February 23 in History

A snap election is held in Germany.

Four simultaneous prison riots leave at least 62 people dead in Ecuador.

Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American citizen, is shot and murdered by three white men after visiting a house under construction while jogging at a neighborhood in Satilla Shores near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia.

Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767 freighter, crashes into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, killing all three people on board.

Parliamentary elections are held in Djibouti.

The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL.

A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured.

Unknown criminals pour more than 2+1⁄2 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster.

A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.

The Japanese WINDS satellite is launched.

A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 88. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.

An Ariane 4 rocket is launched from the Guiana Space Centre carrying Intelsat 904.

Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.

An avalanche buries the town of Galtür, Austria, killing 31.

In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42 people.

In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.

Saddam Hussein begins the Anfal genocide against Kurds and Assyrians in northern Iraq.

Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.

In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.

The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.

Operation Lam Son 719: South Vietnamese General Do Cao Tri was killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering campaign.

In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist.

Five-time Argentine Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by rebels involved in the Cuban Revolution, on the eve of the Cuban Grand Prix. He was released the following day after the race.

The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.

General elections are held in the United Kingdom.

International Organization for Standardization is founded.

World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.

World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free all 2,147 captives of the Los Baños internment camp, in what General Colin Powell later would refer to as "the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies".

World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.

World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.

World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is annihilated in a raid by 379 British bombers.

American Airlines Flight 009 crashes near Rural Retreat, Virginia, killing 17.

The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.

The Cavan Orphanage fire kills thirty-five girls and an elderly cook.

Greek Resistance: The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth is founded in Greece.

World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the coastline near Santa Barbara, California.

Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.

Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.

German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.

First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution (March 8 in the Gregorian calendar).

The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.

Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.

Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".

Second Boer War: During the Battle of the Tugela Heights, the first British attempt to take Hart's Hill fails.

Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J'Accuse...!, a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.

The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.

Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of aluminium from the electrolysis of aluminium oxide, after several years of intensive work. He was assisted in this project by his older sister, Julia Brainerd Hall.

Sino-French War: French Army gains an important victory in the Battle of Đồng Đăng in the Tonkin region of Vietnam.

Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an anti-trust law.

Reconstruction Era: Post-U.S. Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.

President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.

The official independence of the Orange Free State, South Africa is declared.

Mexican–American War: Battle of Buena Vista: In Mexico, American troops under future president General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.

Texas Revolution: The Siege of the Alamo (prelude to the Battle of the Alamo) begins in San Antonio, Texas.

Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed and the conspirators arrested.

American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to help train the Continental Army.

Berbice slave uprising in Guyana: The first major slave revolt in South America.

J. S. Bach leads his Tafel-Music Shepherd Cantata for the birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels.

Traditionally the date of publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.

Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty.

Khosrow II, Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire, is overthrown.

Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia.

Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.

Alice Litman, English transgender woman

Femke Broeders-Bol, Dutch hurdler and sprinter

Jamal Murray, Canadian basketball player

D'Angelo Russell, American basketball player

Nick Schmaltz, American ice hockey player

Andrew Wiggins, Canadian basketball player

Triptii Dimri, Indian actress

Neviana Vladinova, Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast

Casemiro, Brazilian footballer

Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greek footballer

Kevin Connauton, Canadian ice hockey player

Marco Scandella, Canadian ice hockey player

Evan Bates, American ice dancer

Jérémy Pied, French footballer

Wilin Rosario, Dominican baseball player

Nicolás Gaitán, Argentine footballer

Ab-Soul, American rapper

Malik Hairston, American basketball player

Theophilus London, Trinidadian-American singer-songwriter and producer

Emerson Conceição, Brazilian footballer

Skylar Grey, American singer-songwriter

Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor

Jerod Mayo, American football player and coach

Ola Svensson, Swedish singer-songwriter

Mido, Egyptian footballer, manager and sportscaster

Dijon Thompson, American basketball player

Jia Perkins, American basketball player and coach

Karan Singh Grover, Indian actor

Gareth Barry, English footballer

Charles Tillman, American football player

Dan Snyder, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2003)

Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, Estonian skier

Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress

Jeff O'Neill, Canadian ice hockey player

Michael Cornacchia, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Herschelle Gibbs, South African cricketer

Robbi Kempson, South African rugby player

Jeff Nordgaard, American-Polish basketball player

Alessandro Sturba, Italian footballer

Rondell White, American baseball player

Carin Koch, Swedish golfer

Melinda Messenger, English model and television host

Joe-Max Moore, American soccer player

Michael Campbell, New Zealand golfer

Martine Croxall, English journalist and television news presenter

Bhagyashree, Indian actress

Steve Stricker, American golfer

Chris Vrenna, American drummer, songwriter, and producer

Michael Dell, American businessman

Helena Suková, Czech-Monacan tennis player

John Norum, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter

Bobby Bonilla, American baseball player

Radosław Sikorski, Polish journalist and politician, 11th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland

Clayton Anderson, American engineer and astronaut

Nick de Bois, English politician

Ian Liddell-Grainger, Scottish soldier and politician

Linda Nolan, Irish singer and actress (died 2025)

David Sylvian, English singer-songwriter

Charlie Brandt, American serial killer (died 2004)

Sandra Osborne, Scottish politician

Flip Saunders, American basketball player and coach (died 2015)

Francesca Simon, American-British author

Rajini Thiranagama, Sri Lankan physician and academic (died 1989)

Kenny Bee, Hong Kong singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

Satoru Nakajima, Japanese racing driver

Eddie Dibbs, American tennis player

Debbie Friedman, American singer-songwriter of Jewish melodies (died 2011)

Rebecca Goldstein, American philosopher and author

John Greaves, Welsh bass guitarist and composer

César Aira, Argentine author and translator

Marc Garneau, Canadian engineer, astronaut, and politician (died 2025)

Bill Alexander, English director and producer

Trevor Cherry, English footballer (died 2020)

Steve Priest, English singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2020)

Pia Kjærsgaard, Danish politician, Speaker of the Danish Parliament

Anton Mosimann, Swiss chef and author

Rusty Young, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2021)

Allan Boesak, South African cleric and politician

Bernard Cornwell, English author and educator

Florian Fricke, German keyboard player and composer (died 2001)

Johnny Winter, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2014)

Bobby Mitchell, American golfer (died 2018)

Ron Hunt, American baseball player

Jackie Smith, American football player

Lee Shaffer, American basketball player

Sylvia Chase, American broadcast journalist (died 2019)

Paul Morrissey, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2024)

Diane Varsi, American actress (died 1992)

Majel Barrett, American actress and producer (died 2008)

Tom Wesselmann, American painter and sculptor (died 2004)

Paul West, English-American author, poet, and academic (died 2015)

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow (died 2008)

Elston Howard, American baseball player and coach (died 1980)

Hans Herrmann, German racing driver (died 2026)

Vasily Lazarev, Russian colonel, physician, and astronaut (died 1990)

Régine Crespin, French soprano and actress (died 2007)

Jessica Huntley, Guyanese activist and publisher (died 2013)

Mirtha Legrand, Argentine actress and television presenter

Louis Stokes, American lawyer and politician (died 2015)

Allan McLeod Cormack, South-African-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998)

Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (died 2014)

Harry Clarke, English footballer (died 2000)

Ioannis Grivas, Greek judge and politician, 176th Prime Minister of Greece (died 2016)

Dante Lavelli, American football player (died 2009)

Clarence D. Lester, American fighter pilot (died 1986)

Mary Francis Shura, American author (died 1991)

Johnny Franz, English record producer (died 1977)

Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Canadian lawyer and politician (died 2018)

Johnny Carey, Irish footballer and manager (died 1995)

Jon Hall, American actor and director (died 1979)

William McMahon, Australian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1988)

Terence Fisher, English director and screenwriter (died 1980)

Erich Kästner, German author and poet (died 1974)

Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (died 1981)

Harold Horder, Australian rugby league player and coach (died 1978)

Kathleen Harrison, English actress (died 1995)

Agnes Smedley, American journalist and writer (died 1950)

Musidora, French actress and director (died 1957)

Cyril Delevanti, English-American actor (died 1975)

Victor Fleming, American director, cinematographer, and producer (died 1949)

John Gilbert Winant, American captain, pilot, and politician, 60th Governor of New Hampshire (died 1947)

Casimir Funk, Polish biochemist (died 1967)

Karl Jaspers, German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher (died 1969)

Guy C. Wiggins, American painter (died 1962)

Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and theorist (died 1935)

Konstantin Päts, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Estonia (died 1956)

Liang Qichao, Chinese journalist, philosopher, and scholar (died 1929)

W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (died 1963)

Anna Hofman-Uddgren, Swedish actress, singer, and director (died 1947)

César Ritz, Swiss businessman, founded The Ritz Hotel, London and Hôtel Ritz Paris (died 1918)

Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher and author (died 1906)

Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Dutch painter (died 1915)

Magdalene Osenbroch, Norwegian actress (died 1854)

Johan Jakob Nervander, Finnish poet, physicist and meteorologist (died 1848)

José Joaquín de Herrera, Mexican politician and general (died 1854)

Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German banker and businessman (died 1812)

Richard Price, Welsh-English minister and philosopher (died 1791)

George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (died 1759)

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, Canadian politician, 2nd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (died 1767)

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shōgun (died 1709)

Samuel Pepys, English diarist and politician (died 1703)

George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, officer in the Dutch Army (died 1674)

Balthazar Gerbier, Dutch painter (died 1663)

Jean-Baptiste Morin, French mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer (died 1656)

Henry XI of Legnica, thrice Duke of Legnica (died 1588)

Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (died 1612)

Onofrio Panvinio, Italian historian (died 1568)

Matthias Corvinus, Hungarian king (died 1490)

Pope Paul II (died 1471)

Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria (died 1479)

Al-Zafir, Fatimid caliph (died 1154)

Larry Dolan, American attorney (born 1931)

Chris Jasper, American singer, composer and producer (born 1951)

Al Trautwig, American sports commentator (born 1956)

Flaco, Eurasian eagle-owl (born 2010)

Tony Earl, American politician, 40th Governor of Wisconsin (born 1936)

John Motson, English football commentator (born 1945)

Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian politician (born 1930)

Katherine Helmond, American actress (born 1929)

Peter Lustig, German television host and author (born 1937)

Jacqueline Mattson, American baseball player (born 1928)

James Aldridge, Australian-English journalist and author (born 1918)

Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (born 1942)

W. E. "Bill" Dykes, American soldier and politician (born 1925)

Alice Herz-Sommer, Czech-English Holocaust survivor, pianist and educator (born 1903)

Roger Hilsman, American soldier, academic, and politician (born 1919)

Eugene Bookhammer, American soldier and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Delaware (born 1918)

Joseph Friedenson, Holocaust survivor, Holocaust historian, Yiddish writer, lecturer and editor (born 1922)

Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (born 1920)

Lotika Sarkar, Indian lawyer and academic (born 1945)

William Raggio, American lawyer and politician (born 1926)

David Sayre, American physicist and mathematician (born 1924)

Kazimierz Żygulski, Polish sociologist and activist (born 1919)

Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious leader, founded Sahaja Yoga (born 1923)

Orlando Zapata, Cuban plumber and activist (born 1967)

Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (born 1950)

Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver and journalist (born 1917)

Hanna Barysiewicz, the oldest female resident of Belarus not registered by the Guinness Book of Records (born 1888)

John Ritchie, English footballer (born 1941)

Muhammad Shamsul Huq, Bangladeshi academic and former Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1912)

Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (born 1921)

Vijay Anand, Indian director, producer, screenwriter, and actor (born 1934)

Sikander Bakht, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (born 1918)

Howie Epstein, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (born 1955)

Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and academic (born 1910)

Ofra Haza, Israeli singer-songwriter and actress (born 1957)

Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (born 1915)

The Renegade, American wrestler (born 1965)

Philip Abbott, American actor and director (born 1924)

Tony Williams, American drummer, composer, and producer (born 1945)

James Herriot, English veterinarian and author (born 1916)

José Napoleón Duarte, Salvadoran engineer and politician, President of El Salvador (born 1925)

Herbert Howells, English organist and composer (born 1892)

W. A. C. Bennett, Canadian businessman and politician, 25th Premier of British Columbia (born 1900)

L. S. Lowry, English painter (born 1887)

Harry Ruby, American composer and screenwriter (born 1895)

Dickinson W. Richards, American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1895)

Madhubala, Indian actress and producer (born 1933)

Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 2nd King of Saudi Arabia (born 1902)

Stan Laurel, English actor and comedian (born 1890)

Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (born 1868)

John Robert Gregg, Irish-American publisher and educator (born 1866)

Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (born 1885)

Leo Baekeland, Belgian-American chemist and engineer (born 1863)

Edward Elgar, English composer and academic (born 1857)

Hadley Williams, Canadian surgeon and educator (born 1864)

Nellie Melba, Australian soprano and actress (born 1861)

Horst Wessel, German SA officer (born 1907)

Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born 1882)

Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic (born 1823)

Ernest Dowson, English poet, novelist, and short story writer (born 1867)

Woldemar Bargiel, German composer and educator (born 1828)

Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and politician, 10th Minister President of Prussia (born 1803)

Amanda Cajander, Finnish medical reformer (born 1827)

Zygmunt Krasiński, Polish poet and playwright (born 1812)

Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (born 1777)

John Quincy Adams, American politician, 6th President of the United States (born 1767)

Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada, Brazilian politician, twice Minister of Finance, brother of José Bonifácio and Antônio Carlos (born 1775)

John Keats, English poet (born 1795)

Joshua Reynolds, English painter and academic (born 1723)

George Taylor, Founding Father of the United States (born 1716)

Stanisław Leszczyński, Polish king (born 1677)

Georg Muffat, French organist and composer (born 1653)

Nicholas Fuller, English politician (born 1543)

Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (born 1519)

Franciscus Vieta, French mathematician (born 1540)

Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire (born 1515)

Diego Colón, Spanish Viceroy of the Indies (born c. 1479)

Arnold, Duke of Gelderland (born 1410)

Emperor Yingzong of Ming (born 1427)

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (born 1390)

Pope Eugene IV (born 1383)

Isabel of France (born 1225)

Emperor Zhezong of Song (born 1076)

Willigis, German archbishop (born 940)

Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, (born 884)

David I, prince of Tao-Klarjeti (Georgia)

Li Keyong, Shatuo military governor during the Tang dynasty in China (born 856)

Al-Walid I, Umayyad caliph (born 668)