On This Day — 17 August

2019

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

17 August 2019 Kabul bombing

2017

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

2017 Barcelona attacks

2015

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

2015 Bangkok bombing

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.

Sayano-Shushenskaya power station accident

2008

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

Michael Phelps

2005

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

Israeli settlement

2005

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

2005 Bangladesh bombings

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.

National Assembly (Serbia)

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.

1999 İzmit earthquake

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.

Clinton–Lewinsky scandal

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.

Strathfield massacre

1988

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

Zia-ul-Haq

1985

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

1985–1986 Hormel strike

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.

Double Eagle II

1977

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

Arktika (1972 icebreaker)

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.

1976 Moro Gulf earthquake

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).

Venera program

1969

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

Saffir–Simpson scale

1962

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

Killing of Peter Fechter

1960

Aeroflot Flight 036 crashes in Soviet Ukraine, killing 34.

Aeroflot Flight 036

1959

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

Quake Lake

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.

Pioneer 0

1955

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

Hurricane Diane

1953

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

Narcotics Anonymous

1949

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

1949 Karlıova earthquake

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.

Matsukawa derailment

1947

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

Radcliffe Line

1945

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

Sukarno

1945

The novella Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published.

Animal Farm

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.

Evacuation of Manchukuo

1943

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

Eighth Air Force

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.

Seventh United States Army

1943

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

First Quebec Conference

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.

Royal Air Force

1942

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

World War II

1918

Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.

Bolsheviks

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.

Kingdom of Romania

1915

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

Leo Frank

1915

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

1915 Galveston hurricane

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.

World War I

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.

Pike Place Market

1896

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

Death of Bridget Driscoll

1883

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

Dominican Republic

1876

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

Richard Wagner

1866

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

Grand Duchy of Baden

1864

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

Battle of Gainesville

1863

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

Charleston, South Carolina

1862

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

American Indian Wars

1862

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

American Civil War

1836

British parliament accepts registration of births, marriages and deaths.

Parliament of the United Kingdom

1827

Dutch King William I and Pope Leo XII sign concord.

William I of the Netherlands

1808

The Finnish War: The Battle of Alavus is fought.

Finnish War

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.

Robert Fulton

1798

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

Vietnam

1784

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

Luigi Boccherini

1740

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

Pope Benedict XIV

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.

Ioan Giurgiu Patachi

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.

Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718)

1668

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

1668 North Anatolia earthquake

1597

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

Islands Voyage

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.

Eighty Years' War

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.

Walter Raleigh

1560

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

Catholic Church

1549

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

Battle of Sampford Courtenay

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.

Cesare Borgia

1488

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

List of bishops of Turku

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.

Hundred Years' War

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.

Karl Thopia

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.

Georgenberg Pact

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.

Byzantine–Bulgarian wars