This Day in History
17 Dec 1526
Ferdinand of Austria chosen as King of Bohemia
17 Dec 1526
Pope Clemens VII publishes degree Cum ad zero - forms Inquisition
17 Dec 1531
Pope Clement VII establishes a parallel body to the Inquisition in Lisbon Portugal
17 Dec 1572
Spanish army begins fires in Haarlem Netherlands
More History
U.S. approves end to internment of Japanese Americans
During World War II U.S. Major General Henry C. Pratt issues Public Proclamation No. 21 declaring that effective January 2 1945 Japanese American ev...
Peruvian rebels seize Japanese ambassador’s home
In Lima Peru 14 members of the Tupac Amaru leftist rebel movement disguised as waiters and caterers slip into the home of Japanese Ambassador Morihisa Aoki...
Aristide wins Haiti’s first free election
Jean-Bertrand Aristide a radical Roman Catholic priest and opponent of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier is elected president of Haiti in a landslide v...
Stuntman Stan Barrett breaks the sound barrier
On December 17 1979 Hollywood stuntman Stan Barrett blasts across a dry lakebed at Californias Edwards Air Force Base in a rocket- and missile-powered...
First airplane flies
Near Kitty Hawk North Carolina Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville p...
Ford Madox Ford is born
Ford Madox Ford a writer editor and member of the so-called Lost Generation who served on the Western Front during the Great War is born Ford Hermann Hueffe...
Cambodian forces under heavy pressure
Cambodian government positions in Prak Ham 40 miles north of Phnom Penh and the 4000-man base at Taing Kauk are the targets of continuous heavy bombardment b...
Terrell Owens makes record-breaking 20 catches
On December 17 2000 during a 17-0 victory by the San Francisco 49ers over the Chicago Bears San Franciscos wide receiver Terrell Owens sets a new lea...
Grant expels Jews from Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi
On this day in 1862 during the Civil War U.S. Army General Ulysses S. Grant the future 18th president of the United States issues General Order No. 11 expe...
A federal court puts its stamp on hip-hop
Gilbert OSullivan an Irishman who favored bowl haircuts suspenders and pants that ended at the knee is mainly remembered as the one-hit wonder behind the mela...
Third and final Lord of the Rings movie opens
On this day in 2003 TheLord of the Rings The Return of the King the final film in the trilogy based on the best-selling fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien ope...
Circus catches fire in Brazil
On this day in 1961 a fire at a circus in Brazil kills more than 300 people and severely burns hundreds more. The cause of the fire was never conclusively dete...
Grant expels the Jews from his department
On this day in 1862 Union General Ulysses S. Grant lashes out at at Jewish cotton speculators who he believed were the driving force behind the black market f...
Yeltsin supporters announce Soviet Union will cease to exist by New Year’s Eve
After a long meeting between Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin a spokesman for the latter announces that...
France formally recognizes the United States
On this day in 1777 the French foreign minister Charles Gravier count of Vergennes officially acknowledges the United States as an independent nation. News...
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