First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - APRIL 17th

This Day in History

April 17th, 69

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that began growing on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Roman Empire:
69 - Battle of Bedriacum; After the battle, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor.

Wikipedia  Photo: ● Ancient roman statue ● Detail of Head from Roman Statue of Antinous, credit Corbis ● Statue of Neptune, Trevi Fountain, Rome ● International Sand Sculpture Festival, FIESA 7 ancient Rome.
Relief from a 3rd-century sarcophagus depicting a battle between Romans and Germanic warriors; the central figure is perhaps the emperor Hostilian / Depiction of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus in Rome.

April 17th, 1397

Dušan the Mighty is proclaimed Emperor, with the Serbian Empire occupying much of the Balkans

Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as the start of the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury.

Wikipedia  Painting: Artist Edward Henry Corbould (1815-1905) depicts a scene from the prologue of 'The Canterbury Tales,' when the pilgrims prepare to set off on their journey from the Tabard Inn in southeast London.

April 17th, 1492

Christopher Columbus' fleet of three ships sets sail from Spain in 1492, credit Kean Collection / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.

Wikipedia  Paintings: Christopher Columbus' fleet of three ships sets sail from Spain in 1492. credit Kean Collection / Hulton Archive / Getty Images; Christopher Columbus pointing to land in the New World; Romantic Painting of Christopher Columbus arriving to the Americas Primer desembarco de Cristóbal Colón en América, by Dióscoro Puebla 1862.

April 17th, 1521

Diet of Worms 1521: was a diet (a formal deliberative assembly, specifically an Imperial Diet) that took place in Worms, Germany, and is most memorable for the Edict of Worms (Wormser Edikt), which addressed Martin Luther and the effects of the Protestant Reformation

Diet of Worms: Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.

Wikipedia  Painting: Diet of Worms 1521 ("Luther at the Diet of Worms"): was a diet (a formal deliberative assembly, specifically an Imperial Diet) that took place in Worms, Germany, and is most memorable for the Edict of Worms (Wormser Edikt), which addressed Martin Luther and the effects of the Protestant Reformation.

April 17th, 1797

Puerto Rico officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico: is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands El Yunque National Forest, is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico (It is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System)

Battle of San Juan (1797): Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America.

Wikipedia  Photo: Puerto Rico; Old San Juan aerial view ● Garita at fort San Felipe del Morro ● Culebra Island, Puerto Rico.
● El Yunque National Forest, is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico (It is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System); Lizard on a Leaf, by Brian Stinga, National Geographics; Puerto Rican Parrots, rare birds in the forest.

April 17th, 1864

Lincoln Memorial: an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument American Civil War: Battle of Antietam; Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland American Civil War: American Civil War: First Battle Between Ironclads; CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads

American Civil War:
1864 - Battle of Plymouth; Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina

Wikipedia  Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war. ● Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
● Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.

April 17th, 1895

Japan - Korea Satellite image: shows North and South Korea (upper left) as well as the Japanese island of Shikoku, between Kyushu to the southwest and Honshu to the north. credit Earth Observatory, NASA

First Sino-Japanese War: Treaty of Shimonoseki;
1895 - Between China and Japan - the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien (Liaoning) province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.

Wikipedia  Image: Japan - Korea Satellite image: shows North and South Korea (upper left) as well as the Japanese island of Shikoku, between Kyushu to the southwest and Honshu to the north. credit Earth Observatory, NASA.

April 17th, 1907

Ellis Island, an island in Upper New York Bay that was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954

Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.

Wikipedia  Image: Ellis Island, an island in Upper New York Bay that was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954.

April 17th, 1912

Russian Revolution Collage

Russian Revolution:
Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.

Wikipedia  Image: The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union

April 17th 1919

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948): commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India (Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world)

Indian leader Mohanda Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Amritsar Massacre by British forces.

Wikipedia  Photo: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948): commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. (Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world.)

April 17th, 1941

World War II: Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf; Battle of Leyte Gulf; The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island World War II: German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944) World War II: Eastern Front (World War II); was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945

World War II:
1941 - The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
1942 - French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein.
1944 - Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros s murdered.
1945 - Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy from German Nazi forces.
Post World War II:
1946 - Syria obtains its Independence from the French occupation.

Wikipedia  Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945. USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.

Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.

April 17th, 1961

Cuban Revolution Collage

Cuban Revolution:
1961 - Bay of Pigs Invasion; A group of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) financed and trained Cuban exiles lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.

Wikipedia  Photo / Map: The leadership of the Cuban revolution; Fidel Castro played the leading role in the Cuban revolution against Fulgencio Batista (1957) AFP; Fidel Castro leads men in a cheer, Cuba, 1957, Bettmann/ Corbis; Cuban Airlift to the United States (1959 and 1962); Resiste Cuba, homenaje a la revolución cubana y sus héroes música: Protesta-Por Cuba; Che Guevara and Fidel Castro ; Official caption: "Off loading Cuban refugees at the Miami sea buoy", photo dated 4 May 1964; Photo No. 7CGD-050464 #12; Guerrillero Heroico - Alberto Korda's famous photograph of Che Guevara; The popularized cropped version.

April 17th, 1969

Robert F. Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968) ● Robert F Kennedy Portrait by Gardner Cox at National Portrait Gallery

Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.

Wikipedia  Photo: Robert F. Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968) ● Robert F Kennedy Portrait by Gardner Cox at National Portrait Gallery ● Robert F Kennedy, © Clyde Keller.

April 17th, 1970

Apollo Program: Apollo 11 first manned Moon landing and the first walk on the surface on the moon. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module Eagle. Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Sea of Tranquility for two and a half hours while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia. The Blue Marble is a famous photograph of the Earth, taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, at a distance of about 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi)

Apollo Program: The ill-fated NASA's Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.

Wikipedia  Photo: Apollo Program: Apollo 11 first manned Moon landing and the first walk on the surface on the moon. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module Eagle. Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Sea of Tranquility for two and a half hours while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia.
The Blue Marble is a famous photograph of the Earth, taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, at a distance of about 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi).

April 17th, 1978

Soviet war in Afghanistan: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution stating that Soviet Union forces should withdraw from Afghanistan

Soviet war in Afghanistan: Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking a communist coup d'état in Afghanistan.

Wikipedia  Photo: Soviet ground forces in action while conducting an offensive operation against the Islamist resistance, the Mujahideen; Mujahideen praying in Shultan Valley, 1987; Soviet soldier in Afghanistan, 1988; Mujahideen, 1987; Soviet troops withdrawing from Afghanistan in 1988; A column of Soviet BTR armored personnel carriers departing from Afghanistan.

April 17th, 2013

West Fertilizer Company explosion: An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.

West Fertilizer Company explosion: An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.

Wikipedia  Photo: On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas - Fifteen people were killed, more than 160 were injured.

April 17th, 2012

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East and terrorist attacks:
2012 - Ilias Ali, organizing secretary of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and a former Member of Parliament, disappear from Dhaka along with his chauffeur, allegedly abducted by government forces; both of them later never found.
2006 - Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonates an explosive device in Tel Aviv, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
1986 - Hindawi affair: Nezar Hindawi's attempt to detonate a bomb aboard an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv is thwarted.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)