Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on May 23rd?

The Eighty Years' War begins as the Dutch rebels, led by Louis of Nassau, defeat a Spanish force at the Battle of Heiligerlee.

Ben Franklin reveals his invention of bifocal eyeglasses in a letter, now in the Library of Congress, to his friend George Whatley. Franklin was having problems seeing both up-close and at greater distances and in the prior year, he created a method for placing differently-calibrated lenses into the same frame rather than constantly changing glasses. His new "double spectacles" had pairs of half-lenses arranged in a top-bottom configuration. Franklin commented that all he had to do was but move his eyes up or down, and the proper glass was always ready! Franklin never patented any of his inventions, and wanted to share them freely. More

South Carolina becomes the 8th State to Ratify the U.S. Constitution.

Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.

Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. When World War I began in July 1914, Italy was a partner in the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, but decided to remain neutral. However, a strong sentiment existed within the general population and political factions to go to war against Austria-Hungary, Italy’s historical enemy.

The Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is established with the consolidation of the western sectors, controlled by France, the United Kingdom and the United States. On 7 October 1949, the Soviet Zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) When West and East Germany were reunited in 1990, West Germany’s constitution and official name (Federal Republic of Germany) were adopted by the former East German state.

A tsunami resulting from the massive 9.5-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chile which killed thousands the prior day travels across the Pacific Ocean and kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii, and 122 in Japan and causing much other property and structural damage.