July 17

Events180 - Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.1048 - Damasus II appointed Pope.1203 - Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault; the Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus flees from his capital into exile.1453 - Hundred Years' War: Battle of Castillon - The French under Jean Bureau utterly defeat the English under the Earl of Shrewsbury, who is killed in the battle in Gascony1762 - Catherine II becomes tzar of Russia upon the accidental murder of Peter III of Russia.1771 - Bloody Falls Massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacre a group of unsuspecting Inuit.1791 - Massacre at the Champ de Mars, Paris, during the French Revolution. 1200-1500 people were killed, including women and children.1794 - The sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne are executed 10 days prior to the end of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror.1815 - Napoleonic Wars: In France, Napoleon surrenders at Rochefort, Charente-Maritime to British forces.1816 - The French passenger ship Medusa runs aground off the coast of Senegal.1821 - Spain cedes Florida to the United States1841 - The first issue of the magazine Punch is published in London1856 - The Great Train Wreck of 1856, occurs in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania killing over 60 people.1858 - Salving of the Lutine bell. The bell is subsequently hung in Lloyd's of London.1897 - Klondike gold rush begins when first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle, Washington.1898 - Spanish-American War: Battle of Santiago Bay - Troops under United States General William R. Shafter take the city of Santiago de Cuba from the Spanish.1899 - NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.1917 - King George V of the United Kingdom issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British royal family will bear the surname Windsor.1918 - By order of the Bolshevik Party and carried out by Cheka, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his immediate family, and retainers were murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia.1933 - After successfully crossing the Atlantic ocean, the Lithuanian research aircraft Lituanica crashes in Europe under mysterious circumstances.1936 - Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the Spanish civil war.1941 - Joe DiMaggio's baseball hitting streak ends at 56 games, by Cleveland Indian pitchers, Al Smith & Jim Bagby.1944 - Port Chicago disaster: Near the San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California, killing 320.1944 - World War II: The largest convoy of the war embarks from Halifax,  Nova Scotia under Royal Canadian Navy protection.1944 - Napalm incendiary bombs were dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near St. Lô, France1945 - World War II: Potsdam Conference - At Potsdam, President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the three main Allied leaders, begin their final summit of the war. The meeting will end on August 2.1951 - Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts is chartered.1955 - Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California1962 - Nuclear testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site.1964 - British speed pioneer Sir Donald Campbell sets a new land speed world record of 429mph in his car, Bluebird.1968 - The date of the July 17th Revolution in Iraq when Abdul Rahman Arif was overthrown and the Ba'ath Party installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.1973 - King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan while in Italy undergoing eye surgery.1975 - Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.1976 - History of East Timor: East Timor was annexed, and became the 27th province of Indonesia.1976 - The opening of the Summer Olympics is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team1979 - Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami.1981 - Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded atrium lobby during a "tea dance," killing 114.1987 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time at 2510.04.1989 - First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.1995 - The Midwestern heat wave in the United States reaches its peak. Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, among other cities, set all-time high temperature records. The heat claims over 400 lives on this day alone.1995 - The Nasdaq stock index closes above the 1,000 mark for the first time.1996 - Off the coast of Long Island, New York, a Paris-bound Boeing 747 carrying TWA flight 800 explodes, killing all 230 on board.1997 - The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.1997 - Daniel Komen breaks the 2 mile world record in a time of 7:58.61. 1998 - In St. Petersburg, Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried in St. Catherine Chapel exactly 80 years after he and his family were killed by Bolsheviks.1998 - Papua New Guinea earthquake: A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 3,183, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless.1998 - Biologists report in the journal Science how they sequenced the genome of the bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum.2007 - The Channel Tunnel Rail Link in the UK is officially completed and handed over to Network Rail, marking the end of almost 20 years of planning and construction.2007 - TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 3054 crashed upon landing during rain in São Paulo. This is Brazil's worst aviation accident to date with an estimated 199 deaths.
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