March 23 in history — What Happened Today in History

The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.

Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.

At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.

A United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 aircraft collides with a USAF C-130 at Pope Air Force Base and then crashes, killing 24 United States Army soldiers on the ground alongside destroying a Starlifter by accident. This later became known as the Green Ramp disaster.

Aeroflot Flight 593 crashes into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, killing 75.

The Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invades Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh, sparking the 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War.

Angolan and Cuban forces defeat South Africa in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.

Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.

Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García, is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt.

Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans.

The first UNIFIL troops arrive in Lebanon for a peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.

The first of The Nixon Interviews (12 will be recorded over four weeks) is videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes.

NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).

Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. This date is now celebrated as Republic Day in Pakistan.

The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All-India Muslim League.

The Hungarian air force attacks the headquarters of the Slovak air force in Spišská Nová Ves, killing 13 people and beginning the Slovak–Hungarian War.

Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.

Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar are hanged for the killing of a deputy superintendent of police during the Indian independence movement.

In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.

First World War: On the third day of the German Spring Offensive, the 10th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment is annihilated with many of the men becoming prisoners of war.

A tornado outbreak kills more than 240 people in the central United States, while an ongoing flood in the Ohio River watershed was killing 650 people.

Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.

Eleftherios Venizelos calls for Crete's union with Greece, and begins what is to be known as the Theriso revolt.

Emilio Aguinaldo, only President of the First Philippine Republic, is captured at Palanan, Isabela by the forces of American General Frederick Funston.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, British India.

In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time.

Tomáš Hyka, Czech ice hockey player

Dmitrij Jaškin, Russian-Czech ice hockey player

Aytaç Kara, Turkish footballer

Tolga Ciğerci, German-Turkish footballer

Kyrie Irving, Australian-American basketball player

Vanessa Morgan, Canadian actress

Facundo Campazzo, Argentine basketball player

Erik Haula, Finnish ice hockey player

Gregg Wylde, Scottish footballer

Jaime Alguersuari, Spanish race car driver

Mark Barberio, Canadian ice hockey player

Princess Eugenie, English royal

Gordon Hayward, American basketball player

Lil' Chris, English singer-songwriter, actor, and television personality (born 1990)

Dave Brockie, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and bass player (born 1963)

Jaroslav Šerých, Czech painter and illustrator (born 1928)

Adolfo Suárez, Spanish lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Spain (born 1932)

Peter Oakley, English YouTuber (born 1927)

Boris Berezovsky, Russian-born Soviet-British mathematician and businessman (born 1946)

Onofre Corpuz, Filipino economist, historian, and academic (born 1926)

Virgil Trucks, American baseball player and coach (born 1917)

Joe Weider, Canadian-American bodybuilder and publisher, co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (born 1919)

Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Somalian politician, President of Somalia (born 1934)

Jim Duffy, American animator, director, and producer (born 1937)

Naji Talib, Iraqi politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Iraq (born 1917)

Lonnie Wright, American basketball and football player (born 1945)