February 17

What happened that day?

• 2016: Military vehicles explode outside a Turkish Armed Forces barracks in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 29 people and injuring 61 others.
• 2015: Eighteen people are killed and 78 injured in a stampede at a Mardi Gras parade in Haiti.
• 2011: Libyan protests begin. In Bahrain, security forces launched a deadly pre-dawn raid on protesters in Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the day is locally known as Bloody Thursday.
• 2008: Kosovo declares independence as the Republic of Kosovo.
• 2006: A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.
• 1996: The 8.2 Mw Biak earthquake shakes the Papua province of eastern Indonesia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A large tsunami followed, leaving one-hundred sixty-six people dead or missing and 423 injured.
• 1996: NASA's Discovery Program begins as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lifts off on the first mission ever to orbit and land on an asteroid, 433 Eros.
• 1996: In Philadelphia, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.
• 1995: The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a ceasefire brokered by the UN.
• 1992: Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian troops massacre more than 20 Azerbaijani civilians during the Capture of Garadaghly.
• 1980: First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.
• 1979: The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
• 1978: The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30 others, all Protestants.
• 1974: Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a stolen helicopter.
• 1972: Cumulative sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model T.
• 1968: In Springfield, Massachusetts, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.
• 1965: Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the manned Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the "Sea of Tranquility" would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
• 1964: Gabonese president Léon M'ba is toppled by a coup and his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place.
• 1964: In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
• 1959: Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2: The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
• 1949: Chaim Weizmann begins his term as the first President of Israel.
• 1944: World War II: Operation Hailstone begins: U.S. naval air, surface, and submarine attack against Truk Lagoon, Japan's main base in the central Pacific, in support of the Eniwetok invasion.
• 1944: World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok begins: The battle ends in an American victory on February 22.
• 1933: Newsweek magazine is first published.
• 1919: The Ukrainian People's Republic asks Entente and the US for help fighting the Bolsheviks.
• 1913: The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.
• 1904: Madama Butterfly receives its première at La Scala in Milan.
• 1871: The victorious Prussian Army parades through Paris, France, after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
• 1867: The first ship passes through the Suez Canal.
• 1865: American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.
• 1864: American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.
• 1863: A group of citizens of Geneva founded an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross.
• 1859: Cochinchina Campaign: The French Navy captured the Citadel of [Saigon](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Saigon), a fortress that was manned by 1,000 Nguyễn dynasty soldiers, en route to conquering Saigon and other regions of southern Viet Nam.
• 1854: The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.
• 1838: Weenen massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus.
• 1819: The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise for the first time.
• 1814: War of the Sixth Coalition: The Battle of Mormant.
• 1801: An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr, Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.
• 1753: In Sweden February 17 is followed by March 1 as the country moves from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
• 1621: Myles Standish is appointed as first military commander of the English Plymouth Colony in North America.
• 1600: The philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive, for heresy, at Campo de' Fiori in Rome.
• 1500: Duke Friedrich and Duke Johann attempt to subdue the peasantry of Dithmarschen, Denmark, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt.
• 1411: Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of Bayezid I, becomes Sultan with the support of Mircea I of Wallachia.
• 1370: Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.
• 364: Roman Emperor Jovian dies after a reign of eight months. He is found dead in his tent at Tyana (Asia Minor) en route back to Constantinople in suspicious circumstances.