August 14
Events
Up to 1900
29 BC Octavian celebrates the second of his three consecutive triumphs in Rome after his victory over the Dalmatians.
1040 Macbeth kills King Duncan I of Scotland, and crowns himself King of Scotland.
1352 War of the Breton Succession: The Anglo-Britons defeat the French in the Battle of Mauron.
1385 The Battle of Aljubarrota is fought, in which forces of King John I of Portugal defeat those of King John I of Castile.
1415 Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Battle of Ceuta.
1502 Christopher Columbus lands in present-day Honduras; this is the first time he sets foot on the mainland of the Americas.
1592 Imjin War: Battle of Hansan Island - Admiral Yi Sun-sin decisively defeats the Japanese Navy at Hansan Island.
1762 English forces take Havana, Cuba during the Seven Years' War.
1816 The United Kingdom annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the South Atlantic.
1842 Seminole Native Americans are forced from Florida to Oklahoma.
1848 The Oregon territory is created by an act of the United States Congress.
1880 After taking more than 600 years, the construction of Cologne Cathedral is completed.
1885 Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of rust-proof paint.
1888 Danish passenger steamer Geiser sinks off Sable Island after a collision with a ship of the same shipping line, killing 118 people.
1893 France introduces motor vehicle registration.
1900 The Eight-Nation Alliance occupy Beijing, China, in an attempt to end of the Boxer Rebellion.
1901 2000
1912 US marines land in Nicaragua to support the US-backed government installed there after Jose Santos Zelaya had resigned three years earlier.
1914 The Big Hole Diamond mine in South Africa is closed.
1916 World War I: Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary.
1917 World War I: China declares war on Germany.
1921 Tannu Uriankhai, later the Tuvan People's Republic, is established as a completely independent country, supported by Soviet Russia.
1933 Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later becoming known as the forest fire of Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5.
1935 The Social Security Act creates a government pension for retired people in the United States.
1936 Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky, in the last public execution in the United States.
1941 World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of War, stating postwar aims.
1945 World War II: Japan accepts Allied terms of surrender and the Emperor, Hirohito, records the Imperial Rescription surrender.
1945 Philippe Petain, leader of Vichy France, is sentenced to death.
1947 Partition of India: Pakistan, a new Islamic state, becomes independent from the United Kingdom, and consists of West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) and East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh).
1958 A propeller plane operated by the Dutch airline KLM crashes into the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland.
1959 The American Football League is founded.
1969 Operation Banner: British troops are deployed to Northern Ireland.
1971 Bahrain declares its independence.
1972 A plane crash, of an Ilyushin II-62, in East Berlin kills 156 people.
1973 The Pakistan Constitution of 1973 goes into effect.
1974 The Second Turkish invasion of Cyprus begins. 140,000 to 200,000 Greek Cypriots become refugees. 6,000 are killed and 1,619 are missing.
1980 The Gdansk shipyard strike in Poland occurs, as an uprising against Communist rule, and leads to the foundation of the Solidarity movement led by Lech Walesa.
1992 Georgian troops enter Abkhazia, which had declared independence.
1994 Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal is arrested.
From 2001
2003 A wide scale power blackout affects parts of Canada and the northeastern United States.
2005 Helios Airways Flight 522, travelling from Larnaca in Cyprus, crashes near Grammatiko in Greece, killing all 121 people on board, after the air conditioner fails.
2006 Chencholai bombing: 61 Tamil girls are killed in a bombing by the Sri Lankan Air Force.
2007 Bomb attacks across Northern Iraq kill a total of 796 people. 1,500 are injured.
2010 The first ever Summer Youth Olympic Games begin in Singapore. 3,531 athletes aged 14 to 18, from 204 National Olympic Committees take part.
2013 Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators who support the ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
2013 The England national football team and Scotland national football team play each other for the first time since 1999 in the oldest international football fixture. England wins a closely fought match 3-2.
2015 The United States re-opens its Embassy in Havana, Cuba, 54 years after the countries initially broke diplomatic ties.
2017 Heavy rain and mudslides kill hundreds of people in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
2018 Part of the Morandi motorway Bridge in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, collapses, killing 43 people.
2019 With support on board, Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg starts sailing across the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, Devon, England to New York City to take part in a climate change summit.
2021 2021 Haiti earthquake of M 7.2 occurs in Haiti.
Births
Up to 1900
1297 Emperor Hanazano of Japan (d. 1348)
1337 King Robert III of Scotland (d. 1406)
1473 Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence (d. 1541)
1479 Princess Catherine of York (d. 1527)
1552 Paolo Sarpi, Italian church reformer and historian (d. 1623)
1642 Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1723)
1688 Frederick William I of Prussia (d. 1740)
1714 Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (d. 1789)
1727 Princess Marie Louise Elisabeth of France (d. 1759)
1727 Princess Anne Henriette of France (d. 1752)
1734 Thomas Sumter, American general and politician (d. 1832)
1738 Leopold Hofmann, Austrian composer (d. 1793)
1740 Pope Pius VII (d. 1823)
1758 Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, French painter (d. 1835)
1773 Jean-Baptiste de Villele, French statesman (d. 1854)
1777 Hans Christian Orsted, Danish physicist (d. 1851)
1777 Francis I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1830)
1802 Fabio Maria Asquini, Italian cardinal (d. 1878)
1814 Adolph Tidemand, Norwegian painter (d. 1876)
1818 Francois d'Orleans, Prince of Joinville, French admiral (d. 1900)
1819 Agenor, duc de Gramont, French diplomat (d. 1880)
1840 Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German psychologist (d. 1902)
1847 Robert Comtesse, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1922)
1848 Margaret Lindsay Hughes, Irish-English astronomer (d. 1915)
1851 Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter (d. 1887)
1857 Max Wagenknecht, German composer (d. 1922)
1862 Prince Henry of Croatia (d. 1929)
1863 Ernest Thayer, American poet (d. 1940)
1865 Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician (d. 1952)
1866 Charles Jean de la Vallee-Poussin, Belgian mathematician and academic (d. 1962)
1867 John Galsworthy, English writer (d. 1933)
1867 Cupid Childs, American baseball player (d. 1912)
1871 Quangxu Emperor of China (d. 1908)
1874 Georgios Kondylis, Greek politician (d. 1936)
1876 Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia (d. 1903)
1876 Sibilla Aleramo, Italian writer and poet (d. 1960)
1878 Georgios Kondylis, Greek general and Prime Minister (d. 1936)
1880 Fred Alexander, American tennis player (d. 1969)
1881 Francis Ford, American actor (d. 1953)
1882 Gisela Richter, British-born art historian (d. 1972)
1883 Gwendoline Eastlake-Smith, English tennis player (d. 1941)
1887 Marija Leiko, Latvian actress (d. 1937)
1889 Willi Munzenberg, German Communist, publisher and movie producer (d. 1940)
1892 Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English pianist and composer (d. 1988)
1895 Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (d. 1973)
1899 Alma Reville, British actress and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1899 Evelyn Kozak, American supercentenarian (d. 2013)
1901 1950
1901 Franz Konwitschny, German conductor (d. 1962)
1910 Willy Ronis, French photographer (d. 2009)
1910 Pierre Schaeffer, French composer (d. 1995)
1911 Jaime Rodriguez, Chilean footballer (d. 2003)
1912 Frank Oppenheimer, American particle physicist (d. 1985)
1914 Poul Hartling, Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 2000)
1916 Fumio Fujimura, Japanese baseball player (d. 1992)
1921 Julia Hartwig, Polish writer and translator (d. 2017)
1921 Sidney Rittenberg, American linguist (d. 2019)
1923 Kuldip Nayar, Indian journalist (d. 2018)
1924 Sverre Fehn, Norwegian architect (d. 2009)
1924 Holger Juul Hansen, Danish actor (d. 2013)
1924 Georges Pretre, French conductor (d. 2017)
1925 Russell Baker, columnist
1926 Rene Goscinny, French comic-strip writer (d. 1977)
1928 Lina Wertmuller, Italian director
1929 Giacomo Capuzzi, Italian bishop
1929 Thomas Meehan, American playwright (d. 2017)
1930 Liz Fraser, English actress (d. 2018)
1930 Earl Weaver, American Baseball Hall of Fame manager (d. 2013)
1931 Frederick Raphael, American screenwriter, biographer, novelist and journalist
1932 James V. Hansen, American politician (d. 2018)
1933 Richard R. Ernst, Swiss chemist
1935 John Brodie, American football player
1936 Trevor Bannister, English actor (d. 2011)
1940 Dash Crofts, musician
1940 Aristides Royo, 36th President of Panama
1940 Arthur Laffer, American economist
1941 David Crosby, American guitarist, songwriter
1941 Lynne Cheney, American political figure, former Second Lady of the United States
1942 Molefi Kete Asante, American author
1943 Jimmy Johnson, American football player and broadcaster
1945 Steve Martin, American comedian and actor
1945 Wim Wenders, German director
1946 Antonio Fargas, actor
1946 Susan Saint James, actress
1946 Tom Walkinshaw, Scottish racing driver (d. 2010)
1947 Danielle Steel, American novelist
1949 Morten Olsen, Danish footballer and coach
1950 Gary Larson, American cartoonist
1950 Bob Backlund, American professional wrestler
1951 1975
1952 Carl Lumbly, actor
1952 Debbie Meyer, swimmer
1953 James Horner, American Academy Award-winning composer (d. 2015)
1954 Mark Fidrych, American baseball player
1954 Stanley McChrystal, American general
1954 Christian Gross, Swiss football coach
1955 Gillian Taylforth, English actress
1956 Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
1957 Peter Costello, Australian politician
1959 Marcia Gay Harden, Academy Award-winning actress
1959 Magic Johnson, American basketball player
1960 Sarah Brightman, British singer
1961 Susan Olsen, actress
1961 Satoshi Tsunami, Japanese footballer
1962 Rameez Raja, Pakistani cricketer and sportscaster
1964 Brannon Braga, American writer and director
1965 Emmanuelle Beart, French actress
1965 Mark Francois, English politician
1966 Halle Berry, American Academy Award-winning actress
1968 Darren Clarke, Northern Irish golfer
1968 Adrian Lester, English actor
1971 Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan cricketer
1972 Laurent Lamothe, Haitian politician
1972 Giuseppe Mazzarelli, Swiss footballer
1973 Daisuke Ishiwatari, Japanese game developer and composer
1973 Rana Faheem Aslam, Pakistani journalist
1973 Jared Borgetti, Mexican footballer
1973 Jay-Jay Okocha, Nigerian footballer
1973 Chucky Atkins, American basketball player
1974 Ana Matronic, American singer (Scissor Sisters)
1974 Martin Bulloch, Scottish drummer (Mogwai)
From 1976
1976 Alex Albrecht, co-host of The Screen Savers
1977 Juan Pierre, American baseball player
1977 Philip Stamper, American pro wrestler, actor
1978 Anastasios Kyriakos, Greek footballer
1981 Matthew Etherington, English footballer
1982 Simon Andrews, English motorcycle racer (d. 2014)
1983 Mila Kunis, Ukrainian-American television actress
1983 Heiko Westermann, German footballer
1983 Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-born British tennis player (d. 2014)
1983 Lu Yen-hsun, Taiwanese tennis player
1984 Carl Valeri, Australian footballer
1984 Nick Grimshaw, British radio DJ and television presenter
1984 Robin Soderling, Swedish tennis player
1984 Giorgio Chiellini, Italian footballer
1985 Christian Gentner, German footballer
1986 Cameron Jerome, English footballer
1989 Ander Herrera, Spanish footballer
1990 Jaydee Bixby, Canadian singer
1992 Sarah Correa, Brazilian swimmer (d. 2015)
1993 Gongchan, South Korean singer and actress
1993 Cassi Thomson, Australian-American actress and singer
1999 Garrett Ryan, American actor
Deaths
Up to 1900
582 Tiberius II, Byzantine Empress (b. 535)
1040 Duncan I of Scotland
1167 Rainald of Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne
1204 Minamoto no Yoriie, Japanese shogun (b. 1182)
1369 Philippa of Hainault, Queen Consort of England (b. 1311)
1390 John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, English soldier (b. 1364)
1430 Philip I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1404)
1433 King John I of Portugal (b. 1357)
1464 Pope Pius II (b. 1405)
1573 Saito Tatsuoki, Japanese warlord (b. 1548)
1691 Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel, Irish rebel (b. 1630)
1704 Roland Laporte, French Protestant leader (b. 1675)
1727 William Croft, English composer (b. 1678)
1754 Maria Anna of Austria (b. 1683)
1774 Johann Jakob Reiske, German scholar and physician (b. 1716)
1784 Nathaniel Hone, Irish-born painter (b. 1718)
1852 Margaret Taylor, First Lady of the United States (b. 1788)
1856 Constant Prevost, French geologist (b. 1787)
1860 Andre Marie Constant Dumeril, French zoologist (b. 1774)
1870 David Farragut, American navy officer (b. 1801)
1891 Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of the United States (b. 1803)
1901 2000
1905 Simeon Solomon, British artist (b. 1840)
1909 William Stanley, American inventor and engineer (b. 1829)
1928 Klabund, German writer and poet (b. 1890)
1941 Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr and saint (b. 1854)
1941 Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
1943 Joe Kelley, American baseball player (b. 1871)
1951 William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper magnate (b. 1863)
1954 Hugo Eckener, German pilot and designer (b. 1868)
1955 Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress (b. 1861)
1956 Bertolt Brecht, German writer (b. 1898)
1958 Frederic Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1900)
1958 Konstantin von Neurath, German diplomat (b. 1873)
1972 Oscar Levant, American actor, composer, and musician (b. 1906)
1980 Dorothy Stratton, Canadian actress and model (b. 1960)
1980 Paul Snider, Canadian entrepreneur and manager (b. 1951)
1981 Karl Bohm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)
1982 Patrick Magee, Irish-English actor (b. 1922)
1984 Spud Davis, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1904)
1984 J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1894)
1985 Gale Sondergaard, American actress (b. 1899)
1988 Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b. 1898)
1989 Ricky Berry, American basketball player (b. 1964)
1991 Alberto Crespo, Argentine racing driver (b. 1920)
1994 Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born writer (b. 1905)
2000 Alain Fournier, French-born computer graphics researcher (b. 1943)
From 2001
2002 Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (b. 1972)
2003 Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
2004 Czeslaw Milosz, Polish-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
2005 Coo Coo Marlin, American race car driver (b. 1932)
2007 Kotozakura Masakatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1940)
2010 Abbey Lincoln, American singer (b. 1930)
2011 Shammi Kapoor, Indian actor (b. 1931)
2012 Svetozar Gligoric, Serbian chess player (b. 1923)
2012 Sergey Kapitsa, Russian physicist (b. 1928)
2012 Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (b. 1919)
2012 Ron Palillo, American actor (b. 1949)
2013 Lisa Robin Kelly, American actress (b. 1970)
2014 Mariana Briski, Argentine actress (b. 1965)
2014 George V. Hansen, American politician (b. 1930)
2014 Jay Adams, American skateboarder (b. 1961)
2014 Stephen Lee, American actor (b. 1955)
2015 Bob Johnston, American record producer (b. 1932)
2016 Fyvush Finkel, American actor (b. 1922)
2016 Hermann Kant, German historian (b. 1926)
2017 Andrzej Blumenfeld, Polish actor (b. 1951)
2017 Frank Broyles, American college football coach (b. 1924)
2017 Franklin Cleckley, American state judge (b. 1940)
2017 Abdelkrim Ghallab, Moroccan politician, journalist and novelist (b. 1919)
2017 Stephen Wooldridge, Australian cyclist (b. 1977)
2017 Lateef Raji, Nigerian politician (b. 1962)
2018 Hugh Cortazzi, British diplomat (b. 1924)
2018 Balram Das Tandon, Indian politician (b. 1927)
2018 Jill Janus, American singer (b. 1975)
2018 Michael Persinger, American-Canadian psychology professor and neuroscience researcher (b. 1945)
2018 Eduard Uspensky, Russian author (b. 1937)
2018 Chemmanam Chacko, Indian poet (b. 1926)
2019 Graham Farmer, Australian footballer (b. 1935)
2019 Karim Olowu, Nigerian sprinter and long jumper (b. 1924)
2019 Hector Rivoira, Argentine footballer (b. 1960)
2019 Gjergj Xhuvani, Albanian film director (b. 1963)
Observances
Feast of Maximilian Kolbe, martyr
Independence Day (Pakistan)
Days of the year