October 14

Historic Events

2025

A coup d'état successfully overthrows Malagasy president Andry Rajoelina. ›

2023

Australians vote to reject a constitutional amendment that would have established an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. ›

2021

About 10,000 American employees of John Deere go on strike. ›

2017

An Al-Shabaab suicide bomber detonated a massive truck bomb at the Zobe junction in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, killing 587 people, injuring 316 others, and leaving more than 500 missing. ›

2015

A suicide bomb attack in Tonsa, Pakistan kills at least seven people and injures 13 others. ›

2014

A snowstorm and avalanche in the Nepalese Himalayas triggered by the remnants of Cyclone Hudhud kills 43 people. ›

2014

The Serbia vs. Albania UEFA qualifying match is canceled after 42 minutes due to several incidents on and off the pitch. Albania is eventually awarded a win. ›

2012

Felix Baumgartner successfully jumps to Earth from a balloon in the stratosphere. ›

2004

MK Airlines Flight 1602 crashes during takeoff from Halifax Stanfield International Airport, killing all seven people on board. ›

2004

Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701 crashes in Jefferson City, Missouri. The two pilots (the aircraft's only occupants) are killed. ›

2003

The Steve Bartman Incident takes place at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. ›

1998

Eric Rudolph is charged with six bombings, including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia. ›

1994

Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the establishment of the Oslo Accords and the framing of future Palestinian self government. ›

1991

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. ›

1982

U.S. President Ronald Reagan proclaims a war on drugs. ›

1981

Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected as the President of Egypt, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat. ›

1980

The 6th Congress of the Workers' Party ended, having anointed North Korean President Kim Il Sung's son Kim Jong Il as his successor. ›

1979

The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights draws approximately 100,000 people. ›

1975

An RAF Avro Vulcan bomber explodes and crashes over Żabbar, Malta after an aborted landing, killing five crew members and one person on the ground. ›

1973

In the Thammasat student uprising, over 100,000 people protest in Thailand against the military government. Seventy-seven are killed and 857 are injured by soldiers. ›

1968

Apollo program: The first live television broadcast by American astronauts in orbit is performed by the Apollo 7 crew. ›

1968

The 6.5 Mw Meckering earthquake shakes the southwest portion of Western Australia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing $2.2 million in damage and leaving 20–28 people injured. ›

1968

Jim Hines becomes the first man ever to break the so-called "ten-second barrier" in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 9.95 seconds. ›

1966

The city of Montreal begins the operation of its underground Montreal Metro rapid transit system. ›

1966

The Dutch Cals cabinet fell after Norbert Schmelzer, the leader of the government party, filed a successful motion against the budget, in what later became known as the Night of Schmelzer. ›

1964

Martin Luther King Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence. ›

1964

The Soviet Presidium and the Communist Party Central Committee each vote to accept Nikita Khrushchev's "voluntary" request to retire from his offices. ›

1962

The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when an American reconnaissance aircraft takes photographs of Soviet ballistic missiles being installed in Cuba. ›

1957

The 23rd Canadian Parliament becomes the only one to be personally opened by the Queen of Canada. ›

1957

At least 81 people are killed in the most devastating flood in the history of the Spanish city of Valencia. ›

1956

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, leader of India's Untouchable caste, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 of his followers (see Neo-Buddhism). ›

1952

Korean War: The Battle of Triangle Hill is the biggest and bloodiest battle of 1952. ›

1949

The Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders in the United States convicts eleven defendants of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the federal government. ›

1947

Flying the Bell X-1 over Muroc Army Air Field in California, Captain Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in level flight, reaching Mach 1.05. ›

1943

World War II: Prisoners at Sobibor extermination camp covertly assassinate most of the on-duty SS officers and then stage a mass breakout. ›

1943

World War II: The United States Eighth Air Force loses 60 of 291 B-17 Flying Fortresses during the Second Raid on Schweinfurt. ›

1943

World War II: The Second Philippine Republic, a puppet state of Japan, is inaugurated with José P. Laurel as its president. ›

1942

World War II: The German submarine U-69 (1940) sinks the Canadian passenger ferry SS Caribou approximately 20 nautical miles southwest of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. ›

1940

World War II: The Balham underground station disaster kills sixty-six people during the London Blitz. ›

1939

World War II: The German submarine U-47 sinks the British battleship HMS Royal Oak within her harbour at Scapa Flow, Scotland. ›

1933

Germany withdraws from the League of Nations and World Disarmament Conference. ›

1930

The former and first President of Finland, K. J. Ståhlberg, and his wife, Ester Ståhlberg, are kidnapped from their home by members of the far-right Lapua Movement. ›

1923

After the Irish Civil War the 1923 Irish hunger strikes were undertaken by thousands of Irish republican prisoners protesting the continuation of their internment without trial. ›

1920

Finland and Soviet Russia sign the Treaty of Tartu, exchanging some territories. ›

1915

World War I: Bulgaria joins the Central Powers. ›

1913

Senghenydd colliery disaster, the United Kingdom's worst coal mining accident, claims the lives of 439 miners. ›

1912

Former president Theodore Roosevelt is shot and mildly wounded by John Flammang Schrank in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Roosevelt delivers his scheduled speech. ›

1910

English aviator Claude Grahame-White lands his aircraft on Executive Avenue near the White House in Washington, D.C. ›

1908

The Chicago Cubs defeat the Detroit Tigers, 2–0, clinching the 1908 World Series; this would be their last until winning the 2016 World Series. ›

1898

The steam ship SS Mohegan sinks near the Lizard peninsula, Cornwall, killing 106. ›

1888

Louis Le Prince films the first motion picture, Roundhay Garden Scene. ›

1884

George Eastman receives a U.S. Government patent on his new paper-strip photographic film. ›

1863

American Civil War: Confederate troops under the command of A. P. Hill fail to drive the Union Army completely out of Virginia. ›

1843

Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell is arrested by the British on charges of criminal conspiracy. ›

1809

The Treaty of Schönbrunn is signed, ending the War of the Fifth Coalition, the final successful war in Napoleon Bonaparte's military career. ›

1808

The Republic of Ragusa is annexed by France. ›

1806

War of the Fourth Coalition: Napoleon decisively defeats Prussia at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt. ›

1805

War of the Third Coalition: A French corps defeats an Austrian attempt to escape encirclement at Ulm. ›

1791

The revolutionary group the United Irishmen is formed in Belfast, Ireland leading to the Irish Rebellion of 1798. ›

1774

American Revolution: The First Continental Congress denounces the British Parliament's Intolerable Acts and demands British concessions. ›

1773

The first recorded ministry of education, the Commission of National Education, is formed in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. ›

1758

Seven Years' War: Frederick the Great suffers a rare defeat at the Battle of Hochkirch. ›

1656

The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends. ›

1586

Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth I of England. ›

1322

Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at the Battle of Old Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence. ›

1066

The Norman conquest of England begins with the Battle of Hastings. ›