April 14
Events
Pre-1600
- 43 BC - Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum.
- 69 - Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho in the First Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome.
- 966 - Following his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
- 972 - Otto II, Co-Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, marries Byzantine princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII in Rome the same day.
- 1395 - Tokhtamysh–Timur war: At the Battle of the Terek River, Timur defeats the army of the Golden Horde, beginning the khanate's permanent military decline.
- 1471 - In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward resumes the throne.
- 1561 - A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle.
1601–1900
- 1639 - Thirty Years' War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Electorate of Saxony are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz, ending the military effectiveness of the Saxon army for the rest of the war and allowing the Swedes to advance into Bohemia.
- 1775 - The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first abolition society in North America, is organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
- 1793 - The French troops led by Léger-Félicité Sonthonax defeat the slaves settlers in the Siege of Port-au-Prince.
- 1816 - Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion, for which he is remembered as the country's first national hero.
- 1849 - Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.
- 1858 - The 1858 Christiania fire severely destroys several city blocks near Stortorvet in Christiania, Norway, and about 1,000 people lose their homes.
- 1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln dies the following day.
- 1865 - William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State, and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell.
- 1881 - The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight occurs in El Paso, Texas.
- 1890 - The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C.
- 1894 - The first ever commercial motion picture house opens in New York City, United States. It uses ten Kinetoscopes, devices for peep-show viewing of films.
- 1895 - The 1895 Ljubljana earthquake, both the most and last destructive earthquake in the area, occurs.
- 1900 - The world's fair Exposition Universelle opens in Paris.
1901–present
- 1906 - The first meeting of the Azusa Street Revival, which will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement, is held in Los Angeles.
- 1908 - Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, fails, sending a surge of water high downstream.
- 1909 - Muslims in the Ottoman Empire begin a massacre of Armenians in Adana.
- 1912 - The British passenger liner hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and begins to sink.
- 1929 - The inaugural Monaco Grand Prix takes place in the Principality of Monaco. William Grover-Williams wins driving a Bugatti Type 35.
- 1931 - The Second Spanish Republic is proclaimed and King Alfonso XIII goes to exile. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Francesc Macià proclaims the Catalan Republic.
- 1935 - The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, sweeps across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas.
- 1940 - World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later.
- 1941 - World War II: German and Italian forces attack Tobruk, Libya.
- 1944 - Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued at 20 million pounds.
- 1945 - Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian Division deliberately destroys the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes.
- 1958 - The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
- 1967 - Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new President of Togo, a title he will hold for the next 38 years.
- 1978 - Tbilisi demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
- 1979 - The Progressive Alliance of Liberia stages a protest, without a permit, against an increase in rice prices proposed by the government, with clashes between protestors and the police resulting in over 70 deaths and over 500 injuries.
- 1981 - STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight.
- 1986 - The heaviest hailstones ever recorded, each weighing, fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
- 1988 - The strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.
- 1988 - In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
- 1991 - The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President following its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1994 - In a friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two U.S. Army helicopters, killing 26 people.
- 1997 - Pai Hsiao-yen, daughter of Taiwanese artiste Pai Bing-bing is kidnapped on her way to school, preceding her murder.
- 1999 - NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed.
- 1999 - A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.
- 2002 - Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military.
- 2003 - The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
- 2003 - U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner in 1985.
- 2005 - The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
- 2006 - Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi injure 13 people.
- 2014 - Two bombs detonate at a bus station in Nyanya, Nigeria, killing at least 88 people and injuring hundreds. Boko Haram claims responsibility.
- 2014 - Boko Haram abducts 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Nigeria.
- 2016 - The foreshock of a major earthquake occurs in Kumamoto, Japan.
- 2022 - 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: The Russian warship Moskva sinks.
- 2023 - The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer is launched by the European Space Agency.
- 2024 - Flooding in the Persian Gulf starts, killing 19 in Oman.
Births
Pre-1600
- 1126 - Averroes, Andalusian Arab physician and philosopher
- 1204 - Henry I, king of Castile
- 1331 - Jeanne-Marie de Maille, French Roman Catholic saint
- 1527 - Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer
- 1572 - Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician, philosopher, and academic
- 1578 - Philip III of Spain
1601–1900
- 1629 - Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist
- 1669 - Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician
- 1678 - Abraham Darby I, English iron master
- 1709 - Charles Collé, French playwright and songwriter
- 1714 - Adam Gib, Scottish minister and author
- 1738 - William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1769 - Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, French general
- 1773 - Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, Prime Minister of France
- 1788 - David G. Burnet, American politician, 2nd Vice-president of Texas
- 1800 - John Appold, English engineer
- 1812 - George Grey, Portuguese-New Zealand soldier, explorer, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1814 - Dimitri Kipiani, Georgian publicist and author
- 1819 - Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey, American educator, author, editor, and publisher
- 1827 - Augustus Pitt Rivers, English general, ethnologist, and archaeologist
- 1852 - Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist
- 1854 - Martin Lipp, Estonian pastor and poet
- 1857 - Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
- 1865 - Alfred Hoare Powell, English architect, and designer and painter of pottery
- 1866 - Anne Sullivan, American educator
- 1868 - Peter Behrens, German architect, designed the AEG turbine factory
- 1870 - Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter and educator
- 1870 - Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1872 - Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-English scholar and translator
- 1874 - Matti Lonkainen, Finnish politician
- 1876 - Cecil Chubb, English barrister and one time owner of Stonehenge
- 1881 - Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian poet and scholar
- 1882 - Moritz Schlick, German-Austrian physicist and philosopher
- 1886 - Ernst Robert Curtius, German philologist and scholar
- 1886 - Árpád Tóth, Hungarian poet and translator
- 1889 - Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian and academic
- 1891 - B. R. Ambedkar, Indian economist, jurist, and politician, 1st Indian Minister of Law and Justice
- 1891 - Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler
- 1892 - Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter
- 1892 - V. Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist and philologist
- 1892 - Claire Windsor, American actress
- 1900 - Shivrampant Damle, Indian educationist