Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 17
This is a list of selected March 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, featured list 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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Vanguard 1 -
Golda Meir -
Mount Agung, Bali, Indonesia -
Voting bulletin of the Soviet Union referendum -
Sinking of the SS Utopia -
Golden Tara of Butuan
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 45 BC – Caesar's Civil War: Julius Caesar scored his final military victory at the Battle of Munda, defeating the Optimate forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger. | refimprove |
| 1805 – Napoleon transformed the Italian Republic into the Kingdom of Italy. | unreferenced section |
| 1958 – Vanguard 1 , the first solar-powered satellite, and the oldest human-launched object still in Earth orbit today, was launched. | refimprove section |
Eligible
- 455 – After arranging for the assassination of Valentinian III, Petronius Maximus seized the throne of the Western Roman Empire, only to be killed 11 weeks later during the sack of Rome.
- 1001 – The Song Shi recorded a tributary mission from the Kingdom of Butuan to the Song dynasty of China.
- 1860 – The First Taranaki War began at Waitara, New Zealand, marking an important phase of the New Zealand land wars.
- 1891 – The transatlantic steamship SS Utopia accidentally collided with the battleship HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar, sinking in less than twenty minutes and killing 562.
- 1942 – The Holocaust: The first mass killings of Jews began at Bełżec extermination camp in occupied Poland, the first of the Aktion Reinhard camps to begin operation.
- 1950 – The synthesis of californium, a radioactive transuranium element, was announced.
- 1957 – A plane crash on the slope of Mount Manunggal killed Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
- 1963 – The most recent eruption of Mount Agung on Bali, Indonesia, killed approximately 1,500 people.
- 1968 – Six thousand sheep were killed on ranches near Dugway Proving Ground in Utah as a result of the U.S. Army spraying a nerve agent.
- 1969 – Golda Meir became the first female Prime Minister of Israel.
- 1973 – Slava Veder took his Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
- 1979 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapsed during refurbishing construction, killing two workers, and leading to the abandonment of the tunnel.
- 1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: The Eritrean People's Liberation Front encircled an Ethiopian force and gained a decisive victory in the Battle of Afabet.
- 1991 – Nearly 70% of voters in nine Soviet republics agreed that the Soviet Union should be preserved in the Soviet Union referendum.
- 1992 – A suicide bomber killed 29 people and injured 242 others at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2000 – Over 700 followers of the Ugandan sect Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God perished in a fire and a series of poisonings and killings, considered either a cult suicide or an orchestrated mass murder by its leaders.
- 2004 – Unrest in Kosovo broke out, resulting in the deaths of 20, the wounding of 200 others, and the destruction of several Serb Orthodox churches and shrines.
- 2011 – Libyan Civil War: The United Nations Security Council adopted Security Council Resolution 1973, authorizing a military intervention to protect civilians in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
- 1337 – Edward, the Black Prince became the first duke in English history, when he was created the Duke of Cornwall.
- 1452 – Reconquista: The combined forces of Castile and Murcia defeated the Emirate of Granada at the Battle of Los Alporchones around the city of Lorca.
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The British Army garrison in Boston, Massachusetts, withdrew from the city, ending the 11‑month Siege of Boston.
- 1955 – Six thousand people in Montreal rioted to protest the suspension of ice hockey star Maurice Richard.
- 1985 – American serial killer Richard Ramirez (pictured), known as "the Night Stalker", began a home invasion burglary and killing spree that resulted in 13 deaths and 11 sexual assaults over the following five months.