Posted In: News : World News

On this day in military history, May 14:


1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England.

1509 - Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Venetians.

1702 - War of Spanish Succession: England and Netherlands declares war on France and Spain.

1702 - Swedish troops under King Charles XII occupy Warsaw.

1747 - A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at first battle of Cape Finisterre.

1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Jackson (MS).

1864 - American Civil War: Full-scale fighting begins in the three-day Battle of Reseca, GA

1868 - Japanese Boshin War: End of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, former Shogunate forces withdraw northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō.

1940 - World War II: Rotterdam is bombed by the German Luftwaffe.

1940 - World War II: The Netherlands surrender to Germany.

1940 - World War II: German breakthrough at Sedan.

1942 - World War II: US Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) forms.

1943 - World War II: Sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur off the coast of Queensland, by a Japanese submarine.

1944 - World War II: 91 German bombers harass Bristol

1945 - World War II: Kamikaze strikes US aircraft carrier Enterprise, destroying its forward elevator, killing 14 and wounding 34 men.

1948 - Jordan's Arab League captures Atarot, north of Jerusalem.

1955 - Cold War: Eight communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty called the Warsaw Pact.