Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 17
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This is a list of selected August 17 anniversaries that appears on the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition may be controversial, or on a day that is or soon will be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors.August 17: Independence Day in Indonesia (1945) and Gabon (1960)
- 1862 – The Lakotas, an ethnic group of the Sioux Native Americans, attacked settlements along the Minnesota River, sparking the Dakota War of 1862 against the United States.
- 1914 – World War I: Ignoring orders to retreat, Hermann von François (pictured) led a successful counterattack defending East Prussia in the Battle of Stalluponen and scored the first German victory in the Eastern Front.
- 1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank was lynched by a mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl, turning the spotlight on antisemitism in the United States.
- 1962 – East German border guards shot and killed Peter Fechter as he attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.
- 1978 – Double Eagle II became the first hot air balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Miserey near Paris six days after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
