Major Events
- 1281 During Kublai Khan‘s second Mongol invasion of Japan, his invading Chinese fleet of 3,500 vessels disappears in a typhoon near the Japanese coast
- 1842 US Army Colonel Worth declares the Second Seminole War over after nearly seven years; over 3,000 surviving members of the Seminole Nation are forcibly relocated from Florida to Oklahoma, with only about 300 permitted to remain [1]
- 1945 V-J Day, the Empire of Japan surrenders unconditionally to the Allies, ending World War II (August 15 in Japan and other countries depending on the time zone)
- 1947 Pakistan gains independence from the United Kingdom
- 1969 British Army deploys on the streets of Northern Ireland, beginning Operation Banner
- 1980 17,000 workers strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, beginning the Solidarity movement
Aug 14 in Film & TV
- 1938 BBC’s first feature film on TV (The Student of Prague)
Aug 14 in Music
- 1995 “Battle of Brit Pop” rival bands Oasis (Roll with It) and Blur (Country House) release singles on the same day
Aug 14 in Sport
- 1909 Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, home of the Indy 500, hosts its first motorized event, a series of motorcycle races
- 1987 Oakland’s Mark McGwire sets the rookie home run record at 39 en route to 49
Did You Know?
King Duncan I of Scotland is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth, who succeeds him as king (not murdered in his sleep as in Shakespeare’s play)
Fun Fact About August 14
First claimed powered flight by Gustave Whitehead in his No. 21 aircraft near Bridgeport, Connecticut
Famous Weddings
- 1756 Frontiersman Daniel Boone (21) weds Rebecca Bryan (17) in Yadkin River, North Carolina
- 1939 “A Star Is Born” actress Janet Gaynor (32) weds MGM costume designer Adrian (36)
- 1952 UK Prime Minister Anthony Eden (55) weds UK prime minister’s niece Clarissa Spencer-Churchill (32) in a civil ceremony at Caxton Hall, London
Famous Divorces
- 1979 British actor Peter O’Toole and Welsh actress Siân Phillips (46) divorce after nearly twenty years of marriage
- 2012 “Basketball Wives” TV personality Evelyn Lozada divorces NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson (34) due to irretrievably broken marriage only 41 days after getting married
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