Which event does this 1906 photograph show?

A crowd watches the first powered flight ever made in front of witnesses (1906). Alberto Santos-Dumont flew about 60 metres at Bagatelle near Paris on 23 October 1906 and won a prize for the first officially observed powered flight in Europe. The Wright brothers had flown three years earlier but in near secrecy, and much of Europe did not believe them. The 14-bis flew tail first, with the elevator out in front.

Which event does this 1942 photograph show?

A desert battle opens that gives one side its first clear victory on land (1942). The attack opened with a thousand-gun barrage on the night of 23 October 1942. Montgomery had refused to move until he had overwhelming numbers, and within a fortnight Rommel was in full retreat. Churchill later said it was not the beginning of the end, but it was perhaps the end of the beginning. It was the last major battle the British fought largely alone.

Which event does this 1956 photograph show?

A student march turns into a rising that a superpower crushes within a fortnight (1956). A student demonstration in Budapest on 23 October 1956 grew into a national rising within hours. The government fell, a new one announced it was leaving the Warsaw Pact, and Soviet tanks returned on 4 November and ended it. Around 2,500 Hungarians were killed and 200,000 left the country. No help came from the West, which was preoccupied with Suez.

Which event does this 1642 photograph show?

A king holds a council on the eve of the first pitched battle of a civil war (1642). Charles I and the Earl of Essex met at Edgehill in Warwickshire on 23 October 1642, the first full battle of the English Civil War. Neither side won it. Both armies were largely untrained, the cavalry on both wings chased their opposite numbers off the field and kept going, and the infantry were left to fight it out. The war ran for another six years.

Which event does this 1958 photograph show?

A poet wins the Nobel Prize and his own government forces him to refuse it (1958). Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on 23 October 1958, largely for Doctor Zhivago, which had been refused publication at home and smuggled out to an Italian publisher. The campaign against him was immediate and he was threatened with exile, so he cabled Stockholm declining. His son collected the medal for him in 1989.

What happened on October 23? the flight of the 14-bis, the Second Battle of El Alamein and 3 more

What happened on October 23

All 5 specimens from this file, spanning 1642 to 1958, with the story behind each photograph.

Reveal the full answer key

Aviation · 1906

A crowd watches the first powered flight ever made in front of witnesses

Alberto Santos-Dumont flew about 60 metres at Bagatelle near Paris on 23 October 1906 and won a prize for the first officially observed powered flight in Europe. The Wright brothers had flown three years earlier but in near secrecy, and much of Europe did not believe them. The 14-bis flew tail first, with the elevator out in front.
Conflict · 1942

A desert battle opens that gives one side its first clear victory on land

The attack opened with a thousand-gun barrage on the night of 23 October 1942. Montgomery had refused to move until he had overwhelming numbers, and within a fortnight Rommel was in full retreat. Churchill later said it was not the beginning of the end, but it was perhaps the end of the beginning. It was the last major battle the British fought largely alone.
Politics · 1956

A student march turns into a rising that a superpower crushes within a fortnight

A student demonstration in Budapest on 23 October 1956 grew into a national rising within hours. The government fell, a new one announced it was leaving the Warsaw Pact, and Soviet tanks returned on 4 November and ended it. Around 2,500 Hungarians were killed and 200,000 left the country. No help came from the West, which was preoccupied with Suez.
Conflict · 1642

A king holds a council on the eve of the first pitched battle of a civil war

Charles I and the Earl of Essex met at Edgehill in Warwickshire on 23 October 1642, the first full battle of the English Civil War. Neither side won it. Both armies were largely untrained, the cavalry on both wings chased their opposite numbers off the field and kept going, and the infantry were left to fight it out. The war ran for another six years.
Literature · 1958

A poet wins the Nobel Prize and his own government forces him to refuse it

Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on 23 October 1958, largely for Doctor Zhivago, which had been refused publication at home and smuggled out to an Italian publisher. The campaign against him was immediate and he was threatened with exile, so he cabled Stockholm declining. His son collected the medal for him in 1989.