As of today, March 23, 2023

What happened like today in Greece and the world.

1568: The Peace of Longsimo is signed, ending the second phase of the French Wars of Religion.

1821: Kalamata becomes the first Greek city to be liberated from the Turks. Theodoros Kolokotronis, Nikitaras, Petrobeis Mavromichalis, Papaflessas and others enter as liberators. At noon, in front of the church of the Holy Apostles and in a solemn atmosphere, the priests bless the flags and swear the fighters.

1821: Patriarch Gregory V excommunicates Alexander Ypsilantis, who revolted Moldowallachia.

1839: The word OK is recorded for the first time. It is said that it comes from the Greek phrase “Ola Kala” that the immigrant ancestors, who worked in the port, wrote on the boxes with the goods. However, the newspaper of the time, Boston Morning Post, writes that the term comes from the misspelling “Oll Korrect” (instead of the correct All Correct). He is probably right, since 1839 was not the era of migration to the new world for the Greeks.

1857: Elisha Otis creates the first elevator, which goes into operation in New York.

1858: The first streetcar is inaugurated in Philadelphia, USA.

1888: The English Football League, the oldest Football Association in the world, meets for the first time.

1903: The Wright brothers present their creation, which was to conquer the ethers and annihilate distances, the airplane.

1904: The “Chemical Laboratory of the Ministry of Finance” is established, which will later be renamed the “General Chemistry of the State”.

1919: Benito Mussolini founds in Milan a fascist movement called “I Fasci Italiani del Combattimento” (“Italian Fighting Bands”).

1929: Albert Einstein’s telegram to the government of Eleftherios Venizelos is published in Radical. The great scientist, a member of the Committee for the Defense of the Victims of White Terrorism in the Balkans, is protesting the expulsion of students from the University of Athens for political reasons, demanding the students’ freedom of thought.

1943: The archbishop of Athens, Damaskinos, and the presidents of several professional organizations make an appeal to the occupying prime minister, Konstantinos Logothetopoulos, “in favor of the protection of the Israelis in Greece”.

1956: Pakistan becomes the world’s first Islamic republic.

1965: NASA launches “Gemini 3,” the United States’ first two-man spaceflight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).

1982: General Efren Rios Mont overthrows the Guatemalan government in a military coup.

1983: US President Ronald Reagan announces for the first time the Strategic Defense Initiative to counter enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles. It went down in history as “Star Wars” and was aimed at protecting the US from a possible Soviet threat.

1987: The first episode of the series “Dare and Charm” is broadcast by the American television station CBS.

1991: The Revolutionary United Front, backed by Charles Taylor’s Liberian National Patriotic Front special forces, invades Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Momo, sparking a horrific 11-year civil war in Sierra Leone.

1992: The Louise Riancourt fiasco takes place. The Greek Police… touches on “November 17th”, but eventually misses it.

1998: James Cameron’s film “Titanic” wins 11 Oscars and equals the record held by the film “Ben Hur”. On the same day, serial killer Gerald Stano is executed in the electric chair. He is considered responsible for over 40 murders in the US.

2001: The Russian space station Mir is destroyed, entering the atmosphere and thus completing its decommissioning.

2003: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, the first major battle between Iraqis and Americans takes place. 29 Americans are killed, while Iraqi casualties reach 654 people.

2012: Madonna’s album “MDNA” is released, marking her first release with a label other than the one she belonged to from the beginning of her career.

2020: Fossil of earliest ancestor (Ikaria wariootia) of all animals, including man, discovered in rocks in South Australia.

2021: The Suez Canal is blocked when the Panamanian-flagged container ship Ever Given capsizes north of Port Suez in Egypt.

Births

1643 – Maria de Leon Beyo y Delgado, Spanish nun

1749 – Pierre Simon Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer

1868 – Dietrich Eckart, German journalist and politician

1869 – Kaloust Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman

1878 – Stylianos Lykoudis, Greek vice admiral

1881 – Hermann Staudinger, German chemist

1882 – Emi Nieter, German mathematician

1887 – Juan Gris, Spanish artist

1900 – Erich Fromm, German psychologist and philosopher

1901 – Pavlos Liasidis, Cypriot poet

1904 – Joan Crawford, American actress

1907 – Daniel Bovet, Swiss scientist

1910 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director

1912 – Wernher von Braun, German physicist and engineer

1918 – Emile Derlain Henri Ginshou, president of Benin

1921 – Donald Campbell, English driver

1921 – Yannis Lamprou, Greek athlete

1922 – Hugo Toniazzi, Italian actor

1931 – Viktor Korchnoi, Russian chess player

1933 – Stefanos Ioannidis, Greek wrestler

1934 – Kakia Analiti, Greek actress

1935 – Sofia Olympiou, Greek actress

1936 – Yannis Kounellis, Greek artist

1937 – Akos Daskalopoulos, Greek poet and lyricist

1937 – Stamatis Kokotas, Greek singer

1938 – Chang Chun-hsiung, Prime Minister of Taiwan

1942 – Michael Haneke, Austrian director

[1945–FrancoBattiatoItaliansinger

1952 – Kim Stanley Robinson, American writer

1956 – José Manuel Barroso, Portuguese politician

1960 – Haris Romas (born Charalambos Rassias), Greek actor

1963 – Mitchell Gondaleth, Spanish football player and coach

1972 – Peter Meller, Brazilian soccer player

1973 – Jason Kidd, American basketball player

1973 – Jerzy Dudek, Polish footballer

1976 – Ricardo Zonda, Brazilian racing driver

1983 – Mohamed Mo Farah, British athlete

1990 – Jaime Algersuari, Spanish racing driver

1992 – Kyrie Irving, American basketball player

1996 – Alexander Albon, British-born Thai racing driver

Deaths

59 – Julia Agrippina, Roman empress

1103 – Eudis I, Duke of Burgundy

1283 – Joseph I, Patriarch of Constantinople

1361 – Henry, Duke of Lancaster

1369 – Peter, King of Castile

1450 – Helen Dragassi, Byzantine empress

1483 – Yolanda, Duchess of Lorraine

1555 – Julius III, Pope of Rome

1661 – Pieter de Molain, Dutch painter

1730 – Charles, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

1809 – Antoine Morlot, French general

1842 – Stendhal, French writer

1866 – Zakhar Arkas, Russian naval officer

1913 – Georgios Grigorios Kandakouzinos, Romanian politician

1946 – Gilbert Lewis, American chemist

1964 – Peter Lore, Hungarian actor

1965 – Parthenios Polakis, Greek clergyman and university professor

1970 – Dimitrios Dimadis, Greek doctor and politician

1972 – Cristóbal Balentiaga, Spanish fashion designer

1973 – Eleftherios Gonis, Greek politician

1980 – Alekos Livaditis, Greek actor

1985 – Panagiotis Charanis, Greek Byzantine scholar and writer

1986 – Achilleas Apergis, Greek sculptor

1992 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist

1994 – Christina Sylva, Greek actress

2007 – Grigoris Farakos, Greek politician

2011 – Elizabeth Taylor, American actress

2012 – Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Somali politician

2015 – Ginder Ascher, German mathematician.