Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 17
This is a list of selected December 17 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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The Wright Flyer -
The Wright Flyer -
Siege of Godesberg -
Aztec calendar stone -
Douglas DC-3 -
Ulysses S. Grant
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| National Day in Bhutan (1907) | refimprove; needs expansion |
| 920 – Romanos I became co-Byzantine Emperor with the underage Constantine VII. | needs more footnotes |
| 1903 – In Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright aboard the Wright Flyer conducted the first successful flight of a powered fixed-wing aircraft. | unreferenced section |
| 1969 – The United States Air Force closed Project Blue Book, its study on unidentified flying objects, stating that further funding "cannot be justified either on the grounds of national security or in the interest of science." | refimprove sections |
Eligible
- 546 – After a nearly year-long siege, Ostrogoths led by Totila sacked Rome.
- 942 – William I Longsword of Normandy was ambushed and assassinated by supporters of Arnulf I, Count of Flanders, while the two were at a peace conference to settle their differences.
- 1790 – The Aztec calendar stone, now a modern symbol of Mexican culture, was excavated in the Zócalo, Mexico City's main square.
- 1819 – The Republic of Gran Colombia in South America was established, with Simón Bolívar as its first president.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Union General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
- 1918 – About 1,000 demonstrators marched on Government House in Darwin, Australia, where they burnt an effigy of Administrator John Gilruth and demanded his resignation.
- 1935 – The Douglas DC-3, one of the most significant transport aircraft ever built, made its maiden voyage to coincide with the anniversary of the Wright Flyer's first flight.
- 1944 – Nazi troops under Joachim Peiper killed unarmed prisoners of war, captured during the Battle of the Bulge, with machine guns near Malmedy, Belgium.
- 1951 – The Civil Rights Congress, an American civil rights group, presented a document to the United Nations Genocide Convention charging the United States government with genocide against African Americans.
- 1970 – Soldiers fired at workers emerging from trains in Gdynia, Poland, beginning the government's brutal crackdown on mass anti-communist protests across the country.
- 1989 – The Simpsons, currently the longest running American prime time entertainment series, made its debut on the Fox television network with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
- 2009 – The livestock transport ship MV Danny F II capsized and sank in bad weather off the coast of Lebanon, resulting in 40 human and over 28,000 animal deaths.
- 2010 – Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest to police harassment, triggering the Tunisian Revolution.
Notes
- Battle of the Bulge appears on December 16, so Malmedy massacre should not appear in the same year
- Tunisian revolution appears on December 18, so Mohamed Bouazizi should not appear in the same year
- 497 BC – The temple to the Roman god Saturn was dedicated in the Roman Forum; its anniversary was celebrated as Saturnalia.
- 1583 – Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeated the troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
- 1926 – A coup d'état by the Lithuanian military replaced the democratically elected President Kazys Grinius with Antanas Smetona (pictured).
- 1960 – A US Air Force Convair C-131 Samaritan crashed shortly after take-off into downtown Munich due to fuel contamination, killing all 20 people on board as well as 32 more on the ground.
- 1983 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a car bomb just outside Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people and injuring about 90 others.