Browse events, births, deaths and holidays on August 17 throughout history.
On 17 August 2019, a suicide bombing took place during a wedding in a wedding hall in Kabul, Afghanistan. At least 92 people were killed in the attack and over 140 injured. The Is…
A bomb explodes at a wedding in Kabul killing 63 people and leaving 182 injured.
On the afternoon of 17 August 2017, 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub drove a van into pedestrians on La Rambla street in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, killing 13 people and injuring …
Barcelona attacks: A van is driven into pedestrians in La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100.
On 17 August 2015, a bombing took place inside the Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Pathum Wan district, Bangkok, Thailand, killing 20 people and injuring 125. T…
A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others.
On 17 August 2009, a turbine in the hydroelectric power station of the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam near Sayanogorsk in Russia failed catastrophically, killing 75 people and severely d…
An accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power…
Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer. He won more Olympic medals than any other athlete, a total of 28 medals across four Olympic Games. Phelps also ho…
American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.
Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens…
The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israeli disengagement from Gaza, starts.
On 17 August 2005, around 500 bomb explosions occurred at 300 locations in 63 of the 64 districts of Bangladesh. The bombs exploded within a half-hour period, starting at 11:00 am…
Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh.
The National Assembly, formally the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are proporti…
The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Bože pravde becomes the new anthem…
An earthquake of moment magnitude 7.6 struck Kocaeli Province, Turkey on 17 August 1999. According to official figures, at least 18,373 people died and 48,901 people were injured …
The 7.6 Mw İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving…
A sex scandal involving Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, erupted in 1998. Their sexual relationship began in 1995—…
Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship"…
The Strathfield massacre was a shooting rampage at Strathfield Plaza in Strathfield, Sydney, Australia, on 17 August 1991. The shooter was Wade Frankum, who killed himself as poli…
Strathfield massacre: In Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots and kills seven people…
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was a Pakistani general who ruled Pakistan from his coup in 1977 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He served as the chief martial law administrator…
President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
The 1985–1986 Hormel strike was a labor strike that involved approximately 1,500 workers of the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota, United States. The strike, beginning…
The 1985–86 Hormel strike begins in Austin, Minnesota.
Double Eagle II, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman, became the first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it landed on 17 August 1978 in Miserey near Par…
Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137…
Arktika is a retired nuclear-powered icebreaker of the Soviet Arktika class. In service from 1975 to 2008, she was the first surface ship to reach the North Pole, a feat achieved …
The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
The 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake and tsunami occurred on August 17, 1976, at 00:11 local time near the islands of Mindanao and Sulu, in the Philippines. It measured 8.0 on the moment…
A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing…
The Venera program was a series of space probes developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather information about the planet Venus. A total of eighteen probes were s…
Soviet Union Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from…
The Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) is a tropical cyclone intensity scale that classifies hurricanes—which in the Western Hemisphere are tropical cyclones that exceed …
Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.
Peter Fechter was an East German bricklayer who became the twenty-seventh known person to die at the Berlin Wall. Fechter was 18 years old when he was shot and killed by East Germ…
Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall.
Aeroflot Flight 036 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Cairo International Airport to Bykovo Airport. On 17 August 1960, the Ilyushin Il-18 oper…
Aeroflot Flight 036 crashes in Soviet Ukraine, killing 34.