Today August 17th in history click read more below to view detail events, deaths, births, Holidays and observances, and video clips in hisotry. Please comments, last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
986 – A Byzantine army was destroyed in the pass of Trajan s Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aaron. The Byzantine emperor Basil II narrowly escaped.
1807 – Robert Fulton s first American steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
1862 – Indian Wars: The Lakota (Sioux) Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
1862 – American Civil War: Major General JEB Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
1863 – American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville – Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
1883 – The first public performance of the Dominican Republic s national anthem, Himno Nacional.
1907 – Pike Place Market, the longest continuously-running public farmers market in the US, opened in Seattle.
1908 – Projection in Paris of the very first cartoon, Fantasmagorie realized by Émile Cohl.
1914 – World War I: Battle of Stalluponen – The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.
1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia.
1918 – Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
1942 – U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin (Butaritari).
1942 – World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force begins regular combat operations in Europe with an attack on the marshalling yards at Rouen-Sotteville.
1943 – The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission.
1943 – World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrive in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
1943 – World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
1945 – Indonesian Declaration of Independence.
1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
1953 – Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
1959 – Quake Lake: Quake Lake was formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
1960 – Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.
1962 – East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.
1969 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.
1970 – Venera Program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
1978 – Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
1979 – Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156
1980 – Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.
1982 – The first Compact Discs (CDs) were released to the public in Germany.
1988 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
1998 – Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an improper physical relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he misled people about his relationship.
1999 – A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Izmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
2004 – MD5 collision found by Chinese researchers.
2004 – The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Boze Pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
2005 – The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
2008 – By winning the Men s 4x100m medley relay, Michael Phelps becomes the first Olympian to win eight gold medals in the same Olympics.
Births
1473 – Richard, Duke of York
1562 – Hans Leo Hassler (baptized), German composer (d. 1612)
1578 – Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
1601 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)
1629 – King John III of Poland (d. 1696)
1753 – Josef Dobrovský, Czech linguist (d. 1828)
1768 – Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
1786 – Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and soldier (d. 1836)
1786 – Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria (d. 1861)
1794 – Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest (d. 1849)
1828 – Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
1844 – Menelek II of Ethiopia (d. 1913)
1863 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and naturalist (d. 1924)
1866 – Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
1866 – Julia Marlowe, English actress (d. 1950)
1873 – John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946)
1878 – Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
1880 – Percy Sherwell, South African cricketer (d. 1948)
1882 – Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer (d. 1974)
1887 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born Black rights activist (d. 1940)
1887 – Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
1888 – Monty Woolley, American actor (d. 1963)
1890 – Harry Hopkins, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1946)
1890 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920)
1893 – Mae West, American actress (d. 1980)
1896 – Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970)
1904 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)
1904 – Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)
1909 – Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985)
1911 – Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player (d. 1995)
1913 – W. Mark Felt, American Watergate informant
1913 – Rudy York, American baseball player (d. 1970)
1913 – Óscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989)
1914 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (d. 1988)
1919 – Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006)
1920 – Maureen O Hara, Irish actress
1921 – Geoffrey Rudolph Elton, British historian (d. 1994)
1922 – Roy Tattersall, England cricketer
1926 – Jiang Zemin, Chinese politician
1926 – George Melly, British singer (d. 2007)
1926 – Jean Poiret, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1929 – Francis Gary Powers, American U-2 pilot (d. 1977)
1930 – Glenn Corbett, American actor (d. 1993)
1930 – Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998)
1932 – V. S. Naipaul, West Indian writer, Nobel Laureate
1933 – Eugene F. Kranz, American NASA executive
1933 – Mark Dinning, American singer (d. 1986)
1935 – Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor
1936 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Native American musician-actor (d. 2007)
1938 – Abu Bakar Bashir, Indonesian Muslim cleric
1938 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek politician
1939 – Luther Allison, American musician
1939 – Anthony Valentine, British actor
1940 – Eduardo Mignogna, Argentinian film director (d. 2006)
1941 – Jean Pierre Lefebvre, French Canadian film director
1941 – Boog Powell, American baseball player
1943 – Robert De Niro, American actor
1943 – Dave Snaker Ray, American musician (d. 2002)
1944 – Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, Billionaire
1946 – Martha Coolidge, American film director
1946 – Patrick Manning, 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago
1947 – Gary Talley, American musician (Box Tops)
1947 – Sylvia Nasar, German-born American economist and author
1948 – Rod MacDonald, American musician
1949 – Sib Hashian, American musician (Boston)
1949 – Norm Coleman, American politician
1951 – Robert Joy, Canadian actor
1951 – Alan Minter, British boxer
1952 – Nelson Piquet, Brazilian race car driver
1952 – Dr. Mario Theissen, German F1 team principal (BMW Sauber)
1952 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
1953 – Judith Regan, American book publisher
1953 – Kevin Rowland, English musician (Dexys Midnight Runners)
1954 – Eric Johnson, American guitarist
1955 – Richard Hilton, American heir
1956 – Gail Berman, American film executive
1956 – Álvaro Pino, Spanish cyclist
1957 – Robin Cousins, British figure skater
1958 – Belinda Carlisle, American singer
1958 – Fred Goodwin British banker
1958 – Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player
1959 – David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
1959 – Jonathan Franzen, American author
1960 – Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer
1960 – Sean Penn, American actor and director
1962 – Gilby Clarke, American musician (Guns N Roses)
1962 – Buddy Landel, American professional wrestler
1963 – Jon Gruden, American football coach
1963 – S. Shankar, Indian film director
1964 – Colin James, Canadian musician
1966 – Maysa Leak, American Jazz Singer
1966 – Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder
1966 – Don Sweeney, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Kevin Max, American singer (dc talk)
1968 – Ed McCaffrey, American football player
1968 – Helen McCrory, English actress
1969 – Christian Laettner, American basketball player
1969 – Donnie Wahlberg, American actor and singer (New Kids On The Block)
1969 – Kelvin Mercer, American rapper (De La Soul)
1970 – Jim Courier, American tennis player
1970 – Rupert Degas, English actor and voice artist
1970 – Oyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer
1971 – Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
1971 – Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican baseball player
1971 – Shaun Rehn, Australian Rules footballer
1972 – Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
1972 – Ken Ryker, American pornographic actor
1974 – Tony Hajjar, Lebanese musician (At the Drive-In, Sparta)
1974 – Nicola Kraus, American novelist
1975 – Giuliana DePandi, Italian-born American television personality
1975 – Ilhan Mansiz, Turkish footballer
1976 – Scott Halberstadt, American actor
1976 – Geertjan Lassche, Dutch reporter
1977 – Nathan Deakes, Australian race walker
1977 – William Gallas, French footballer
1977 – Thierry Henry, French footballer
1977 – Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer
1978 – Karena Lam, Hong Kong actress
1978 – Vibeke Stene, Norwegian singer (Tristania)
1979 – Antwaan Randle El, American football player
1979 – Marcus Patric, British actor
1980 – Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
1980 – Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer
1980 – Shannon Lucio, American actress
1980 – Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer
1981 – Kristin Holt, American television personality
1982 – Cheerleader Melissa, American professional wrestler
1982 – Phil Jagielka, English footballer
1983 – Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player
1984 – Dee Brown, American basketball player
1984 – Garrett Wolfe, American football player
1985 – Yu Aoi, Japanese actress
1986 – Rudy Gay, American basketball player
1986 – Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player
1988 – Brady Corbet, American actor
1988 – Erika Toda, Japanese actress
1988 – Nichole Cordova, Performer (Girlicious)
1990 – Colin Bates, American actor
1990 – Rachel Hurd-Wood, British actress
1996 – Ella Cruz, Filipina actress
Deaths
1153 – Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England (b. 1130)
1304 – Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
1510 – Edmund Dudley, English statesman (b. 1462)
1657 – Robert Blake, British admiral (b. 1599)
1673 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
1676 – Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, German novelist (b. 1621)
1720 – Anne Lefèvre, French scholar (b. 1654)
1723 – Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668)
1768 – Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)
1785 – Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut (b. 1710)
1786 – King Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1712)
1834 – Husein Gradašcevic, Bosnian rebel leader (b. 1802)
1838 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian librettist (b. 1749)
1850 – Don José de San Martín, Argentine general (b. 1778)
1861 – Alcée Louis la Branche, American Politician (b. 1806)
1870 – Pedro Figueredo, Cuban poet, musician, and freedom fighter of the 19th century (b. 1818)
1875 – Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827)
1880 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (b. 1810)
1896 – Bridget Driscoll, British automobile fatality
1901 – Edmond Audran, French composer (b. 1842)
1903 – Hans Gude, Norwegian landscape painter (b. 1825)
1918 – Moisei Uritsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1873)
1920 – Ray Chapman, American baseball player (b. 1891)
1924 – Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
1925 – Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (b. 1848)
1940 – Billy Fiske, American aviator (b. 1911)
1949 – Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino jurist and politician (b. 1891)
1954 – Billy Murray, American recording artist (b. 1877)
1962 – Peter Fechter, East German defector (b. 1944)
1969 – Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)
1970 – Rattana Pestonji, Thai filmmaker (b. 1908)
1971 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880)
1973 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (b. 1928)
1973 – Paul Williams, American singer (The Temptations) (b. 1939)
1973 – Conrad Aiken, American author (b. 1889)
1979 – Vivian Vance, American actress (b. 1909)
1983 – Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (b. 1896)
1987 – Rudolf Hess, Nazi deputy (b. 1894)
1987 – Shaike Ophir, Israeli actor (b. 1929)
1987 – Gary Chester, Italian studio drummer (b. 1924)
1988 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani politician (b. 1924)
1988 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (b. 1914)
1988 – Victoria Shaw, Australian-born American actress (b. 1935)
1990 – Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)
1992 – Al Parker, American adult film actor (b. 1952)
1993 – Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician (b. 1920)
1994 – Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver and team owner (b. 1901)
1994 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer (b. 1902)
1995 – Howard Koch, American screenwriter (b. 1902)
1995 – Ted Whitten, Australian rules footballer (b. 1933)
1998 – Wladyslaw Komar, Polish track and field athlete (b. 1940)
1998 – Tadeusz Slusarski, Polish track and field athlete (b. 1950)
2004 – Thea Astley, Australian writer (b. 1925)
2004 – Gérard Souzay, French baritone (b. 1918)
2005 – John Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934)
2007 – Bill Deedes, British journalist and politician (b. 1913)
2007 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
2008 – Franco Sensi, Italian businessman and football team owner (b. 1926)
Holidays and observances
Independence Day – observance in Indonesia.
Rastafari movement – celebration of the birth of Marcus Garvey, considered a prophet.
Slovenia: Slovenians in Prekmurje Incorporated into the Mother Nation Day
Saint Hyacinth of Poland
Saint Mamas, martyr [Metz, France]
Saint Clare of the Cross
