August 17 in history — What Happened Today in History

The 1985–86 Hormel strike begins in Austin, Minnesota.

Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.

The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 people and leaving more than 90,000 homeless.

Soviet Union Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).

Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.

Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall.

Aeroflot Flight 036 crashes in Soviet Ukraine, killing 34.

Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.2 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.

Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.

Hurricane Diane makes landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina; it went on to cause major floods and kill more than 184 people.

First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous takes place, in Southern California.

Korean War: Forty-two American prisoners of war are massacred by the Korean People's Army on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea.

The 6.7 Ms Karlıova earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 320–450 dead.

Matsukawa derailment: Unknown saboteurs cause a passenger train to derail and overturn in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, killing three crew members and igniting a political firestorm between the Japanese Communist Party and the government of Occupied Japan that will eventually lead to the Japanese Red Purge.

The Radcliffe Line, the border between the Dominions of India and Pakistan, is revealed.

Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.

The novella Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published.

Evacuation of Manchukuo: At Talitzou by the Sino-Korean border, Puyi, then the Kangde Emperor of Manchukuo, formally renounces the imperial throne, dissolves the state, and cedes its territory to the Republic of China.

World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.

World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.

World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.

World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany's V-weapon program.

World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin.

Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.

World War I: Romania signs a secret treaty with the Entente Powers. According to the treaty, Romania agreed to join the war on the Allied side.

Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched in Marietta, Georgia, USA after his death sentence is commuted by Governor John M. Slaton.

A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 miles per hour (217 km/h).

Ederson Moraes, Brazilian footballer

Sarah Sjöström, Swedish swimmer

Xie Zhenye, Chinese athlete

Saraya Bevis, English wrestler

Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (died 2013)

Chanel Mata'utia, Australian rugby league player

Maru Teferi, Israeli marathon runner

Austin Butler, American actor

Rachel Hurd-Wood, English actress

Lil B, American rapper

Rachel Corsie, Scottish footballer

Brady Corbet, American actor and director

Jihadi John, Kuwaiti-British member of ISIS (died 2015)

Odilia Dank, American educator and politician (born 1938)

Jack Harshman, American baseball player (born 1927)

John Hollander, American poet and critic (born 1929)

David Landes, Jewish-American historian and economist (born 1924)

Frank Martínez, American painter (born 1924)

Gus Winckel, Dutch lieutenant and pilot (born 1912)

Aase Bjerkholt, Norwegian politician, Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion (born 1915)

Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (born 1933)

Patrick Ricard, French businessman (born 1945)

John Lynch-Staunton, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1930)

Francesco Cossiga, Italian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Italy (born 1928)

Franco Sensi, Italian businessman and politician (born 1926)

Bill Deedes, English journalist and politician (born 1913)