August 17Birthdays & History

On this day: August 17 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 986Byzantine–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.Europe
2. 1186Georgenberg 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.Europe
3. 1386Karl 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.Europe
4. 1424Hundred 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.Europe
5. 1488Konrad Bitz, the Bishop of Turku, marks the date of his preface to Missale Aboense, the oldest known book of Finland.Europe
6. 1498Cesare 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.Europe
7. 1549Battle of Sampford Courtenay: The Prayer Book Rebellion is quashed in England.Europe
8. 1560The Catholic Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.Europe
9. 1585A 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.North America
10. 1585Eighty 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.Europe
11. 1597Islands Voyage: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores.Europe
12. 1648The Parliamentarians defeat a English Royalist and Scottish army in the battle of Preston.Europe
13. 1668The magnitude 8.0 North Anatolia earthquake causes 8,000 deaths in northern Anatolia, Ottoman Empire.Middle East
14. 1717Austro-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.Middle EastEurope
15. 1723Ioan 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.Europe
16. 1740Pope Benedict XIV, previously known as Prospero Lambertini, succeeds Clement XII as the 247th Pope.Europe
17. 1784Classical composer Luigi Boccherini receives a pay rise of 12,000 reals from his employer, the Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón.Europe
18. 1798The Vietnamese Catholics report a Marian apparition in Quảng Trị, an event which is called Our Lady of La Vang.Asia
19. 1807Robert 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.North America
20. 1808The Finnish War: The Battle of Alavus is fought.Europe
21. 1827Dutch King William I and Pope Leo XII sign concord.Europe
22. 1836British parliament accepts registration of births, marriages and deaths.Europe
23. 1862American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Dakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.North America
24. 1862American Civil War: Major General J. E. B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.North America
25. 1863American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.North America
26. 1864American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville: Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.North America
27. 1866The Grand Duchy of Baden announces its withdrawal from the German Confederation and signs a treaty of peace and alliance with Prussia.Europe
28. 1876Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung, the last opera in his Ring cycle, premieres at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.Europe
29. 1883The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.Latin America
30. 1896Bridget Driscoll becomes the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom.Europe
31. 1907Pike Place Market, one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the U.S. and a popular tourist attraction, opens in Seattle, Washington.North America
32. 1914World 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.Europe
33. 1915Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched in Marietta, Georgia, USA after his death sentence is commuted by Governor John M. Slaton.North America
34. 1915A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 miles per hour (217 km/h).North America
35. 1916World 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.Europe
36. 1918Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.Europe
37. 1942World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin.North AmericaAsia
38. 1943World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.North America
39. 1943World 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.Europe
40. 1943World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.Europe
41. 1943World 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.North AmericaEurope
42. 1945The novella Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published.Europe
43. 1945Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.AsiaEurope
44. 1945Evacuation 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.Asia
45. 1947The Radcliffe Line, the border between the Dominions of India and Pakistan, is revealed.Asia
46. 1949Matsukawa 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.Asia
47. 1949The 6.7 Ms Karlıova earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 320–450 dead.Middle East
48. 1950Korean War: Forty-two American prisoners of war are massacred by the Korean People's Army on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea.AsiaNorth America
49. 1953First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous takes place, in Southern California.North America
50. 1955Hurricane Diane makes landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina; it went on to cause major floods and kill more than 184 people.North America
51. 1958Pioneer 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.North America
52. 1959Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.2 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.North America
53. 1960Aeroflot Flight 036 crashes in Soviet Ukraine, killing 34.Europe
54. 1962Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall.Europe
55. 1969Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.North America
56. 1970Soviet Union Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).Europe
57. 1976A 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.Asia
58. 1977The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.Europe
59. 1978Double 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.EuropeNorth America
60. 1985The 1985–86 Hormel strike begins in Austin, Minnesota.North America
61. 1988President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.AsiaNorth America
62. 1991Strathfield 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.OceaniaEurope
63. 1998Lewinsky 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.North America
64. 1999The 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.Middle East
65. 2004The 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.Europe
66. 2005The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israeli disengagement from Gaza, starts.Middle East
67. 2005Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh.Asia
68. 2008American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.North America
69. 2009An 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.Europe
70. 2015A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others.Asia
71. 2017Barcelona attacks: A van is driven into pedestrians in La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100.Europe
72. 2019A bomb explodes at a wedding in Kabul killing 63 people and leaving 182 injured.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "August 17" / CC BY-SA 4.0