Title: August 17 Content: == Events == === Up to 1900 === *310 Pope Eusebius is banished by Emperor Maxentius to Sicily, where he dies. *682 Pope Leo II is elected. *986 A Byzantine army is destroyed at the pass of Trajan by Bulgarians. *1386 Karl Topia, ruler of the Princedom of Albania, creates an alliance with the Republic of Venice. *1424 Hundred Years' War: Battle of Verneuil - English victory over the French. *1498 Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, becomes the first cardinal to-date to resign from his post. *1560 Protestantism becomes the official religion of Scotland. *1585 Eighty Years' War: Siege of Antwerp - Antwerp is captured by Spanish forces under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, who orders Protestants to leave the city. *1668 A magnitude 8.0 earthquake kills around 8,000 people in northern Anatolia, Ottoman Empire. *1740 Pope Benedict XIV is elected. *1771 Edinburgh botanist James Robertson makes the first recorded successful climb of Ben Nevis, the highest point in both Scotland and the whole of the present-day United Kingdom. *1786 Frederick II of Prussia dies, having been a very influential leader in Prussia. His son, Frederick William II of Prussia, succeeds him. *1807 Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany on the Hudson River. *1862 American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota. *1864 American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville - Confederate forces defeat Union forces near Gainesville, Florida. *1896 Bridget Driscoll becomes the first-recorded person to be killed in an automobile accident when she is run over in the grounds of London's Crystal Palace by a Benz car. === 1901 2000 === *1908 Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Emil Cohl is shown in Paris. *1914 The first pilots are trained for the Royal Australian Air Force. *1915 A category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas. *1918 Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moises Uritsky is assassinated. *1942 World War II: The first US bombing raid in Europe takes place. *1943 World War II: The US Seventh Army under George S. Patton and the British 8th Army under field marshal Bernard Montgomery enter Messina, Sicily, completing the allied conquest of Sicily. *1945 Indonesia declares independence from the Netherlands. The Netherlands only recognize Indonesian independence in 1949. *1947 The Radcliffe Line is set to mark the border between India and Pakistan. *1959 Quake Lake in Yellowstone National Park is formed by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake centred near Hebgen Lake, Montana. *1960 Gabon becomes independent from France. *1962 East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter. *1969 Hurricane Camille kills 243 people in the Southern United States. *1970 The Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 is sent to the planet Venus. *1977 Soviet nuclear icebreaker Arktika becomes the first vessel to cross the North Pole overwater. *1978 US balloonists, Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman and Max Anderson, become the first people to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot-air balloon. *1982 The first CDs are released to the public in Germany. *1987 At age 18, Steffi Graf becomes women's singles Number One in tennis. She goes on to hold this position for 377 weeks. *1987 Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, dies aged 93, as the last prisoner at Spandau Prison. *1988 Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq is killed in a plane crash near Bahawalpur, Punjab. *1996 Claudie André-Deshays becomes the first Frenchwoman in space. *1998 US President Bill Clinton admits an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. *1999 A magnitude 7.4 earthquake hits İzmit in northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 people, and injuring around 44,000. === From 2001 === *2002 The water levels of the River Elbe reach their highest-recorded level. The city of Dresden is among the places flooded. *2004 New state symbols are adopted by Serbia. *2005 The first forced evacuation of settlers as part of the Israeli unilateral disengagement plan begins. *2005 Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at around 300 locations in 63 out of 64 districts in Bangladesh. *2008 Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win 8 individual gold medals at a single Olympic Games. *2009 An accident occurs at the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam in Khakassia, Russia, killing 75 people and shutting down the hydroelectric power station. *2015 A bomb explodes at the Ratchaprasong Intersection near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing 23 people and injuring over 100. *2017 2017 Barcelona attack: A vehicle is driven at people on the street Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, killing 13 people. *2019 A bomb attack on a wedding party in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills at least 63 people and wounds 180. == Births == === Up to 1900 === * 1465 Philibert I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1482) * 1473 Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower (d. 1483?) * 1556 Alexander Briant, English martyr and saint (d. 1581) * 1586 Johann Andreas Valentinus Andreae, German theologian, writer and mathematician (d. 1654) * 1601 Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665) * 1603 Lennart Torstensson, Swedish field marshal and military officer (d. 1651) * 1629 John III of Poland (d. 1696) * 1686 Nicola Porpora, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1768) * 1699 Bernard Jussieu, French naturalist (d. 1777) * 1735 Tobias Furneaux, British explorer (d. 1781) * 1755 Thomas Stothard, British painter (d. 1834) * 1761 William Carey, English botanist and missionary (d. 1824) * 1768 Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French general (d. 1800) * 1786 Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, soldier (d. 1836) * 1786 Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1861) * 1798 Thomas Hodgkin, English physician (d. 1866) * 1799 Robert von Mohl, German jurist (d. 1875) * 1800 Charles Rogier, 4th, 10th and 13th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1885) * 1801 Fredrika Bremer, Swedish writer (d. 1865) * 1828 Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897) * 1844 Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia (d. 1913) * 1863 Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and photographer (d. 1924) * 1866 Julia Marlowe, née Sarah Frost, Shakespearean actress (d. 1950) * 1870 Liberato Marcial Rojas, President of Paraguay (d. 1922) * 1877 Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (d. 1923) * 1877 Princess Mathilde of Bavaria (d. 1906) * 1887 Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born American black leader (d. 1940) * 1887 Emperor Karl of Austria (d. 1922) * 1887 Samuel Stritch, American cardinal (d. 1958) * 1890 Harry Hopkins, American politician (d. 1946) * 1890 Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920) * 1893 Mae West, American actress and playwright (d. 1980) * 1893 Walter Noddack, German chemist (d. 1960) * 1894 Otto Suhr, German politician (d. 1957) * 1896 Johannes Kleiman, Dutch helper of Anne Frank (d. 1959) === 1901 1950 === * 1901 Hedin Bru, Faroese writer (d. 1987) * 1904 Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991) * 1906 Marcelo Caetano, Portuguese politician (d. 1980) * 1907 Gustav Schwarzenegger, Austrian police chief and postal inspector, father of Arnold Schwarzenegger (d. 1972) * 1909 Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985) * 1910 Erkki Aaltonen, Finnish composer (d. 1990) * 1911 Mikhail Botvinnik, world chess champion (d. 1995) * 1911 Martin Sandberger, German military officer (d. 2010) * 1913 Mark Felt, American agent, 'Deep Throat' in the Watergate scandal (d. 2008) * 1913 Rudy York, American Major League Baseball All-Star (d. 1970) * 1913 Oscar Alfredo Galvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989) * 1914 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., son of Franklin D. Roosevelt (d. 1988) * 1919 Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006) * 1920 Maureen O'Hara, Irish-American actress (d. 2015) * 1922 Frederick B. Dent, American politician * 1923 Larry Rivers, American artist, musician, filmmaker and actor (d. 2002) * 1926 George Melly, British singer (d. 2007) * 1926 Jiang Zemin, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China * 1926 Jean Poiret, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1992) * 1929 Francis Gary Powers, American U-2 pilot (d. 1977) * 1929 Jimmy Donley, American singer- songwriter (d. 1963) * 1930 Glenn Corbett, actor (d. 1993) * 1930 Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998) * 1932 V. S. Naipaul, Trinidad and Tobago-born writer (d. 2018) * 1932 Jean-Jacques Sempe, French cartoonist * 1933 Tom Courtney, American athlete * 1933 Gene Kranz, American NASA flight director and manager * 1934 Carin Mannheimer, Swedish writer (d. 2014) * 1936 Margaret Hamilton, American computer scientist * 1937 Ronnie Butler, Bahamian singer * 1938 Theodoros Pangalos, Greek politician * 1939 Luther Allison, American blues musician, guitarist (d. 1997) * 1940 Eduardo Mignona, Argentine director (d. 2006) * 1941 Lothar Bisky, German politician (d. 2013) * 1941 Fritz Wepper, German actor * 1941 Ibrahim Babangida, Nigerian military leader * 1943 Robert De Niro, American actor * 1943 John Humphrys, British broadcaster * 1943 Yukio Kasaya, Japanese ski jumper * 1943 Dave "Snaker" Ray, American singer- songwriter and guitarist * 1944 Rexhep Meidani, former President of Albania * 1944 Bobby Murdoch, Scottish footballer (d. 2001) * 1946 Patrick Manning, former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2016) * 1946 Angel Romero, Spanish guitarist and conductor * 1947 Mohamed Abdelaziz, Western Sahara politician (d. 2016) * 1948 Chico Maki, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015) * 1949 Julian Fellowes, English actor, producer and director * 1949 Mitsunori Fujiguchi, Japanese footballer * 1949 Norm Coleman, American lawyer and politician === 1951 1975 === * 1951 Robert Joy, Canadian actor * 1951 Alan Minter, boxer * 1951 Elba Ramalho, Brazilian singer-songwriter * 1952 Nelson Piquet, Brazilian racing driver * 1952 Mario Theissen, German Formula 1 team principal * 1952 Guillermo Vilas, Argentine tennis player * 1953 Herta Müller, Romanian-German writer, Nobel Prize winner * 1953 Kevin Rowland, British musician * 1954 Andrés Pastrana Arango, former President of Colombia * 1956 Fabio Armiliato, Italian tenor * 1957 Robin Cousins, British figure skater * 1958 Michael Brooks, American basketball player * 1958 Belinda Carlisle, American singer, guitarist * 1958 Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player * 1958 Fred Goodwin, Scottish banker, former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland * 1959 Jonathan Franzen, American writer * 1959 David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993) * 1960 Sean Penn, American actor, director * 1962 Gilby Clarke, American musician (Guns N'Roses) * 1963 Maritza Marbén, Cuban discus thrower * 1963 Shankar, Indian director and producer * 1964 Colin James, American blues musician * 1965 Sergio Vargas, Chilean footballer * 1966 Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder * 1968 Helen McCrory, British actress * 1968 Ed McCaffrey, American football player * 1968 Anthony E. Zuiker, American television producer * 1968 Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer, writer, presenter, producer and actor (d. 2015) * 1968 Andrew Koenig, American actor (d. 2010) * 1969 Christian Laettner, American basketball player * 1969 Donnie Wahlberg, American actor and singer * 1970 Jim Courier, American tennis player * 1970 Rupert Degas, Australian voice actor * 1971 Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress * 1971 Jorge Posada, American Major League Baseball All- Star * 1972 Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer * 1974 Tomomi Kahala, Japanese singer === From 1976 === * 1976 Serhiy Zakarlyuka, Ukrainian footballer (d. 2014) * 1977 William Gallas, French footballer * 1977 Thierry Henry, French footballer * 1977 Tarja Turunen, Finnish lead singer of Nightwish * 1977 Mike Lewis, Welsh guitarist * 1977 Claire Richards, English singer (Steps) * 1980 Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer * 1980 Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer * 1980 Daniel Güiza, Spanish footballer * 1982 Phil Jagielka, English footballer * 1982 Karim Ziani, French-Algerian footballer * 1982 Mark Salling, American actor (d. 2018) * 1983 Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player * 1984 Dee Brown, American basketball player * 1985 Troy Brouwer, Canadian ice hockey player * 1986 Marcus Berg, Swedish footballer * 1986 Denis Kornilov, Russian ski jumper * 1986 Rudy Gay, American basketball player * 1989 Rachel Corsie, Scottish footballer * 1989 Elena Hight, American snowboarder * 1990 Rachel Hurd-Wood, English actress * 1991 Austin Butler, American actor * 1993 Cinta Laura, Indonesian actress and singer * 1993 Sarah Sjöström, Swedish swimmer * 1994 Taissa Farmiga, American actress == Deaths == === Up to 1900 === * 1153 Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne, son of King Stephen of England (b. 1130) * 1304 Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243) * 1324 Irene of Brunswick, Empress of Constantinople (b. 1293) * 1338 Nitta Yoshisada, Japanese samurai (b. 1301) * 1510 Edmund Dudley, English statesman (b. 1462) * 1657 Robert Blake, English admiral (b. 1599) * 1673 Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641) * 1769 Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet and writer (b. 1703) * 1785 Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut (b. 1710) * 1786 Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1712) * 1838 Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian poet (b. 1749) * 1850 Jose de San Martin, Argentine revolutionary (b. 1778) * 1870 Perucho Figueredo, Cuban poet, musician and freedom fighter (b. 1818) * 1880 Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (b. 1810) * 1886 Alexander Butlerov, Russian chemist (b. 1828) * 1896 Bridget Driscoll, English automobile accident victim (b. 1851) * 1897 William Jervois, British Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1821) * 1898 Carl Zeller, Austrian jurist and composer (b. 1842) * 1900 Raimundo Andueza Palacio, 24th President of Venezuela (b. 1846) === 1901 2000 === * 1903 Hans Gude, Norwegian painter (b. 1825) * 1918 Moisei Uritsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1873) * 1925 Ioan Slavici, Romanian journalist (b. 1848) * 1935 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American writer and feminist (b. 1860) * 1935 Adam Gunn, American athlete (b. 1860) * 1939 Wojciech Korfanty, Polish journalist and politician (b. 1873) * 1942 Herman Auerbach, Polish mathematician (b. 1901) * 1954 Billy Murray, American singer (b. 1877) * 1962 Peter Fechter, shooting victim at the Berlin Wall (b. 1944) * 1969 Otto Stern, German physicist (b. 1888) * 1969 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German architect (b. 1886) * 1971 Maedayama Eigoro, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1914) * 1973 Conrad Aiken, American author and poet (b. 1889) * 1974 Aldo Palozzeschi, Italian poet and writer (b. 1885) * 1979 Vivian Vance, American actress (b. 1909) * 1979 John C. Allen, American rollercoaster designer (b. 1907) * 1983 Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (b. 1896) * 1987 Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader (b. 1894) * 1988 Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (b. 1924) * 1988 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., son of Franklin D. Roosevelt (b. 1914) * 1990 Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918) * 1994 Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American racing driver (b. 1901) * 1995 Howard E. Koch, American screenwriter (b. 1902) * 1995 Ted Whitten, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1933) * 1998 Wladyslaw Komar, Polish athlete (b. 1940) * 1998 Tadeusz Slusarski, Polish athlete (b. 1950) * 1998 Tameo Ide, Japanese footballer (b. 1908) * 1999 Reiner Klimke, German equestrian (b. 1936) === From 2001 === * 2003 Mazen Dana, Palestinian journalist (b. 1962) * 2005 John N. Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934) * 2006 Shamsur Rahman, Bangladeshi poet, columnist and writer (b. 1929) * 2007 Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982) * 2010 Francesco Cossiga, 8th President of Italy (b. 1928) * 2011 Pierre Quinon, French pole vaulter (b. 1962) * 2013 Claus Jacobi, German journalist (b. 1927) * 2014 Wolfgang Leonhard, German political author and historian (b. 1921) * 2014 Sophie Masloff, American politician, 56th Mayor of Pittsburgh (b. 1917) * 2014 Pierre Vassiliu, French singer (b. 1937) * 2014 Ger van Elk, Dutch artist (b. 1941) * 2015 Eduardo Guerrero, Argentine rower (b. 1928) * 2015 László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1927) * 2015 Arsen Dedic, Croatian poet (b. 1938) * 2015 Jacob Bekenstein, Mexican-Israeli theoretical physicist (b. 1947) * 2015 Yvonne Craig, American actress (b. 1937) * 2015 Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, German football executive (b. 1933) * 2016 Arthur Hiller, Canadian-American film director (b. 1923) * 2017 Sonny Landham, American actor and politician (b. 1941) * 2017 M. T. Liggett, American sculptor (b. 1930) * 2017 Sirkka Selja, Finnish poet (b. 1920) * 2017 Fadwa Soliman, Syrian actress and activist (b. 1970) * 2017 Mohamed Refaat El-Saeed, Egyptian politician and scholar (b. 1932) * 2018 Leonard Boswell, American politician (b. 1934) * 2018 Ezzatolah Entezami, Iranian actor (b. 1924) * 2018 David McReynolds, American political activist and politician (b. 1929) * 2018 Linton Freeman, American sociologist (b. 1927) * 2019 Cedric Benson, American football player (b. 1982) * 2019 Walter Buser, Swiss Federal Chancellor (b. 1926) * 2019 Jacques Diouf, Senegalese diplomat (b. 1938) * 2019 Donald A. B. Lindberg, American physician (b. 1933) * 2019 José A. Martínez Suárez, Argentine film director and screenwriter (b. 1925) * 2019 Bill McDonagh, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1928) == Observances == * Independence Day (Indonesia, Gabon) Category:Days of the year