases Legionnaires Disease: 4,000 delegates from the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Legion met at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia for a four-day gathering. Several days after the event ended, many attendees became sick. By August 2nd, 22 people were dead and hundreds connected to the gathering were experiencing pneumonia-like symptoms. The cause was traced back to an aquatic microorganism bacteria at the hotel and the disease was later called Legionnaires disease.

1982 – Mishap on the sets of Twilight Zone: On this day, American actor Vic Morrow along with Renee Shinn Chen and Myca Dinh Le, two child actors died on the sets of the movie ‘Twilight Zone’ in California. This happened as a result of shooting of a scene of a Vietnam War battle which involved the three artists to run from a helicopter approaching them. It seemed like the pilot lost control, which caused the plane to crash on the three of them, resulting in their instant deaths.

1984 – U.S.A. Vanessa Williams: Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America, gave up her crown after sexually explicit photos of her appeared in the September issue of Penthouse magazine.

1984 – Sellafield Nuclear Power Plant: A new government report confirms an increased incidence of Leukemia clusters in and around the Sellafield Nuclear Power Plant in Cumbria. The report led by Sir Douglas Black has confirmed the clusters but says too little research has been done to confirm they are related to the Nuclear Power Plant. A number of reports in later years did link the increase of Leukemia in the area to Sellafield but BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels) and the government continue to say that there is no evidence to support a link between Leukemia and nuclear power plants.

1986 – UK Prince Andrew Marries: Prince Andrew married English commoner Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey which has recently celebrated its 900 year old birthday in London.

1996 – U.S. Women Bring Home Gymnastic Gold Medal: The female gymnastics team of America won the first gold medal in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Gerogia. The team, comprising of seven members, performed to the best of its ability and defeated the champions, Russia and Romania.

2000- Tiger Woods, Youngest Player to Win the Grand Slam: The famous American golf professional, Tiger Woods, made history by winning the Grand Slam at the 129th British Open and became the youngest player (24 years) to complete a career Grand Slam. To bag a career Grand Slam, one needs to win all four major tournaments once in their career.

2002 – The Downing Street Memo: On this day, a meeting happened between the senior British government officials as well as defense and intelligent officials to discuss on the intent for war in Iraq. It even included American policies of involving military action to get Saddam Husain removed.

2003 – Claims of abuse by clergy in mass: The Massachusetts attorney general report claims clergy members and others in the Boston Archdiocese possibly sexually abused more than 1,000 children over sixty years.

2005 – Egypt terrorist attack Sharm al-Sheikh: A number of bombs have been exploded in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh by Terrorist attacks. The latest figures indicate nearly 100 are dead including tourists staying at a Hotel that was targeted, and many more injured.

2006 – Germany doctors strike: Doctors in Germany continued rolling strikes with demands for better working conditions and higher wages. This strike affected up to 700 hospitals in Germany for over a month. Nearly 70,000 doctors alternated protests while still providing basic emergency care for patients in the country.

2007 – Spain Bank Robber Caught: The most wanted criminal in Spain was caught on this day. The man was accused of armed robbery of more than thirty banks in Spain and killing at least three police officers. He was arrested in Figueira da Foz, Portugal while planning another bank robbery.

2007 – U.S.A. United States Veterans: A coalition of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans sues the United States government on claims that they have been denied mental health care and disability payments. The group claimed that the Department of Veteran Affairs would purposely mislabel soldiers experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder so the government would not have to pay for treatment.

2008 – Japan Earthquake: An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 hit Japan on this day. The earthquake hit the main island of Honshu and caused landslides, power outages, fires, and injuries.

2009 – Iceland Submitted Its EU Application: Iceland submitted its formal application to join the European Union on July 23rd, 2009. The country underwent an economic collapse in 2008, which instigated the country’s leaders to join the European Union, with a hope that they would get some economic stability.

2012 – First US Woman in space dies: Sally Ride, the first woman from the United States who went into space, died at the age of sixty-one after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Ride made her first flight into space in 1983 in the Space Shuttle Challenger.

2013 – Burma political prisoners released: Seventy-three political prisoners were freed by the Burmese government in an attempt by President Thein Sein to release all political dissidents by the end of the year. Burma has been working towards democracy since 2010 and began releasing prisoners three years ago.