October 14

1066 – Having been informed by his scouts of the approach of King Harold Godwinson’s army in an attempt at a surprise attack, Duke William of Normandy marches his troops and the armies engage a few miles northwest of the town of Hastings, resulting in a costly, but overwhelming, victory by the Normans.

1322 – The army of Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats the army of King Edward II of England at the Battle of Old Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland’s independence.

1586 – Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth I of England

1656 – The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends

1774 – The First Continental Congress denounces the enactment by Parliament of what they term The Intolerable Acts in response to the ‘Boston Tea Party’ and demands British concessions.

1863 – At the Battle of Bristoe Station, Confederate troops under the command of A. P. Hill are repelled by Union rear guard troops under the command of Gouverneur K. Warren, failing in the effort to drive Union forces out of Virginia.

1884 – George Eastman receives a U.S. patent for strip type photographic film.

1908 – The Chicago Cubs defeat the Detroit Tigers, 2–0, winning the World Series, which would be the last time until the 2016 World Series, the record so far for the longest time between winning a World Series championship.

1943 – Prisoners at the NAZI Sobibor extermination camp in Poland covertly assassinate most of the on duty SS officers and then stage a mass breakout.

1944 – Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is forced to commit suicide due to his involvement in an attempt to assassinate Hitler

1947 – Piloting the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis rocket plane over Rogers Dry Lake in California, Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to exceed the speed of sound

1949 – Leaders of the Communist Party USA are prosecuted under the Smith Act with all 11 defendants convicted of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the federal government.

1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when an American reconnaissance aircraft takes photographs of Soviet ballistic missiles being installed in Cuba.

1968 – The first live TV broadcast by American astronauts in orbit is performed by the Apollo 7 crew.

1982 – President Ronald Reagan proclaims a War on Drugs.
(really been successful, hasn’t it?)

2004 – Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701, a Bombardier CRJ200 crashes near Jefferson City, Missouri, while the pilots, the only people aboard, try to perform an emergency landing due to engine failure, being killed in the attempt

2012 – Felix Baumgartner successfully jumps to Earth from a balloon from an altitude of 127,852 feet, setting a new world record at the time.

2021 – 10,000 American employees of John Deere go on a labor strike, the first in over 30 years, lasting a little over a month before being resolved.