Calendar date · December

What happened on December 14

On December 14, 557: Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake, which cracks the dome of Hagia Sophia.

Events

54

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Sagittarius

Featured moment · 557

Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake, which cracks the dome of Hagia Sophia.

Constantinople was a historical city located on a peninsula at the southeastern tip of Thrace in Europe; with the Bosporus strait and the ancient cities of Chalcedon and Chrysopolis in Bithynia, Anatolia to the east; the Golden Horn and the citadel of Galata (Pera) to the north; the Sea of Marmara to the south; and the Princes' Islands to the southeast. Constantinople served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires between its consecration in 330 and the formal abolition of the Ottoman sultanate in 1922.

People

Born on December 14

Francisco Conceição 2002– Portuguese footballer (born 2002)
Joshua Rush 2001– American actor (born 2001)
Lonnie Walker IV 1998– American basketball player (born 1998)
Kim Ji-woong 1998– South Korean singer and actor (born 1998)
DK Metcalf 1997– American football player (born 1997)
Barbie Ferreira 1996– American actress and model (born 1996)
Raphinha 1996– Brazilian footballer (born 1996)
Li Zijun 1996– Chinese figure skater
Ivan Barbashev 1995– Russian ice hockey player (born 1995)
Show 9 more — notable births on December 14
Calvyn Justus 1995– South African swimmer (born 1995)
Álvaro Odriozola 1995– Spanish footballer (born 1995)
Kuldeep Yadav 1994– Indian cricketer (born 1994)
Antonio Giovinazzi 1993– Italian racing driver (born 1993)
Tori Kelly 1992– American singer-songwriter (born 1992)
Ryo Miyaichi 1992– Japanese footballer (born 1992)
Ben Henry 1991– New Zealand rugby league footballer
Offset 1991– American rapper (born 1991)
Robert Covington 1990– American basketball player (born 1990)

People

Died on December 14

Rob Reiner American filmmaker and actor (1947–2025)
Isak Andic Turkish-Spanish billionaire businessman (1953–2024)
Tomáš Janovic Slovak writer (1937–2023)
Jean Franco British-born American academic and literary critic (1924–2022)
Gérard Houllier French footballer and manager (1947–2020)
Chuy Bravo Mexican-American entertainer and actor (1956–2019)
Yu Kwang-chung Taiwanese poet (1928–2017)
Paulo Evaristo Arns Brazilian cardinal (1921–2016)
Bernard Fox Welsh actor (1927–2016)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on December 14
Terry Backer American politician
Glen Sonmor Canadian ice hockey player, coach (1929–2015)
Vadym Tyshchenko Soviet-Ukrainian footballer and coach (1963–2015)
Lillian Vernon American businesswoman and philanthropist
Theo Colborn American biologist (1927–2014)
Irene Dalis American opera singer (1925–2014)
Louis Alphonse Koyagialo Congolese politician
Bess Myerson American actress and politician (1924–2014)
Fred Thurston American football player (1933–2014)

Timeline

Every December 14 on record

  1. 557 Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake, which cracks the dome of Hagia Sophia.

    Capital of the Eastern Roman and Ottoman empires

    Constantinople was a historical city located on a peninsula at the southeastern tip of Thrace in Europe; with the Bosporus strait and the ancient cities of Chalcedon and Chrysopolis in Bithynia, Anatolia to the east; the Golden Horn and the citadel of Galata (Pera) to the north; the Sea of Marmara to the south; and the Princes' Islands to the southeast. Constantinople served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires between its consecration in 330 and the formal abolition of the Ottoman sultanate in 1922.

  2. 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

    The Sweet Dew incident or Ganlu incident was a failed coup on 14 December 835 by Emperor Wenzong of the Chinese Tang dynasty to seize power from the eunuchs. The emperor planned to kill the eunuchs with the aid of the chancellor Li Xun and the general Zheng Zhu. The eunuchs learned of the plot and solidified their control with a counter-coup; Li, Zheng, many of their followers, and other officials were killed.

  3. 872 Pope John VIII is elected following the death of Hadrian II.

    Head of the Catholic Church from 872 to 882

    Pope John VIII was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 14 December 872 to his death. He is often considered one of the most able popes of the 9th century.

  4. 1287 St. Lucia's flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.

    Storm tide that affected the Netherlands and Northern Germany in 1287

    St. Lucia's flood (Sint-Luciavloed) was a storm tide that affected the Netherlands and Northern Germany on 13/14 December 1287 (OS), St. Lucia Day and the day after, killing approximately 50,000 to 80,000 people in one of the largest floods in recorded history.

  5. 1542 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

    Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication on 24 July 1567.

  6. 1751 The Theresian Military Academy is founded in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
  7. 1780 Founding Father Alexander Hamilton marries Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York.
  8. 1782 The Montgolfier brothers first test fly an unmanned hot air balloon in France; it floats nearly 2.5 km (1.6 mi).
  9. 1812 The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia.
  10. 1814 War of 1812: The Royal Navy seizes control of Lake Borgne, Louisiana.
  11. 1819 Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state.
  12. 1836 The Toledo War unofficially ends as the "Frostbitten Convention" votes to accept Congress' terms for admitting Michigan as a U.S. state.
  13. 1863 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.
  14. 1896 The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
  15. 1900 Quantum mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law (quantum theory) at the Physic Society in Berlin.
Show 15 earlier entries from December 14
  1. 1902 The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable, from San Francisco to Honolulu.
  2. 1903 The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
  3. 1907 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.
  4. 1909 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.
  5. 1911 Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
  6. 1913 Haruna, the fourth and last Kongō-class ship, launches, eventually becoming one of the Japanese workhorses during World War I and World War II.
  7. 1914 Lisandro de la Torre and others found the Democratic Progressive Party (Partido Demócrata Progresista, PDP) at the Hotel Savoy, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  8. 1918 Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King of Finland, renounces the throne.
  9. 1918 Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.
  10. 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.
  11. 1918 Giacomo Puccini's comic opera Gianni Schicchi premieres at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
  12. 1925 Wozzeck, Alban Berg's first opera, is premiered at the Berlin State Opera conducted by Erich Kleiber.
  13. 1939 Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.
  14. 1940 Plutonium (specifically Pu-238) is first isolated at Berkeley, California.
  15. 1942 An Aeroflot Tupolev ANT-20 crashes near Tashkent, killing all 36 people on board.

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