Today in History
17 January
Stanislaw II August Poniatowski, last king of Poland (1764-95)
Queen Liliuokalani
Capt James Cook
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17 January |
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| 1342 Philip, the Bold, duke of Burgundy was born |
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| 1377 Pope Gregory XI restored the Papal See to Rome after it was removed from Avignon. | ||
| 1463 Frederick III, the Wise, elector of Saxony (1486-25), protector Luther was born | ||
| 1501 Cesare Borgia returns in triumph to Rome from Romagna | ||
| 1536 Fran‡ois Rabelais absolved of apostasy by Pope Paul III | ||
| 1562 The edict of Saint Germain took effect by which the Huguenots were recognized in France. On the same day, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine formed a union to block the edict. | ||
| 1584 Bohemia adopts Gregorian calendar | ||
| 1595 French king Henri IV declares war on Spain | Stanislaw II August Poniatowski, last king of Poland (1764-95) |
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| 1601 The treaty of Lyons was signed between France, Spain and Savoy under which Henry IV gained Bresse, Bugey, Gex and Valromey. | ||
| 1656 Brandenburg & Sweden sign Treaty of K”nigsberg | ||
| 1706 Benjamin Franklin, U.S. statesman and scientist, was born. He was one of the leaders in the American Revolution and assisted in writing the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. | ||
| 1718 Avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switz; kills 53 | ||
| 1732 Stanislaw II August Poniatowski, last king of Poland (1764-95) was born | ||
| 1746 Battle of Falkirk, Scotland-Edward I defeats & massacres Scots | ||
| 1757 German Diet declares war on Prussia |
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| 1759 The Holy Roman Empire declared war on Prussia | ||
| 1773 The Resolution, under Capt. James Cook, became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle. | ||
| 1775 9 old women burnt as witches for causing bad harvests, Kalisk, Pol | ||
| 1779 Capt Cooks last notation in ship's log Discovery | ||
| 1781 The English were defeated by American militia under Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina. | ||
| 1806 James Madison Randolph became the first baby to be born in the White House, to Martha Jefferson Randolph, daughter of President Thomas Jefferson. | ||
| 1814 Ellen Wood, English author (East Lynne, Pomeroy Abbey) was born | ||
| 1827 Duke of Wellington appointed British supreme commander | ||
| 1832 Johannes van den Bosch appointed gov-gen of Dutch-Indies | Queen Liliuokalani |
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| 1852 The South African Republic of Transvaal was established by the Sand River Convention. | ||
| 1871 1st cable car patented, by Andrew S Hallidie (begins service in 1873) | ||
| 1874 The original Siamese Twins, Chang and Eng, died. Born in Thailand of Chinese parents and joined at the chest, they were sold and exhibited in Europe and America. | ||
| 1885 British beat Mahdists at Battle of Abu Klea in Sudan | ||
| 1893 Queen Liliuokalani deposed, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic | ||
| 1893 Rutherford Hayes, the 19th U.S. president, died. He was the only president to be elected by an electoral commission following a disputed ballot. | ||
| 1899 US takes possession of Wake Island in Pacific | ||
| 1911 Failed assassination attempt on premier Briand in French Assembly | ||
| 1912 Capt. Robert Scott and his expedition reached the South Pole, one month after Norway's Roald Amundsen. | ||
| 1913 Raymond Poincar‚ elected president of France | ||
| 1915 Russia occupies Bukovina & Western Ukraine | ||
| 1919 Classical pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski became prime minister of Poland. He became involved in politics during World War II and was responsible for persuading U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to include a paragraph on Polish independence in his famous "Fourteen Points." | ||
| 1923 Belgian Working people Party protest against occupied Ruhrgebied | ||
| 1938 Supreme Soviet elects Michail Kalinin as presidium chairman | ||
| 1945 Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation | ||
| 1945 Soviet Polish forces liberated Warsaw from the control of Nazi Germany. | ||
| 1945 Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, arrested by secret police in Hungary |
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| 1947 Muiden Neth ammunition factory explodes, 16 die | ||
| 1948 Netherlands & Indonesia agree to a cease fire | ||
| 1949 The trial on subversion charges of the top leaders of the U.S. Communist Party began in New York. | ||
| 1951 China refuses ceases-fire in Korea | ||
| 1959 Senegal and the French Sudan agreed to form the Republic of Mali, effective in April. | ||
| 1961 Eisenhower allegedly orders assassination of Congo's Lumumba | ||
| 1966 Martin Luther King Jr opens campaign in Chicago | ||
| 1966 A U.S. B-52 bomber collided in midair with a refueling tanker over Spain; eight were killed and the bomber released its H-bomb into the Atlantic. | ||
| 1973 City of Amsterdam decides to support Hanoi | Capt James Cook |
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| 1973 New Philippine constitution names Marcos president for life | ||
| 1977 Zaire president Mobutu visits Belgium | ||
| 1977 double murderer Gary Gilmore became the first person to be executed in the United States since the reintroduction of the death penalty. | ||
| 1979 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees Iran | ||
| 1983 Nigeria expelled an estimated 2 million illegal immigrants. | ||
| 1988 Leslie Manigay elected president of Haiti | ||
| 1989 Murden & Metz are 1st women to reach South Pole overland (on skis) | ||
| 1991 Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles on Israel | ||
| 1991 In the Gulf War, U.S.-led allied forces launched "Operation Desert Storm," an air and missile offensive against Iraqi positions | ||
| 1991 U.S. forces launched second and third airstrikes against targets in Iraq and Kuwait, and Iraq launched at least six scud missiles at Tel Aviv, Israel. | ||
| 1995 A powerful earthquake struck near Kobe, Japan, killing more than 5,000 people and causing $85.5 billion in damage. | ||
| 1998 U.S. President Bill Clinton testified in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Paula Jones; he was later accused of perjury for that testimony. |