On This Day
What Happened on November 23 in History
8 events that happened on November 23, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
Colonial America and the Revolution
1499 (Julian calendar)
Perkin Warbeck, who claimed the English throne, was executed in London.
Warbeck had claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, a son of King Edward IV, and invaded England in 1497. He was hanged after allegedly trying to escape from the Tower of London.
Source: history.com
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1863
Union troops seized Orchard Knob, opening the Battles for Chattanooga.
Grant sent about 14,000 soldiers against a small Confederate force in front of Missionary Ridge. Over the next two days, Union attacks broke the siege of Chattanooga.
Source: nps.gov; battlefields.org
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1936
The first issue of LIFE, the picture magazine, was published.
Its cover showed Margaret Bourke-White's photograph of the Fort Peck Dam spillway. An earlier humor magazine called LIFE had folded during the Great Depression before the title was relaunched as a photo weekly.
Source: history.com; archive.nytimes.com
1940
Romania signed the Tripartite Pact and joined the Axis powers.
The country allied itself with Germany, Italy and Japan after receiving a German military mission. Romania hoped Axis support would help it recover lost territory.
Source: history.com; encyclopedia.ushmm.org
1942
Soviet forces closed a ring around the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad.
The Red Army counteroffensive trapped about a quarter of a million German soldiers. General Friedrich Paulus asked Berlin for permission to withdraw.
Source: history.com
1943
U.S. forces took control of Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands.
The atolls were taken from Japanese forces after days of hard fighting that began with the landings of November 20.
Source: archive.nytimes.com
The Cold War
1963
The BBC broadcast the first episode of the science fiction series Doctor Who.
The show was first planned as a children's program with an educational slant. Its popularity soon allowed the BBC to sell it to broadcasters around the world.
Source: forbes5.pitt.edu
The Modern Era
2010
North Korea shelled the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.
The artillery barrage sharply raised tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The White House condemned the attack the same day and called on North Korea to abide by the Armistice Agreement.
Source: obamawhitehouse.archives.gov