1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar.

Events

January-February

• January 2 - The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
• January 22 - World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.
• January 25 - The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million
• January 25 - Anti-prostitution drive in San Francisco attracts huge crowds to public meetings. At one meeting attended by 7000 people, 20000 are kept out for lack of room. In a conference with Rev. Paul Smith, an outspoken foe of prostitution, 300 prostitutes make a plea for toleration explaining they had been forced into the practice by poverty. When Smith asked if they would take other work at $8 to $10 a week, the ladies laughed derisively, which lost them public sympathy. The police close about 200 houses of prostitution shortly thereafter ^*
• January 26 - The sea defences at the village of Hallsands, Devon are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable
• January 28 - The United States ends search for Pancho Villa
• January 30 - Pershing's troops in Mexico begin to withdraw to USA. They reach Columbus, New Mexico February 5
• January 31 - World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
• February 3 - World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany
• February 5 - The constitution of Mexico is adopted.
• February 13 - Mata Hari is arrested for spying
• February 24 - World War I: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom Walter H. Page is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American Southwest back to Mexico if Mexico will declare war on the United States.
• February 26 - The Original Dixieland Jass Band record their first commercial record, with "Livery Stable Blues" and "Dixie Jass Band One Step"

March-April

• March 1 - U.S. government releases the plaintext of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public
• March 1 - Japanese city Omuta, Fukuoka is founded
• March 2 - The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
• March 4 - Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman member of the United States House of Representatives.
• March 8 (N.S.) (February 23, O.S.) - The Russian Revolution begins with the overthrow of the Tsar.
• March 8 - The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.
• March 11 - Mexican Revolution - Venustiano Carranza elected president of Mexico - USA gives recognition of his government de jure
• March 15 (N.S.) (March 2, O.S.) - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates for himself and for his teenage son Alexei Nikolaevich.
• March 17 (N.S.) (March 4, O.S.) - Grand Duke Michael refuses the throne and power in Russia passes to the newly-formed Provisional Government under Prince Georgy Lvov.
• March 21 - The Danish West Indies become the Virgin Islands when Denmark transfers control over the islands to the United States after the purchase of the islands on January 25.
• March 26 - World War I: First Battle of Gaza - British cavalry troops retreat after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
• March 31 - The United States takes possession of the Virgin Islands after paying $25 million to Denmark.
• April 2 - World War I: US President Woodrow Wilson asks U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
• April 6 - World War I: United States declares war on Germany. text
• April 9-12 - World War I: Canadian troops win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
• April 10 - Ammunition factory explodes in Chester, Pennsylvania - 133 dead.
• April 11 - World War I: Brazil severs relations with Germany.
• April 16 - Lenin arrives in Petrograd.
• April 16 - The Nivelle Offensive commences.

May

• May 9 - The Nivelle Offensive was abandoned.
• May 13 - Three peasant children claim to see the Virgin Mary above a holm oak tree in Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal.
• May 13 - The Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XVL'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 12/19 August 1998, page 9
• May 18 - World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress giving the President the power of conscription.
• May 21 - Over 300 acres (73 blocks) destroyed in Great Atlanta fire of 1917.
• May 26 - Tornado strikes Mattoon, Illinois causing devastation and killing 101 people.
• May 27 - Over 30.000 French troops refuse to go to the trenches in Missy-aux-Bois.

June

• June 1 - French infantry regiment seizes Missy-aux-Bois and declares anti-war military government. French army soon apprehend them.
• June 4 - The very first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maud Howe Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for a biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World.
• June 5 - World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as "Army registration day."
• June 13 - World War I: First major German bombing raid on London left 162 dead and 432 injured
• June 15 - The United States enacts the Espionage Act.

July

• July 1 - Labor Dispute ignites a Race Riot in East St. Louis, Illinois. Over 250 dead.
• July 6 - Arabian troops led by T.E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Turks.
• July 12 - Phelps Dodge Corporation deports over 1000 suspected IWW members from Bisbee, Arizona.
• July 17 - King George V of the United Kingdom issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British royal family will bear the surname Windsor.
• July 20 - Corfu Declaration that enabled post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia was signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
• July 20 (N.S.) (July 7, O.S.) - Alexander Kerensky becomes premier of the Russian Provisional Government, replacing Prince Georgy Lvov.
• July 25 - Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
• July 28 - The Silent Protest was organized by the NAACP in New York to protest the East St. Louis Massacre of July 2nd, as well as lynchings in Texas and Tennessee.

August - October

• August - The Green Corn Rebellion, an uprising by several hundred farmers against the World War I draft, takes place in central Oklahoma.
• August 2 - Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning became the first pilot to land his aircraft on a ship when he landed his Sopwith Pup on HMS Furious in Scapa Flow, Orkney. He was killed five days later during another landing on the ship.
• August 17 - One of literature's most important and most famous meetings takes place when Wilfred Owen introduces himself to Siegfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh.
• August 29 - World War I: The Military Service Act is passed in the Canadian House of Commons giving the Canadian government the right to conscript men into the army.
• October 15 - World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.
• October 19 - Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.
• October 26 - World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Germany.

November

• November - Don Republic declares independence from Bolshevist Russia
• November 2 - Zionism: The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for Jewish settlement in Palestine.
• November 6 - World War I: Third Battle of Ypres ends: After three months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Passchendaele in Belgium.
• November 7 - October Revolution begins: The workers of St.Petersburg in Russia, with leaders the Bolsheviks and the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin attacked against the ineffective Kerensky Provisional Government (Russia was still using the Julian Calendar at the time, so period references show a October 25 date. The Soviets of Workers, Farmers and Soldiers took for the first time in history the economy and the administration of a country.
• November 7 - World War I: Third Battle of Gaza ends - United Kingdom forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.
• November 15 - Finland takes a step towards full sovereignty recognizing the personal union with Russia finished after the Tsar being dethroned.
• November 16 - British troops occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Palestine.
• November 16 - Georges Clemenceau becomes prime minister of France
• November 20 - World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins - British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are soon beaten back.
• November 20 - Ukraine is declared a republic.
• November 22 - In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up (on November 26 it was replaced with the National Hockey League).
• November 26 - The National Hockey League is formed.
• November 29 - Striking coal miners at Rostov declare Don Soviet Republic - it lasts two weeks.

December

• December 3 - After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on August 29 1907 and September 11 1916).
• December 6 - Finland's declaration of independence.
• December 6 - Halifax Explosion: Two freighters collide in the harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia and cause a huge explosion that kills at least 1963 people, injures 9000 and destroys part of the city. Until Hiroshima, this was the biggest manmade explosion.
• December 11 - British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire
• December 25 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.
• December 26 - United States president Woodrow Wilson uses the Federal Possession and Control Act to take control of nearly all American railroads under the United States Railroad Administration so they can be more efficiently used to transport troops and materials for the war effort.

Unknown dates

• Lions Clubs International is formed.
• J.R.R. Tolkien begins writing the original Book of Lost Tales (the first version of the Silmarillion); thus Middle-earth is first written in about this year.
• Conscription crisis in Canada.
• Female suffrage in the Netherlands

Ongoing events

• World War I (1914-1918)
• Armenian Genocide (1915-1918)
• Encephalitis lethargica (1917-1928)

Births

January

• January 2 - Vera Zorina, German dancer and actress (d. 2003)
• January 3 - Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
• January 6 - Koo Chen-fu, Chinese negotiator (d. 2005)
• January 10 - Jerry Wexler, American record producer
• January 19 - John Raitt, American actor and singer (d. 2005)
• January 24 - Ernest Borgnine, American actor
• January 25 - Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2003)

February

• February 4 - Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
• February 6 - Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-born actress
• February 11 - Sidney Sheldon, American author
• February 14 - Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• February 19 - Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)
• February 25 - Anthony Burgess, English author (d. 1993)
• February 27 - John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)
• February 28 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)

March

• March 1 - Harry Caray, baseball broadcaster (d. 1998)
• March 1 - Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)
• March 2 - Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, bandleader, and musician (d. 1986)
• March 16 - Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (d. 1977)
• March 19 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (d. 1950)
• March 20 - Dame Vera Lynn, English actress and singer
• March 24 - John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
• March 26 - Rufus Thomas, American singer (d. 2001)
• March 27 - Cyrus Vance, American politician (d. 2002)

April

• April 1 - Sydney Newman, Canadian-born British television producer (d. 1997)
• April 5 - Robert Bloch, American writer (d. 1994)
• April 10 - Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• April 12 - Helen Forrest, American jazz singer (d. 1999)
• April 14 - Marvin Miller, Excecutive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association
• April 17 - Bill Clements, Governor of Texas
• April 25 - Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer (d. 1996)
• April 26 - Virgil Trucks, American baseball pitcher

May

• May 12 - Frank Clair, Canadian Football League hall of fame coach (d. 2005)
• May 14 - Lou Harrison, American composer (d. 2003)
• May 16 - George Gaynes, Finnish-American actor
• May 20 - Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
• May 21 - Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (d. 1993)
• May 22 - Georg Tintner, Austrian conductor (d. 1999)
• May 28 - Papa John Creech, fiddler (d. 1994)
• May 29 - John F. Kennedy, President of the United States (d. 1963)

June

• June 1 - William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• June 15 - John Fenn, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• June 15 - Lash La Rue, American cowboy actor (d. 1996)
• June 16 - Irving Penn, American photographer.
• June 17 - Ben Bubar, American presidential candidate. (d. 1994.
• June 17 - Dean Martin, American actor (d. 1996)
• June 17 - Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician
• June 30 - Lena Horne, singer

July

• July 1 - Humphry Osmond, British psychiatrist (d. 2004)
• July 4 - Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
• July 7 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
• July 10 - Don Herbert, television's Mr. Wizard
• July 10 - Reg Smythe, British cartoonist, creator of the Andy Capp comic strip (d. 1998)
• July 17 - Phyllis Diller, American comedian.
• July 19 - William Scranton, American politician

August

• August 15 - Jack Lynch, Irish Taoiseach (d. 1999)
• August 18 - Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defence (d. 2006)
• August 22 - John Lee Hooker, American blues musician (d. 2001)
• August 28 - Jack Kirby, American comic book artist (d. 1994)
• August 29 - Isabel Sanford, American actress (d. 2004)

September

• September 3 - Anthony Robert Klitz, British artist (d 2000)
• September 7 - John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• September 10 - Miguel Serrano, Chilean fascist ideologist
• September 11 - Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (d. 1989)
• September 13 - Robert Ward, American composer (d. 1994)
• September 25 - Johnny Sain, baseball pitcher

October

• October 2 - Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• October 7 - June Allyson, American actress (d. 2006)
• October 8 - Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
• October 8 - Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
• October 15 - Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
• October 21 - Dizzy Gillespie, American musician (d. 1993)
• October 22 - Joan Fontaine, British-American actress
• October 30 - Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)
• October 31 - Thomas Hill, Canadian actor

November

• November 11 - Madeleine Damerment, French World War II heroine (d. 1944)
• November 19 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
• November 20 - Robert Byrd, US Senator from West Virginia
• November 22 - Andrew Huxley, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

December

• December 6 - Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
• December 9 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
• December 10 - Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
• December 20 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
• December 21 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
• December 22 - Gene Rayburn, American television personality (d. 1999)
• December 27 - Onni Palaste, Finnish writer
• December 30 - Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)

Deaths

• January 2 - Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
• January 10 - William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), American frontiersman (b. 1846)
• January 16 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
• February 5 - Jaber II Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1860)
• February 10 - John William Waterhouse, Italian-born artist (b. 1849)
• March 8 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (b. 1838)
• March 17 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
• March 31 - Emil Adolf von Behring, German winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)
• April 1 - Scott Joplin, American musician and composer (b. 1868)
• April 14 - L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
• May 17 - Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (b. 1829)
• May 20 - Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
• May 25 - Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet (b. 1891)
• June 30 - Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (b. 1861)
• July 16 - Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (b. 1847)
• July 27 - Emil Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)
• August 13 - Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
• August 20 - Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
• August 30 - Alan Leo, British astrologer (b. 1860)
• September 27 - Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
• October 13 - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (b. 1888)
• October 15 - Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (executed) (b. 1876)
• October 23 - Eugène Grasset, Swiss artist (b. 1845)
• October 28 - Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1831)
• November 8 - Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
• November 11 - Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai'i (b. 1838)
• November 17 - Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
• December 8 - Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian Yiddish and Hebrew writer (b. 1836)
• December 10 - Mackenzie Bowell, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1824)
• December 12 - Andrew Taylor Still, father of osteopathy (b. 1828)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Charles Glover Barkla
• Chemistry - not awarded
• Medicine - not awarded
• Literature - Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan
• Peace - International Committee of the Red Cross

External links

• 1917 Coin Pictures

1917

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