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December 17 Birthday Events Poster

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December 17 Historical Events

The following events took place on December 17. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 62 events. Showing 1 - 30.

  • 497 BC
    The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
  • 546
    Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
  • 920
    Romanos I Lekapenos is crowned co-emperor of the underage Constantine VII.
  • 942
    Assassination of William I of Normandy.
  • 1398
    Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud’s armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
  • 1538
    Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.
  • 1583
    Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
  • 1586
    Go-Yōzei becomes Emperor of Japan.
  • 1600
    Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
  • 1718
    War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain.
  • 1777
    American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States.
  • 1790
    Discovery of the Aztec calendar stone.
  • 1807
    Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
  • 1812
    War of 1812: U.S. forces attack a Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa.
  • 1813
    The Sûreté Nationale, the national police force of France, is founded, headed by Eugène François Vidocq.
  • 1819
    Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
  • 1835
    Great Fire of New York: Fire levels lower Manhattan.
  • 1837
    A fire in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg kills 30 guards.
  • 1862
    American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
  • 1865
    First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
  • 1892
    First issue of Vogue is published
  • 1896
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, is destroyed in a fire.
  • 1903
    The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
  • 1907
    Ugyen Wangchuck is crowned first King of Bhutan
  • 1918
    Darwin Rebellion: Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
  • 1919
    Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
  • 1926
    Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the 1926 coup d'état is successful.
  • 1927
    Indian revolutionary Rajendra Lahiri is hanged in Gonda jail, Uttar Pradesh, India, two days before the scheduled date.
  • 1928
    Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate British police officer James Saunders in Lahore, Punjab, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police. The three were executed in 1931.
  • 1935
    First flight of the Douglas DC-3.

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