1917 - What happened in 1917 ?

January 1917

Tuesday 09:

Battle of Rafa

Tuesday 16:

German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sends the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States

Monday 22:

World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.

Sunday 28:

United States ends search for Pancho Villa.

Wednesday 31:

World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.

February 1917

Saturday 03:

World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after Germany announces a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

Monday 05:

The Congress of the United States passes a law banning most Asian immigration.

Saturday 24:

World War I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if that country declares war on the United States.

March 1917

Sunday 04:

Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.

Monday 05:

Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.

Thursday 08:

The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.

Thursday 15:

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates himself and his son from the Russian throne and his brother the Grand Duke becomes Tsar.

Monday 26:

British troops are halted after 17,000 Turks block their advance.

April 1917

Monday 02:

The first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin, takes her seat as a representative from Montana.

Friday 06:

World War I: United States declares war on Germany (see Wilson's address to Congress).

Monday 09:

The battle begins with Canadian forces executing a massive assault on the Vimy Ridge.

Monday 16:

Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd (present-day Saint Petersburg) from exile in Finland.

May 1917

Sunday 13:

Three peasant children claim to see the Blessed Virgin Mary above a holmoak tree in Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal.

Friday 18:

World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress giving the President the power of conscription.

Sunday 20:

The U.S. town of Codell, Kansas, is struck by an F3 tornado.

Tuesday 29:

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States (1961?1963), is born.

June 1917

Monday 04:

The Order of the British Empire is introduced.

Tuesday 05:

World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as "Army registration day."

Thursday 07:

World War I: Allied ammonal mines underneath German trenches in Mesen Ridge are detonated, killing 10,000 German troops.

Wednesday 13:

1917 - Germany bombs London

July 1917

Friday 06:

World War I: Arabian troops led by Lawrence of Arabia and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Turks during the Arab Revolt.

Tuesday 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.

Friday 20:

In the United States, the first military draft numbers are drawn for World War I.

Wednesday 25:

Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).

Tuesday 31:

The Third Battle of Ypres starts in Flanders.

August 1917

Tuesday 28:

Ten suffragists are arrested when picketing the White House.

September 1917

Friday 14:

Republican government declared in Russia.

Thursday 20:

Paraguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

October 1917

Monday 15:

World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.

Wednesday 17:

First British bombing of Germany in World War I

Wednesday 24:

Battle of Caporetto starts on the Austro-Italian front of World War I

Friday 26:

Battle of Caporetto: Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the hands of Germany and Austria during the First World War

Wednesday 31:

"last successful cavalry charge in history"

November 1917

Monday 05:

St. Tikhon of Moscow was elected the Patriarch of Moscow and of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Tuesday 06:

World War I: Third Battle of Ypres ends: After three months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Ypres in Belgium.

Wednesday 07:

British forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.

Tuesday 20:

1917 - Ukraine is declared a republic.

Thursday 22:

In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up (on November 26 it was replaced with the National Hockey League).

December 1917

Thursday 06:

Halifax Explosion kills more than 1900 people, destroys part of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Friday 07:

World War I: United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.

Wednesday 12:

In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys (in 1979 it was opened to girls as well).

Thursday 20:

Cheka, first Soviet secret police, founded

Tuesday 25:

Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City