January 14 in History
1761 — Third Battle of Panipat: In one of the largest battles of the century, the mostly Muslim Afghani Durrani Empire defeats the mostly Hindu Maratha Empire in Northern India. An estimated 60,000-70,000 are killed in the fighting and 40,000 Maratha prisoners massacred afterwards. 1858 — Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie escape an assassination attempt unharmed when a group of conspirators, led by Italian nationalist Felice Orsini, throw three bombs at the imperial carriage en route to the Paris Opera. Eight members of the escort and bystanders are killed and more than 100 people injured. Orsini is guillotined on March 13.
1900 — Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Tosca”, based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 French-language dramatic play “La Tosca” and with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, premieres at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
1911 — Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen’s South Pole expedition lands on “The Barrier”, discovered by British explorer Sir James Clark Ross in 1841 and named “Ross Ice Shelf” in 1953. 1935 — The first of five opening ceremonies for the Iraq-Mediterranean Oil Pipeline (from the oil fields in Kirkuk through Transjordan to Haifa in mandatory Palestine), the world’s first transnational oil pipeline, is held in Kirkuk.
1939 — Norway claims Queen Maud Land, a roughly 2.7-million km2 region of Antarctica, as a dependent territory.
1943 — World War 2: Japan begins Operation Ke to evacuate its forces from Guadalcanal, the largest of the Solomon Islands, and concede it to Allied forces. Japanese ground forces on the island had been reduced from 36,000 to 11,000 through starvation, disease and battle casualties. 1960 — The Reserve Bank of Australia becomes the country’s central bank and banknote issuing authority, replacing the Commonwealth Bank in accordance with the 1959 Reserve Bank Act. 1973 — Elvis Presley’s concert “Aloha from
Hawaii via Satellite” is broadcast live from Honolulu to Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, South Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia. It is presented with a delay in Europe. In the US, to avoid a clash with Super Bowl VII and “Elvis on Tour” which is playing in cinemas at the time, NBC airs a 90-minute special on April 4.
2004 — The national flag of the Republic of Georgia, the so-called “five-cross flag”, is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.