On this day: November 14

Events on November 14

• 332 BC Alexander the Great is crowned pharaoh of Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1680 German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovered the Great Comet of 1680, the first comet to be discovered by telescope. Wikipedia
• 1680 German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680, the first comet to be discovered by telescope. Wikipedia
• 1770 James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile. Wikipedia
• 1910 Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first takeoff from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia, taking off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in a Curtiss pusher. Wikipedia
• 1918 The Provisional National Assembly of the new republic of Czechoslovakia meets to devise a constitution. Wikipedia
• 1920 Pesäpallo, the Finnish version of baseball developed by Lauri Pihkala, is played for the first time at Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki. Wikipedia
• 1938 The Lions Gate Bridge, connecting Vancouver to the North Shore region, opens to traffic. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: In England, Coventry is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers. Coventry Cathedral is almost completely destroyed. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: German troops, aided by local auxiliaries, murdered nine thousand residents of the Słonim Ghetto in a single day. Wikipedia
• 1941 Second World War: After suffering torpedo damage the previous day, the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sank as she was being towed to Gibraltar for repairs. Wikipedia
• 1960 Ruby Bridges becomes the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana. Wikipedia
• 1965 Vietnam War: The Battle of Ia Drang begins. This is the first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces. Wikipedia
• 1969 Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1970 Soviet Union enters ICAO, making Russian the fourth official language of organization. Wikipedia
• 1971 Mariner 9 enters orbit around Mars. Wikipedia
• 1975 With the signing of the Madrid Accords, Spain abandons Western Sahara. Wikipedia
• 1978 France conducts the Aphrodite nuclear test as 25th in the group of 29 1975–78 French nuclear tests. Wikipedia
• 1982 Lech Wałęsa, the leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, is released after eleven months of internment near the Soviet border. Wikipedia
• 1990 After German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming the Oder–Neisse line as the border between Germany and Poland. Wikipedia
• 1991 Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after thirteen years in exile. Wikipedia
• 1995 As a result of budget conflicts between President Bill Clinton and the United States Congress led by Newt Gingrich, the federal government was forced to shut down non-essential services. Wikipedia
• 2001 War in Afghanistan: Afghan Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul. Wikipedia
• 2003 Astronomers discover Sedna, a distant trans-Neptunian dwarf planet. Wikipedia
• 2010 Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Drivers' Championship after winning the final race of the season, becoming the youngest Formula One champion. Wikipedia
• 2012 Israel launches a major military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas. Wikipedia

Born on November 14

• 1650 William III of England, Prince of Orange, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1702) Wikipedia
• 1719 Leopold Mozart, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (died 1787) Wikipedia
• 1765 Robert Fulton, American engineer, early steamboat pioneer (died 1815) Wikipedia
• 1797 Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (died 1875) Wikipedia
• 1840 Claude Monet, French painter (died 1926) Wikipedia
• 1889 Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of India (died 1964) Wikipedia
• 1891 Frederick Banting, Canadian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1900 Aaron Copland, American composer, conductor, and educator (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1907 Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author and screenwriter (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1908 Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, and politician (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1917 Park Chung Hee, South Korean general and politician, 3rd President of South Korea (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1922 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary General of the United Nations (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1935 Hussein of Jordan (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1948 Charles III, King of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms Wikipedia
• 1951 Zhang Yimou, Chinese actor, director, producer, and cinematographer Wikipedia
• 1953 Dominique de Villepin, Moroccan-French lawyer and politician, 167th Prime Minister of France Wikipedia
• 1954 Condoleezza Rice, American political scientist, academic, and politician, 66th United States Secretary of State Wikipedia
• 1972 Josh Duhamel, American model and actor Wikipedia
• 1979 Olga Kurylenko, Ukrainian-French model and actress Wikipedia
• 1984 Marija Šerifović, Serbian singer Wikipedia
• 1985 Thomas Vermaelen, Belgian footballer Wikipedia
• 1993 Samuel Umtiti, French footballer Wikipedia

Died on November 14

• 565 Justinian I, Byzantine emperor (born 482) Wikipedia
• 1263 Alexander Nevsky, Russian saint (born 1220) Wikipedia
• 1359 Gregory Palamas, Greek archbishop and saint (born 1296) Wikipedia
• 1687 Nell Gwyn, English mistress of Charles II of England (born 1650) Wikipedia
• 1716 Gottfried Leibniz, German mathematician and philosopher (born 1646) Wikipedia
• 1825 Jean Paul, German journalist and author (born 1763) Wikipedia
• 1831 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher, author, and academic (born 1770) Wikipedia
• 1908 Guangxu Emperor of China (born 1871) Wikipedia
• 1915 Booker T. Washington, American educator, essayist and historian (born 1856) Wikipedia
• 1916 Saki, British short story writer (born 1870) Wikipedia
• 1946 Manuel de Falla, Spanish pianist and composer (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1977 A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Indian monk and guru, founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1991 Tony Richardson, English-American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 1992 Ernst Happel, Austrian footballer and coach (born 1925) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Anniversary of the Movement of Readjustment (Guinea-Bissau) Wikipedia
• Children's Day, celebrated on the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru (previously on November 20). (India) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alberic of Utrecht Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: All Saints of the Carmelites Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: All Souls of the Benedictine family Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Barlaam of Kiev (Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Dubricius (Dyfrig, or Devereux) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hypatius of Gangra Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joseph Pignatelli SJ Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Justinian I (Eastern Orthodox and Lutheran Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Laurence O'Toole Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nikola Tavelic Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Philip the Apostle (Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Samuel Seabury (Anglican Communion) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Serapion of Algiers Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sidonius (Saëns) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Venera (Veneranda) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: November 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of the Colombian Woman (Colombia) Wikipedia
• Mobile Brigade Day (Indonesia) Wikipedia
• World Diabetes Day (International) Wikipedia
• Dobruja Day (Romania) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “November 14” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.