more events on August 14
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2010
First-ever Summer Youth Olympic Games open, in Singapore. Athletes must be 14–18 years old.
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2007
Four coordinated suicide bomb attacks in Yazidi towns near Mosul, Iraq, kill more than 400 people.
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1995
Shannon Faulker becomes the first female cadet in the long history of South Carolina’s state military college, The Citadel. Her presence is met with intense resistance, reportedly including death threats, and she will leave the school a week later.
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1987
Mark McGwire hits his 49th home run of the season, setting the major league home run record for a rookie.
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1973
The United States ends the “secret” bombing of Cambodia.
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1969
British troops arrived Northern Ireland in response to sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.
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1966
Halle Berry, actress, her many awards include a Golden Globe (Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, TV movie) and and an Oscar (Monster’s Ball).
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1950
Gary Larson, cartoonist (The Far Side).
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1947
Danielle Steel, the fourth-bestselling author of all time.
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Pakistan becomes an independent country.
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1945
Steve Martin, American comedian, actor, musician and screenwriter, his many awards include a Lifetime Achievement in Comedy (American Comedy Awards, USA), several Emmys, and Grammys for Best Comedy Album (1977, 1979) and Best Bluegrass Album (2009, 2013)
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1942
Dwight D. Eisenhower is named the Anglo-American commander for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa.
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1938
Niara Sudarkasa, educator and first woman president of Lincoln University.
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1925
Russell Baker, author and columnist for The New York Times.
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1917
The Chinese Parliament declares war on the Central Powers.
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1900
The European allies enter Beijing, relieving their besieged legations from the Chinese Boxers.
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1863
Ernest L. Thayer, author of the poem “Casey at the Bat.”
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1793
Republican troops in France lay siege to the city of Lyons.
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1777
Hans Christian Oersted, Danish scientist who discovered electromagnetism.
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1756
French commander Louis Montcalm takes Fort Oswego, New England, from the British.
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1605
The Popham expedition reaches the Sagadahoc River in present-day Maine and settles there.
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1559
Spanish explorer Tristan de Luna enters Pensacola Bay, Florida.
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1457
The first book ever printed is published by a German astrologer named Faust. He is thrown in jail while trying to sell books in Paris. Authorities concluded that all the identical books meant Faust had dealt with the devil.