Today In History - December 17

283 St. Gaius begins his reign as Catholic Pop
1526 Ferdinand of Austria chosen as King of Bohemia
1526 Pope Clemens VII publishes degree Cum ad zero - forms Inquisition
1538 Pope Paul III excommunicated England's King Henry VIII
1572 Spanish army begins fires in Haarlem Netherlands
1587 Earl Leicesters army leaves Netherlands
1638 French/Swedish troops occupy Breisach on the Rhine
1718 England declares war on Spain
1728 Congregation Shearith Israel of New York purchases a lot on Mill Street in lower Manhattan, to build New York's 1st synagogue
1745 Bonnie Prince Charles army retreats to Scotland
1777 France recognizes independence of English colonies in America
1777 George Washingtons army returns to Valley Forge Pa
1788 Russian army of Grigorij Potemkin occupies Ocharov
1790 Aztec calendar stone discovered in Mexico City
1792 Opening of 1st legislative assembly of Lower Canada in Quebec city
1798 1st impeachment trial against a U.S. senator (Wm Blount, TN) begins
1819 Congress of Angostura establishes Colombia's independence from Spain
1821 Kentucky abolishes debtors prisons
1832 HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin sails in Strait Le Maire
1852 1st Hawaiian cavalry organized
1860 Anaheim Township created in Los Angeles County
1864 Battle of Franklin, TN
1865 Franz Schubert's "Unvolendete" Symphony," premieres
1862 Gen U.S. Grant issues order #11, expelling Jews from Tennessee
1875 Violent bread riots in Montreal
1885 France declares Madagascar a protectorate
1887 Georges Feydeaus' "Tailleur Pour Dames" premieres in Paris
1892 Tsjaikovski's ballet "Casse-noisette," premieres in St. Petersburg
1893 Russia ratifies Duple Alliance with France
1895 Anti-Saloon League of America formed, Washington, D.C.
1895 George Brownell patents a machine to make paper twine (Mass)
1900 New Ellis Island Immigration station completed costing $1.5 million
1902 Frank Wedekind's "Der Erdgeist," premieres in Berlin
1907 Ugyen Wangchuck became 1st hereditary king of Bhutan
1909 Leopold II, king of Belgium, buried in Brussels
1941 German submarine U-31 sunk
1914 Austrian troops beat Russians in Limanova Poland
1914 Great Britain declares Egypt a protectorate
1914 Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities
1920 AL votes to let spitball pitchers to continue using it
1920 British Empire receives League of Nations mandate to Nauru
1920 Japan receives League of Nations mandate over Pacific islands
1920 South Africa receives League of Nations mandate over SW Africa
1922 Last British troops leave Ireland Freestate
1923 Greek king George II overthrown by army/republic
1925 Col William "Billy" Mitchell court-martial for insubordination
1925 Russia and Turkey sign non-aggresion pact
1924 1st U.S. diesel electric locomotive enters service, Bronx, New York
1926 German Marx government falls due to cooperation with red army
1926 KYA-AM in San Francisco, California begins radio transmissions
1926 Lithuanian military state under gen Augustine Woldemaras
1928 John McGraw backs NL President John Heydler's designated hitter idea
1932 Cards trade Jim Bottomley to Reds for Estel Crabtree and Ownie Carroll
1933 Lala Amarnath scores century on Test Cricket debut (went on to 118)
1933 Spain's 2nd Government of Lerroux forms
1933 NFL starts official stats as Bears beat Giants 23-21 in champ game
1936 Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and dummy Charlie McCarthy, appear on TV
1938 Utrecht Central Station destroyed by fire
1939 German pocket battleship Graf Spee scuttled by its crew off Uruguay
1993 Tennis star Boris Becker (26) weds Barbara Feltus (27)
1940 British troops occupies Sollum
1941 Dutch and Australian troops lands on Portuguese-Timor
1941 German troops led by Rommel begin retreating in North Africa
1942 Allies in London sentence German war criminals
1944 Green Bay Packers win NFL championship
1944 Japanese-Americans released from detention camps
1944 M-Ocean View streetcar resumes service and is extended to Market St
1944 U.S. Army announces end of excluding Jap-Americans from West Coast
1949 Burma recognizes People's Republic of China
1903 At 10:35 AM, 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight (Orville Wright)
1951 Dutch Communist Party members forbidden to be civil servants
1947 WEWS TV channel 5 in Cleveland, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 FCC approves RCA's black and white - compatible color TV specifications
1954 1st fully automated railroad freight yard (Gary, Indiana)
1957 US successfully test-fires Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile
1927 U.S. submarine 'S-4' sinks after collision kills all 34 aboard
1960 "La Plume de Ma Tante" closes at Royale Theater New York City after 835 performances
1960 "Take Me Along" closes at Shubert Theater New York City after 448 performances
1960 Pablo Casals' oratorio "El Pesebrio," premieres
1959 "On The Beach," is 1st film to premiere on both sides of Iron Curtain
1959 1st movie opening simultaneously in major cities (On The Beach)
1961 Disgruntled employee set fire to a circus tent in Niteroi Brazil
1962 Current constitution of Monaco promulgated
1963 Tsjoi Doo Sun forms government in South Korea
1963 West and East Berlin sign accord about travel rules
1962 Beatles 1st British TV appearance (People and Places)
1961 India seizes Goa and 2 other Portuguese colonies
1953 Dmitri Shostakovitch' 10th Symphony, premieres in Leningrad
1965 British government proclaims ends oil-embargo against Rhodesia
1965 David Levy begins his search for comets
1965 Dutch government shuts Limburgs coal mine
1965 Astrodome opens, 1st event is Judy Garland and Supremes concert
1954 WEAU TV channel 13 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (NBC) begins broadcasting
1969 USAF closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings
1970 Gdansk, Poland shipworkers strike
1970 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1970 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.
1971 "Diamonds are Forever" premieres in US
1971 Cease fire between India and Pakistan in Kashmir
1971 Radio Bangladesh begins transmitting
1972 New line of control agreed to in Kashmir between India and Pakistan
1947 NY struck by a blizzard, resulting with 27" of snow
1975 John Paul Stevens appointed to Supreme Court
1975 Lynette Fromme sentenced to life for attempt on President Ford's life
1976 Superstation WTBS in Atlanta went national
1977 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1978 Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda
1977 Elvis Costello and The Attractions 1st U.S. TV appearance (SNL)
1978 OPEC raises oil prices 18%
1980 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1980 Mauritania provisional constitution published
1981 Members of Red Brigades kidnap Brig Gen James L Dozier
1994 KLM's last DC-10 goes out of service
1984 New Jersey Devils 1st penalty shot-Rocky Trottier scores against Edmonton
1986 U.S. Congress forms Irangate committee
1987 Czechoslovak party leader Gustav Husak resigns
1986 Mrs Davina Thompson makse medical history by having the 1st heart, lung and liver transplant (Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England)
1988 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.
1983 "Peg" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City after 5 performances
1989 Brazil elects conservative Fernando Collor de Mello pres
1989 Patti Rizzo/Mike Hill wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship
1990 KTBN, Salt Lake City Utah, begins shortwave radio transmissions
1991 Patrick Manning becomes premier of Trinidad and Tobago
1988 USS Tennessee, 1st sub to carry Trident 2 missiles, commissioned
1992 "Christmas Carol" opens at Broadhurst Theater New York City for 22 performances
1993 Bangladesh moslem call for murder of feminist Taslima Nasrin
1993 Northern Exposure star Barry Corbin falls off his horse
1995 "School after Scandal" closes at Lyceum Theater New York City after 23 performances

Today In History - December 17

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