What Happened on December 17th in History
30 historical events on this date
World War II: Battle of the Bulge: Malmedy massacre: American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Joachim Peiper.
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and referred to by the Germans as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein, was an offensive campaign on the Western Front during the Second World...
Kurdistan flag day, the flag of Kurdistan is raised for the first time in Mahabad in eastern Kurdistan.
Kurdistan, or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo-cultural region and stateless nation in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages,...
First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber that was designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy...
The Finnish Security Police is established to remove communist leadership from its predecessor, the State Police.
The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, formerly the Finnish Security Police and Finnish Security Intelligence Service, is the security and intelligence agency of Finland in charge of...
The F-86 Sabre's first mission over Korea.
The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet powered fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first...
The American Civil Rights Congress delivers "We Charge Genocide" to the United Nations.
The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) was a United States civil rights organization, formed in 1946 at a national conference for radicals and disbanded in 1956. It succeeded the International Labor...
The United States successfully launches the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The SM-65 Atlas was the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family. It was built for the U.S. Air...
Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia crush the coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
Haile Selassie I was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia under Empress Zewditu between 1916 and 1930.
Munich C-131 crash: Twenty passengers and crew on board as well as 32 people on the ground are killed.
On 17 December 1960, a Convair C-131D Samaritan operated by the United States Air Force on a flight from Munich to RAF Northolt crashed shortly after take-off from Munich-Riem Airport, due to fuel...
Niterói circus fire: Fire breaks out during a performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing more than 500.
A fire occurred in the tent housing a sold-out performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano on 17 December 1961 in the city of Niterói, Brazil, caused more than 500 deaths. It is the worst fire...
Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia, disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria, and is presumed drowned.
Harold Edward Holt was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his disappearance and presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the...
Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.
Project Blue Book was the code name for the systematic study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by the United States Air Force from March 1952 to its termination on December 17, 1969. The...
Polish protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
The December 1970 protests in Poland, also known as the December 1970 events, December events, December revolution, and the Coast Massacre, occurred in northern Poland from 14–19 December 1970. The...
Thirty passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.
In December 1973, Fatah, a Palestinian military organization executed a series of attacks originating at Rome-Fiumicino Airport in Italy, resulting in the deaths of 34 people. The attacks began with...
American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.
James Lee Dozier is a retired United States Army officer. In December 1981, he was kidnapped by the Italian Red Brigades, a Marxist–Leninist guerilla group. After 42 days of captivity, he was...
Provisional IRA members detonate a car bomb at Harrods Department Store in London. Three police officers and three civilians are killed.
The Provisional Irish Republican Army, officially known as the Irish Republican Army and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in...
Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timișoara, Romania, with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
The Romanian revolution was a period of violent civil unrest in the Socialist Republic of Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around...
Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President in almost 30 years.
Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the...
The Simpsons premieres on television with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical depiction of...
Peruvian internal conflict: Fourteen members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement provoke a hostage crisis by taking over the Japanese embassy in Lima.
The internal conflict in Peru is an armed conflict between the Government of Peru and the Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path. The conflict's main phase began on 17 May 1980 and ended in December...
Aerosvit Flight 241: A Yakovlev Yak-42 crashes into the Pierian Mountains near Thessaloniki Airport in Thessaloniki, Greece, killing all 70 people on board.
Aerosvit Flight 241 (VV241/AEW241) was a scheduled international passenger flight from the Ukrainian city of Odesa to Thessaloniki, Greece. On 17 December 1997, the Yakovlev Yak-42 operating the...
Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 2 August 1998, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, just over a year after...
The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
On 4 August 2002, two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Amiee Chapman, were lured into the home of a local resident and school caretaker, Ian Huntley, in Soham, Cambridgeshire,...
SpaceShipOne, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first powered and first supersonic flight.
SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (2,000 mph) / 910 m/s (3,300 km/h) using a hybrid rocket...
Sex work rights activists establish December 17 (or "D17") as International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers to memorialize victims of a serial killer who targeted prostitutes, and highlight State violence against sex workers by police and others.
The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers is observed annually on 17 December by sex workers, their clientele, friends, families and allies. Originally conceived as a memorial and...
Anti-World Trade Organization protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. Established on 1 January 1995, pursuant to the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement,...
Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicates the throne as King of Bhutan.
Jigme Singye Wangchuck is a member of the Wangchuck dynasty who reigned as King of Bhutan from 1972 until his abdication in 2006. He is the father of the present King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck....
MV Danny F II sinks off the coast of Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 44 people and over 28,000 animals.
Danny F II was a cargo ship built in 1975 as a car carrier. She was renamed Danny F II when rebuilt as a livestock transporter in 1994. The ship capsized and sank off Lebanon on 17 December 2009,...
Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
Tarek El-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi was a Tunisian street vendor who, in response to the confiscation of his wares as well as the harassment and humiliation inflicted by municipal officials and their...
The United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations after severing them in 1961.
Modern diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States are cold, stemming from historic conflict and divergent political ideologies. The two nations restored diplomatic relations on July 20,...