August 17

Historic Events

2019

A bomb explodes at a wedding in Kabul killing 63 people and leaving 182 injured. ›

2017

Barcelona attacks: A van is driven into pedestrians in La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100. ›

2015

A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others. ›

2009

An accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area. ›

2008

American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games. ›

2005

The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israeli disengagement from Gaza, starts. ›

2005

Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh. ›

2004

The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Bože pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country. ›

1999

The 7.6 Mw İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 17,118–17,127 dead and 43,953–50,000 injured. ›

1998

Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky; later that same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationship. ›

1991

Strathfield massacre: In Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots and kills seven people and injures six others before turning the gun on himself. ›

1988

President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash. ›

1985

The 1985–86 Hormel strike begins in Austin, Minnesota. ›

1978

Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine. ›

1977

The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole. ›

1976

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 people and leaving more than 90,000 homeless. ›

1970

Soviet Union Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus). ›

1969

Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage. ›

1962

Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall. ›

1960

Aeroflot Flight 036 crashes in Soviet Ukraine, killing 34. ›

1959

Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.2 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana. ›

1958

Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country. ›

1955

Hurricane Diane makes landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina; it went on to cause major floods and kill more than 184 people. ›

1953

First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous takes place, in Southern California. ›

1949

The 6.7 Ms Karlıova earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 320–450 dead. ›

1949

Matsukawa derailment: Unknown saboteurs cause a passenger train to derail and overturn in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, killing three crew members and igniting a political firestorm between the Japanese Communist Party and the government of Occupied Japan that will eventually lead to the Japanese Red Purge. ›

1947

The Radcliffe Line, the border between the Dominions of India and Pakistan, is revealed. ›

1945

Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire. ›

1945

The novella Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published. ›

1945

Evacuation of Manchukuo: At Talitzou by the Sino-Korean border, Puyi, then the Kangde Emperor of Manchukuo, formally renounces the imperial throne, dissolves the state, and cedes its territory to the Republic of China. ›

1943

World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission. ›

1943

World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily. ›

1943

World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins. ›

1943

World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany's V-weapon program. ›

1942

World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin. ›

1918

Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated. ›

1916

World War I: Romania signs a secret treaty with the Entente Powers. According to the treaty, Romania agreed to join the war on the Allied side. ›

1915

Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched in Marietta, Georgia, USA after his death sentence is commuted by Governor John M. Slaton. ›

1915

A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 miles per hour (217 km/h). ›

1914

World War I: Battle of Stallupönen: The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Paul von Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia. ›

1907

Pike Place Market, one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the U.S. and a popular tourist attraction, opens in Seattle, Washington. ›

1896

Bridget Driscoll becomes the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom. ›

1883

The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional. ›

1876

Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung, the last opera in his Ring cycle, premieres at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. ›

1866

The Grand Duchy of Baden announces its withdrawal from the German Confederation and signs a treaty of peace and alliance with Prussia. ›

1864

American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville: Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida. ›

1863

American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter. ›

1862

American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Dakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. ›

1862

American Civil War: Major General J. E. B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. ›

1836

British parliament accepts registration of births, marriages and deaths. ›

1827

Dutch King William I and Pope Leo XII sign concord. ›

1808

The Finnish War: The Battle of Alavus is fought. ›

1807

Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world. ›

1798

The Vietnamese Catholics report a Marian apparition in Quảng Trị, an event which is called Our Lady of La Vang. ›

1784

Classical composer Luigi Boccherini receives a pay rise of 12,000 reals from his employer, the Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón. ›

1740

Pope Benedict XIV, previously known as Prospero Lambertini, succeeds Clement XII as the 247th Pope. ›

1723

Ioan Giurgiu Patachi becomes Bishop of Făgăraș and is festively installed in his position at the St. Nicolas Cathedral in Făgăraș, after being formally confirmed earlier by Pope Clement XI. ›

1717

Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18: The month-long Siege of Belgrade ends with Prince Eugene of Savoy's Austrian troops capturing the city from the Ottoman Empire. ›

1668

The magnitude 8.0 North Anatolia earthquake causes 8,000 deaths in northern Anatolia, Ottoman Empire. ›

1648

The Parliamentarians defeat a English Royalist and Scottish army in the battle of Preston. ›

1597

Islands Voyage: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores. ›

1585

Eighty Years' War: Siege of Antwerp: Antwerp is captured by Spanish forces under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, who orders Protestants to leave the city and as a result over half of the 100,000 inhabitants flee to the northern provinces. ›

1585

A first group of colonists sent by Sir Walter Raleigh under the charge of Ralph Lane lands in the New World to create Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina. ›

1560

The Catholic Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland. ›

1549

Battle of Sampford Courtenay: The Prayer Book Rebellion is quashed in England. ›

1498

Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, becomes the first person in history to resign the cardinalate; later that same day, King Louis XII of France names him Duke of Valentinois. ›

1488

Konrad Bitz, the Bishop of Turku, marks the date of his preface to Missale Aboense, the oldest known book of Finland. ›

1424

Hundred Years' War: Battle of Verneuil: An English force under John, Duke of Bedford defeats a larger French army under Jean II, Duke of Alençon, John Stewart, and Earl Archibald of Douglas. ›

1386

Karl Topia, the ruler of Princedom of Albania, forges an alliance with the Republic of Venice, committing to participate in all wars of the Republic and receiving coastal protection against the Ottomans in return. ›

1186

Georgenberg Pact: Ottokar IV, Duke of Styria and Leopold V, Duke of Austria sign a heritage agreement in which Ottokar gives his duchy to Leopold and to his son Frederick under the stipulation that Austria and Styria would henceforth remain undivided. ›

986

Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of the Gates of Trajan: The Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron defeat the Byzantine forces at the Gate of Trajan, with Byzantine Emperor Basil II barely escaping. ›