April 14

### Up to 1900

- 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Roman Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum and seizes the throne.
- 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian, surrounds the Jewish capital, with four Roman legions.
- 193 – Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (Balkan peninsula).
- 966 – Mieszko I of Poland converts to Christianity.
- 1028 – Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor is elected King of Germany.
- 1205 – Battle of Adrianople between Bulgarians and Crusaders.
- 1434 – The foundation stone is laid for St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Nantes, France.
- 1471 – Yorkists under Edward IV defeat Lancastrians under Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. The Earl of Warwick is killed and Edward IV becomes King.
- 1775 – The first abolition society in North America is founded.
- 1828 – Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary.
- 1849 – Hungary declares independence, with Lajos Kossuth as regent.
- 1860 – The first Pony Express rider reaches Sacramento, California.
- 1862 – Australian bushranger Ben Hall takes part in his first robbery.
- 1865 – US President Abraham Lincoln is shot at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln dies the next day, of his injuries.
- 1865 – United States Secretary of State William H. Seward is attacked in his home by Lewis Powell.
- 1890 – The Pan-American Union is founded by the first International Conference of American States in Washington, DC.
- 1894 – The first–ever commercial movie house opens in New York City.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1903 – Turkey is hit by an earthquake, killing 1,700 people.
- 1909 – A massacre is organized by Ottoman Empire against Armenian population of Cilicia
- 1912 – The RMS Titanic hits an iceberg, and sinks on April 15th in the early morning.
- 1927 – The first Volvo makes its debut in Gothenburg in Sweden.
- 1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W33 type aircraft, reaches Greenly Island, East of Canada, the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
- 1931 – The first edition of the Highway Code is published in the United Kingdom.
- 1931 – Spanish Cortes depose King Alfonso XIII, and proclaim the 2nd Republic.
- 1935 – In the Dust Bowl, the Black Sunday storm strikes parts of the Central United States. Worst affected is Oklahoma, where settlers are forced to leave, as crops are destroyed.
- 1939 – The Grapes of Wrath, a novel by John Steinbeck, is published for the first time.
- 1942 – Malta receives the George Cross for bravery during World War II.
- 1944 – Carrying explosives, British freight ship _Port Stikine_ explodes in Bombay harbour, killing over 1,000 people and injuring around 3,000.
- 1945 – World War II: Osijek, Croatia, is liberated from Fascist rule.
- 1956 – Videotape is first demonstrated in Chicago.
- 1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit around the Earth, after 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
- 1967 – Gnassingbe Eyadema installs himself as President of Togo, a post he holds until his death in February 2005.
- 1969 – At the Academy Awards, there is a tie between Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand for Best Actress.
- 1975 – In a referendum, voters in Sikkim vote in favour of Union with India.
- 1978 – Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to  change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
- 1980 – The movie version of the Günter Grass novel _The Tin Drum_ wins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
- 1981 – STS-1 mission, on Space Shuttle _Columbia_, is completed.
- 1985 – Bernhard Langer becomes the first German golfer to win the US Masters at Augusta, Georgia, United States.
- 1986 – 1 kilogram hailstones fall in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92 people. They are the heaviest hailstones ever recorded.
- 1999 – Sydney, Australia is hit by a severe hailstorm.

### From 2001

- 2002 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez returns to office, three days after being ousted and arrested by the military in a US–backed coup.
- 2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
- 2003 – US troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of a Palestinian group that killed a US citizen on the _MS Achille Lauro_ in 1985.
- 2008 – Silvio Berlusconi is elected to replace Romano Prodi as Prime Minister of Italy.
- 2010 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Yushu district in China's Qinghai province, killing almost 2,700 people.
- 2010 – The eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland begins to shut down air travel in Europe.
- 2014 – Bomb blasts in Abuja, Nigeria, kill dozens of people.
- 2014 – Boko Haram militants abduct 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. International campaigns are soon launched to find them, including #BringBackOurGirls.
- 2015 – Around 400 people are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya.
- 2016 – The first quake (magnitude 6.5) of Kumamoto earthquakes happens (quakes happen to April 16 when that of magnitude 7.0 is observed).
- 2018 – The United States, United Kingdom and France carry out air strikes in Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack.
- 2019 – Tiger Woods wins The Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, United States, winning a major golf competition for the first time in almost 11 years.

### Up to 1900

- 1126 – Averroes, Arab Spanish polymath (d. 1198)
- 1336 – Emperor Go-Kogon of Japan (d. 1374)
- 1527 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish mapmaker (d. 1598).
- 1572 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician (d. 1632)
- 1578 – King Philip III of Spain (d. 1621)
- 1629 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch astronomer, mathematician and physicist (d. 1695)
- 1668 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (d. 1741)
- 1678 – Abraham Darby, English engineer (d. 1717)
- 1738 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1809)
- 1741 – Emperor Momozono of Japan (d. 1762)
- 1765 – Landgravine Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt, Queen of Bavaria (d. 1796)
- 1773 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French statesman (d. 1854)
- 1788 – David G. Burnet, President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1870)
- 1814 – Dimitri Kipiani, Georgian politician and writer (d. 1887)
- 1818 – Marie of Saxe-Altenburg, Queen of Hanover (d. 1907)
- 1852 – Meijer de Haan, Dutch painter (d. 1895)
- 1857 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (d. 1944)
- 1862 – Pyotr Stolypin, Russian statesman (d. 1911)
- 1866 – Anne Sullivan, American teacher of Helen Keller (d. 1936)
- 1868 – Peter Behrens, German architect (d. 1940)
- 1870 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer (d. 1929)
- 1870 – Victor Boris-Musatov, Russian painter (d. 1905)
- 1872 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian–Islamic scholar and translator (d. 1953)
- 1879 – James Branch Cabell, American writer (d. 1958)
- 1881 – Husain Salaahudin, Maldivian poet and scholar (d. 1948)
- 1882 – Moritz Schlick, German philosopher (d. 1936)
- 1889 – Arnold Joseph Toynbee, English historian (d. 1975)
- 1889 – Efim Bogolyubov, Ukrainian chess player (d. 1952)
- 1891 – B. R. Ambedkar, Indian social activist (d. 1956)
- 1892 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1963)
- 1892 – Claire Windsor, American actress (d. 1972)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1902 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and referee (d. 1974)
- 1903 – Henry Corbin, French philosopher and educator (d. 1978)
- 1904 – John Gielgud, British actor (d. 2000)
- 1905 – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French activist, politician and writer (d. 1999)
- 1905 – Elizabeth Huckaby, American educator (d. 1999)
- 1907 – François Duvalier (Papa Doc), President of Haiti (d. 1971)
- 1912 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer (d. 1994)
- 1918 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
- 1919 – Shamshan Begum, Indian singer (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Ivor Guest, English ballet historian and lawyer
- 1920 – Schubert Gambetta, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1991)
- 1921 – Thomas Schelling, American economist (d. 2016)
- 1922 – Audrey Long, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Roberto De Vicenzo, Argentine golfer (d. 2017)
- 1924 – Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, British philosopher (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Abel Muzorewa, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Gene Ammons, American saxophonist (d. 1974)
- 1925 – Rod Steiger, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1926 – Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 2008)
- 1926 – Gloria Jean, American actress
- 1927 – Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist (d. 2007)
- 1929 – Chadli Bendjedid, former President of Algeria (d. 2012)
- 1929 – Gerry Anderson, British writer, director and producer (d. 2012)
- 1931 – Dimitar Dobrev, Bulgarian wrestler (d. 2019)
- 1932 – Atef Ebeid, former Prime Minister of Egypt (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Loretta Lynn, American country musician and singer
- 1933 – Boris Strugatsky, Russian writer (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Paddy Hopkirk, Northern Irish racing driver
- 1934 – Fredric Jameson, American philosopher and theorist
- 1935 – Susan Cunliffe-Lister, British paralympian and disabled rights campaigner
- 1935 – Erich von Daniken, Swiss writer
- 1936 – Ivan Dias, Indian cardinal (d. 2017)
- 1936 – Bobby Nichols, American golfer
- 1936 – Arlene Martel, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1936 – Kenneth Mars, American actor (d. 2011)
- 1937 – Sepp Mayerl, Austrian mountaineer (d. 2012)
- 1940 – Julie Christie, British actress
- 1941 – Pete Rose, American baseball player and manager
- 1942 – Valentin Lebedev, Soviet–Russian cosmonaut
- 1942 – Valeriy Brumel, Soviet–Russian Olympic athlete (d. 2003)
- 1943 – Nikolay Petrov, Russian pianist (d. 2011)
- 1944 – John Sergeant, English journalist
- 1945 – Ritchie Blackmore, English guitarist (Deep Purple)
- 1945 – Uwe Beyer, German hammer thrower
- 1945 – Roger Frappier, Canadian actor, director, producer and screenwriter
- 1945 – Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, Samoan Prime Minister
- 1947 – Dominique Baudis, French journalist and politician (d. 2014)
- 1948 – Berry Berenson, American photographer, actress and model (d. 2001)
- 1949 – Chris Langham, British actor
- 1949 – John Shea, American actor
- 1949 – Eric Cunningham, Canadian politician (d. 2015)
- 1950 – Francis Collins, American physician and geneticist

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Julian Lloyd Webber, British cellist
- 1954 – Katsuhiro Otomo, Japanese artist, screenwriter and director
- 1954 – Bruce Sterling, American science fiction writer
- 1955 – Aleksey Lebed, Russian military officer and politician (d. 2019)
- 1956 – Barbara Bonney, American soprano
- 1957 – Richard Jeni, American comedian and actor (d. 2007)
- 1957 – Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, composer and conductor
- 1958 – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor and director
- 1959 – Steve Byrnes, American sports announcer (d. 2015)
- 1960 – Brad Garrett, American actor
- 1961 – Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor
- 1962 – Paulo Leão, Brazilian actor, guitarist and filmmaker
- 1964 – Gina McKee, English actress
- 1966 – Lloyd Owen, English actor
- 1967 – Nicola Berti, Italian footballer
- 1967 – Francis Tsai, American comic book, movie and video game concept artist (d. 2015)
- 1967 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1999)
- 1967 – Julie Zemio, French–Australian actress and singer
- 1968 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor
- 1971 – Miguel Calero, Colombian footballer (d. 2012)
- 1972 – Dean Potter, American rock climber and BASE jumper (d. 2015)
- 1973 – David Miller, American tenor (Il Divo)
- 1973 – Roberto Ayala, Argentine footballer
- 1973 – Adrien Brody, American actor
- 1975 – Anderson Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist
- 1975 – Amy Birnbaum, American voice actress

### From 1976

- 1976 – Georgina Chapman, English model, actress and fashion designer
- 1976 – Francoise Mbango Etone, Cameroonian athlete
- 1976 – Kyle Farnsworth, American baseball player
- 1977 – Cristiano Zanetti, Italian footballer
- 1977 – Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress
- 1980 – Win Butler, American–Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1980 – Steven Holcomb, American bobsledder (d. 2017)
- 1981 – Amy Leach, English director
- 1982 – Ugur Boral, Turkish footballer
- 1983 – James McFadden, Scottish footballer
- 1983 – Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Georgian basketball player
- 1984 – Harumafuji Kohei, Mongolian sumo wrestler
- 1986 – Matt Derbyshire, English footballer
- 1986 – Anne Watanabe, Japanese model
- 1987 – Erwin Hoffer, Austrian footballer
- 1987 – Wilson Kiprop, Kenyan long–distance runner
- 1989 – Aleksei Alekseyev, Russian footballer
- 1989 – Dafina Zeqiri, Albanian–Kosovan–Swedish singer and dancer
- 1993 – Vivien Cardone, American actress
- 1993 – Graham Phillips, American actor and singer
- 1994 – Skyler Samuels, American actress
- 1996 – Abigail Breslin, American actress
- 1999 – Anita Simoncini, Sammarinese singer

### Up to 1900

- 1132 – Mstislav I of Kiev (b. 1076)
- 1471 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, English kingmaker (b. 1428)
- 1574 – Louis of Nassau (b. 1538)
- 1578 – James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, consort of Mary, Queen of Scots
- 1721 – Michel Chamillart, French statesman (b. 1652)
- 1758 – Clara, famous rhinoceros
- 1759 – George Frideric Handel, German composer (b. 1685)
- 1785 – William Whitehead, English writer (b. 1715)
- 1792 – Maximilian Hell, Hungarian astronomer (b. 1720)
- 1816 – Bussa, African–born Barbadian slave and national hero of Barbados
- 1843 – Joseph Lanner, Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1801)
- 1895 – James Dwight Dana, American geologist, mineralogist and zoologist (b. 1813)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1910 – Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (b. 1856)
- 1912 – Henri Brisson, French statesman (b. 1835)
- 1914 – Hubert Bland, co–founder of Fabian Society (b. 1855)
- 1917 – L. L. Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
- 1925 – John Singer Sargent, English artist (b. 1856)
- 1930 – Vladimir Mayakovsky, Russian writer (b. 1893)
- 1935 – Amalie Emmy Noether, German mathematician (b. 1882)
- 1943 – Yakov Dzhugashvili, son of Joseph Stalin (b. 1907)
- 1950 – Ramana Maharshi, Indian guru (b. 1879)
- 1951 – Al Christie, Canadian–American director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1881)
- 1962 – Visvesvaraya, Indian engineer, scholar and statesman (b. 1860)
- 1964 – Tatyana Afanasyeva, Russian–Dutch mathematician (b. 1876)
- 1964 – Rachel Carson, American writer (b. 1907)
- 1965 – Richard Hickock, American murderer (b. 1931)
- 1965 – Perry Edward Smith, American murderer (b. 1928)
- 1968 – Al Benton, Major League Baseball player (b. 1911)
- 1975 – Fredric March, actor (b. 1897)
- 1983 – Pete Farndon, English musician (b. 1952)
- 1986 – Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (b. 1908)
- 1989 – Pete Farndon, British musician (The Pretenders)
- 1995 – Burl Ives, American folk singer and actor (b. 1909)
- 1999 – Anthony Newley, actor, singer (b. 1931)
- 1999 – Ellen Corby, American actress (b. 1911)
- 1999 – Bill Wendell, American broadcaster (b. 1931)
- 2000 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer (b. 1962)
- 2000 – Wilf Mannion, English footballer (b. 1918)

### From 2001

- 2001 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director (b. 1927)
- 2001 – Jim Baxter, Scottish footballer (b. 1939)
- 2007 – Ladislav Adamec, Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Maurice Druon, French writer, dramatist and politician (b. 1918)
- 2010 – Israr Ahmed, Pakistani theologian and scholar (b. 1932)
- 2010 – Peter Steele, American musician (b. 1962)
- 2011 – Walter Breuning, American supercentenarian (b. 1896)
- 2011 – William Lipscomb, American chemist (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Emile Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Piermario Morosini, Italian footballer (b. 1986)
- 2012 – Jonathan Frid, Canadian actor (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Colin Davis, British conductor (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Armando Villanueva, Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1915)
- 2014 – Brian Harradine, Australian politician (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Armando Peraza, Cuban–American Latin jazz percussionist (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Mick Staton, American politician (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Albert Manent, Spanish writer (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Manuel Ortega, Spanish painter (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Ameril Umbra Kato, Filipino warlord (b. 1946)
- 2015 – Percy Sledge, American singer (b. 1941)
- 2015 – Norman H. Bangerter, American politician, 13th Governor of Utah (b. 1933)
- 2015 – Homaro Cantu, American chef (b. 1976)
- 2015 – Klaus Bednarz, German journalist and writer (b. 1942)
- 2015 – Meir Rosenne, Israeli lawyer and diplomat (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Roberto Tucci, Italian cardinal (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Nguyen Anh 9, Vietnamese songwriter and pianist (b. 1940)
- 2016 – Ahmed Brahim, Tunisian politician (b. 1946)
- 2016 – Malick Sidibé, Malian photographer (b. 1935)
- 2016 – Liang Sili, Chinese missile control scientist and academic (b. 1924)
- 2016 – David J. C. MacKay, British authwriteror, physicist and professor (b. 1967)
- 2017 – Henry Hillman, American venture capitalist and philanthropist (b. 1918)
- 2017 – Robert Taylor, American computer scientist and internet pioneer (b. 1932)
- 2018 – Isabella Biagini, Italian actress (b. 1943)
- 2018 – Hal Greer, American basketball player (b. 1936)
- 2018 – Jean-Claude Malgoire, French conductor (b. 1940)
- 2018 – Jon Michelet, Norwegian writer (b. 1944)
- 2018 – Gerald Nachman, American critic and writer (b. 1938)
- 2018 – Robert Holmes, American football player (b. 1945)
- 2019 – Bibi Andersson, Swedish actress (b. 1935)
- 2019 – Giuseppe Ciarrapico, Italian politician (b. 1934)
- 2019 – Colin Collindridge, English footballer (b. 1929)
- 2019 – Abdallah Lamrani, Moroccan footballer (b. 1946)
- 2019 – Gene Wolfe, American writer (b. 1931)

## Observances

- New Year Festivals in many South and Southeast Asian cultures
- Georgian language Day
- Youth Day (Angola)
- Ambedkar Jayanti (India), celebrating the birthday of social activist B. R. Ambedkar
- Pan–American Day
- Black Day (South Korea)
- Dhivehi language Day (Maldives)