December 14 in History

The 1918 United Kingdom general election occurs, the first where women were perm

1918 — The 1918 United Kingdom general election occurs, the first where women were permitted to vote

In Ireland the Irish republican political party Sinn Féin wins a landslide victory with nearly 47% of the popular vote.

December 14 spans 54 recorded events across recorded history, from 557 to 2025. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.

By · — Wikipedia

Historical Events 54 events 557 – 2025

More major events on December 14

The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.

  1. 1985 Wilma Mankiller takes office as the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Source
  2. 1958 The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility. Source
  3. 1964 American Civil Rights Movement: Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress can use the Constitution's Commerce Clause to fight discrimination. Source

Did you know

In 1918, The 1918 United Kingdom general election occurs, the first where women were permitted to vote. In Ireland the Irish republican political party Sinn Féin wins a landslide victory with nearly 47% of the popular vote. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.

Did you know

Following the Armistice with Germany, which ended the First World War, a general election was held in the United Kingdom on Saturday, 14 December 1918. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

Did you know

The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sent letters of endorsement to candidates who supported the coalition government. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.

Did you know

These were nicknamed Coalition Coupons, and led to the election being known as the "coupon election". This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.

Did you know

The result was a massive landslide in favour of the coalition, comprising primarily the Conservatives and Coalition Liberals, with massive losses for Liberals who were not endorsed. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

557 Constantinople
Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake, which cracks the dome of Hagia Sophia.
Capital of the Eastern Roman and Ottoman empires
Wikipedia source
835
Sweet Dew Incident: Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspires to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot is foiled.
835 Tang dynasty political plot
Wikipedia source
872 Pope_John_VIII
Pope John VIII is elected following the death of Hadrian II.
Head of the Catholic Church from 872 to 882
Wikipedia source
1287 St._Lucia's_flood
St.
Lucia's flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.
Wikipedia source
1542 Mary,_Queen_of_Scots
Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen of Scots at the age of one week on the death of her father, King James V.
Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567
Wikipedia source
1751
The Theresian Military Academy is founded in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
Military academy of the Austrian Armed Forces in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria
Wikipedia source
1780 Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States
Founding Father Alexander Hamilton marries Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York.
Leaders in the formation of the United States
Wikipedia source
1782 Montgolfier_brothers
The Montgolfier brothers first test fly an unmanned hot air balloon in France; it floats nearly 2.5 km (1.6 mi).
18th-century French inventors
Wikipedia source
1812 French_invasion_of_Russia
The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia.
1812 conflict during the Napoleonic Wars
Wikipedia source
1814 War_of_1812
War of 1812: The Royal Navy seizes control of Lake Borgne, Louisiana.
1812–1815 conflict in North America
Wikipedia source
1819 Alabama
Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S.
state.
Wikipedia source
1836
The Toledo War unofficially ends as the "Frostbitten Convention" votes to accept Congress' terms for admitting Michigan as a U.S.
state.
Wikipedia source
1863 American_Civil_War
American Civil War: The Confederate victory under General James Longstreet at the Battle of Bean's Station in East Tennessee ends the Knoxville Campaign, but achieves very little as Longstreet returns to Virginia next spring.
1861–1865 conflict in the United States
Wikipedia source
1896 Glasgow_Subway
The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
Underground rapid transit line in Glasgow, Scotland
Wikipedia source
1900 Quantum_mechanics
Quantum mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law (quantum theory) at the Physic Society in Berlin.
Description of physical properties at the atomic and subatomic scale
Wikipedia source
1902 Commercial_Pacific_Cable_Company
The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable, from San Francisco to Honolulu.
Former undersea cable company (1901–1951)
Wikipedia source
1903 Wright_brothers
The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
American aviation pioneers, inventors of the airplane
Wikipedia source
1907 Thomas_W._Lawson_(ship)
The Thomas W.
Lawson, the largest ever ship without a heat engine, runs aground and founders near the Hellweather's Reef within the Isles of Scilly in a gale. The pilot and 15 seamen die.
Wikipedia source
1909 New_South_Wales
New South Wales Premier Charles Wade signs the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909, formally completing the transfer of State land to the Commonwealth to create the Australian Capital Territory.
State of Australia
Wikipedia source
1911 Roald_Amundsen
Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
Norwegian polar explorer (1872–1928)
Wikipedia source
1913 Japanese_battleship_Haruna
Haruna, the fourth and last Kongō-class ship, launches, eventually becoming one of the Japanese workhorses during World War I and World War II.
Japanese Kongō-class battlecruiser
Wikipedia source
1914 Lisandro_de_la_Torre
Lisandro de la Torre and others found the Democratic Progressive Party (Partido Demócrata Progresista, PDP) at the Hotel Savoy, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Argentine politician (1868–1939)
Wikipedia source
1918 Prince_Frederick_Charles_of_Hesse
Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King of Finland, renounces the throne.
King-elect of Finland in 1918
Wikipedia source
1918 President_of_Portugal
Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.
Head of state
Wikipedia source
1918 Giacomo_Puccini
Giacomo Puccini's comic opera Gianni Schicchi premieres at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Italian opera composer (1858–1924)
Wikipedia source
1925 Wozzeck
Wozzeck, Alban Berg's first opera, is premiered at the Berlin State Opera conducted by Erich Kleiber.
1925 opera by Alban Berg; Berg's first opera
Wikipedia source
1939 Winter_War
Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.
1939–1940 war between the Soviet Union and Finland
Wikipedia source
1940 Plutonium
Plutonium (specifically Pu-238) is first isolated at Berkeley, California.
Chemical element with atomic number 94 (Pu)
Wikipedia source
1942 Aeroflot
An Aeroflot Tupolev ANT-20 crashes near Tashkent, killing all 36 people on board.
National airline of Russia
Wikipedia source
1948 Thomas_T._Goldsmith_Jr.
Thomas T.
Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann are granted a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the earliest known interactive electronic game.
Wikipedia source
1955 Albania
Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Ceylon, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the United Nations through United Nations Security Council Resolution 109.
Country in Southeast Europe
Wikipedia source
1958
The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility.
1957-59 Soviet mission to explore Antarctica
Wikipedia source
1960
Convention against Discrimination in Education of UNESCO is adopted.
1960 UNESCO treaty
Wikipedia source
1962 NASA
NASA's Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.
American space and aeronautics agency
Wikipedia source
1963 Baldwin_Hills_Dam_disaster
The dam containing the Baldwin Hills Reservoir bursts, killing five people and damaging hundreds of homes in Los Angeles, California.
1963 dam failure in Los Angeles, California
Wikipedia source
1964 Civil_rights_movement
American Civil Rights Movement: Heart of Atlanta Motel v.
United States: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress can use the Constitution's Commerce Clause to fight discrimination.
Wikipedia source
1971 Bangladesh_Liberation_War
Bangladesh Liberation War: Over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals are executed by the Pakistan Army and their local allies.
(The date is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.)
Wikipedia source
1972 Apollo_program
Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the most recent person to walk on the Moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extravehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission.
1961–1972 American crewed lunar exploration program
Wikipedia source
1981 Arab–Israeli_conflict
Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the Golan Heights.
Geopolitical conflict in the Middle East
Wikipedia source
1985 Wilma_Mankiller
Wilma Mankiller takes office as the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Cherokee Nation chief and activist (1945–2010)
Wikipedia source
1986
Qasba Aligarh massacre: Over 400 Muhajirs killed in revenge killings in Qasba colony after a raid on Pashtun heroin processing and distribution center in Sohrab Goth by the security forces.
1986 massacre in Sindh, Pakistan
Wikipedia source
1992 War_in_Abkhazia_(1992–1993)
War in Abkhazia: Siege of Tkvarcheli: A helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli is shot down, resulting in at least 52 deaths, including 25 children.
The incident catalyses more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia.
Wikipedia source
1994 Three_Gorges_Dam
Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river.
Dam in Yiling District, Hubei, China
Wikipedia source
1995 Yugoslav_Wars
Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by the leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On the same day, NATO began ground peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Wikipedia source
1998 Armed_Forces_of_Serbia_and_Montenegro
Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.
Military forces of Serbia and Montenegro
Wikipedia source
1999 Vargas_tragedy
Torrential rains cause flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure.
1999 natural disaster in Venezuela
Wikipedia source
2003 Pervez_Musharraf
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.
President of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008
Wikipedia source
2004 Millau_Viaduct
The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is formally inaugurated near Millau, France.
Cable-stayed bridge in Occitanie, France
Wikipedia source
2012 Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
2012 mass shooting in Connecticut, US
Wikipedia source
2013 South_Sudanese_Civil_War
A reported coup attempt in South Sudan leads to continued fighting and hundreds of casualties.
2013–2018 conflict in South Sudan
Wikipedia source
2017 The_Walt_Disney_Company
The Walt Disney Company announces that it would acquire 21st Century Fox, including the 20th Century Fox movie studio, for $52.4 billion.
American media and entertainment conglomerate
Wikipedia source
2020 Solar_eclipse_of_December_14,_2020
A total solar eclipse is visible from parts of the South Pacific Ocean, southern South America, and the South Atlantic Ocean.
Total eclipse
Wikipedia source
2025 2025_Bondi_Beach_shooting
At least 16 people are killed, including one gunman, and 43 injured in a mass shooting during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in the deadliest terror incident in Australia.
Terrorist attack in Sydney, Australia
Wikipedia source

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