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This Day in History - July 17

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Today is the 198th day of 2011. There are 167 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight

1968: The Baath Party, including Saddam Hussein, overthrows the Iraqi government.

Other Events

1890: Cecil Rhodes becomes premier of Cape Colony in Africa.

1936: Spanish Civil War starts as General Francisco Franco leads army forces in revolt against the government.

1945: US President Harry S Truman, British Prime Minister Clement Atlee, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin meet at Potsdam, Germany, to settle the post World War II future of Europe, in a conference that lasts until August 2.

1955: Disneyland, the first Disney amusement park, opens its gates in Anaheim, California.

1973: Afghanistan is proclaimed republic following palace coup that ends 40-year rule of King Mohammad Zaher Shah.

1987: France breaks diplomatic relations with Iran.

1990: German Chancellor Helmut Kohl says all major obstacles to united Germany have been swept away and announces elections for a united German parliament.

1994: Brazil makes World Cup soccer history with a fourth title.

1998: Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his family are given a state funeral and reburied in a St Petersburg cathedral, 80 years to the day after they were murdered by Bolsheviks. Scientists located the remains in 1976 but kept it secret until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

2006: A tsunami crashes into beach resorts and fishing villages on Java island, killing more than 300 people and leaving more than 160 missing after bulletins failed to reach the Indonesian region because no warning system was in place.

2007: Israeli Cabinet ministers approve a list of 256 Palestinian prisoners slated to be released this week in a gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

2010: Thousands of gays and lesbians from around Europe marched through Poland's capital to demand equal rights and more tolerance in the heavily Roman Catholic nation.

Today's Birthdays

Isaac Watts, English churchman (1674-1748); David Lloyd George, English statesman (1863-1945); James Cagney, US actor (1899-1986); Phyllis Diller, US comedian (1917-); Diahann Carroll, US actress/singer (1935-); Donald Sutherland, actor (1935-); Lucie Arnaz US actress (1951-); David Hasselhoff, US actor (1952-); Mark Burnett, TV producer (1960-).