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
-
A cotton gin -
Eli Whitney -
Poster for The Mikado -
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 |
| 1674 – Third Anglo-Dutch War: The Royal Navy captured the Dutch East India Company ship Wapen van Rotterdam in Ronas Voe, Shetland. | Only source citing date of 14 March is primary, article notes most secondary sources provide February, seems to be OR |
| 1794 – American inventor Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin, the first machine to quickly and easily separate 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. | multiple issues |
| 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. | update section |
| 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 – Catherine Cornaro (pictured), Queen of Cyprus, was forced to abdicate and sell the administration of the island to the Republic of Venice.
- 1593 – Japanese invasions of Korea: A force of 3,000 Korean soldiers successfully defended Haengju Fortress against 30,000 Japanese invaders.
- 1757 – 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.
- 1885 – The Mikado, 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.
- 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, died in an explosion.
- 1973 – Vietnam War: After having been captured by North Vietnamese forces five and a half years earlier, U.S. Navy pilot John McCain was released with 108 other prisoners of war.
- 1984 – Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Féin, was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt by Ulster Freedom Fighters in central Belfast, Northern Ireland.
- Born/died this day: | Matilda of Ringelheim |d|968| John Sigismund Zápolya |d|1571| George Wade |d|1748|Charles Ammi Cutter |b|1837| Ferdinand Hodler |b|1853| Thomas R. Marshall |b|1854| Karl Marx |d|1883|Phil Vincent |b|1908| S. Truett Cathy |b|1921| Diane Arbus |b|1923| Frank Borman |b|1928| Lies Noor |d|1961| Fannie Lou Hamer |d|1977| Anas Sarwar |b|1983| Jessica Gallagher |b|1986| Tony Benn |d|2014| Marielle Franco|d|2018|
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 parts of East Asia; Pi Day
- 1309 – On Eid al-Fitr, the citizens of Granada stormed palaces in the city, deposing Sultan Muhammad III and placing his half-brother Nasr on the throne.
- 1864 – The Petite messe solennelle was first performed in Paris, 34 years after Gioachino Rossini (pictured) retired as a composer.
- 1931 – Alam Ara, the first Indian sound film, premiered at the Majestic Cinema in Bombay.
- 1988 – China defeated Vietnam in a naval altercation while attempting to establish oceanographic observation posts on the Spratly Islands.
- 2021 – The Burmese military and police forces killed at least 65 civilians during the Hlaingthaya massacre in Yangon, including those protesting a recent coup d'état.
- Albert Einstein (b. 1879)
- Zita of Bourbon-Parma (d. 1989)
- Piri (b. 1999)
- Ieng Sary (d. 2013)