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HISTORY & TIMELINE
17 July

A journey through
17 July in history

The story of 17 July runs from the martyrs of Scilli, tried at Carthage in 180, to Brazil’s fourth World Cup in 1994. In between come the Battle of Castillon, Handel’s Water Music on the Thames, the killing of the last tsar and his family, the rising that began the Spanish Civil War, the opening of the Potsdam Conference, South Korea’s first constitution, Mary Leakey’s find at Olduvai, the Ba’ath coup in Iraq, the fall of Afghanistan’s last king, the handshake between Apollo and Soyuz, the African walkout from Montreal, the flight of Somoza and the Aitape tsunami.

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JUMP THROUGH TIME
I
EARLIEST RECORDS

Ancient & Early History

The earliest worthwhile records and events connected with this date.

180
Ruins at the archaeological site of Carthage, near TunisRuins at the archaeological site of Carthage, near TunisImage: Christian Manhart · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo
culture · Africa

The martyrs of Scilli are beheaded at Carthage

Twelve Christians from the small town of Scilli in Roman North Africa, seven men and five women, were brought before the proconsul Vigellius Saturninus at Carthage. Asked to swear by the emperor’s guardian spirit, they refused; their spokesman, Speratus, said they lived honestly and paid their taxes. On 17 July 180 they were sentenced and beheaded. The record of their trial is the oldest dated Christian document from Africa and among the earliest written in Latin.

Source: Britannica: Scillitan Martyrs ↗
II
THE MIDDLE AGES

Medieval History

Kingdoms, conflict, faith, power and the changing medieval world.

1453
The Battle of Castillon in a 15th-century French manuscript, with a cannon in the foregroundThe Battle of Castillon in a 15th-century French manuscript, with a cannon in the foregroundImage: Unknown author · Public domain
world · Europe

French guns win the last battle of the Hundred Years’ War

By 1451 the French had driven the English out of Normandy and taken Gascony, which English kings had held for three centuries. But the wine merchants of Bordeaux had long traded with England, and many resented their new rulers. In October 1452 they opened the city to an English army under John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, a famous veteran then well into his sixties. The next summer the French came back, and laid siege to Castillon on the Dordogne. Their gunners, led by Jean Bureau, dug a fortified camp packed with cannon. On 17 July 1453 Talbot, told that the French were pulling out, rushed ahead with his horsemen before his infantry had come up and attacked the camp. The guns tore his ranks apart, Talbot was killed, and his army broke. Bordeaux surrendered in October, and England was left with only Calais on the French mainland. No peace treaty was signed, but the Hundred Years’ War was over.

Source: Britannica: Battle of Castillon ↗
III
A CHANGING WORLD

Early Modern Era

Exploration, political change, scientific development and expanding global connections.

1717
George I and his guests on the royal barge, with Handel standing beside him, in a 19th-century painting by Edouard HammanGeorge I and his guests on the royal barge, with Handel standing beside him, in a 19th-century painting by Edouard HammanImage: Edouard Hamman · Public domain
culture · Europe

Handel’s Water Music is played for George I on the Thames

George I, the Elector of Hanover, had become King of Great Britain in 1714 and was not much loved by his new subjects. A grand, public entertainment on the river was one way to show himself to London. George Frideric Handel, a German composer who had settled in London and had once served at the king’s court in Hanover, was asked to write the music. On the evening of 17 July 1717 the king and his guests boarded the royal barge at Whitehall and were rowed upstream towards Chelsea on the tide, while a barge carrying about fifty musicians played alongside and crowds of boats followed. The king took supper at Chelsea and came back by water after midnight. He liked the music so much that, according to one report, he had it played three times. The suites of dances and fanfares known as the Water Music are among Handel’s best-loved works.

Source: Britannica: Water Music ↗
V
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The 1900s

War and peace, technological leaps, social change, politics, sport and popular culture.

1918
The Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, where the Romanov family was held and killed, in an early photographThe Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, where the Romanov family was held and killed, in an early photographImage: Unknown photographer · Public domain
politics · Europe

The last tsar and his family are killed at Yekaterinburg

Nicholas II gave up the Russian throne in March 1917, and after the Bolsheviks took power that autumn the former tsar, his wife Alexandra and their five children were moved further and further from the capital. In the spring of 1918 they were taken to Yekaterinburg in the Urals and shut up in a merchant’s house, the Ipatiev House, under heavy guard. By July the civil war was going badly for the Bolsheviks, and anti-Bolshevik forces, including the Czechoslovak Legion, were closing on the town. The local Bolsheviks feared the family would be rescued. In the early hours of 17 July 1918 the Romanovs and four of their servants were woken, told they were being moved, and led down to a cellar room, where a squad shot and bayoneted all eleven. The bodies were hidden in the forest. Their remains were identified only after the fall of the Soviet Union, and most were buried in St Petersburg on 17 July 1998.

Source: Britannica: Nicholas II, abdication and death ↗
1936
Spain after the rising of July 1936, with the areas held by the rebels in pink and by the Republic in blueSpain after the rising of July 1936, with the areas held by the rebels in pink and by the Republic in blueImage: NordNordWest, with modifications by Sting and Grandiose · CC BY-SA 3.0
world · Europe

An army rising in Spanish Morocco begins the Spanish Civil War

Spain’s left-wing Popular Front government, elected in February 1936, faced a plot by army officers backed by much of the right. On 17 July 1936 the garrison in Spanish Morocco rose, and the next day the rising spread to army posts across mainland Spain. General Francisco Franco flew from the Canary Islands to take command of the army in Africa. The coup failed in Madrid, Barcelona and much of the country, and turned into a civil war that lasted until 1939.

Source: Britannica: Spanish Civil War ↗
1945
The Cecilienhof palace in Potsdam, where the conference met, with a red star planted in the courtyard lawnThe Cecilienhof palace in Potsdam, where the conference met, with a red star planted in the courtyard lawnImage: Drrcs15 · CC BY-SA 4.0
world · Europe

The Potsdam Conference opens

Ten weeks after Germany’s surrender, the leaders of the three main Allies met at the Cecilienhof palace in Potsdam, outside ruined Berlin. The conference opened on the afternoon of 17 July 1945 with Harry Truman, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill, who was replaced during it by Clement Attlee after Labour won the British election. Over two weeks they settled the occupation of Germany and Austria, and issued a declaration calling on Japan to surrender.

Source: US Office of the Historian: The Potsdam Conference, 1945 ↗
1948
Syngman Rhee in 1948, the year the new National Assembly elected him South Korea's first presidentSyngman Rhee in 1948, the year the new National Assembly elected him South Korea’s first presidentImage: Unknown author · Public domain
politics · Asia

South Korea proclaims its first constitution

After Japanese rule ended in 1945, Korea was divided between Soviet and American occupation zones. In May 1948 elections held under UN supervision in the South chose a National Assembly, which drew up a constitution and promulgated it on 17 July 1948. Three days later the Assembly elected Syngman Rhee as president, and the Republic of Korea was proclaimed on 15 August. South Koreans still mark 17 July as Constitution Day.

Source: Korea.net: Korea marks 70th anniversary of Constitution ↗
1959
A cast of the 'Zinj' skull from Olduvai Gorge, on display at the Springfield Science Museum in MassachusettsA cast of the ‘Zinj’ skull from Olduvai Gorge, on display at the Springfield Science Museum in MassachusettsImage: Daderot · CC0
science · Africa

Mary Leakey finds the ‘Nutcracker Man’ at Olduvai Gorge

Louis and Mary Leakey had searched Olduvai Gorge, a ravine cut through ancient lake beds in northern Tanzania, since the 1930s. They had found many stone tools, but not the fossils of whoever made them. On the morning of 17 July 1959 Louis was ill in camp, and Mary went out alone with her dogs. On a slope she spotted part of a skull and two large teeth weathering out of the rock. Pieced together from hundreds of fragments, the skull belonged to a heavy-jawed hominin with huge molars, soon nicknamed ‘Nutcracker Man’. Louis named it Zinjanthropus boisei; it is now called Paranthropus boisei and is about 1.8 million years old. The find made the Leakeys famous, brought money for further digging at Olduvai, and helped turn attention to Africa as the place where humans evolved.

Source: Smithsonian Human Origins: OH 5 ↗
1968
Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, who became president of Iraq after the coupAhmad Hasan al-Bakr, who became president of Iraq after the coupImage: Unknown author · Public domain
politics · Middle East

A bloodless coup brings the Ba’ath Party to power in Iraq

Early on 17 July 1968 officers allied with the Ba’ath Party took over the presidential palace in Baghdad. President Abd al-Rahman Arif surrendered without a fight and was sent into exile. General Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr became president, ruling through a new Revolutionary Command Council, with his kinsman Saddam Hussein rising fast beside him. The Ba’ath Party kept its hold on Iraq for the next 35 years, until the invasion of 2003.

Source: Britannica: Iraq, the revolution of 1968 ↗
1973
Mohammad Daoud Khan in an official portraitMohammad Daoud Khan in an official portraitImage: Government of Afghanistan (restored by Roman Kubanskiy) · Public domain
politics · Asia

Daoud Khan overthrows Afghanistan’s last king

Mohammad Zahir Shah had reigned over Afghanistan for forty years when he travelled to Italy for medical treatment in 1973. In his absence his cousin and brother-in-law, the former prime minister Mohammad Daoud Khan, seized power overnight with the help of army officers, in a coup with little bloodshed, and on 17 July 1973 declared Afghanistan a republic with himself as its leader. The king stayed in exile in Rome. Daoud was himself overthrown and killed in the communist coup of 1978.

Source: Britannica: Mohammad Daud Khan ↗
1975
Thomas Stafford and Alexei Leonov meet in the hatchway between Apollo and Soyuz, July 1975Thomas Stafford and Alexei Leonov meet in the hatchway between Apollo and Soyuz, July 1975Image: NASA · Public domain
world · Global

Apollo and Soyuz dock, and two rival crews shake hands in orbit

For almost two decades the United States and the Soviet Union had raced each other in space. In the easing of tension of the early 1970s the two governments agreed to try something new: a joint mission in which an American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz would meet and link up in orbit. Engineers from both sides spent years designing a docking module that would let crews pass between craft with different air pressures. Soyuz 19 and the last Apollo were launched on 15 July 1975. On 17 July, as they flew above the Atlantic, Thomas Stafford eased Apollo into contact with Soyuz. A few hours later the hatches were opened, and Stafford and the cosmonaut Alexei Leonov shook hands at the entrance to the Soviet craft. For the next two days the five men visited each other, shared meals and ran experiments together. It was the last Apollo flight, and a forerunner of the shuttle visits to Mir and the International Space Station.

Source: NASA: 45 years ago, historic handshake in space ↗
1976
The nations at the 1976 Olympics shown in green, with most of Africa, which stayed away, in greyThe nations at the 1976 Olympics shown in green, with most of Africa, which stayed away, in greyImage: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
sport · Africa

African nations walk out of the Montreal Olympics

South Africa had been expelled from the Olympic movement in 1970 because of apartheid, and the United Nations urged countries to cut sporting ties with it. In 1976, only weeks before the Olympic Games in Montreal, New Zealand’s All Blacks set off on a long rugby tour of South Africa. African countries demanded that the International Olympic Committee bar New Zealand from the Games. The IOC refused, arguing that rugby was not an Olympic sport and that it had no power over it. On the eve of the opening ceremony on 17 July 1976 more than twenty African countries withdrew, and others followed in the days after; accounts of the final number differ. Many athletes were packed off home without competing, among them Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi, the 1500 metres world record holder. The walkout helped push Commonwealth leaders to agree the following year to discourage sporting contact with South Africa.

Source: Olympics.com: Montreal 1976, diplomatic controversies ↗
1979
Anastasio Somoza Debayle, president of Nicaragua, in a 1975 press photographAnastasio Somoza Debayle, president of Nicaragua, in a 1975 press photographImage: Associated Press · Public domain
politics · Americas

Somoza resigns and flees Nicaragua

The Somoza family had ruled Nicaragua since the 1930s, through the presidency and their command of the National Guard, and had grown immensely rich. Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the last of the line, faced mounting anger after the Managua earthquake of 1972, when aid money went missing, and after the murder of the opposition newspaper editor Pedro Joaquín Chamorro in January 1978. Towns rose in revolt, and the guerrillas of the Sandinista National Liberation Front gathered wide support. By mid-1979 the Sandinistas had launched a final offensive, and the United States, once the family’s firm ally, pressed Somoza to go. On 17 July 1979 he resigned and flew to Miami. Two days later the Sandinistas entered Managua in triumph, and they went on to govern Nicaragua through the 1980s. Somoza moved on to Paraguay, where he was killed in an ambush in 1980.

Source: Britannica: Anastasio Somoza Debayle ↗
1994
The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, where the 1994 World Cup final was played, seen from the air in 2018The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, where the 1994 World Cup final was played, seen from the air in 2018Image: Ted Eytan · CC BY-SA 2.0
sport · Americas

Brazil win a fourth World Cup as Baggio’s penalty sails over

The 1994 World Cup was the first held in the United States, and its final, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on 17 July, brought together the two countries that had each won the trophy three times, Brazil and Italy. Brazil, led by the striker Romário, had not been champions since 1970. In the Californian heat the match stayed goalless through 120 minutes, and for the first time a World Cup final went to a penalty shoot-out. Brazil’s goalkeeper Taffarel saved from Daniele Massaro, and then Roberto Baggio, Italy’s great star, who had carried them to the final, shot high over the bar. Brazil had won their fourth world title.

Source: FIFA: Baggio’s heartbreak at the Rose Bowl ↗
1998
The beach at Aitape, on the north coast of Papua New GuineaThe beach at Aitape, on the north coast of Papua New GuineaImage: Tony Pepper · CC BY-SA 3.0
world · Oceania

A tsunami strikes the Aitape coast of Papua New Guinea

On the evening of 17 July 1998 a strong earthquake shook the north coast of Papua New Guinea, and within about twenty minutes waves up to 15 metres high swept over the narrow sandbars around Sissano Lagoon. Whole villages were destroyed, and more than 1,600 people died. Scientists later concluded that an undersea landslide set off by the earthquake had made the waves far bigger than the quake alone would have, a finding that changed how tsunami risks are studied.

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information: Papua New Guinea tsunami of 1998 ↗
RESEARCH

Sources & Further Reading

Selected authoritative references supporting the events on this page.

WHY THESE MOMENTS?

Significance before volume

This page is not the longest possible list of events. It is a chronological journey through 17 July, where each entry is chosen for historical significance, human interest and reliability.

Facts are checked against authoritative museums, archives, universities and reference works. Where sources disagree, the page says so.

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Return to the highlights of 17 July

Discover the lighter side of the date with famous birthdays, culture, firsts and lives remembered.

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