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This day in history

This day in history: 17 August

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Key facts

392 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 17 August.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2019: A bomb explodes at a wedding in Kabul killing 63 people and leaving 182 injured.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: August 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Elias of Enna

Christian feast day: Jacobo Kyushei Tomonaga

Christian feast day: Saint Beatrice of Silva

Christian feast day: Saint Clare of Montefalco

Christian feast day: Saint Hyacinth of Poland

Christian feast day: Saint Jeanne Delanoue

Christian feast day: Saint Mammes of Caesarea

Christian feast day: Samuel Johnson, Timothy Cutler, and Thomas Bradbury Chandler (Episcopal Church)

Engineer's Day (Colombia)

Independence Day, celebrates the independence proclamation of Indonesia from Japan in 1945.

Events

2019A bomb explodes at a wedding in Kabul killing 63 people and leaving 182 injured.

2017Barcelona attacks: A van is driven into pedestrians in La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100.

2015A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others.

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.

2008American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.

2005Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh.

2005The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israeli disengagement from Gaza, starts.

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.

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.

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

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.

1988President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.

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

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.

1977The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.

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.

1970Soviet Union Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).

1969Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.

1962Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall.

1960Aeroflot Flight 036 crashes in Soviet Ukraine, killing 34.

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

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.

1955Hurricane Diane makes landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina; it went on to cause major floods and kill more than 184 people.

1953First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous takes place, in Southern California.

1950Korean War: Forty-two American prisoners of war are massacred by the Korean People's Army on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea.

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

1949The 6.7 Ms Karlıova earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 320–450 dead.

1947The Radcliffe Line, the border between the Dominions of India and Pakistan, is revealed.

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.

1945Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.

1945The novella Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published.

1943World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.

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.

1943World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.

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.

1942World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin.

1918Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.

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.

1915A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 miles per hour (217 km/h).

1915Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched in Marietta, Georgia, USA after his death sentence is commuted by Governor John M. Slaton.

Born on this day

2003Nastasja Schunk, German tennis player

2003Rayan Cherki, French footballer

2003The Kid Laroi, Australian rapper and songwriter

2000Lil Pump, American rapper and songwriter

1998Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Japanese baseball player

1996Jake Virtanen, Canadian ice hockey player

1995Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, New Zealand rugby league player

1995Gracie Gold, American figure skater

1994Jack Conklin, American football player

1994Phoebe Bridgers, American singer/songwriter

1994Taissa Farmiga, American actress

1993Ederson Moraes, Brazilian footballer

1993Kevin Byard, American football player

1993Sarah Sjöström, Swedish swimmer

1993Xie Zhenye, Chinese athlete

1992Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (died 2013)

1992Chanel Mata'utia, Australian rugby league player

1992Maru Teferi, Israeli marathon runner

1992Saraya Bevis, English wrestler

1991Austin Butler, American actor

1990Rachel Hurd-Wood, English actress

1989Lil B, American rapper

1989Rachel Corsie, Scottish footballer

1988Brady Corbet, American actor and director

1988Erika Toda, Japanese actress

1988Jihadi John, Kuwaiti-British member of ISIS (died 2015)

1988Joyner Lucas, American rapper

1988Natalie Sandtorv, Norwegian singer-songwriter

1986Rudy Gay, American basketball player

1986Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player

1985Yū Aoi, Japanese actress and model

1984Dee Brown, American basketball player

1984Garrett Wolfe, American football player

1984Liam Heath, British sprint canoeist

1984Oksana Domnina, Russian ice dancer

1983Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player

1982Cheerleader Melissa, American wrestler and manager

1982Mark Salling, American actor and musician (died 2018)

1982Phil Jagielka, English footballer

1980Daniel Güiza, Spanish footballer

Died on this day

2025Terence Stamp, English actor (born 1938)

2024Silvio Santos, Brazilian media mogul and television host (born 1930)

2024Virginia Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie, British countess (born 1933)

2016Arthur Hiller, Canadian actor, director, and producer (born 1923)

2015Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, German businessman (born 1933)

2015László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (born 1927)

2015Yvonne Craig, American ballet dancer and actress (born 1937)

2014Børre Knudsen, Norwegian minister and activist (born 1937)

2014Miodrag Pavlović, Serbian poet and critic (born 1928)

2014Pierre Vassiliu, French singer-songwriter (born 1937)

2014Sophie Masloff, American civil servant and politician, 56th Mayor of Pittsburgh (born 1917)

2014Wolfgang Leonhard, German historian and author (born 1921)

2013David Landes, Jewish-American historian and economist (born 1924)

2013Frank Martínez, American painter (born 1924)

2013Gus Winckel, Dutch lieutenant and pilot (born 1912)

2013Jack Harshman, American baseball player (born 1927)

2013John Hollander, American poet and critic (born 1929)

2013Odilia Dank, American educator and politician (born 1938)

2012Aase Bjerkholt, Norwegian politician, Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion (born 1915)

2012John Lynch-Staunton, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1930)

2012Patrick Ricard, French businessman (born 1945)

2012Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (born 1933)

2010Francesco Cossiga, Italian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Italy (born 1928)

2008Franco Sensi, Italian businessman and politician (born 1926)

2007Bill Deedes, English journalist and politician (born 1913)

2007Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (born 1982)

2006Shamsur Rahman, Bangladeshi poet and journalist (born 1929)

2005John N. Bahcall, American astrophysicist and academic (born 1934)

2004Thea Astley, Australian author and educator (born 1925)

2000Jack Walker, English businessman (born 1929)

Quote of the day

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

Marcus Aurelius

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From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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