All Events

Historical Events on March 17

  • American Revolution

    1776

    American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.

  • Second Sino-Japanese War

    1939

    Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and Japan begins,

  • The Holocaust

    1942

    Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland.

  • Belgium

    1948

    Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.

  • University of California, Berkeley

    1950

    Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name "californium".

  • 14th Dalai Lama

    1959

    Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower

    1960

    U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

  • Colombia

    1988

    A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.

  • Uganda

    2000

    Five hundred thirty members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in a fire, considered to be a mass murder or suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. Elsewhere another 248 members are later found dead.

All Births

Famous Birthdays on March 17

All Deaths

Famous Deaths on March 17

16. March

18. March