Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 14
This is a list of selected March 14 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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The Lakeview Gusher -
A cotton gin -
Eli Whitney -
Admiral John Byng -
Catherine Cornaro
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1590 – French Wars of Religion: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeated the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne at the Battle of Ivry in Ivry, France. | refimprove section |
| 1794 – American inventor Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin, the first ever machine that quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from their seedpods. | refimprove section |
| 1915 – First World War: British forces cornered and sank the SMS Dresden, the last remnant of the German East Asia Squadron, near the Chilean island of Más a Tierra. | refimprove |
| 1978 – Israeli–Lebanese conflict: The Israel Defense Forces began Operation Litani, invading and occupying southern Lebanon, and pushing PLO troops north up to the Litani River. | refimprove section |
| 1980 – LOT Flight 7 crashed during final approach to Warsaw's Okęcie International Airport, killing 87 people, including Polish singer Anna Jantar and a contingent of the amateur U.S. boxing team. | refimprove |
| 1991 – The "Birmingham Six", wrongly convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings in England, were released after sixteen years in prison. | refimprove section |
| 1994 – Version 1.0.0 of the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel, was released, becoming one of the most prominent examples of open-source software. | refimprove sections |
| 1995 – Aboard the Soyuz TM-21 spacecraft, Norman Thagard became the first American to ride to space on a Russian vehicle. | refimprove, primary sources |
| 2008 – A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupted in Lhasa and elsewhere in Tibet. | multiple issues |
Eligible
- 1489 – Queen of Cyprus Catherine Cornaro was forced to abdicate and sell the administration of the island to the Republic of Venice.
- 1757 – British Royal Navy Admiral John Byng was executed by firing squad for failing to "do his utmost" during the Battle of Minorca at the start of the Seven Years' War.
- 1910 – Oil prospectors in Kern County, California, drilled into a pressurized oil deposit, resulting in the largest accidental oil spill in history.
- 1931 – Alam Ara, the first Indian film with sound, was released.
- 1972 – Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, known for his translation of Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago after it had been smuggled out of the Soviet Union, was killed in a mysterious explosion.
- 1988 – China defeated Vietnam in a naval battle as the former attempted to establish oceanographic observation posts on the Spratly Islands.
- Born/died this day: John Sigismund Zápolya (d. 1571) · George Wade (d. 1748) · Lucy Hobbs Taylor (b. 1833) · Diane Arbus (b. 1923) · Fannie Lou Hamer (d. 1977) · Tony Benn (d. 2014)
Notes
- D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (1982) appears on February 27, so the Mikado should not appear in the same year
March 14: New Year's Day (Sikhism); White Day in East Asia; Pi Day
- 1593 – Japanese invasions of Korea: A Korean force of 3,000 soldiers successfully defended Haengju Fortress against an invading Japanese force of 30,000 men.
- 1885 – The Mikado (poster pictured), Gilbert and Sullivan's most frequently performed Savoy opera, debuted at the Savoy Theatre in London.
- 1945 – The Royal Air Force first used the Grand Slam, a 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) earthquake bomb, on a strategic railway viaduct in Bielefeld, Germany.
- 1969 – Edward M. Burke, the longest-serving alderman in the history of the Chicago City Council, was sworn into office.
- 1984 – Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Féin, was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt by Ulster Freedom Fighters in central Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Thomas R. Marshall (b. 1854) · Karl Marx (d. 1883) · Jessica Gallagher (b. 1986)