Today in History: Sept. 14

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81 – Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus. 326 – Helena of Constantinople discovers the True Cross and the Holy Sepulchre (Jesus's tomb) in Jerusalem. 629 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph after his victory over the Persian Empire. 786 – "Night of the three Caliphs": Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasid caliph upon the death of his brother al-Hadi. Birth of Harun's son al-Ma'mun. 1180 – Battle of Ishibashiyama in Japan. 1607 – Flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland. 1682 – Bishop Gore School, one of the oldest schools in Wales, is founded. 1723 – Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena lays down the first stone of Fort Manoel in Malta. 1741 – George Frideric Handel completes his oratorio Messiah 1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2). 1763 – Seneca warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Devil's Hole during Pontiac's War. 1791 – The Papal States lose Avignon to the French Empire. 1808 – Finnish War: Russians defeat the Swedes in the bloody Battle of Oravais. 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée enters Moscow. The Fire of Moscow begins as soon as Russian troops leave the city. 1814 – The poem Defence of Fort McHenry is written by Francis Scott Key. The poem is later used as the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner. 1829 – The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War. 1846 – Jang Bahadur and his brothers massacre about 40 members of the Nepalese palace court. 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of South Mountain, part of the Maryland Campaign, is fought. 1901 – U.S. President William McKinley dies after an assassination attempt on September 6, and is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt. 1914 – HMAS AE1, the Royal Australian Navy's first submarine, was lost at sea with all hands near East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. 1917 – Russia is officially proclaimed a republic. 1939 – World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify the annexation of Estonia. 1940 – Ip massacre: The Hungarian Army, supported by local Hungarians, kill 158 Romanian civilians in Ip, Sălaj, a village in Northern Transylvania, an act of ethnic cleansing. 1943 – World War II: The Wehrmacht starts a three-day retaliatory operation targeting several Greek villages in the region of Viannos, whose death toll would eventually exceed 500 persons. 1944 – World War II: Maastricht becomes the first Dutch city to be liberated by allied forces. 1954 – In a top secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40 kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village. 1958 – The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere. 1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it. 1960 – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded. 1960 – Congo Crisis: With CIA help, Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power in a military coup, suspending parliament and the constitution. 1969 – The US Selective Service selects September 14 as the First Draft Lottery date. 1975 – The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI. 1979 – Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki is assassinated upon the order of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes the new president. 1982 – President-elect of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel, is assassinated. 1984 – Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a gas balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean. 1985 – Penang Bridge, the longest bridge in Malaysia, connecting the island of Penang to the mainland, opens to traffic. 1992 – The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declares the breakaway Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to be illegal. 1994 – The Major League Baseball season is canceled because of a strike. 1998 – Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom. 1999 – Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations. 2000 – Microsoft releases Windows ME. 2001 – Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks. A similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation's capital. 2003 – In a referendum, Estonia approves joining the European Union. 2007 – Late-2000s financial crisis: The Northern Rock bank experiences the first bank run in the United Kingdom in 150 years. 2008 – All 88 people on board Aeroflot Flight 821 are killed when the plane crashes on approach to Perm Airport.