November 14Birthdays & History

On this day: November 14 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 332 BCAlexander the Great is crowned pharaoh of Egypt.Middle East
2. 1680German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680, the first comet to be discovered by telescope.Europe
3. 1770James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile.Middle East
4. 1812Napoleonic Wars: At the Battle of Smoliani, French Marshals Victor and Oudinot are defeated by the Russians under General Peter Wittgenstein.Europe
5. 1851Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville, is published in the USA.North America
6. 1889Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in 72 days.North AmericaEurope
7. 1910Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first takeoff from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia, taking off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in a Curtiss pusher.North America
8. 1914The Joensuu City Hall, designed by Eliel Saarinen, was inaugurated in Joensuu, Finland.Europe
9. 1918The Provisional National Assembly of the new republic of Czechoslovakia meets to devise a constitution.Europe
10. 1920Pesäpallo, the Finnish version of baseball developed by Lauri Pihkala, is played for the first time at Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki.Europe
11. 1921The Communist Party of Spain is founded, and issues the first edition of Mundo obrero.Europe
12. 1922The British Broadcasting Company begins radio service in the United Kingdom.Europe
13. 1938The Lions Gate Bridge, connecting Vancouver to the North Shore region, opens to traffic.North America
14. 1940World War II: In England, Coventry is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers. Coventry Cathedral is almost completely destroyed.Europe
15. 1941World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sinks due to torpedo damage from the German submarine U-81 sustained on November 13.Europe
16. 1941World War II: German troops, aided by local auxiliaries, murder nine thousand residents of the Słonim Ghetto in a single day.Europe
17. 1952The New Musical Express publishes the first regular UK Singles Chart.Europe
18. 1957The "Apalachin meeting" in rural Tioga County in upstate New York is raided by law enforcement; many high-level Mafia figures are arrested while trying to flee.North America
19. 1960Ruby Bridges becomes the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana.North America
20. 1965Vietnam War: The Battle of Ia Drang begins. This is the first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces.AsiaNorth America
21. 1967American physicist Theodore Maiman is given a patent for his ruby laser systems, the world's first laser.North America
22. 1967The Congress of Colombia, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the death of Policarpa Salavarrieta, declares this day as "Day of the Colombian Woman".North AmericaLatin America
23. 1969Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon.North America
24. 1970Southern Airways Flight 932 crashes in the mountains near Huntington, West Virginia, killing 75, including almost all of the Marshall University football team.North America
25. 1970Soviet Union enters ICAO, making Russian the fourth official language of organization.Europe
26. 1971Mariner 9 enters orbit around Mars.World
27. 1973The Athens Polytechnic uprising, a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967–74, begins.Europe
28. 1973In the United Kingdom, Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey.Europe
29. 1975With the signing of the Madrid Accords, Spain abandons Western Sahara.Europe
30. 1977During a British House of Commons debate, Labour MP Tam Dalyell poses what would become known as the West Lothian question, referring to issues related to devolution in the United Kingdom.Europe
31. 1978France conducts the Aphrodite nuclear test as 25th in the group of 29 1975–78 French nuclear tests.Europe
32. 1979US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States in response to the hostage crisis.North AmericaMiddle East
33. 1982Reverend Caesar "Butch" Conde leads first worship service of the Bread of Life Ministries International in the Philippines.Asia
34. 1982Lech Wałęsa, the leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, is released after eleven months of internment near the Soviet border.Europe
35. 1984Zamboanga City mayor Cesar Climaco, a prominent critic of the government of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, is assassinated in his home city.Asia
36. 1990While on approach to Zurich Airport, Alitalia Flight 404 crashes into Stadlerberg Mountain near Weiach, killing 46.Europe
37. 1990After German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming the Oder–Neisse line as the border between Germany and Poland.Europe
38. 1991American and British authorities announce indictments against two Libyan intelligence officials in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103.North AmericaEuropeAfrica
39. 1991Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after thirteen years in exile.Asia
40. 1992In poor conditions caused by Cyclone Forrest, Vietnam Airlines Flight 474 crashes near Nha Trang, killing 30.Asia
41. 1995A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forces the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums and to run most government offices with skeleton staffs.North America
42. 2001A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes a remote part of the Tibetan Plateau. It has the longest known surface rupture recorded on land (~400 km) and is the best documented example of a supershear earthquake.Asia
43. 2001War in Afghanistan: Afghan Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul.Asia
44. 2003Astronomers discover Sedna, a distant trans-Neptunian dwarf planet.World
45. 2008The first G-20 economic summit opens in Washington, D.C.North America
46. 2008Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-126 to continue assembly of the International Space Station.World
47. 2012Israel launches a major military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas.Middle East
48. 2016A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Kaikōura, New Zealand, at a depth of 15 km (9 miles), resulting in the deaths of two people.Oceania
49. 2017A gunman kills four people and injures 12 others during a shooting spree across Rancho Tehama, California. He had earlier murdered his wife in their home.North America
50. 2019A mass shooting occurs at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, resulting in three deaths, including that of the perpetrator, and three injuries.North America

Source: Wikipedia "November 14" / CC BY-SA 4.0