On this day in history - Aug. 17

• 0986 - A Byzantine army is destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron. The Byzantine emperor Basil II narrowly escaped.
• 1153 - Eustace IV of Boulogne dies (b. 1130). Son of Stephen of England.
• 1304 - Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan dies (b. 1243).
• 1473 - Richard, Duke of York was born (d. 1483). One of the Princes in the Tower.
• 1510 - Edmund Dudley dies (b. 1462). English statesman.
• 1562 - Hans Leo Hassler was baptized (d. 1612). German composer.
• 1578 - Francesco Albani was born (d. 1660). Italian painter.
• 1601 - Pierre de Fermat was born (d. 1665). French mathematician, often called the founder of the modern theory of numbers.
• 1629 - King John III of Poland was born (d. 1696).
• 1657 - Robert Blake dies (b. 1599). British admiral.
• 1673 - Regnier de Graaf dies (b. 1641). Dutch physician and anatomist.
• 1676 - Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen dies (b. 1621). German novelist.
• 1699 - Bernard de Jussieu was born († 6 Nov 1777). French botanic.
• 1710 - Manuel Bernardes dies (b. 1644). Portuguese writer.
• 1717 - George Boone, the grandfather of pioneer Daniel Boone sails to America from Bradninch, England.
• 1720 - Anne Lefèvre dies (b. 1654). French scholar.
• 1723 - Joseph Bingham dies (b. 1668). English scholar.
• 1740 - Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini is elected Pope Benedictus XIV.
• 1755 - Thomas Stothard was born (d. 27 Apr 1834). English Romantic painter, designer, and illustrator.
• 1761 - William Carey was born (d. 1834). English missionary.
• 1768 - Louis Charles Antoine Desaix was born (d. 1800). French general.
• 1768 (N. S.) - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky dies (b. 1703). Russian poet.
• 1778 - John Varley was born (17 Nov 1842). English painter and draftsman.
• 1785 - Jonathan Trumbull dies (b. 1710). Governor of the Colony and the state of Connecticut.
• 1786 - Davy Crockett was born (d. 1836). American frontiersman, soldier.
• 1786 - King Frederick II of Prussia dies (b. 1712).
• 1790 - A capital dos Estados Unidos muda de Nova Iorque para Filadélfia, no estado da Pensilvânia.
• 1794 - Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst dies (b. 1849). German priest.
• 1798 - Thomas Hodgkin was born (d. 5 Apr 1866). English physician who early described (1832) the malignant disease of lymph tissue that bears his name. He was the most prominent British pathologist of his time and a pioneer in preventive medicine.
• 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.
• 1808 - Combate da Roliça. O exército britânico desembarcado em Lavos derrota uma divisão francesa perto de Óbidos.
• 1812 - Battle of Smolensk: French forces of Napoleon agains Russians.
• 1828 - Jules Bernard Luys was born (d. 1897). French neurologist.
• 1834 - Peter Benoit was born in Harelbeke (Westflandern) († 8 Mar 1901 in Antwerpen). Composer.
• 1834 - Husein Gradaščević dies (b. 1802). Bosnian rebel leader.
• 1844 - Menelek II of Ethiopia was born (d. 1913).
• 1850 - Argentine's War of Independence hero, General José de San Martín, dies in Boulogne-sur-Mer (France), at the age of 77.
• 1850 - Don José de San Martín dies (b. 25 Feb 1778). Argentine general. Together with Simón Bolívar in the north, San Martín is regarded as one of the Liberators of Spanish South America. He is a national hero of Argentina.
• 1862 - Indian Wars: Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in Minnesota as desperate Lakota attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. They will be overwhelmed by the US military six weeks later.
• 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. Bombardment will not end until December 31, 1863.
• 1863 - Gene Stratton-Porter was born (d. 1924). American author and naturalist.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville - Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
• 1866 - Julia Marlowe, nee Sarah Frost, was born (d. 1950). Shakespearean actress.
• 1866 - Mir Mahboob Ali Khan was born (d. 1911). 6th Nizam of Hyderabad.
• 1870 - Frederick Fuller Russell was born (d. 29 Dec 1960). American scientist who developed the first successful U.S. typhoid fever vaccine.
• 1873 - John A. Sampson was born (d. 1946). American gynecologist.
• 1875 - Wilhelm Bleek dies (8 Mar 1827). German linguist.
• 1877 - Arizona blacksmith F.P. Cahill is fatally wounded by Billy the Kid. Cahill will die the next day, becoming the first person killed by the Kid.
• 1878 - Primeira representação da ópera de Richard Wagner O Crepúsculo dos Deuses, última parte da Tetralogia O Anel do Nibelungo, em Bayreuth, na Baviera, reino integrado no Império Alemão.
• 1880 - Ole Bull dies (b. 5 Feb 1810). Norwegian violinist.
• 1880 - Paul Kammerer was born (d. 23 Sep 1926). Austrian biologist, he claimed to have produced experimental evidence that acquired traits could be inherited.
• 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn was born (d. 1974). Hollywood producer.
• 1883 - The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Quisqueyanos valientes.
• 1887 - Marcus Garvey was born (d. 1940). Jamaican-born Black rights activist.
• 1887 - Emperor Karl of Austria was born (d. 1922).
• 1888 - Antonio Flores assume a presidência do Equador.
• 1888 - Monty Woolley was born (d. 1963). American actor.
• 1890 - Harry Hopkins was born (d. 1946). 8th United States Secretary of Commerce.
• 1890 - Stefan Bastyr was born (d. 1920). Polish aviator.
• 1893 - Mae West was born (d. 1980). American actress.
• 1893 - Walter Noddack was born (d. 7 Dec 1960). German chemist who discovered the element rhenium (Jun 1925) in collaboration with his wife Ida Tacke.
• 1895- António Joaquim Tavares Ferro was born. Portuguese politician and journalist.
• 1896 - London - Bridget Driscoll becomes the first person in the world to die in an automobile accident after being struck by a car travelling about 4 MPH.
• 1896 - Ana Amélia Queiros Carneiro de Mendonça was born. Brazilian poet.
• 1896 - Leslie Groves was born (d. 1970). American military engineer.
• 1896 - Bridget Driscoll dies in a car accident. World's first automobile fatality
• 1897 - Nascimento, em Concavada, Abrantes, de António Tomás Botto, escritor português (m. 17 Mar 1959 no Rio de Janeiro, na sequência de um atropelamento automóvel). Publicou em 1921 "Canções" livro que viria a ser apreendido dado o escandalo provocado pelo erotismo exacerbado que faziam a exaltação da beleza masculina. Homossexual assumido, foi expulso do funcionalismo público em 1942, indo viver para o Brasil em 1947. Era muito admirado por Fernando Pessoa, José Régio e outros.
• 1901 - Edmond Audran dies (b. 1842). French composer.
• 1903 - O primeiro Prêmio Pulitzer é entregue, quando Joseph Pulitzer contribui com uma doação de um milhão de dólares para a Universidade de Colúmbia, providenciando os fundos para a criação dos Prêmios Pulitzer, feitos em seu nome.
• 1904 - Leopold Nowak was born (d. 1991). Austrian musicologist.
• 1904 - Mary Cain was born (d. 1984). American newspaper editor and politician.
• 1906 - Hazel Bishop was born in Hoboken, New Jersey (d. 5 Dec 1998. American chemist and cosmetic executive.
• 1906 - Marcelo Caetano was born (d. 1980). Portuguese politician.
• 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.
• 1909 - Larry Clinton was born (d. 1985). American trumpeter and bandleader.
• 1909 - Óscar Bento Ribas was born (d. 2004). Angolan writer.
• 1911 - Mikhail Botvinnik was born (d. 1995). Russian World chess champion.
• 1912 - Aderbal Jurema was born. Brazilian journalist and poet.
• 1913 - W. Mark Felt was born. FBI associate director and Deep Throat Watergate informant.
• 1913 - Rudy York was born (d. 1970). Major League Baseball All-Star.
  
• 1913 - Oscar Alfredo Gálvez was born (d. 1980). Argentine racing driver.
• 1914 - World War I: The German army of General Hermann von Francois defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf at the Battle of Stalluponen.
• 1914 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. was born (d. 1988). Son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• 1915 - Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1918 - Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
• 1918 - Moisei Uritsky dies (b. 1873). Russian revolutionary.
• 1919 - Georgia Gibbs was born (d. 2006). American singer.
• 1920 - Maureen O'Hara was born. Irish actress.
• 1920 - Ray Chapman was born (d. 1891). American baseball player.
• 1923 - Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg "Larry Rivers" was born in the Bronx, New York. US proto-Pop painter, printmaker, and sculptor; jazz saxophonist, writer, poet, teacher. Author of autobiography What Did I Do?
• 1925 - Ioan Slavici dies (b. 1848). Transylvanian writer of Romanian origin.
• 1926 - Jean Poiret was born († 14 Mar 1992). French comedian, actor.
• 1926 - George Melly was born in Liverpool. English jazz singer, critic for The Observer and he also lectures on art history.
• 1926 - Jiang Zemin was born. Chinese politician.
• 1926 - Jean Poiret was born (d. 1992). rench actor, director and screenwriter.
• 1929 - Francis Gary Powers was born (d. 1977). American U-2 pilot.
• 1929 - Jiang Zemin was born. President of the People's Republic of China.
• 1930 - Glenn Corbett was born (d. 1993). American actor.
• 1930 - Ted Hughes was born (d. 1998). English poet.
• 1932 - Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born in Trinidad. West India writer, 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.
• 1933 - New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig played his 1,308th consecutive game, breaking Everett Scott's record. He would continue the streak until 1939.
• 1933 - Eugene F. Kranz was born. American space exploration executive.
• 1933 - Mark Dinning was born (d. 1986). American singer.
• 1935 - Oleg Tabakov was born. Russian actor.
• 1937 - Vicente Median dies (b. 27 Oct 1866) . Spanish poet (Cansera).
• 1938 - Abu Bakar Bashir was born. Indonesian Muslim cleric.
• 1939 - Luther Allison was born. American blues musician, guitarist.
• 1939 - Devido ao perigo de uma nova guerra, a Grã-Bretanha assina um acordo de cooperação militar com Portugal, aceitando apoiar directamente o esforço de rearmamento e modernização das forças armadas portuguesas. O acordo só começará a ser cumprido a partir de Setembro de 1943.
• 1939 - Luther Allison was born. American musician.
• 1940 - Billy Fiske was born (d. 1911). American aviator and Olympic athlete.
• 1941 - Jean Pierre Lefebvre was born. French Canadian film director.
• 1941 - Boog Powell was born. American baseball player.
• 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 - World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission.
• 1943 - World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
• 1943 - World War II: The US 7th 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 - Robert De Niro was born. American actor.
• 1943 - Dave "Snaker" Ray was born (d. 2002). American musician.
• 1944 - Lawrence Joseph Ellison was born. CEO of Oracle Corporation, Billionaire.
• 1944 - Eugénio de Castro dies in Coimbra (b . 4 Mar 1869 in Coimbra). Portuguese poet ( A Sombra do Quadrante -1906, Oaristos 1890, Depois da Ceifa 1901 ...).
• 1945 - Indonesia proclaims itself independent from the Netherlands.
• 1946 - Gualberto Villarroel dies. Bolivian president.
• 1947 - The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
• 1947 - Gary Talley was born. American guitarist (Box Tops).
• 1948 - Rod MacDonald was born. American musician.
• 1949 - Sib Hashian was born. American drummer (Boston).
• 1951 - Alan Minter was born. British boxer.
• 1951 - Elba Ramalho was born. Brazilian singer.
• 1952 - Nelson Piquet was born. Brazilian formula one driver.
• 1952 - Guillermo Vilas was born. Argentinian tennis player.
• 1953 - Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
• 1953 - Judith Regan was born. American book publisher.
• 1953 - Kevin Rowland was born. Irish musician (Dexys Midnight Runners).
• 1954 - Eric Johnson was born. American guitarist.
• 1954 - Andrés Pastrana was born. Pesident of Colombia.
• 1954 - Billy Murray dies (b. 1877). American recording artist.
• 1955 - Richard Hilton was born. American heir.
• 1955 - Fernand Léger dies (b. 4 Feb 1881). French Cubist painter, draftsman, illustrator, printmaker, stage designer, film maker, and ceramicist.
• 1956 - Gail Berman was born. American film executive.
• 1957 - Robin Cousins was born. British figure skater.
• 1958 - Belinda Carlisle was born. American singer.
• 1958 - Kirk Stevens was born. Canadian snooker player.
• 1959 - Quake Lake: Quake Lake was formed by a 7.5 rated earthquake in Montana.
• 1959 – Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.
• 1959 - David Koresh was born (d. 1993). American cult leader.
• 1960 - Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.
• 1960 - Gabon gains independence from France.
• 1960 - Sean Penn was born. American actor and director.
• 1960 - Stephan Eicher was born. Swiss singer.
• 1962 - East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin. He thus became the first victim of the wall.
• 1962 - Gilby Clarke was born. American musician Guns N' Roses.
• 1962 - Peter Fechter dies trying to cross the Berlin Wall (b. 1944).
• 1963 - A ferry linking remote islands off the coast of Okinawa sinks, killing 112.
• 1963 - Zezé di Camargo was born. Brazilian singer (Zezé di Camargo & Luciano).
• 1964 - Colin James was born. Canadian blues musician.
• 1966 - Rodney Mullen was born. Skateboarder.
• 1966 - Morre, em Moledo do Minho, António Pedro da Costa (n. 1909 em Cabo Verde). Escritor, poeta e artista plástico português.
• 1966 - Henry Joseph Round dies (b. 2 Jun 1881). English electronics engineer whose numerous inventions contributed to the development of radio communications.
• 1966 - Rodney Mullen was born. American skateboarder.
• 1966 - Don Sweeney was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1968 - Ed McCaffrey was born. American football player.
• 1969 - Donnie Wahlberg was born. American actor and singer.
• 1969 - Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).
• 1969 - Chega ao fim o Festival de Música e Arte Woodstock, realizado próximo a Bethel, em Nova Iorque.
• 1969 - Mies van der Rohe dies (b. 1886). German architect.
• 1969 - Otto Stern dies (b. 1888). German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate on 1943 for his development of the molecular beam as a tool for studying the characteristics of molecules and for his measurement of the magnetic moment of the proton.
• 1970 - Venera program: Venera 7 is launched. It will later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet, Venus.
• 1970 - Jim Courier was born. American tennis player.
• 1970 - Rupert Degas was born. English actor and voice artist.
• 1970 - Oyvind Leonhardsen was born. Norwegian footballer.
• 1970 - Rattana Pestonji dies (b. 1908). Thai filmmaker.
• 1971 - Jorge Posada was born. Puerto Rican baseball player.
• 1971 - Uhm Jung-hwa was born. South Korean singer and actress.
• 1971 - Wilhelm List dies (b. 1880). German field marshal.
• 1972 - Ken Ryker was born. American pornographic actor.
• 1973 - Jean Barraqué dies (b. 1928). French composer.
• 1973 - Paul Williams dies (b. 1939). American singer (The Temptations).
• 1973 - Conrad Aiken dies (b. 1889). American author.
• 1974 - Tony Hajjar was born. Lebanese drummer (At the Drive-In, Sparta).
• 1975 - Giuliana DePandi was born. Italian-born American television personality.
• 1976 - Scott Halberstadt was born. American actor.
• 1977 - Tarja Turunen was born. Finnish singer.
• 1977 - William Gallas was born. French footballer.
• 1977 - Thierry Henry was born. French football star.
• 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.
• 1978 - Vibeke Stene was born. Norwegian singer (Tristania).
• 1979 - Antwaan Randle El was born. American football player.
• 1979 - Marcus Patric was born. British actor.
• 1979 - Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine killing 156.
• 1979 - Vivian Vance dies (b. 26 Jul 1909). American actress.
• 1980 - Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history and the most famous wrongful conviction when her parents are found guilty of murder.
• 1980 - Keith Dabengwa was born. Zimbabwean cricketer.
• 1980 - Jan Kromkamp was born. Dutch footballer.
• 1980 - Lene Marlin was born. Norwegian singer.
• 1980 - Manuele Blasi was born. Italian football player.
• 1982 - The first Compact Discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.
• 1982 - Melissa Anderson was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1982 – Phil Jagielka was born. English footballer.
• 1983 - Dustin Pedroia was born. American baseball player.
• 1983 - Ira Gershwin dies (b. 1896). American lyricist.
• 1984 - Dee Brown was born. American basketball player.
• 1986 - Rudy Gay was born. American basketball player.
• 1986 - Tyrus Thomas was born. American basketball player.
• 1987 - Rudolf Hess Hitler's former right-hand man, is found dead in Spandau Prison (b. 1894).
• 1987 - Carlos Drummond de Andrade dies in Rio de Janeiro (b. 1902). Brazilian poet and cronist /Morre Carlos Drummond de Andrade no Rio de Janeiro (n. 31 Out 1902 em Itabira do Mato Dentro (MG). Formado em Farmácia nunca exerceu: Dedicou-se ao jornalismo como cronista, ensinou português egeografia e ocupou cargos públicos. A Rosa do Povo, Claro Enigma Fazendeiro do Ar, Lição de Coisas são títulos de algumas das suas obras. Recusou vários prémios literários.
• 1987 - Rudolf Hess dies (b. 1894). Nazi deputy.
• 1988 - Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (b. 1924) and US 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.
• 1988 - Erika Toda was born. Japanese actress.
• 1988 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. dies (b. 1914). Son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States.
• 1988 - Victoria Shaw dies (b. 1935). Australian-born american actress.
• 1990 - Rachel Hurd-Wood was born. British actress.
• 1990 - Colin Bates was born. American actor.
• 1990 - Pearl Bailey dies (29 Mar 1918). American singer and actress.
• 1991 - The Smells Like Teen Spirit Video by Nirvana is Filmed.
• 1991 - Wade Frankum starts his killing spree in Strathfield, Australia, an event that was later dubbed the Strathfield Massacre.
• 1992 - Al Parker dies (b. 1952). American adult film actor.
• 1994 - Jack Sharkey dies (b. 1902). American heavyweight boxer.
• 1995 - Howard Koch dies (b. 1902). American screenwriter.
• 1995 - Ted Whitten dies (b. 1933). Australian rules footballer.
• 1996 - Alan Shearer makes debut for Newcastle United after a then record £15m move from Rivals Blackburn Rovers.
• 1996 - Ella Cruz was born. Filipina actress.
• 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 northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
• 2000 - Franco Donatoni dies (b. 1927). Italian composer.
• 2000 - Robert Rowe Gilruth dies (b. 8 Oct 1913). American aerospace scientist, engineer, and a pioneer of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs.
• 2002 - Soham murders: The bodies of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman are found 13 days after there disapperence at the perimeter fence of RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
• 2002 - Alicia Montoya dies (b. 20 Jan 1920). Mexican actress.
• 2002 - In Santa Rosa, California, the Charles M. Schulz Museum opens to the public.
• 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.
• 2004 - Gérard Souzay dies (b. 8 Dec 1918). French baritone.
• 2004 - Neal Fredericks dies (b. 1969). American cinematographer 'Blair Witch'.
• 2004 - Thea Astley dies (b. 1925). Australian writer.
• 2005 - The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
• 2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh
• 2005 - John Bahcall dies (b. 1934). American astrophysicist.
• 2007 - Bill Deedes dies (b. 1913). British journalist and politician.
• 2007 – Eddie Griffin dies (b. 1982). American basketball player.
• 2008 - By winning the Men's 4x100m medley relay, Michael Phelps becomes the first Olympian to win eight gold medals in the same Olympics.
• 2008 – Franco Sensi dies (b. 1936). Italian businessman and football team owner.
• 2009 – The Magna Carta for Women enters into force, allowing further protection for the women in the Philippines.
• 2009 - Miguel Magno dies (b. 1951). Brazilian actor.
• Independence Day - Gabon gains independence from France.
• Independence Day – Indonesia celebrates the proclamation of independence from Japan in 1945.
• 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.
  
• Día del Libertador - observed in Argentina, on the day when José de San Martín died.