August 14 is the 226th day of the year (227th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 139 days remaining until the end of the year.
1901 – 2000
- 1912 – US marines land in Nicaragua to support the US-backed government installed there after José Santos Zelaya had resigned three years earlier.
- 1914 – The Big Hole Diamond mine in South Africa is closed.
- 1916 – World War I: Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary.
- 1917 – World War I: China declares war on Germany.
- 1921 – Tannu Uriankhai, later the Tuvan People's Republic, is established as a completely independent country, supported by Soviet Russia.
- 1933 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later becoming known as the forest fire of Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5.
- 1935 – The Social Security Act creates a government pension for retired people in the United States.
- 1936 – Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky, in the last public execution in the United States.
- 1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of War, stating postwar aims.
- 1945 – World War II: Japan accepts Allied terms of surrender and the Emperor, Hirohito, records the Imperial Rescription surrender.
- 1945 – Philippe Pétain, leader of Vichy France, is sentenced to death.
- 1947 – Partition of India: Pakistan, a new Islamic state, becomes independent from the United Kingdom, and consists of West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) and East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh).
- 1958 – A propeller plane operated by the Dutch airline KLM crashes into the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland.
- 1959 – The American Football League is founded.
- 1969 – Operation Banner: British troops are deployed to Northern Ireland.
- 1971 – Bahrain declares its independence.
- 1972 – A plane crash, of an Ilyushin II-62, in East Berlin kills 156 people.
- 1973 – The Pakistan Constitution of 1973 goes into effect.
- 1974 – The Second Turkish invasion of Cyprus begins. 140,000 to 200,000 Greek Cypriots become refugees. 6,000 are killed and 1,619 are missing.
- 1980 – The Gdansk shipyard strike in Poland occurs, as an uprising against Communist rule, and leads to the foundation of the Solidarity movement led by Lech Walesa.
- 1992 – Georgian troops enter Abkhazia, which had declared independence.
- 1994 – Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal is arrested.
From 2001
- 2003 – A wide scale power blackout affects parts of Canada and the northeastern United States.
- 2005 – Helios Airways Flight 522, travelling from Larnaca in Cyprus, crashes near Grammatiko in Greece, killing all 121 people on board, after the air conditioner fails.
- 2006 – Chencholai bombing: 61 Tamil girls are killed in a bombing by the Sri Lankan Air Force.
- 2007 – Bomb attacks across Northern Iraq kill a total of 796 people. 1,500 are injured.
- 2010 – The first ever Summer Youth Olympic Games begin in Singapore. 3,531 athletes aged 14 to 18, from 204 National Olympic Committees take part.
- 2013 – Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators who support the ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
- 2013 – The England national football team and Scotland national football team play each other for the first time since 1999 in the oldest international football fixture. England wins a closely fought match 3-2.
- 2015 – The United States re-opens its Embassy in Havana, Cuba, 54 years after the countries initially broke diplomatic ties.
- 2017 – Heavy rain and mudslides kill hundreds of people in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
- 2018 – Part of the Morandi motorway Bridge in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, collapses, killing 43 people.
- 2019 – With support on board, Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg starts sailing across the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, Devon, England to New York City to take part in a climate change summit.
- 2021 – 2021 Haiti earthquake of M 7.2 occurs in Haiti.
Up to 1900
- 1297 – Emperor Hanazano of Japan (d. 1348)
- 1337 – King Robert III of Scotland (d. 1406)
- 1473 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence (d. 1541)
- 1479 – Princess Catherine of York (d. 1527)
- 1552 – Paolo Sarpi, Italian church reformer and historian (d. 1623)
- 1642 – Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1723)
- 1688 – Frederick William I of Prussia (d. 1740)
- 1714 – Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (d. 1789)
- 1727 – Princess Marie Louise Elisabeth of France (d. 1759)
- 1727 – Princess Anne Henriette of France (d. 1752)
- 1734 – Thomas Sumter, American general and politician (d. 1832)
- 1738 – Leopold Hofmann, Austrian composer (d. 1793)
- 1740 – Pope Pius VII (d. 1823)
- 1758 – Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, French painter (d. 1835)
- 1773 – Jean-Baptiste de Villele, French statesman (d. 1854)
- 1777 – Hans Christian Orsted, Danish physicist (d. 1851)
- 1777 – Francis I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1830)
- 1802 – Fabio Maria Asquini, Italian cardinal (d. 1878)
- 1814 – Adolph Tidemand, Norwegian painter (d. 1876)
- 1818 – François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville, French admiral (d. 1900)
- 1819 – Agenor, duc de Gramont, French diplomat (d. 1880)
- 1840 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German psychologist (d. 1902)
- 1847 – Robert Comtesse, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1922)
- 1848 – Margaret Lindsay Hughes, Irish-English astronomer (d. 1915)
- 1851 – Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter (d. 1887)
- 1857 – Max Wagenknecht, German composer (d. 1922)
- 1862 – Prince Henry of Croatia (d. 1929)
- 1863 – Ernest Thayer, American poet (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician (d. 1952)
- 1866 – Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, Belgian mathematician and academic (d. 1962)
- 1867 – John Galsworthy, English writer (d. 1933)
- 1867 – Cupid Childs, American baseball player (d. 1912)
- 1871 – Quangxu Emperor of China (d. 1908)
- 1874 – Georgios Kondylis, Greek politician (d. 1936)
- 1876 – Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia (d. 1903)
- 1876 – Sibilla Aleramo, Italian writer and poet (d. 1960)
- 1878 – Georgios Kondylis, Greek general and Prime Minister (d. 1936)
- 1880 – Fred Alexander, American tennis player (d. 1969)
- 1881 – Francis Ford, American actor (d. 1953)
- 1882 – Gisela Richter, British-born art historian (d. 1972)
- 1883 – Gwendoline Eastlake-Smith, English tennis player (d. 1941)
- 1887 – Marija Leiko, Latvian actress (d. 1937)
- 1889 – Willi Münzenberg, German Communist, publisher and movie producer (d. 1940)
- 1892 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English pianist and composer (d. 1988)
- 1895 – Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (d. 1973)
- 1899 – Alma Reville, British actress and screenwriter (d. 1982)
- 1899 – Evelyn Kozak, American supercentenarian (d. 2013)
1901 – 1950
- 1901 – Franz Konwitschny, German conductor (d. 1962)
- 1910 – Willy Ronis, French photographer (d. 2009)
- 1910 – Pierre Schaeffer, French composer (d. 1995)
- 1911 – Jaime Rodriguez, Chilean footballer (d. 2003)
- 1912 – Frank Oppenheimer, American particle physicist (d. 1985)
- 1914 – Poul Hartling, Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 2000)
- 1916 – Fumio Fujimura, Japanese baseball player (d. 1992)
- 1921 – Julia Hartwig, Polish writer and translator (d. 2017)
- 1921 – Sidney Rittenberg, American linguist (d. 2019)
- 1923 – Kuldip Nayar, Indian journalist (d. 2018)
- 1924 – Sverre Fehn, Norwegian architect (d. 2009)
- 1924 – Holger Juul Hansen, Danish actor (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Georges Pretre, French conductor (d. 2017)
- 1925 – Russell Baker, columnist
- 1926 – René Goscinny, French comic-strip writer (d. 1977)
- 1928 – Lina Wertmüller, Italian director
- 1929 – Giacomo Capuzzi, Italian bishop
- 1929 – Thomas Meehan, American playwright (d. 2017)
- 1930 – Liz Fraser, English actress (d. 2018)
- 1930 – Earl Weaver, American Baseball Hall of Fame manager (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Frederick Raphael, American screenwriter, biographer, novelist and journalist
- 1932 – James V. Hansen, American politician (d. 2018)
- 1933 – Richard R. Ernst, Swiss chemist
- 1935 – John Brodie, American football player
- 1936 – Trevor Bannister, English actor (d. 2011)
- 1940 – Dash Crofts, musician
- 1940 – Aristides Royo, 36th President of Panama
- 1940 – Arthur Laffer, American economist
- 1941 – David Crosby, American guitarist, songwriter
- 1941 – Lynne Cheney, American political figure, former Second Lady of the United States
- 1942 – Molefi Kete Asante, American author
- 1943 – Jimmy Johnson, American football player and broadcaster
- 1945 – Steve Martin, American comedian and actor
- 1945 – Wim Wenders, German director
- 1946 – Antonio Fargas, actor
- 1946 – Susan Saint James, actress
- 1946 – Tom Walkinshaw, Scottish racing driver (d. 2010)
- 1947 – Danielle Steel, American novelist
- 1949 – Morten Olsen, Danish footballer and coach
- 1950 – Gary Larson, American cartoonist
- 1950 – Bob Backlund, American professional wrestler
1951 – 1975
- 1952 – Carl Lumbly, actor
- 1952 – Debbie Meyer, swimmer
- 1953 – James Horner, American Academy Award-winning composer (d. 2015)
- 1954 – Mark Fidrych, American baseball player
- 1954 – Stanley McChrystal, American general
- 1954 – Christian Gross, Swiss football coach
- 1955 – Gillian Taylforth, English actress
- 1956 – Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
- 1957 – Peter Costello, Australian politician
- 1959 – Marcia Gay Harden, Academy Award-winning actress
- 1959 – Magic Johnson, American basketball player
- 1960 – Sarah Brightman, British singer
- 1961 – Susan Olsen, actress
- 1961 – Satoshi Tsunami, Japanese footballer
- 1962 – Rameez Raja, Pakistani cricketer and sportscaster
- 1964 – Brannon Braga, American writer and director
- 1965 – Emmanuelle Béart, French actress
- 1965 – Mark Francois, English politician
- 1966 – Halle Berry, American Academy Award-winning actress
- 1968 – Darren Clarke, Northern Irish golfer
- 1968 – Adrian Lester, English actor
- 1971 – Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1972 – Laurent Lamothe, Haitian politician
- 1972 – Giuseppe Mazzarelli, Swiss footballer
- 1973 – Daisuke Ishiwatari, Japanese game developer and composer
- 1973 – Rana Faheem Aslam, Pakistani journalist
- 1973 – Jared Borgetti, Mexican footballer
- 1973 – Jay-Jay Okocha, Nigerian footballer
- 1973 – Chucky Atkins, American basketball player
- 1974 – Ana Matronic, American singer (Scissor Sisters)
- 1974 – Martin Bulloch, Scottish drummer (Mogwai)
From 1976
- 1976 – Alex Albrecht, co-host of The Screen Savers
- 1977 – Juan Pierre, American baseball player
- 1977 – Philip Stamper, American pro wrestler, actor
- 1978 – Anastasios Kyriakos, Greek footballer
- 1981 – Matthew Etherington, English footballer
- 1982 – Simon Andrews, English motorcycle racer (d. 2014)
- 1983 – Mila Kunis, Ukrainian-American television actress
- 1983 – Heiko Westermann, German footballer
- 1983 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-born British tennis player (d. 2014)
- 1983 – Lu Yen-hsun, Taiwanese tennis player
- 1984 – Carl Valeri, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Nick Grimshaw, British radio DJ and television presenter
- 1984 – Robin Söderling, Swedish tennis player
- 1984 – Giorgio Chiellini, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Christian Gentner, German footballer
- 1986 – Cameron Jerome, English footballer
- 1989 – Ander Herrera, Spanish footballer
- 1990 – Jaydee Bixby, Canadian singer
- 1992 – Sarah Correa, Brazilian swimmer (d. 2015)
- 1993 – Gongchan, South Korean singer and actress
- 1993 – Cassi Thomson, Australian-American actress and singer
- 1999 – Garrett Ryan, American actor
Up to 1900
- 582 – Tiberius II, Byzantine Empress (b. 535)
- 1040 – Duncan I of Scotland
- 1167 – Rainald of Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne
- 1204 – Minamoto no Yoriie, Japanese shogun (b. 1182)
- 1369 – Philippa of Hainault, Queen Consort of England (b. 1311)
- 1390 – John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, English soldier (b. 1364)
- 1430 – Philip I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1404)
- 1433 – King John I of Portugal (b. 1357)
- 1464 – Pope Pius II (b. 1405)
- 1573 – Saito Tatsuoki, Japanese warlord (b. 1548)
- 1691 – Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel, Irish rebel (b. 1630)
- 1704 – Roland Laporte, French Protestant leader (b. 1675)
- 1727 – William Croft, English composer (b. 1678)
- 1754 – Maria Anna of Austria (b. 1683)
- 1774 – Johann Jakob Reiske, German scholar and physician (b. 1716)
- 1784 – Nathaniel Hone, Irish-born painter (b. 1718)
- 1852 – Margaret Taylor, First Lady of the United States (b. 1788)
- 1856 – Constant Prévost, French geologist (b. 1787)
- 1860 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist (b. 1774)
- 1870 – David Farragut, American navy officer (b. 1801)
- 1891 – Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of the United States (b. 1803)
1901 – 2000
- 1905 – Simeon Solomon, British artist (b. 1840)
- 1909 – William Stanley, American inventor and engineer (b. 1829)
- 1928 – Klabund, German writer and poet (b. 1890)
- 1941 – Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr and saint (b. 1854)
- 1941 – Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
- 1943 – Joe Kelley, American baseball player (b. 1871)
- 1951 – William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper magnate (b. 1863)
- 1954 – Hugo Eckener, German pilot and designer (b. 1868)
- 1955 – Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress (b. 1861)
- 1956 – Bertolt Brecht, German writer (b. 1898)
- 1958 – Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1900)
- 1958 – Konstantin von Neurath, German diplomat (b. 1873)
- 1972 – Oscar Levant, American actor, composer, and musician (b. 1906)
- 1980 – Dorothy Stratton, Canadian actress and model (b. 1960)
- 1980 – Paul Snider, Canadian entrepreneur and manager (b. 1951)
- 1981 – Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)
- 1982 – Patrick Magee, Irish-English actor (b. 1922)
- 1984 – Spud Davis, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1904)
- 1984 – J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1894)
- 1985 – Gale Sondergaard, American actress (b. 1899)
- 1988 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b. 1898)
- 1989 – Ricky Berry, American basketball player (b. 1964)
- 1991 – Alberto Crespo, Argentine racing driver (b. 1920)
- 1994 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born writer (b. 1905)
- 2000 – Alain Fournier, French-born computer graphics researcher (b. 1943)
From 2001
- 2002 – Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (b. 1972)
- 2003 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 2005 – Coo Coo Marlin, American race car driver (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Kotozakura Masakatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1940)
- 2010 – Abbey Lincoln, American singer (b. 1930)
- 2011 – Shammi Kapoor, Indian actor (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Svetozar Gligoric, Serbian chess player (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Sergey Kapitsa, Russian physicist (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Ron Palillo, American actor (b. 1949)
- 2013 – Lisa Robin Kelly, American actress (b. 1970)
- 2014 – Mariana Briski, Argentine actress (b. 1965)
- 2014 – George V. Hansen, American politician (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Jay Adams, American skateboarder (b. 1961)
- 2014 – Stephen Lee, American actor (b. 1955)
- 2015 – Bob Johnston, American record producer (b. 1932)
- 2016 – Fyvush Finkel, American actor (b. 1922)
- 2016 – Hermann Kant, German historian (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Andrzej Blumenfeld, Polish actor (b. 1951)
- 2017 – Frank Broyles, American college football coach (b. 1924)
- 2017 – Franklin Cleckley, American state judge (b. 1940)
- 2017 – Abdelkrim Ghallab, Moroccan politician, journalist and novelist (b. 1919)
- 2017 – Stephen Wooldridge, Australian cyclist (b. 1977)
- 2017 – Lateef Raji, Nigerian politician (b. 1962)
- 2018 – Hugh Cortazzi, British diplomat (b. 1924)
- 2018 – Balram Das Tandon, Indian politician (b. 1927)
- 2018 – Jill Janus, American singer (b. 1975)
- 2018 – Michael Persinger, American-Canadian psychology professor and neuroscience researcher (b. 1945)
- 2018 – Eduard Uspensky, Russian author (b. 1937)
- 2018 – Chemmanam Chacko, Indian poet (b. 1926)
- 2019 – Graham Farmer, Australian footballer (b. 1935)
- 2019 – Karim Olowu, Nigerian sprinter and long jumper (b. 1924)
- 2019 – Héctor Rivoira, Argentine footballer (b. 1960)
- 2019 – Gjergj Xhuvani, Albanian film director (b. 1963)