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Events

December 17 in History

Historical Events on December 17

497 BC
The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
546
Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
920
Romanos I Lekapenos is crowned co-emperor of the underage Constantine VII.
942
Assassination of William I of Normandy.
1398
Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
1538
Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.
1583
Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
1586
Go-Yōzei becomes Emperor of Japan.
1718
War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain.
1777
American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States.
1790
Discovery of the Aztec calendar stone.
1807
Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
1812
War of 1812: U.S. forces attack a Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa.
1819
Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
1835
The second Great Fire of New York destroys 50 acres (200,000 square meters) of New York City's Financial District.
1837
A fire in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg kills 30 guards.
1862
American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
1865
First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
1892
First issue of Vogue is published
1896
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, is destroyed in a fire.
1903
The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1907
Ugyen Wangchuck is crowned first King of Bhutan
1918
Darwin Rebellion: Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
1919
Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1926
Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the 1926 coup d'état is successful.
1927
Indian revolutionary Rajendra Lahiri is hanged in Gonda jail, Uttar Pradesh, India, two days before the scheduled date.
1928
Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate British police officer James Saunders in Lahore, Punjab, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police. The three were executed in 1931.
1935
First flight of the Douglas DC-3.
1938
Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.
1939
World War II: Battle of the River Plate: The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
1941
World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
1943
All Chinese are again permitted to become citizens of the United States upon the repeal of the Act of 1882 and the introduction of the Magnuson Act.
1944
World War II: Battle of the Bulge: Malmedy massacre: American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Joachim Peiper.
1947
First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.
1948
The Finnish Security Intelligence Service is established to remove communist leadership from its predecessor, the State Police.
1950
The F-86 Sabre's first mission over Korea.
1951
The American Civil Rights Congress delivers "We Charge Genocide" to the United Nations.
1957
The United States successfully launches the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1960
Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia crush the coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
1960
Munich C-131 crash: Twenty passengers and crew on board as well as 32 people on the ground are killed.
1961
Niterói circus fire: Fire breaks out during a performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing more than 500.
1967
Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia, disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria, and is presumed drowned.
1969
Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.
1970
1970 Polish protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
1973
Thirty passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport.
1981
American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.
1983
Provisional IRA members detonate a car bomb at Harrods Department Store in London. Three police officers and three civilians are killed.
1989
Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timișoara, Romania, with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
1989
Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President in almost 30 years.
1989
The Simpsons first premiered on television with the episode, Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.
2002
Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
2003
The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
2003
SpaceShipOne, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first powered and first supersonic flight.
2005
Anti-World Trade Organization protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
2005
Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicates the throne as King of Bhutan.
2009
MV Danny F II sinks off the coast of Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 44 people and over 28,000 animals.
2010
Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
2014
The United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations after severing them in 1960.

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