August 14

Pre-1600

• 74 BC – A group of officials, led by the Western Han minister Huo Guang, present articles of impeachment against the new emperor, Liu He, to the imperial regent, Empress Dowager Shangguan.
• 29 BC – Octavian holds the second of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes.
• 1040 – King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.
• 1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan.
• 1264 – After tricking the Venetian galley fleet into sailing east to the Levant, the Genoese capture an entire Venetian trade convoy at the Battle of Saseno.
• 1352 – War of the Breton Succession: Anglo-Bretons defeat the French in the Battle of Mauron.
• 1370 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, grants city privileges to Karlovy Vary.
• 1385 – Portuguese Crisis of 1383–85: Battle of Aljubarrota: Portuguese forces commanded by John I of Portugal defeat the Castilian army of John I of Castile.
• 1592 – The first sighting of the Falkland Islands by John Davis.
• 1598 – Nine Years' War: Battle of the Yellow Ford: Irish forces under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeat an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal.

1601–1900

• 1720 – The Spanish military Villasur expedition is defeated by Pawnee and Otoe warriors near present-day Columbus, Nebraska.
• 1784 – Russian colonization of North America: Awa’uq Massacre: The Russian fur trader Grigory Shelikhov storms a Kodiak Island Alutiit refuge rock on Sitkalidak Island, killing 500+ Alutiit.
• 1790 – The Treaty of Wereloe ended the 1788–1790 Russo-Swedish War.
• 1791 – Slaves from plantations in Saint-Domingue hold a Vodou ceremony led by houngan Dutty Boukman at Bois Caïman, marking the start of the Haitian Revolution.
• 1814 – A cease fire agreement, called the Convention of Moss, ended the Swedish–Norwegian War.
• 1816 – The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
• 1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida.
• 1848 – Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress.
• 1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral, the most famous landmark in Cologne, Germany, is completed.
• 1885 – Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
• 1893 – France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.
• 1900 – Battle of Peking: The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, China, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.

1901–present

• 1901 – The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
• 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Lorraine, an unsuccessful French offensive.
• 1917 – World War I: The Republic of China, which had heretofore been shipping labourers to Europe to assist in the war effort, officially declares war on the Central Powers, although it will continue to send to Europe labourers instead of combatants for the remaining duration of the war.
• 1920 – The 1920 Summer Olympics, having started four months earlier, officially open in Antwerp, Belgium, with the newly-adopted Olympic flag and the Olympic oath being raised and taken at the Opening Ceremony for the first time in Olympic history.
• 1921 – Tannu Uriankhai, later Tuvan People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Soviet Russia).
• 1933 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn; destroying 240,000 acres (970 km²) of land.
• 1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired.
• 1936 – Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last known public execution in the United States.
• 1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.
• 1947 – Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire.
• 1948 – Beaver drop a Idaho Department of Fish and Game program to relocate beavers from Northwestern Idaho to the Chamberlain Basin in Central Idaho. The program involved parachuting beavers into the Chamberlain Basin.
• 1959 – Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.
• 1967 – UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal.
• 1969 – The Troubles: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland as political and sectarian violence breaks out, marking the start of the 37-year Operation Banner.
• 1971 – Bahrain declares independence from Britain.
• 1972 – An Ilyushin Il-62 airliner crashes near Königs Wusterhausen, East Germany killing 156 people.
• 1980 – Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.
• 1994 – Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal", is captured.
• 1996 – Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou is shot and killed by a Turkish security officer while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.
• 2003 – A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada.
• 2005 – Helios Airways Flight 522, en route from Larnaca, Cyprus to Prague, Czech Republic via Athens, crashes in the hills near Grammatiko, Greece, killing 121 passengers and crew.
• 2006 – Lebanon War: A ceasefire takes effect three days after the United Nations Security Council’s approval of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, formally ending hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.
• 2006 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sixty-one schoolgirls killed in Chencholai bombing by Sri Lankan Air Force air strike.
• 2007 – The Kahtaniya bombings kills at least 500 people.
• 2013 – Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi.
• 2013 – UPS Airlines Flight 1354 crashes short of the runway at Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport, killing both crew members on board.
• 2015 – The U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opens after 54 years of being closed when Cuba–United States relations were broken off.
• 2021 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes southwestern Haiti, killing at least 2,248 people and causing a humanitarian crisis.
• 2022 – An explosion destroys a market in Armenia, killing six people and injuring dozens.
• 2023 – Former U.S. President Donald Trump is charged in Georgia along with 18 others in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state, his fourth indictment of 2023.

Pre-1600

• 1479 – Catherine of York (d. 1527)
• 1499 – John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, English politician (d. 1526)
• 1502 – Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Flemish painter (d. 1550)
• 1530 – Giambattista Benedetti, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1590)
• 1552 – Paolo Sarpi, Italian writer (d. 1623)
• 1599 – Méric Casaubon, Swiss-English scholar and author (d. 1671)

1601–1900

• 1642 – Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1723)
• 1653 – Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English colonel and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica (d. 1688)
• 1688 – Frederick William I of Prussia (d. 1740)
• 1714 – Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (d. 1789)
• 1738 – Leopold Hofmann, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1793)
• 1742 – Pope Pius VII (d. 1823)
• 1758 – Carle Vernet, French painter and lithographer (d. 1836)
• 1777 – Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist and chemist (d. 1851)
• 1802 – Letitia Elizabeth Landon, English poet and novelist (d. 1838)
• 1814 – Charlotte Fowler Wells, American phrenologist and publisher (d. 1901)
• 1817 – Alexander H. Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1874)
• 1840 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German-Austrian psychologist and author (d. 1902)
• 1847 – Robert Comtesse, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 1922)
• 1848 – Margaret Lindsay Huggins, Anglo-Irish astronomer and author (d. 1915)
• 1851 – Doc Holliday, American dentist and gambler (d. 1887)
• 1860 – Ernest Thompson Seton, American author, artist, and naturalist (d. 1946)
• 1863 – Ernest Thayer, American poet and author (d. 1940)
• 1865 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1952)
• 1866 – Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, Belgian mathematician and academic (d. 1962)
• 1867 – Cupid Childs, American baseball player (d. 1912)
• 1867 – John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1933)
• 1871 – Guangxu Emperor of China (d. 1908)
• 1875 – Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-Lithuanian painter and illustrator (d. 1957)
• 1876 – Alexander I of Serbia (d. 1903)
• 1881 – Francis Ford, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1953)
• 1883 – Ernest Everett Just, American biologist and academic (d. 1941)
• 1886 – Arthur Jeffrey Dempster, Canadian-American physicist and academic (d. 1950)
• 1889 – Otto Tief, Estonian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1976)
• 1890 – Bruno Tesch, German chemist and businessman (d. 1946)
• 1892 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English pianist, composer, and critic (d. 1988)
• 1894 – Frank Burge, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1958)
• 1895 – Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (d. 1973)
• 1895 – Amaza Lee Meredith, American architect (d. 1984)
• 1896 – Albert Ball, English fighter pilot (d. 1917)
• 1896 – Theodor Luts, Estonian director and cinematographer (d. 1980)
• 1900 – Margret Boveri, German journalist (d. 1975)

1901–present

• 1910 – Nüzhet Gökdoğan, Turkish astronomer and mathematician (d. 2003)
• 1910 – Willy Ronis, French photographer (d. 2009)
• 1910 – Pierre Schaeffer, French composer and producer (d. 1995)
• 1912 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (d. 1985)
• 1913 – Hector Crawford, Australian director and producer (d. 1991)
• 1913 – Paul Dean, American baseball player (d. 1981)
• 1914 – Herman Branson, American physicist, chemist, and academic (d. 1995)
• 1915 – B. A. Santamaria, Australian political activist and publisher (d. 1998)
• 1916 – Frank and John Craighead, American naturalists (twins, Frank d. 2001, John d. 2016)
• 1916 – Wellington Mara, American businessman (d. 2005)
• 1923 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (d. 2007)
• 1924 – Sverre Fehn, Norwegian architect, designed the Hedmark Museum (d. 2009)
• 1924 – Georges Prêtre, French conductor (d. 2017)
• 1925 – Russell Baker, American critic and essayist (d. 2019)
• 1926 – René Goscinny, French author and illustrator (d. 1977)
• 1926 – Buddy Greco, American singer and pianist (d. 2017)
• 1928 – Lina Wertmüller, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2021)
• 1929 – Giacomo Capuzzi, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodi from 1989 to 2005 (d. 2021).
• 1929 – Dick Tiger, Nigerian boxer (d. 1971)
• 1930 – Arthur Latham, British politician and Member of Parliament (d. 2016)
• 1930 – Earl Weaver, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
• 1931 – Frederic Raphael, American journalist, author, and screenwriter
• 1932 – Lee Hoffman, American author (d. 2007)
• 1933 – Richard R. Ernst, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2021)
• 1935 – John Brodie, American football player
• 1938 – Bennie Muller, Dutch footballer
• 1941 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2023)
• 1941 – Connie Smith, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1942 – Willie Dunn, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013)
• 1943 – Ronnie Campbell, English miner and politician
• 1943 – Ben Sidran, American jazz and rock keyboardist
• 1945 – Steve Martin, American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and screenwriter
• 1945 – Wim Wenders, German director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1946 – Antonio Fargas, American actor
• 1946 – Larry Graham, American soul/funk bass player and singer-songwriter
• 1946 – Susan Saint James, American actress
• 1946 – Tom Walkinshaw, Scottish race car driver and businessman (d. 2010)
• 1947 – Maddy Prior, English folk singer
• 1947 – Danielle Steel, American author
• 1947 – Joop van Daele, Dutch footballer
• 1949 – Bob Backlund, American wrestler
• 1949 – Morten Olsen, Danish footballer
• 1950 – Gary Larson, American cartoonist
• 1951 – Slim Dunlap, American singer-songwriter and guitarist^: 1894
• 1951 – Carl Lumbly, American actor
• 1952 – Debbie Meyer, American swimmer
• 1953 – James Horner, American composer and conductor (d. 2015)
• 1954 – Mark Fidrych, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
• 1954 – Stanley A. McChrystal, American general
• 1956 – Jackée Harry, American actress and television personality
• 1956 – Andy King, English footballer and manager (d. 2015)
• 1956 – Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
• 1957 – Peter Costello, Australian lawyer and politician
• 1959 – Frank Brickowski, American basketball player
• 1959 – Marcia Gay Harden, American actress
• 1959 – Magic Johnson, American basketball player and coach
• 1960 – Sarah Brightman, English singer and actress
• 1960 – Fred Roberts, American basketball player
• 1961 – Susan Olsen, American actress and radio host
• 1962 – Mark Gubicza, American baseball player
• 1963 – José Cóceres, Argentinian golfer
• 1964 – Neal Anderson, American football player and coach
• 1964 – Jason Dunstall, Australian footballer
• 1965 – Paul Broadhurst, English golfer
• 1966 – Halle Berry, American model, actress, and producer
• 1966 – Karl Petter Løken, Swedish-Norwegian footballer
• 1968 – Ben Bass, American actor
• 1968 – Catherine Bell, English-American actress and producer
• 1968 – Darren Clarke, Northern Irish golfer
• 1968 – Jason Leonard, English rugby player
• 1969 – Tracy Caldwell Dyson, American chemist and astronaut
• 1969 – Stig Tøfting, Danish footballer
• 1970 – Kevin Cadogan, American rock guitarist^: 2005
• 1971 – Raoul Bova, Italian actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1971 – Benito Carbone, Italian footballer
• 1971 – Peter Franzén, Finnish actor
• 1971 – Mark Loretta, American baseball player
• 1972 – Laurent Lamothe, Haitian businessman and politician, Prime Minister of Haiti
• 1973 – Jared Borgetti, Mexican footballer
• 1973 – Kieren Perkins, Australian swimmer
• 1974 – Chucky Atkins, American basketball player
• 1974 – Christopher Gorham, American actor
• 1975 – Mike Vrabel, American football player
• 1976 – Fabrizio Donato, Italian triple jumper
• 1977 – Juan Pierre, American baseball player
• 1978 – Anastasios Kyriakos, Greek footballer
• 1978 – Greg Rawlinson, New Zealand rugby player
• 1979 – Paul Burgess, Australian pole vaulter
• 1980 – Peter Malinauskas, Australian politician, 47th Premier of South Australia
• 1981 – Earl Barron, American basketball player
• 1981 – Paul Gallen, Australian rugby league player, boxer, and sportscaster
• 1981 – Julius Jones, American football player
• 1981 – Kofi Kingston, Ghanaian-American wrestler
• 1981 – Scott Lipsky, American tennis player
• 1983 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player (d. 2014)
• 1983 – Mila Kunis, Ukrainian-American actress
• 1983 – Lamorne Morris, American actor and comedian
• 1983 – Spencer Pratt, American television personality
• 1984 – Eva Birnerová, Czech tennis player
• 1984 – Clay Buchholz, American baseball player
• 1984 – Giorgio Chiellini, Italian footballer
• 1984 – Josh Gorges, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 – Nick Grimshaw, English radio and television host
• 1984 – Nicola Slater, Scottish tennis player
• 1984 – Robin Söderling, Swedish tennis player
• 1985 – Christian Gentner, German footballer
• 1985 – Shea Weber, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1986 – Braian Rodríguez, Uruguayan footballer
• 1987 – Johnny Gargano, American wrestler
• 1987 – David Peralta, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1987 – Tim Tebow, American football and baseball player and sportscaster
• 1989 – Ander Herrera, Spanish footballer
• 1989 – Kyle Turris, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1991 – Richard Freitag, German ski jumper
• 1991 – Giovanny Gallegos, Mexican baseball player
• 1995 – Léolia Jeanjean, French tennis player
• 1997 – Greet Minnen, Belgian tennis player
• 2004 – Marsai Martin, American actress and producer

Pre-1600

• 582 – Tiberius II Constantine, Byzantine emperor
• 1040 – Duncan I of Scotland
• 1167 – Rainald of Dassel, Italian archbishop
• 1204 – Minamoto no Yoriie, second Shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate
• 1433 – John I of Portugal (b. 1357)
• 1464 – Pope Pius II (b. 1405)
• 1573 – Saitō Tatsuoki, Japanese daimyō (b. 1548)

1601–1900

• 1691 – Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, Irish soldier and politician (b. 1630)
• 1716 – Madre María Rosa, Capuchin nun from Spain, to Peru (b. 1660)
• 1727 – William Croft, English organist and composer (b. 1678)
• 1774 – Johann Jakob Reiske, German physician and scholar (b. 1716)
• 1784 – Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Irish-born English painter and academic (b. 1718)
• 1852 – Margaret Taylor, First Lady of the United States (b. 1788)
• 1854 – Carl Carl, Polish-born actor and theatre director (b. 1787)
• 1860 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist and entomologist (b. 1774)
• 1870 – David Farragut, American admiral (b. 1801)
• 1890 – Michael J. McGivney, American priest, founded the Knights of Columbus (b. 1852)
• 1891 – Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of the United States (b. 1803)

1901–present

• 1905 – Simeon Solomon, English soldier and painter (b. 1840)
• 1909 – William Stanley, British engineer and author (b. 1829)
• 1922 – Rebecca Cole, American physician and social reformer (b. 1846)
• 1928 – Klabund, German author and poet (b. 1890)
• 1938 – Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer and accountant (b. 1876)
• 1941 – Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr and saint (b. 1894)
• 1941 – Paul Sabatier, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
• 1943 – Joe Kelley, American baseball player and manager (b. 1871)
• 1948 – Eliška Misáková, Czech gymnast (b. 1926)
• 1951 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (b. 1863)
• 1954 – Hugo Eckener, German pilot and designer (b. 1868)
• 1955 – Herbert Putnam, American lawyer and publisher, Librarian of Congress (b. 1861)
• 1956 – Bertolt Brecht, German poet, playwright, and director (b. 1898)
• 1956 – Konstantin von Neurath, German lawyer and politician, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1873)
• 1958 – Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
• 1963 – Clifford Odets, American director, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
• 1964 – Johnny Burnette, American singer-songwriter (b. 1934)
• 1965 – Vello Kaaristo, Estonian skier (b. 1911)
• 1967 – Bob Anderson, English motorcycle racer and race car driver (b. 1931)
• 1972 – Oscar Levant, American actor, pianist, and composer (b. 1906)
• 1972 – Jules Romains, French author and poet (b. 1885)
• 1973 – Fred Gipson, American journalist and author (b. 1908)
• 1978 – Nicolas Bentley, English author and illustrator (b. 1907)
• 1980 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian-American model and actress (b. 1960)
• 1981 – Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor and director (b. 1894)
• 1981 – Dudley Nourse, South African cricketer (b. 1910)
• 1982 – Mahasi Sayadaw, Burmese monk and philosopher (b. 1904)
• 1984 – Spud Davis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1904)
• 1984 – J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1894)
• 1985 – Gale Sondergaard, American actress (b. 1899)
• 1988 – Roy Buchanan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
• 1988 – Robert Calvert, South African-English singer-songwriter and playwright (b. 1945)^: 1712
• 1988 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded Ferrari (b. 1898)
• 1991 – Alberto Crespo, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1920)
• 1992 – John Sirica, American lawyer and judge (b. 1904)
• 1994 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-Swiss author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
• 1994 – Alice Childress, American actress, playwright, and author (b. 1912)
• 1996 – Sergiu Celibidache, Romanian conductor and composer (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1918)
• 2002 – Larry Rivers, American painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
• 2004 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish-born American novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
• 2004 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (b. 1918)
• 2006 – Bruno Kirby, American actor (b. 1949)
• 2007 – Tikhon Khrennikov, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1913)
• 2010 – Herman Leonard, American photographer (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Vilasrao Deshmukh, Indian lawyer and politician, Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1945)
• 2012 – Svetozar Gligorić, Serbian chess player (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Jack Germond, American journalist and author (b. 1928)
• 2014 – Leonard Fein, American journalist and academic, co-founded Moment Magazine (b. 1934)
• 2014 – George V. Hansen, American politician (b. 1930)
• 2015 – Bob Johnston, American songwriter and producer (b. 1932)
• 2016 – Fyvush Finkel, American actor (b. 1922)
• 2018 – Jill Janus, American singer (b. 1975)
• 2019 – Polly Farmer, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1935)
• 2020 – Julian Bream, English classical guitarist and lutenist (b. 1933)
• 2020 – Angela Buxton, British tennis player (b. 1934)
• 2020 – James R. Thompson, American politician, Governor of Illinois (b. 1936)
• 2021 – Michael Aung-Thwin, American historian and scholar of Burmese and Southeast Asian history (b. 1946)
• 2023 – Delwar Hossain Sayeedi Bangladeshi Islamic lecturer, politician (b. 1940)

• Christian feast day:
  • Arnold of Soissons
  • Domingo Ibáñez de Erquicia
  • Eusebius of Rome
  • Jonathan Myrick Daniels (Episcopal Church)
  • Maximilian Kolbe
• National Navajo Code Talkers Day is a holiday in the United States honoring Navajo code talkers in the military.
• Falklands Day is the celebration of the first sighting of the Falkland Islands by John Davis in 1592.
• Independence Day celebrates the independence of Pakistan from the United Kingdom in 1947.
• Partition Horrors Remembrance Day commemorates the victims and sufferings of people during the Partition of India in 1947.