On This Day - What Happened on October 23

1739

The War of Jenkins’ Ear begins

On this day in 1739, the story of an ear in a jar started a war. Fought between Great Britain and Spain, the War of Jenkins’ Ear was precipitated by an incident that took place in 1738 when Brit Robert Jenkins appeared before a committee of the House of Commons and exhibited what he alleged to be his own amputated ear, cut off in April 1731 in the West Indies by Spanish coast guards, who had boarded his ship, pillaged it, and then set it adrift.

October 23, 1739: The gruesome story that helped impel two great naval powers to war

Featured Event

NARA

U.S. and French troops attacked in Beirut

On this day in 1983, suicide bombers drove truckloads of high explosives into the barracks of U.S. Marines and French paratroopers in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen and 58 French troops.

Featured Biography

Marka/Fioroni/age fotostock

Pelé

Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string.

Pelé

Born this day in Brazil in 1940, Pelé became the most famous football (soccer) player in the sport’s history, and, by the time of his retirement in 1977, he had arguably become the most famous athlete in the world.

Famous Birthdays

1918

Paul Rudolph

American architect

1875

Gilbert N. Lewis

American chemist

1869

John Heisman

American coach

1844

Robert Bridges

English poet

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Soong Meiling, also known as Mrs. Chiang Kai Shek, poses in formal attire with one hand resting on a surface in this black and white portrait.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

2003

Soong Mei-ling, the second wife of the Nationalist Chinese president Chiang Kai-shek and a powerful political figure in her own right, died at age 106. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about China.]

Courtesy of Apple

2001

Apple introduced the iPod, a portable media player that became one of the most successful and revolutionary products of the early 2000s.

Britney Spears performs on stage holding a large yellow python draped over her shoulders, wearing a green bra top and blue skirt, with audience members visible in the foreground.

Kevin Kane—Wireimage/Getty Images

1998

Britney Spears released the single “…Baby One More Time,” which, accompanied by its provocative music video, became a huge hit and helped make her a pop star.

A destroyed Russian tank and wrecked vehicles sit in a debris-strewn street between heavily damaged buildings at Francis Boulevard, Budapest, during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising.

1956

The Hungarian Revolution began with a massive demonstration in Budapest. [Take our plots and revolutions quiz.]

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters

Sarajevo-x

1956

The International Atomic Energy Agency was created with the purpose of increasing the contribution of atomic energy to world peace. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about world organizations.]

U.S. soldiers wade through surf from a landing craft toward the beach at Leyte Island, Philippines, during World War II, carrying rifles and wearing helmets.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

1944

During World War II, U.S. forces under the leadership of Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., commenced a decisive air and sea battle against the Japanese on the central Philippine island of Leyte. [How much do you know about World War II?]

National Archives, Washington, D.C.

1942

The British, led by Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, launched a successful infantry attack against German forces at El-Alamein, Egypt, during World War II. [Take our quiz about Germany and World War II.]

Dumbo the elephant smiles while holding the tail of Timothy Q. Mouse, who stands facing him, in a nighttime scene from the animated film Dumbo.

1941

The Disney animated classic Dumbo had its world premiere. [Take our Disney quiz.]

NBC photo

1925

Johnny Carson—who, as host of The Tonight Show (1962–92), established the standard format for television chat shows—was born in Corning, Iowa.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

1901

A statue of Albert Pike was dedicated in Washington, D.C. The city’s only outdoor public monument to a Confederate general, it was torn down by protesters in 2020 and reinstalled by the federal government in 2025.

Map showing the locations of the Spanish exclaves Ceuta and Melilla on the northern coast of Africa, each surrounded by Morocco and bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Insets provide close-up views of the exclaves and a regional map situating them relative to Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, and Algeria.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

1694

The siege of Ceuta (on Morocco’s coast) began—and would continue for nearly 30 years.

Map showing the present-day state of Massachusetts with colonial boundaries highlighted for the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629) and Plymouth Colony (1630). Indigenous groups such as the Mohican, Pocumtuc, Nipmuc, Pennacook, Wampanoag, and Nauset are labeled in their respective regions. Key colonial settlements like Boston, Salem, and Plymouth are marked, and a red arrow indicates the Pilgrims' 1620 route to Cape Cod Bay. The map is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and features major bays including

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

1684

In the face of increasing estrangement between the colony and England, King Charles II revoked the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

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