Editing August 17 (section)

===1901–present===
*[[1914]] &ndash; [[World War I]]: [[Battle of Stallupönen]]: The German army of [[General officer|General]] [[Hermann von François]] defeats the Russian force commanded by [[Paul von Rennenkampf]] near modern-day [[Nesterov]], Russia.
*[[1915]] &ndash; Jewish American [[Leo Frank]] is [[lynching|lynched]] in [[Marietta, Georgia|Marietta, Georgia, USA]] after his death sentence is commuted by Governor [[John M. Slaton|John Slaton]]. 
*  1915   &ndash; A [[1915 Galveston hurricane|Category 4 hurricane]] hits [[Galveston, Texas]] with winds at {{convert|135|mph|km/h}}.
*[[1916]] &ndash; World War I: [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]] signs a [[Treaty of Bucharest (1916)|secret treaty]] with the [[Allies of World War I|Entente Powers]]. According to the treaty, Romania agreed to join the war on the Allied side.
*[[1918]] &ndash; [[Bolshevik]] revolutionary leader [[Moisei Uritsky]] is assassinated.
*[[1942]] &ndash; [[World War II]]: [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]] [[Makin Island raid|raid]] the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]]-held Pacific island of Makin. 
*[[1943]] &ndash; World War II: The U.S. [[Eighth Air Force]] suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the [[Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission]].
*  1943   &ndash; World War II: The [[U.S. Seventh Army]] under General [[George S. Patton]] arrives in [[Messina]], Italy, followed several hours later by the [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|British 8th Army]] under Field Marshal [[Bernard Montgomery]], thus completing the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[Allied invasion of Sicily|conquest of Sicily]].
*  1943   &ndash; World War II: [[Quebec Conference, 1943|First Québec Conference]] of [[Winston Churchill]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] begins.
*  1943   &ndash; World War II: The [[Royal Air Force]] begins [[Operation Hydra (1943)|Operation Hydra]], the first air raid of the [[Operation Crossbow]] [[Strategic bombing during World War II|strategic bombing campaign]] against Germany's [[V-weapons|V-weapon program]].
*[[1945]] &ndash; [[Sukarno]] and [[Mohammad Hatta]] [[Proclamation of Indonesian Independence|proclaim the independence]] of [[Indonesia]], igniting the [[Indonesian National Revolution]] against the [[Dutch Empire]].
*  1945   &ndash; The novella ''[[Animal Farm]]'' by [[George Orwell]] is first published.
*  1945   &ndash; [[Evacuation of Manchukuo]]: At Talitzou by the [[China-North Korea border|Sino-Korean border]], [[Puyi]], then the Kangde Emperor of [[Manchukuo]], [[Evacuation of Manchukuo#The fate of Manchukuo|formally renounces the imperial throne, dissolves the state, and cedes its territory]] to the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Behr | first = Edward | year = 1977 | title = The Last Emperor | publisher = Bantam | isbn = 0-553-34474-9 | pages = 262–263 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/lastemperor00behr }}</ref>
*[[1947]] &ndash; The [[Radcliffe Line]], the border between the [[Dominion of India|Dominions of India]] and [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]], is revealed.
*[[1949]] &ndash; The 6.7 {{M|s}} [[1949 Karlıova earthquake|Karlıova earthquake]] shakes eastern [[Turkey]] with a maximum [[Mercalli intensity scale|Mercalli intensity]] of X (''Extreme''), leaving 320–450 dead.<ref name="USGS"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.koeri.boun.edu.tr/sismo/2/deprem-bilgileri/buyuk-depremler/|title=Bogazici University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute National Earthquake Monitoring Center (NEMC) List of major earthquakes 1900–2004|publisher=[[Boğaziçi University]]|language=Turkish|access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQUzDAAAQBAJ|title=Asian Law in Disasters: Toward a Human-Centered Recovery |author=Yuka Kaneko |author2=Katsumi Matsuoka |author3=Toshihisa Toyoda |publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2016|isbn=978-1-317-39684-0|access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref>
*[[1949]] &ndash; [[Matsukawa derailment]]: Unknown saboteurs cause a [[Tōhoku Main Line|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 [[Occupation of Japan|government of Occupied Japan]] that will eventually lead to the [[Red Purge|Japanese Red Purge]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Chalmers | first = Johnson | year = 1972 | pages = 118–119 | title = Conspiracy at Matsukawa | publisher = University of California Press | isbn = 0-520-02063-4 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/conspiracyatmats0000john }}</ref>
*[[1953]] &ndash; First meeting of [[Narcotics Anonymous]] takes place, in [[Southern California]].
*[[1955]] &ndash; [[Hurricane Diane]] made landfall near [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], and it went on to cause major floods and kill more than 184 people.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Gordon E. Dunn|author2=Walter R. Davis|author3=Paul L. Moore|title=Hurricanes of 1955|pages=319|publisher=United States Weather Bureau|access-date=2013-02-13|date=December 1955|url=http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/083/mwr-083-12-0315.pdf|journal=Monthly Weather Review|volume=83|issue=12|doi=10.1175/1520-0493(1955)083<0315:HO>2.0.CO;2|bibcode = 1955MWRv...83..315D|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026210422/http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/083/mwr-083-12-0315.pdf|archive-date=2007-10-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite report|author=Edward N. Rappaport|author2=Jose Fernandez-Partagas|author3=Jack Beven|date=1997-04-22|title=The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492&ndash; 1996|publisher=National Hurricane Center|access-date=2013-02-03|chapter-url=https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdeadlyapp1.shtml?|chapter=Appendix 1: Cyclones with 25+ deaths}}</ref>
*[[1958]] &ndash; ''[[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.
*[[1959]] &ndash; [[Quake Lake]] is formed by the magnitude 7.2 [[1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake]] near [[Hebgen Lake]] in [[Montana]].
*[[1960]] &ndash; [[Aeroflot Flight 036]] crashes in [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Ukraine]], killing 34.<ref name="asn">{{cite web |title=Wednesday 17 August 1960 |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19600817-0 |access-date=29 October 2019 |website=aviation-safety.net |publisher=Aviation Safety Network}}</ref>
*[[1962]] &ndash; [[Killing of Peter Fechter|Peter Fechter]] is shot and bleeds to death while [[List of deaths at the Berlin Wall|trying to cross the new Berlin Wall]].
*[[1969]] &ndash; [[Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale|Category 5]] [[Hurricane Camille]] hits the [[Gulf Coast of the United States|U.S. Gulf Coast]], killing 256 and causing $1.42&nbsp;billion in damage.
*[[1970]] &ndash; Soviet Union [[Venera]] program: ''[[Venera 7]]'' launched. It will become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet ([[Venus]]).
*[[1976]] &ndash; A [[1976 Moro Gulf earthquake|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.<ref>{{cite book|title=Catalog of Tsunamis in the Pacific 1969–1982|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=umZ--INFYEEC&pg=PA103|author=Staff of the Academy of Sciences of the USS|publisher=Diane Pub|isbn=978-0-7881393-1-4|pages=103, 104|date=1997}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ringsurf.com/online/2412-tsunamis_through_history.html|title=Tsunami &#124; Tsunami History &#124; Tsunami Devastation &#124; Tsunami Tragedy|website=www.ringsurf.com}}</ref>
*[[1977]] &ndash; The Soviet icebreaker ''[[Arktika (1972 icebreaker)|Arktika]]'' becomes the first surface ship to reach the [[North Pole]].
*[[1978]] &ndash; ''[[Double Eagle II]]'' becomes first [[balloon (aeronautics)|balloon]] to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in [[Miserey]], France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving [[Presque Isle, Maine]].
*[[1985]] &ndash; The [[1985–86 Hormel strike]] begins in [[Austin, Minnesota]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hormel Strike, 1985–1986 {{!}} MNopedia|url=https://www.mnopedia.org/event/hormel-strike-1985-1986|access-date=2021-05-18|website=www.mnopedia.org}}</ref>
*[[1988]] &ndash; President of Pakistan [[Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq]] and U.S. Ambassador [[Arnold Lewis Raphel|Arnold Raphel]] are killed in a [[Death and state funeral of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq|plane crash]].
*[[1991]] &ndash; [[Strathfield massacre]]: In Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots seven people and injures six others before turning the gun on himself.
*[[1998]] &ndash; [[Lewinsky scandal]]: US President [[Bill Clinton]] admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with [[White House]] intern [[Monica Lewinsky]]; later that same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationship.
*[[1999]] &ndash; The 7.6 {{M|w}} [[1999 İzmit earthquake|İzmit earthquake]] shakes northwestern [[Turkey]] with a maximum [[Mercalli intensity scale|Mercalli intensity]] of IX (''Violent''), leaving 17,118–17,127 dead and 43,953–50,000 injured.
*[[2004]] &ndash; The [[National Assembly of Serbia]] unanimously adopts new state symbols for [[Serbia]]: [[Bože pravde]] becomes the new anthem and the [[Coat of arms of Serbia|coat of arms]] is adopted for the whole country.
*[[2005]] &ndash; The first forced evacuation of [[Israeli settlement|settler]]s, as part of [[Israeli disengagement from Gaza]], starts.
*  2005   &ndash; Over 500 bombs are [[2005 Bangladesh bombings|set off by terrorists]] at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of [[Bangladesh]].
*[[2008]] &ndash; American swimmer [[Michael Phelps]] becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.
*[[2009]] &ndash; [[2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya power station accident|An accident]] at the [[Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam]] in [[Khakassia]], Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area.
*[[2015]] &ndash; A [[2015 Bangkok bombing|bomb explodes]] near the [[Erawan Shrine]] in [[Bangkok]], Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others.
*[[2017]] &ndash; [[2017 Barcelona attacks|Barcelona attacks]]: A van is driven into pedestrians in La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100.
*[[2019]] &ndash; [[17 August 2019 Kabul bombing|A bomb explodes at a wedding in Kabul]] killing 63 people and leaving 182 injured.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/dozens-feared-dead-or-injured-in-explosion-at-wedding-hall-in-kabul-afghanistan-11787995|title=Bomb blast at wedding party in Kabul, Afghanistan kills 63 and injures 182 more|date=18 August 2019|work=Sky News|access-date=19 August 2019}}</ref>