Independence Day
Israel : 14 May 1948

Events May 14

1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England.
1483 – Coronation of Charles VIII of France (Charles l'Affable).
1509 – Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Venetians.
1607 – Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
1608 – The Protestant Union is founded in Auhausen.
1610 – Henry IV of France is assassinated bringing Louis XIII to the throne.
1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
1747 – War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre.
1787 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States; George Washington presides.
1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination.
1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begins its historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.
1811 – Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor
1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson takes place.
1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō.
1870 – The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club.
1879 – The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.
1889 – The children's charity National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is launched in London.
1913 – New York Governor William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.
1925 – Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway is published.
1929 – Wilfred Rhodes takes his 4000th first-class wicket during a performance of 9 for 39 at Leyton; he is the only player in history to have reached that plateau.
1931 – Ådalen shootings: five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.
1935 – The Philippines ratifies an independence agreement.
1939 – Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
1940 – World War II: Rotterdam is bombed by the German Luftwaffe.
1940 – World War II: The Battle of the Netherlands ends with the Netherlands surrendering to Germany.
1940 – The Yermolayev Yer-2, a long-range Soviet medium bomber, has its first flight.
1943 – A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.
1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1951 – Trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales for the first time since preservation, making it the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers.
1955 – Cold War: Eight communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
1961 – American civil rights movement: The Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protesters are beaten by an angry mob.
1963 – Kuwait joins the United Nations.
1970 – The Red Army Faction is established in Germany.
1973 – Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.
1988 – Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. 27 die the in the crash and ensuing fire.
2004 – The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
2012 – Agni Air Flight CHT crashed near Jomsom Airport in Jomsom, Nepal, after a failed go-around, killing 15 people.

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day:
Engelmund of Velsen
Matthias the Apostle (Roman Catholic Church)
Michael Garicoïts
Mo Chutu of Lismore (Roman Catholic Church)
Victor and Corona
May 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which the first day of Sanja Matsuri can fall, while May 20 is the latest; celebrated on the third weekend of May. (Sensō-ji, Tokyo)
Hastings Banda's Birthday (Malawi)
National Unification Day (Liberia)
The first day of Izumo-taisha Shrine Grand Festival. (Izumo-taisha)
One of the two dates on which World Naked Gardening Day may be celebrated; the other is May 3

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