On This Day — 14 May
2000s
2022
Ten people are killed in a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.
2022 Buffalo shooting
2021
China successfully lands Zhurong, the country's first Mars rover.
Zhurong (rover)
2012
Agni Air Flight CHT crashes in Nepal after a failed go-around, killing 15 people.
Agni Air Flight CHT
2010
Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on the STS-132 mission to deliver the first shuttle-launched Russian ISS component — Rassvet. This was originally slated to be the final launch of Atlantis, before Congress approved STS-135.
Space Shuttle Atlantis
2008
Battle of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre between Zenit supporters and Rangers supporters and the Greater Manchester Police; 39 policemen injured, one police dog injured and 39 arrested.
2008 UEFA Cup final riots
2004
The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
Constitutional Court of Korea
2004
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary Donaldson are married at Copenhagen Cathedral.
Frederik X
2004
Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 crashes into the Amazon rainforest during approach to Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, killing 33 people.
Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815
1900s
1988
Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire.
Carrollton bus collision
1987
Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant colonel Sitiveni Rabuka.
Timoci Bavadra
1980
Salvadoran Civil War: The Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.
Salvadoran Civil War
1977
A Dan-Air Boeing 707 leased to IAS Cargo Airlines crashes on approach to Lusaka International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia, killing six people.
Dan-Air
1973
Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.
Skylab
1970
Andreas Baader is freed from custody by Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction.
Red Army Faction
1961
Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle.
Civil rights movement
1955
Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
Cold War
1953
Approximately 7,100 brewery workers in Milwaukee perform a walkout, marking the start of the 1953 Milwaukee brewery strike.
Milwaukee
1951
Trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales for the first time since preservation, making it the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers.
Talyllyn Railway
1948
Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Israeli Declaration of Independence
1943
World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.
AHS Centaur
1940
World War II: Rotterdam, Netherlands, is bombed by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany despite a ceasefire, killing about 900 people and destroying the historic city center.
World War II
1939
Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
Lina Medina
1935
The Constitution of the Philippines is ratified by a popular vote.
Constitution of the Philippines
1931
Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings, as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers.
Ådalen shootings
1925
Mrs Dalloway, one of Virginia Woolf's earliest and best-known novels, is published.
Mrs Dalloway
1918
Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the two-minute silence.
Harry Hands
1915
The May 14 Revolt takes place in Lisbon, Portugal.
May 14 Revolt
1913
Governor of New York William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.
William Sulzer
1900
Opening of World Amateur championship at the Paris Exposition Universelle, also known as Olympic Games.
Exposition Universelle (1900)
1800s
1879
The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.
Indian indenture system
1878
The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown, an adherent of Christian Science, accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers.
Salem witchcraft trial (1878)
1870
The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club.
Rugby football
1868
Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends as former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward.
Boshin War
1863
American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces drive Confederates under Joseph E. Johnston out of Jackson, Mississippi in the Battle of Jackson.
American Civil War
1857
Mindon Min is crowned as King of Burma in Mandalay, Burma.
Mindon Min
1842
The first edition of The Illustrated London News, the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine, is published.
The Illustrated London News
1836
The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.
Treaties of Velasco
1832
The Battle of Stillman's Run, the first battle of the Black Hawk War, is fought.
Battle of Stillman's Run
1811
Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor.
Paraguay
1804
William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's historic journey up the Missouri River.
William Clark
1800
The 6th United States Congress recesses, and the process of moving the Federal government of the United States from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., begins the following day.
6th United States Congress
Before 1800
1796
Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation.
Edward Jenner
1747
War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre.
War of the Austrian Succession
1610
Henry IV of France is assassinated by Catholic zealot François Ravaillac, and Louis XIII ascends the throne.
Henry IV of France
1608
The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states, is founded to defend the rights, land and safety of each member against the Catholic Church and Catholic German states.
Protestant Union
1607
English colonists establish "James Fort", which would become Jamestown, Virginia, the earliest permanent English settlement in the Americas.
Jamestown, Virginia
1509
Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Republic of Venice.
Battle of Agnadello
1465
During the 1465 Moroccan revolution which overthrows the Marinid dynasty, the Jewish mellah is attacked by the population of Fez, though the extent of the massacre is debated.
1465 Fez revolt
1450
A large Ottoman force begins the siege of Albanian rebel forces in Krujë, that ultimately will fail.
Ottoman Empire
1264
Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England.
Battle of Lewes
1097
The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade.
Siege of Nicaea
1027
Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks.
Robert II of France