August 14

Historic Events

2023

Former U.S. president Donald Trump is charged in Georgia along with 18 others in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state, his fourth indictment of 2023. ›

2022

An explosion destroys a market in Armenia, killing six people and injuring dozens. ›

2021

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes southwestern Haiti, killing at least 2,248 people and causing a humanitarian crisis. ›

2018

The collapse of the Ponte Morandi bridge in Genoa, Italy, left 16 people injured and 43 people killed. ›

2015

The U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opens after 54 years of being closed when Cuba–United States relations were broken off. ›

2013

Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi. ›

2013

UPS Airlines Flight 1354 crashes short of the runway at Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport, killing both crew members on board. ›

2007

The Kahtaniya bombings kill at least 500 people. ›

2006

Lebanon War: A ceasefire takes effect three days after the United Nations Security Council's approval of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, formally ending hostilities between Lebanon and Israel. ›

2006

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sixty-one schoolgirls killed in Chencholai bombing by Sri Lanka Air Force air strike. ›

2005

Helios Airways Flight 522, en route from Larnaca, Cyprus to Prague, Czech Republic via Athens, crashes in the hills near Grammatiko, Greece, killing 121 passengers and crew. ›

2003

A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada. ›

1996

Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou is shot and killed by a Turkish security officer while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus. ›

1994

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal", is captured. ›

1980

Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards. ›

1974

Turkey launches the second phase of the invasion of Cyprus, which eventually resulted in the Turkish occupation of 37% of Cyprus. ›

1972

An Ilyushin Il-62 airliner crashes near Königs Wusterhausen, East Germany killing 156 people. ›

1971

Bahrain declares independence from Britain. ›

1969

The Troubles: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland as political and sectarian violence breaks out, marking the start of the 37-year Operation Banner. ›

1967

UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal. ›

1959

Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League. ›

1948

An Idaho Department of Fish and Game program to relocate beavers known as Beaver drop occurred. This program relocated beavers from Northwestern Idaho to Central Idaho by airplane and then parachuting the beavers into the Chamberlain Basin. ›

1947

Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire as the Dominion of Pakistan, due to the partition of India. ›

1941

World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims. ›

1936

Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last known public execution in the United States. ›

1935

Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired. ›

1933

Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn; destroying 240,000 acres (970 km2) of land. ›

1921

Tannu Uriankhai, later Tuvan People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Soviet Russia). ›

1920

The 1920 Summer Olympics, having started four months earlier, officially open in Antwerp, Belgium, with the newly adopted Olympic flag and the Olympic oath being raised and taken at the Opening Ceremony for the first time in Olympic history. ›

1917

World War I: The Republic of China, which had heretofore been shipping labourers to Europe to assist in the war effort, officially declares war on the Central Powers, although it will continue to send to Europe labourers instead of combatants for the remaining duration of the war. ›

1914

World War I: Start of the Battle of Lorraine, an unsuccessful French offensive. ›

1901

The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21. ›

1900

Battle of Peking: The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, China, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China. ›

1893

France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration. ›

1885

Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint. ›

1880

Construction of Cologne Cathedral, the most famous landmark in Cologne, Germany, is completed. ›

1848

Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress. ›

1848

Pica Law (Legge Pica), a form of martial law, is established as the Italian government passes this anti-brigandage law to suppress resistance to the Unification of Italy. ›

1842

American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida. ›

1816

The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa. ›

1814

A cease fire agreement, called the Convention of Moss, ends the Swedish–Norwegian War. ›

1791

Slaves from plantations in Saint-Domingue hold a Vodou ceremony led by houngan Dutty Boukman at Bois Caïman, marking the start of the Haitian Revolution. ›

1790

The Treaty of Wereloe ends the 1788–1790 Russo-Swedish War. ›

1784

Russian colonization of North America: Awa'uq Massacre: The Russian fur trader Grigory Shelikhov storms a Kodiak Island Alutiit refuge rock on Sitkalidak Island, killing 500+ Alutiit. ›

1720

The Spanish military Villasur expedition is defeated by Pawnee and Otoe warriors near present-day Columbus, Nebraska. ›

1598

Nine Years' War: Battle of the Yellow Ford: Irish forces under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeat an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal. ›

1592

The first sighting of the Falkland Islands by John Davis. ›

1385

Portuguese Crisis of 1383–85: Battle of Aljubarrota: Portuguese forces commanded by John I of Portugal defeat the Castilian army of John I of Castile. ›

1370

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, grants city privileges to Karlovy Vary. ›

1352

War of the Breton Succession: Anglo-Bretons defeat the French in the Battle of Mauron. ›

1264

After tricking the Venetian galley fleet into sailing east to the Levant, the Genoese capture an entire Venetian trade convoy at the Battle of Saseno. ›

1183

Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan. ›

1136

Abbasid Caliph al-Rashid Billah flees from Bagdhad, which had been besieged by an army of the Seljuk Turks under Sultan Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud for fifty days. ›

1040

King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland. ›

29 BC

Octavian holds the second of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes. ›

70 BC

Gaius Verres is found guilty of corruption after his defense lawyer Quintus Hortensius abandons the case as hopeless. ›

74 BC

A group of officials, led by the Western Han minister Huo Guang, present articles of impeachment against the new emperor, Liu He, to the imperial regent, Empress Dowager Shangguan. ›