HISTORY OF 14th APRIL

 Historical Events For April 14

43 BC

Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar’s assassin Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, who is wounded.

69

Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats 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.

966

After his marriage to the Christian Dobrawa of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.

1028

Henry III, son of Conrad, is elected king of the Germans.

1205

Battle of Adrianople between Bulgarians and Crusaders.

1294

Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty with the reigning titles Oljeitu and Chengzong.

1341

Sack of Saluzzo (Italy) by Italian-Angevine troops under Manfred V of Saluzzo.

1434

The foundation stone of Cathedral St. Peter and St. Paul in Nantes, France is laid.

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 IV resumes the throne.

1639

Imperial forces are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz. The Swedish victory prolongs the Thirty Year’s War and allows them to advance into Bohemia.

1699

Khalsa: The Sikh Religion was formalised as the Khalsa - the brotherhood of Warrior-Saints - by Guru Gobind Singh in Northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar.

1775

The first abolition society in North America is established. The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.

1816

Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion and is killed. For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados.

1828

Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary.

1846

The Donner Party of pioneers departs Springfield, Illinois, for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship, cannibalism, and survival.

1849

Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.

1860

The first Pony Express rider reaches Sacramento, California.

1865

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.

1865

U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell.

1881

The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight is fought 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 opened in New York City using ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films.

1906

The Azusa Street Revival opens and will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement.

1909

A massacre is organized by Ottoman Empire against Armenian population of Cilicia.

1912

The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40pm. The ship sinks the following morning with the loss of 1,517 lives.

1927

The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.

1931

First edition of the Highway Code published in Great Britain.

1931

Spanish Cortes depose King Alfonso XIII and proclaims the 2nd Spanish Republic.

1935

“Black Sunday Storm”, the worst dust storm of the U.S. Dust Bowl.

1939

The Grapes of Wrath, by American author John Steinbeck is first published by the Viking Press.

1940

World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later.

1941

World War II: The Ustashe, a Croatian far-right organization is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis Powers after the Axis Operation 25 invasion. Rommel attacks Tobruk.

1944

Bombay Explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.

1945

Osijek, Croatia, is liberated from fascist occupation.

1956

In Chicago, Illinois, videotape is first demonstrated.

1958

The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days.

1967

Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows President of Togo Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new president, a title he would hold for the next 38 years.

1969

At the U.S. Academy Awards there is a tie for the Academy Award for Best Actress between Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand.

1978

1978 Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.

1981

STS-1 – The first operational space shuttle, Columbia (OV-102) completes its first test flight.

1986

1 kg hailstones fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. These are the heaviest hailstones ever recorded.

1986

In retaliation for the April 5 bombing in West Berlin that killed two U.S. servicemen, U.S. president Ronald Reagan orders major bombing raids against Libya, killing 60 people.

1988

In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

1988

The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.

1991

The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

1994

In a U.S. friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people.

1999

A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.

1999

NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees – Yugoslav officials say 75 people are killed.

2002

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez 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 the MS Achille Lauro in 1985.

2005

The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to gay couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.

2007

At least 200,000 demonstrators in Ankara, Turkey protest against the possible candidacy of incumbent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

2010

Nearly 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai, China.