History Events on January 17

World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.

#Allies_of_World_War_II

England's Long Parliament passes the "Vote of No Addresses", breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.

#Long_Parliament

The 6.7 Mw? Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.

#1994_Northridge_earthquake

Franco-Thai War: Vichy French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.

#Franco-Thai_War

Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.

#Republic_of_the_Congo_(Léopoldville)

Captain James Cook commands the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.

#James_Cook

Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.

#Anton_Chekhov

Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher's F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.

#Gulf_War

A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.

#Dervish

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.

#Raoul_Wallenberg

The 6.9 Mw? Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hy?go Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of VII, leaving 5,502-6,434 people dead, and 251,301-310,000 displaced.

#Great_Hanshin_earthquake

Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.

#Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States

British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.

#Robert_Falcon_Scott

The Treaty of San Agayz is signed. King Alfonso III of Aragon conquers the island of Menorca from the Moors.

#Alfonso_III_of_Aragon

Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I.

#Russia

President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.

#President_of_the_Philippines

Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.

#1966_Palomares_B-52_crash

During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.

#Prime_Minister_of_Japan

World War II: The Vistula-Oder Offensive forces German troops out of Warsaw.

#Vistula-Oder_Offensive

Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.

#Mexican_War_of_Independence

Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.

#Popeye

World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew.

#World_War_II

El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.

#El_Yunque_National_Forest

Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.

#Finnish_Civil_War

Crown prince Harald V of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V.

#Harald_V_of_Norway

American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.

#American_Revolutionary_War

Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.

#Pope_Gregory_XI

The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.

#Wake_Island

Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.

#Malta

The United Kingdom signs the Sand River Convention with the South African Republic.

#Sand_River_Convention

The Great Brink's Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company's offices in Boston.

#Great_Brink's_Robbery

Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Lili?uokalani.

#Lorrin_A._Thurston

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.

#Dwight_D._Eisenhower

During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.

#French_Wars_of_Religion

The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia is ratified.

#Renville_Agreement

Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.

#Mount_Nyiragongo

A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.

#Modoc_people

The SS-Totenkopfverbände begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.

#SS-Totenkopfverbände

The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.

#Czech_Republic

Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths.

#2010_Jos_riots

Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.

#Giovanni_da_Verrazzano

The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

#United_States_Virgin_Islands

The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea's nuclear testing.

Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website.

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying the GPS IIR-1 satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.

Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 79 relating to arms control is adopted.

The UN Security Council holds its first session.

Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.

France recognizes the Huguenots by the Edict of Saint-Germain.

Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.