January 17

Events38 BC - Octavian marries Livia Drusilla.1287 - King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.1377 - Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back from Avignon to Rome. 1524 - Beginning of Giovanni da Verrazzano's voyage to find a passage to China.1562 - France recognizes the Huguenots under the Edict of Saint-Germain.1595 - Henry IV of France declares war to Spain.1605 - First publication of Don Quixote.1648 - England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Address, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.1781 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens - Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.1799 - Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a handful of other patriots was shot, after that an attempted revolt went awry.1819 - Simón Bolívar proclaims the Republic of Colombia.1852 - United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.1873 - First Battle of the Stronghold in the US Modoc War.1885 - A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.1893 - The Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston overthrows the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii. 1899 - The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.1904 - Anton Chekov's The Cherry Orchard premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre.1912 - Sir Robert Falcon Scott (Scott of the Antarctic) reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.1913 - Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France.1916 - The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) is formed.1917 - The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.1929 - Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appears in the Comic Strip Thimble Theatre. 1941 - Kuomintang forces under the order of Chiang Kai-Shek opened fire at communist force, Chinese Civil War resumes after WWII.1945 - Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw. 1945 - The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappears in Hungary while in Soviet custody.1946 - The UN Security Council holds its first session.1949 - The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first airs.1950 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts.1956 - Allen Ginsberg writes his poem "America".1961 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex." 1966 - A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping four 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.1969 - Led Zeppelin's debut album is released.1973 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes "President for Life" of the Philippines.1977 - Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States.1978 - The Sex Pistols, famous Britain punk rock band, considered as the punk creators, disband.1982 - "Cold Sunday" in the United States sees temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.1985 - British Telecom announces the retirement of the United Kingdom's famous red telephone boxes.1991 - Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm began early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.1991 - Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.1994 - A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California; see 1994 Northridge Earthquake.1995 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake (known as "the Great Hanshin earthquake") hits near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,433 people.1996 - The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.1997 - A Delta 2 carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad. [1]1998 - Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.2001 - President Bill Clinton posthumously raises Captain Meriwether Lewis' rank from Lieutenant to Captain.2002 - Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.2005 - Major accident of collision of two trains in Bangkok.2005 - A first century mosaic is found on Colle Oppio in Rome.2007   - Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to N. Korea nuclear testing
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