July 17 in history — What Happened Today in History

A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200.

East Timor is annexed and becomes the 27th province of Indonesia.

The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the games because of New Zealand's participation. Contrary to rulings by other international sports organizations, the IOC had declined to exclude New Zealand because of their participation in South African sporting events during apartheid.

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.

King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, while having surgery in Italy, is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan.

Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.

Nuclear weapons testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada National Security Site.

First Indochina War: Viet Minh troops successfully ambush the armoured French column 'G.M. 42' in the Battle of Chu Dreh Pass in the Central Highlands. It is the last battle of the war.

The largest number of United States midshipman casualties in a single event results from an aircraft crash in Florida, killing 44.

World War II: The main three leaders of the Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, hold the Potsdam Conference in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.

Port Chicago disaster: Near the San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California, killing 320.

Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the "wrong way" to Ireland and becomes known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan.

Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the civil war.

Altona Bloody Sunday: A riot between the Nazi Party paramilitary forces, the SS and SA, and the German Communist Party ensues.

The form of government in the Republic of Finland is officially confirmed with the enactment of the Constitution of Finland. For this reason, July 17 is known as the Day of Democracy (Kansanvallan päivä) in Finland.

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are executed by Bolshevik Chekists at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

The RMS Carpathia is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; five lives are lost.

NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.

Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the first dental school in the U.S. that is affiliated with a university.

Vega becomes the first star (other than the Sun) to be photographed.

The Kingdom of Spain cedes the territory of Florida to the United States.

The 16 Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne are executed ten days prior to the end of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror.

Members of the French National Guard under the command of General Lafayette open fire on a crowd of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars, Paris, during the French Revolution, killing scores of people.

Bloody Falls massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee, traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.

Former emperor Peter III of Russia is murdered.

King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered.

Jeremih, American singer, songwriter, and record producer

DeAngelo Smith, American football player

Loui Eriksson, Swedish ice hockey player

Neil McGregor, Scottish footballer

Tom Cullen, Welsh actor and director

Adam Lind, American baseball player

Omari Banks, Anguillan cricketer

Stefania Spampinato, Italian actress

Hely Ollarves, Venezuelan runner

Javier Camuñas, Spanish footballer

Brett Goldstein, British actor, comedian and writer

Ryan Miller, American ice hockey player

Mike Vogel, American actor

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 victims:

Henry Hartsfield, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (born 1933)

Otto Piene, German sculptor and academic (born 1928)

Elaine Stritch, American actress and singer (born 1925)

Henri Alleg, English-French journalist and author (born 1921)

Vincenzo Cerami, Italian screenwriter and producer (born 1940)

David White, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1933)

İlhan Mimaroğlu, Turkish-American composer and producer (born 1926)

Marsha Singh, Indian-English politician (born 1954)

David Ngoombujarra, Australian actor (born 1967)

Taiji Sawada, Japanese musician (born 1966)

Walter Cronkite, American journalist and actor (born 1916)

Leszek Kołakowski, Polish historian and philosopher (born 1927)