On This Day in History for February 17
Events in History
- 1370 Battle at Rudau: Germany beats Lithuania
- 1461 Wars of the Roses: Second Battle of St Albans - Lancastrian army defeats Yorkists and recaptures King Henry VI
- 1500 Battle of Hemmingstedt - German peasant army repels ducal army of Schleswig and Holstein
- 1510 Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque first conquers the city of Goa, entering it with little conflict
- 1568 Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II agrees to pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire for peace
- 1598 Boris Godunov chosen as Tsar of Russia
- 1600 Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, convicted of heresy by the Roman Inquisition [1]
- 1621 Myles Standish is elected as the first commander of the Plymouth Colony
- More Events in History
Charles III
Thomas J. Watson
Huey P. Newton
Mo YanWeddings in History
- 1841 Dutch ex-king Willem I marries Henriette d'Oultremont de Wégimont
- 1906 26th US President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice marries in the White House
- 1955 Novelist J. D. Salinger (36) weds Claire Douglas
More Weddings in History
Christopher Latham Sholes
Geronimo
Wilfrid Laurier
Henry BaconFebruary in History
Britain Joins the European Community
British MPs voted on this day to join the European Communities, as it was then known. It was to be a thorny issue, finally leading to ‘Brexit’ in 2020.
February 17, 1972
The General, The Schoolgirl, And The Famous One-Word Despatch
A magazine hailed General Charles Napier’s battlefield despatch as the finest since Roman times, but it was in fact the work of a clever schoolgirl.
February 17, 1843
Thomas Jefferson Elected US President
Tally of electoral college votes in the election of 1800. No candidate won a majority, so an election in the House of Representatives took place, with Jefferson winning on the 36th ballot.
February 17, 1801
Buried at Sea: The Casket That Carried JFK
John F. Kennedy's aides struggling to load the casket containing the slain President aboard Air Force One is an enduring image. But what happened to the casket?
February 18, 1966