1743 | | By the Treaty of Abo, Sweden cedes southeast Finland to Russia, ending Sweden's failed war with Russia. |
1812 | | Napoleon Bonaparte's army defeats the Russians at the Battle of Smolensk during the Russian retreat to Moscow. |
1833 | | The first steam ship to cross the Atlantic entirely on its own power, the Canadian ship Royal William, begins her journey from Nova Scotia to The Isle of Wight. |
1863 | | Union gunboats attack Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, for the first time. |
1942 | | Marine Raiders attack Makin Island in the Gilbert Islands from two submarines. |
1943 | | Allied forces complete the conquest of Sicily. |
1944 | | The mayor of Paris, Pierre Charles Tattinger, meets with the German commander Dietrich von Choltitz to protest the explosives being deployed throughout the city. |
1945 | | Upon hearing confirmation that Japan has surrendered, Sukarno proclaims Indonesia's independence. |
1960 | | American Francis Gary Powers pleads guilty at his Moscow trial for spying over the Soviet Union in a U-2 plane. |
1978 | | Three Americans complete the first crossing of the Atlantic in a balloon. |
1987 | | 93-year-old Rudolf Hess, former Nazi leader and deputy of Adolf Hitler, is found hanged to death in Spandau Prison. |
1988 | | Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq is killed in an airplane crash suspected of being an assassination. |
1998 | | President Bill Clinton admits to the American public that he had affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. |
1999 | | A 7.4-magnitude earthquake near Izmit, Turkey kills over 17,000 and injures nearly 45,000. |
2005 | | Israel begins the first forced evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, as part of a unilateral disengagement plan. |
2012 | | Moscow's top court upholds ban of gay pride events in Russia's capital city for 100 years.
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Born on August 17
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1786 | | Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and politician who died in the defense of the Alamo. |
1882 | | Samuel Goldwyn, American movie mogul who helped start MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer). |
1887 | | Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born black nationalist who advocated the departure of African-Americans back to Africa. |
1890 | | Harry Hopkins, who organized the Works Projects Administration under President Franklin Roosevelt. |
1892 | | Mae West, American actress in burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway and movies. |
1923 | | Larry Rovers, painter and sculptor. |
1932 | | John (Red) Kerr, basketball coach. |
1943 | | Robert DeNiro, American actor, won Oscars for his roles in The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull. |
1944 | | Lawrence Joseph Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation. |
1953 | | Judith Regan, controversial book publisher, editor, talk show host. |
1960 | | Sean Penn, actor, screenwriter, director, political and social activist (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Mystic River). |
1965 | | Robert Manry, copy editor of Cleveland Plain Dealer who sailed solo in a sailboat from Falmouth, Massachusetts, to Falmouth, Cornwall, England. |
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