January 17

Historic Events

2026

Indonesia Air Transport ATR 42 crashed near Mount Bulusaraung in South Sulawesi, after losing contact en route to Makassar. ›

2023

An avalanche strikes Nyingchi, Tibet, killing 28 people. ›

2017

The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is announced to be suspended. ›

2016

President Barack Obama announces the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement intended to limit Iran's nuclear program. ›

2013

Former cyclist Lance Armstrong confesses to his doping in an airing of Oprah's Next Chapter. ›

2013

Shahzad Luqman is murdered by members of Golden Dawn in Petralona, Athens, leading the creation of new measures to combat race-based attacks in Greece. ›

2010

Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths. ›

2008

British Airways Flight 38 crashes short of the runway at Heathrow Airport, injuring 47. ›

2007

The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea's nuclear testing. ›

2002

Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people. ›

1998

Clinton–Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website. ›

1997

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying the GPS IIR-1 satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad. ›

1996

The Czech Republic applies for membership in the European Union. ›

1995

The 6.9 Mw Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of 7, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced. ›

1994

The 6.7 Mw Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured. ›

1992

During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II. ›

1991

Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher's F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation. ›

1991

Crown Prince Harald of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V. ›

1989

Patrick Purdy opens fire at an elementary school in Stockton, California, killing five and wounding 31 others. ›

1981

President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it. ›

1977

Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah. ›

1969

Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA. ›

1966

Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea. ›

1961

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending. ›

1961

Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered together with former Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of the Congo Maurice Mpolo and former Senator from Kasai Province Joseph Okito in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States. ›

1950

The Great Brink's Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company's offices in Boston. ›

1950

United Nations Security Council Resolution 79 relating to arms control is adopted. ›

1948

The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia is ratified. ›

1946

The UN Security Council holds its first session. ›

1945

World War II: The Vistula–Oder Offensive forces German troops out of Warsaw. ›

1945

The SS-Totenkopfverbände begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as the Red Army closes in. ›

1945

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again. ›

1944

World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties. ›

1943

World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew. ›

1941

Franco-Thai War: Vichy French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy. ›

1920

Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect. ›

1918

Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard. ›

1917

The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands. ›

1915

Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I. ›

1912

British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen. ›

1904

Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre. ›

1903

El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve. ›

1899

The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean. ›

1893

Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani. ›

1885

A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan. ›

1873

A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War. ›

1852

The United Kingdom signs the Sand River Convention with the South African Republic. ›

1811

Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries. ›

1799

Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed. ›

1781

American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina. ›

1773

Captain James Cook leads the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle. ›

1649

The Second Ormonde Peace creates an alliance between the Irish Royalists and Confederates during the War of the Three Kingdoms. The coalition was then decisively defeated during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. ›

1648

England's Long Parliament passes the "Vote of No Addresses", breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War. ›

1608

Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men. ›

1595

During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain. ›

1562

France grants religious toleration to the Huguenots in the Edict of Saint-Germain. ›

1524

Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean. ›

1377

Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon. ›

1362

Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea. ›

38 BC

Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey. ›