History Events on March 17

The Battle of Los Alporchones is fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the Emirate of Granada and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Castile and Murcia resulting in a Christian victory.

#Battle_of_Los_Alporchones

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

#The_Holocaust

Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire; he forces Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of his predecessor, Valentinian III, to marry him.

#Petronius_Maximus

Annibale De Gasparis discovers in Naples the asteroid Psyche from the north dome of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte

#Annibale_de_Gasparis

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

#14th_Dalai_Lama

Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.

#Golda_Meir

Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. Thirty-five Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Serbia are destroyed.

#2004_unrest_in_Kosovo

The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King.

#Italian_Republic_(Napoleonic)

The Second Polish Republic adopts the March Constitution.

#Second_Polish_Republic

American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday "as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence".

#Continental_Army

The Siege of Valenciennes, during the Franco-Dutch War, ends with France's taking of the city.

#Siege_of_Valenciennes_(1676-77)

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.

#Uganda

The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.

#Kingdom_of_Italy

A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.

#1957_Cebu_Douglas_C-47_crash

In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

#National_Gallery_of_Art

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

#Belgium

Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the "Night Stalker", commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.

#Serial_killer

In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.

#Julius_Caesar

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

#Colombia

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

#University_of_California,_Berkeley

Fort Coligny on Villegagnon Island in Rio de Janeiro is attacked and destroyed during the Portuguese campaign against France Antarctique.

#Fort_Coligny

Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius.

#Commodus

Mount Agung erupted on Bali killing more than 1,100 people.

#Mount_Agung

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

#American_Revolution

Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.

#Eritrean_War_of_Independence

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.

#Dwight_D._Eisenhower

The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.

#Vanguard_1

SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.

#SS_Utopia

Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.

#DSV_Alvin

Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242.

#1992_attack_on_Israeli_embassy_in_Buenos_Aires

The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War.

#Pulitzer_Prize

The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, collapses, ten days after its capture.

#Ludendorff_Bridge

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

#Second_Sino-Japanese_War

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%.

The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.

As a result of nerve gas testing in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.

First flight of the B-45 Tornado strategic bomber.

The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand Wars.

The Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed.

The Anglo-Dutch Treaty is signed in London, dividing the Malay archipelago. As a result, the Malay Peninsula is dominated by the British, while Sumatra and Java and surrounding areas are dominated by the Dutch.

Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.

The Raja of Butuan in what is now the Philippines sends a tributary mission to the Song dynasty.