TODAY IN HISTORY: JANUARY 14

 

January 14

 

1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.

1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.

1639 – The "Fundamental Orders", the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in Connecticut.

1761 – The Third Battle of Panipat is fought in India between the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Marathas.

1784 – American Revolutionary War: Ratification Day, United States - Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain.

1814 – Treaty of Kiel: Frederick VI of Denmark cedes the Kingdom of Norway to Charles XIII of Sweden in return for Pomerania.

1858 – Napoleon III of France escapes an assassination attempt made by Felice Orsini and his accomplices in Paris.

1899 – RMS Oceanic (1899) is launched. She is the largest ship afloat since Brunel's SS Great Eastern.

1900 – Giacomo Puccini's Tosca opens in Rome.

1907 – An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than 1,000 people.

1911 – Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition makes landfall on the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.

1939 – Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.

1943 – World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, the successful operation to evacuate its forces from Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal Campaign.

1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill begin the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war.

1951 – National Airlines Flight 83 crashes during landing at Philadelphia International Airport, killing seven passengers and crew.

1952 – NBC's long-running morning news program Today debuts, with host Dave Garroway.

1953 – Josip Broz Tito is elected the first President of Yugoslavia.

1954 – The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation.

1957 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher) after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.

1960 – The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank and banknote issuing authority authorized by the 1959 Reserve Bank Act, is established.

1967 – Counterculture of the 1960s: The Human Be-In takes place in San Francisco, California's Golden Gate Park, launching the Summer of Love.

1969 – USS Enterprise fire: An accidental explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 28 people.

1972 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascends the throne, the first Queen of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederick or Christian since 1513.

1973 – Elvis Presley's concert Aloha from Hawaii is broadcast live via satellite, and sets the record as the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.

1993 – In Poland's worst peacetime maritime disaster, ferry MS Jan Heweliusz sinks off the coast of Rügen, drowning 55 passengers and crew; nine crew-members are saved.

2004 – The national flag of the Republic of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.

2010 – Yemen declares an open war against the terrorist group al-Qaeda.

2011 – President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia seeks refuge in Saudi Arabia after a series of demonstrations against his regime, considered to be the birth of the Arab Spring.

2019 – A Saha Airlines Boeing 707 crashes at Fath Air Base near Karaj in Alborz Province, Iran, killing 15 people.