December 17th Events |
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| December 17th, 2005 (December 17 2005) | Event | Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong | |
| December 17th, 2003 (December 17 2003) | Event | 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. | |
| December 17th, 2003 (December 17 2003) | Event | SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight. | |
| December 17th, 2002 (December 17 2002) | Event | 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. | |
| December 17th, 1999 (December 17 1999) | Event | The United Nations General Assembly passes resolution 54/134 designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women. | |
| December 17th, 1989 (December 17 1989) | Event | Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timisoara with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party s District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire. | |
| December 17th, 1989 (December 17 1989) | Event | First free elections in Brazil in 25 years. | |
| December 17th, 1989 (December 17 1989) | Event | The longest-running American sitcom The Simpsons had its debut. | |
| December 17th, 1983 (December 17 1983) | Event | The IRA bombs Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people. | |
| December 17th, 1981 (December 17 1981) | Event | Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigade in Verona, Italy. | |
| December 17th, 1981 (December 17 1981) | Event | The Senegambia Confederation is founded. | |
| December 17th, 1978 (December 17 1978) | Event | The Workers Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe. | |
| December 17th, 1973 (December 17 1973) | Event | Terrorism: 30 passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome s Leonardo da Vinci Airport. | |
| December 17th, 1970 (December 17 1970) | Event | Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens. | |
| December 17th, 1969 (December 17 1969) | Event | The SALT I talks begin. | |
| December 17th, 1969 (December 17 1969) | Event | Project Blue Book: The USAF closes its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of "A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, psychopathological persons, and misidentification of various conventional objects." | |
| December 17th, 1967 (December 17 1967) | Event | Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria and was presumed drowned. | |
| December 17th, 1961 (December 17 1961) | Event | History of Goa: Operation VijayIndia seizes Goa from Portugal. | |
| December 17th, 1957 (December 17 1957) | Event | The United States successfully launched the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile in Cape Canaveral, Florida. | |
| December 17th, 1944 (December 17 1944) | Event | World War II: Battle of the BulgeMalmedy massacreAmerican 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper. | |
| December 17th, 1941 (December 17 1941) | Event | World War II: Beginning of the Siege of Sebastopol. | |
| December 17th, 1941 (December 17 1941) | Event | World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo. | |
| December 17th, 1939 (December 17 1939) | Event | World War II: Battle of the River PlateThe Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo. | |
| December 17th, 1935 (December 17 1935) | Event | First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane. | |
| December 17th, 1926 (December 17 1926) | Event | Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the ?1926 coup d etat? is successful. | |
| December 17th, 1919 (December 17 1919) | Event | Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty. | |
| December 17th, 1903 (December 17 1903) | Event | The Wright Brothers make their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. | |
| December 17th, 1862 (December 17 1862) | Event | American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. | Ulysses S. Grant Quotes |
| December 17th, 1834 (December 17 1834) | Event | The Dublin and Kingstown Railway the first public railway on the island of Ireland, opens in Ireland. | |
| December 17th, 1819 (December 17 1819) | Event | Simon Bolivar declares the independence of the Republic of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolivar in Venezuela). | Simon Bolivar Quotes |
| December 17th, 1807 (December 17 1807) | Event | France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System. | |
| December 17th, 1718 (December 17 1718) | Event | Great Britain declares war on Spain. | |
| December 17th, 1637 (December 17 1637) | Event | Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu. | |
| December 17th, 1600 (December 17 1600) | Event | Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici. | |
| December 17th, 1586 (December 17 1586) | Event | Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan. | |
| December 17th, 1577 (December 17 1577) | Event | Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for English Queen Elizabeth I. | |
| December 17th, 1538 (December 17 1538) | Event | Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England. | Henry VIII of England Quotes |
| December 17th, 1531 (December 17 1531) | Event | Pope Clement VII establishes a parallel body to the Inquisition in Lisbon, Portugal. | |
| December 17th, 1398 (December 17 1398) | Event | Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud s armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur. | |
| December 17th, 0942 (December 17 0942) | Event | Assassination of William I of Normandy. | |
| December 17th, 0920 (December 17 0920) | Event | Romanos I is crowned as co-emperor of the underage Emperor Constantine VII. | |
| December 17th, 0546 (December 17 0546) | Event | Gothic War (535-554): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison. | |
