What happened on this day in history?

Pick any date and see the events, births, deaths and observances recorded for it — every one of the 366 days has its own page. Today is October 23, with 86 entries.

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Today at a glance — October 23

Date
Friday, October 23 2026
Day of the year
296th of 36569 days left
Week
ISO week 43 · Q4
Star sign
♏ Scorpio
Birthstone
Opal / Tourmaline
Season
Autumn north · Spring south

Observed today: Boethius · Amon of Toul

Xi Jinping

Standout entry for October 23

2022

Xi Jinping

Historical event · 2022 · 4 years ago

Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by the Central Committee, beginning a third term of the paramount leader of China.

Read the full entryEverything on October 23

More from October 23

  • 2022Myanmar civil war (2021–present)Myanmar civil war: Burmese military forces launched airstrikes that killed at least 80 concertgoers in Kachin State.
  • 2022Myanmar Air ForceMyanmar Air Force airstrikes a concert in Hpakant Township, Kachin state killing at least 80 people, including senior Kachin Independence…
  • 2022Arshad SharifPakistani journalist Arshad Sharif is shot and killed by local police in Kajiado, Kenya.
  • 2020Libyan civil war (2014–2020)Second Libyan Civil War: The Second Libyan Civil War comes to an end as all parties to the 5+5 Joint Libyan Military Commission agree to…
  • 20182018 Rome escalator accidentAn escalator accident in Rome left 24 people injured, mostly fans of the CSKA Moscow football team who were in town for a UEFA Champions…
  • 2017War against the Islamic StateWar against the Islamic State: Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana declares the end of the Siege of Marawi.
  • 2015Atmospheric pressureThe lowest sea-level pressure in the Western Hemisphere, and the highest reliably-measured non-tornadic sustained winds, are recorded in…
  • 2015Hurricane PatriciaHurricane Patricia, the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Western Hemisphere, peaked with maximum sustained winds of 215 mph…

See all 86 entries for October 23 →

Anniversaries today

Every round-number anniversary falling in 2026 →

Date tools

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What happened on a dateJump straight to any calendar day and see the events, births, deaths and observances recorded for it, plus the surrounding days, the month and the year.What year was N years agoCount back any number of years from today, see the century and decade it lands in, which generation was born then, and what happened that year.Age calculatorWork out your exact age in years, months and days, plus your age in days, weeks, hours and minutes, the weekday you were born on, and your next birthday countdown.Day of the weekFind the day of the week for any date in history. Enter a date and see the weekday, the calendar in use at the time, the day number and the ISO week.Days between datesCount the days, weeks, months, weekdays and weekend days between any two dates. Works in both directions and shows the exact calendar difference in years, months and days.Countdown to a dateCount the days, weeks and hours until any date — Christmas, a birthday, a wedding, an exam or a deadline — and see which weekday it falls on.Day of the yearFind the day number for any date — day 255 of 365 — plus the days remaining in the year, the percentage elapsed, the quarter and the week number.Week numberFind the ISO week number for any date, the Monday-to-Sunday range that week covers, and how it compares with the simple week count from 1 January.

All 15 tools →

Featured people this week

Week 43, 2026 · Seven figures from across the calendar, rotated every Monday. Each has life dates, a short biography and the days that matter to them.

See who was born today and this week →

Haerin

Haerin

Born 2006 · May 15

Haerin, Korean singer

Read their story →

El Ma

Born 2007 · May 21

El Ma, Bulgarian singer-songwriter

Read their story →

Darci Lynne

Born 2004 · October 12

Darci Lynne, American ventriloquist

Read their story →
Fermín López

Fermín López

Born 2003 · May 11

Fermín López, Spanish footballer

Read their story →

Sára Bejlek

Born 2006 · January 31

Sára Bejlek, Czech tennis player

Read their story →

Jens Castrop

Born 2003 · July 29

Jens Castrop, German-South Korean footballer

Read their story →

Renato Veiga

Born 2003 · July 29

Renato Veiga, Portuguese footballer

Read their story →

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Questions about this site

What happened on this day in history?

Today is October 23. The list above shows the biggest entries; the full day page carries everything recorded for this date across every year.

How do I find what happened on my birthday?

Enter your month and day in the picker. Add your year and you also get your exact age, the weekday you were born on and your next-birthday countdown.

Where do the facts come from?

Editorial entries written for What's On This Date, plus Wikipedia's on-this-day feed and Wikidata. Calendar facts such as day numbers, weekdays and anniversaries are computed here.

Is the site free to use?

Yes, all of it, including the date tools and the public JSON endpoints listed on the developer page.

Text adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 and from Wikidata (CC0). Images come from Wikimedia Commons; credit and licence are shown with each image. Editorial entries are © What's On This Date. Sources & licensing · How this site works.