August 14 in history — What Happened Today in History

Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou is shot and killed by a Turkish security officer while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal", is captured.

Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.

Turkey launches the second phase of the invasion of Cyprus, which eventually resulted in the Turkish occupation of 37% of Cyprus.

An Ilyushin Il-62 airliner crashes near Königs Wusterhausen, East Germany killing 156 people.

Bahrain declares independence from Britain.

The Troubles: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland as political and sectarian violence breaks out, marking the start of the 37-year Operation Banner.

UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal.

Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.

An Idaho Department of Fish and Game program to relocate beavers known as Beaver drop occurred. This program relocated beavers from Northwestern Idaho to Central Idaho by airplane and then parachuting the beavers into the Chamberlain Basin.

Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire as the Dominion of Pakistan, due to the partition of India.

World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.

Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last known public execution in the United States.

Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired.

Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn; destroying 240,000 acres (970 km2) of land.

Tannu Uriankhai, later Tuvan People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Soviet Russia).

The 1920 Summer Olympics, having started four months earlier, officially open in Antwerp, Belgium, with the newly adopted Olympic flag and the Olympic oath being raised and taken at the Opening Ceremony for the first time in Olympic history.

World War I: The Republic of China, which had heretofore been shipping labourers to Europe to assist in the war effort, officially declares war on the Central Powers, although it will continue to send to Europe labourers instead of combatants for the remaining duration of the war.

World War I: Start of the Battle of Lorraine, an unsuccessful French offensive.

The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.

Battle of Peking: The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, China, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.

France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.

Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.

Construction of Cologne Cathedral, the most famous landmark in Cologne, Germany, is completed.

Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress.

Pica Law (Legge Pica), a form of martial law, is established as the Italian government passes this anti-brigandage law to suppress resistance to the Unification of Italy.

American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida.

The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa.

David Peralta, Venezuelan baseball player

Tim Tebow, American football and baseball player and sportscaster

Braian Rodríguez, Uruguayan footballer

Christian Gentner, German footballer

Shea Weber, Canadian ice hockey player

Eva Birnerová, Czech tennis player

Clay Buchholz, American baseball player

Giorgio Chiellini, Italian footballer

Josh Gorges, Canadian ice hockey player

Nick Grimshaw, English radio and television host

Nicola Slater, Scottish tennis player

Robin Söderling, Swedish tennis player

Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player (died 2014)

George V. Hansen, American politician (born 1930)

Jack Germond, American journalist and author (born 1928)

Vilasrao Deshmukh, Indian lawyer and politician, Chief Minister of Maharashtra (born 1945)

Svetozar Gligorić, Serbian chess player (born 1923)

Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (born 1919)

Herman Leonard, American photographer (born 1923)

Tikhon Khrennikov, Russian pianist and composer (born 1913)

Bruno Kirby, American actor (born 1949)

Czesław Miłosz, Polish-born American novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)

Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (born 1918)

Helmut Rahn, German footballer (born 1929)

Larry Rivers, American painter and sculptor (born 1923)

Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1918)