On This Day … 14 September

Events

  • AD 81 – Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
  • 629 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph after his victory over the Persian Empire.
  • 919 – Battle of Islandbridge: High King Niall Glúndub is killed while leading an Irish coalition against the Vikings of Uí Ímair, led by King Sitric Cáech.
  • 1180 – Genpei War: Battle of Ishibashiyama in Japan.
  • 1402 – Battle of Homildon Hill results in an English victory over Scotland.
  • 1607 – Flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland.
  • 1723 – Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena lays down the first stone of Fort Manoel in Malta.
  • 1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was 02 September).
  • 1763 – Seneca warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Devil’s Hole during Pontiac’s War.
  • 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Review of the French troops under General Rochambeau by General George Washington at Verplanck’s Point, New York.
  • 1791 – The Papal States lose Avignon to Revolutionary France.
  • 1808 – Finnish War: Russians defeat the Swedes at the Battle of Oravais.
  • 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée enters Moscow.
    • The Fire of Moscow begins as soon as Russian troops leave the city.
  • 1814 – Battle of Baltimore: The poem Defence of Fort McHenry is written by Francis Scott Key.
    • The poem is later used as the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner.
  • 1829 – The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War.
  • 1846 – Jang Bahadur and his brothers massacre about 40 members of the Nepalese palace court.
  • 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of South Mountain, part of the Maryland Campaign, is fought.
  • 1901 – US President William McKinley dies after being mortally wounded on 06 September by anarchist Leon Czolgosz and is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.
  • 1914 – HMAS AE1, the Royal Australian Navy’s first submarine, is lost at sea with all hands near East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
  • 1917 – The Russian Empire is formally replaced by the Russian Republic.
  • 1936 – Raoul Villain, who assassinated the French Socialist Jean Jaures, is himself killed by Spanish Republicans in Ibiza.
  • 1939 – World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify the annexation of Estonia.
  • 1940 – Ip massacre: The Hungarian Army, supported by local Hungarians, kill 158 Romanian civilians in Ip, Sălaj, a village in Northern Transylvania, an act of ethnic cleansing.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Wehrmacht starts a three-day retaliatory operation targeting several Greek villages in the region of Viannos, whose death toll would eventually exceed 500 persons.
  • 1944 – World War II: Maastricht becomes the first Dutch city to be liberated by allied forces.
  • 1948 – The Indian Army captures the city of Aurangabad as part of Operation Polo.
  • 1954 – In a top secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40 kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village.
  • 1958 – The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere.
  • 1960 – Congo Crisis: Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power in a military coup, suspending parliament and the constitution.
  • 1979 – Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki is assassinated upon the order of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes the new president.
  • 1982 – President-elect of Lebanon Bachir Gemayel is assassinated.
  • 1992 – The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declares the breakaway Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to be illegal.
  • 2019 – Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim responsibility for an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.
  • Mobilised Servicemen Day (Ukraine).

People (Births)

  • 1721 – Eliphalet Dyer, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 1807).
  • 1774 – Lord William Bentinck, English general and politician, 14th Governor-General of India (d. 1839).
  • 1872 – John Olof Dahlgren, Swedish-American soldier, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 1963).
  • 1886 – Jan Masaryk, Czech soldier and politician, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1948).
  • 1892 – Laurence W. Allen, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 1968).
  • 1913 – Jacobo Árbenz, Guatemalan captain and politician, President of Guatemala (d. 1971).
  • 1922 – Alfred Käärmann, Estonian soldier and author (d. 2010).

People (Deaths)

  • 1435 – John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, English politician, Lord High Admiral (b. 1389).
  • 1646 – Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (b. 1591).
  • 1749 – Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (b. 1675).
  • 1759 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general (b. 1712).
  • 1807 – George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1724).
  • 1836 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (b. 1756).
  • 1852 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Irish-English field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1769).
  • 1901 – William McKinley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 25th President of the United States (b. 1843).
  • 1966 – Cemal Gürsel, Turkish general and politician, 4th President of Turkey (b. 1895).
  • 1982 – Bachir Gemayel, Lebanese commander and politician (b. 1947).
  • 1995 – Maurice K. Goddard, American colonel and politician (b. 1912).
  • 2000 – Jerzy Giedroyc, Belarusian-Polish soldier and activist (b. 1906).
  • 2005 – Vladimir Volkoff, French soldier and author (b. 1932).
  • 2013 – Osama El-Baz, Egyptian soldier and diplomat (b. 1931).

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