October 17 Historical Events
The following events took place on October 17. The list is arranged in chronological order.
Found 54 events. Showing 1 - 30.
- 456Battle of Placentia: Ricimer, supported by Majorian (comes domesticorum), defeats the Roman usurper Avitus near Piacenza (Northern Italy) .
- 1091London tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London.
- 1346Battle of Neville’s Cross: King David II of Scotland is captured by the English near Durham, and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years.
- 1448Second Battle of Kosovo, where the mainly Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi is defeated by an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II.
- 1456The University of Greifswald is established, making it the second oldest university in northern Europe (also for a period the oldest in Sweden, and Prussia).
- 1558Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, is founded.
- 1604Kepler’s Supernova: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes a supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus.
- 1610French king Louis XIII is crowned in Reims Cathedral.
- 1660Nine regicides, the men who signed the death warrant of Charles I, are hanged, drawn and quartered.
- 1662Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for 40,000 pounds.
- 1771Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, age 15.
- 1777American Revolutionary War: British General John Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga, New York.
- 1781American Revolutionary War: British General Charles, Earl Cornwallis surrenders at the Siege of Yorktown.
- 1800Britain takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao.
- 1806Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I of Haiti is assassinated after an oppressive rule.
- 1814Eight people die in the London Beer Flood.
- 1860First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).
- 1861Nineteen people are killed in the Cullin-la-ringo massacre, the deadliest massacre of Europeans by aborigines in Australian history.
- 1888Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
- 1905The October Manifesto issued by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
- 1907Guglielmo Marconi’s company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland.
- 1912Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
- 1917First British bombing of Germany in World War I.
- 1918Haitian rebels attack the barracks of the Gendarmerie of Haiti, igniting the Second Caco War
- 1919RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America.
- 1931Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.
- 1933Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.
- 1940The body of Communist propagandist Willi Münzenberg found in South France, starting a never-resolved mystery.
- 1941World War II: a German submarine attacks an American ship for the first time in the war.
- 1941German troops execute the male population of the villages Kerdyllia in Serres, Greece.
12
Curious about this Strawberry Jelly Fruit? This is a party item you can activate and send to your friends when you play the free game Jump Birthday Party. It’s a fun and easy-to-play mobile game for all ages. Get free 1,000 gold coins when you download today!