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
• 1851 Moby-Dick, an epic novel by American writer Herman Melville, was first published in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1889 Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in 72 days. Wikipedia
• 1910 Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performed the first takeoff from a ship, flying from a makeshift deck on USS Birmingham in Hampton Roads, Virginia. 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
• 1952 The New Musical Express publishes the first regular UK Singles Chart. Wikipedia
• 1960 Ruby Bridges and the McDonogh Three became the first black children to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana as part of the New Orleans school desegregation crisis. Wikipedia
• 1965 Vietnam War: The Battle of Ia Drang begins. This is the first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces. Wikipedia
• 1967 American physicist Theodore Maiman was given a patent for his ruby laser systems, the world's first laser. Wikipedia
• 1969 Apollo 12 launched from the Kennedy Space Center, later becoming the second crewed flight to land on the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1970 Southern Airways Flight 932, chartered by the Marshall University football team, crashed into a hill near Ceredo, West Virginia, killing all 75 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1970 Soviet Union enters ICAO, making Russian the fourth official language of organization. Wikipedia
• 1971 Mariner 9 enters orbit around Mars. Wikipedia
• 1973 The Athens Polytechnic uprising, a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967–74, begins. Wikipedia
• 1990 Music producer Frank Farian admitted that the German R&B duo Milli Vanilli did not sing the vocals on their album Girl You Know It's True. Wikipedia
• 1991 Croatian War of Independence: Croatian naval commandos attacked the Yugoslav patrol boat Mukos, starting the Battle of the Dalmatian Channels. Wikipedia
• 1991 Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after thirteen years in exile. Wikipedia
• 1992 In poor conditions caused by Cyclone Forrest, Vietnam Airlines Flight 474 crashed near Nha Trang, killing 30 people. 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
• 2003 Astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz discovered the trans-Neptunian object Sedna. Wikipedia
• 2008 Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-126 to continue assembly of the International Space Station. 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
• 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
• 1866 Miguel I of Portugal (born 1802) 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “November 14” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/November 14” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

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 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for November 14 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.