August 14 is the 226th day of the year (227th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 139 days remain until the end of the year.
74 BC – A group of officials, present articles of impeachment against the new emperor, Liu He, to the imperial regent, Empress Dowager Shangguan 1040 – King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.
1352 – War of the Breton Succession: Anglo-Bretons defeat the French in the Battle of Mauron.
1385 – Portuguese Crisis of 1383–85: 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.
1720 – The Spanish military Villasur expedition is defeated by Pawnee and Otoe warriors near present-day Columbus, Nebraska.
1784 – The Russian fur trader Grigory Shelikhov storms a Kodiak Island Alutiit refuge rock on Sitkalidak Island, killing 500+ Alutiit.
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 1816 – The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago.
1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida.
1848 – Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress 1885 – Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint 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 officially open in Antwerp, Belgium, with the newlyadopted Olympic flag and the Olympic oath being raised and taken at the Opening Ceremony for the first time in Olympic history 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.
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 stating postwar aims 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 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 1980 – Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards 2003 – A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada 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.
2015 – The U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opens after 54 years of being closed when Cuba–United States relations were broken off