On This Day for July 17 - Beginning of the Spanish Civil War , Adam Smith is featured, and more

Created: 2020-07-17 10:03 Updated: 2020-07-17 10:03 Notebook: On this Day in History

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July 17

FEATURED BIOGRAPHY

Adam Smith

International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War

FEATURED EVENT

1936

Beginning of the Spanish Civil War

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MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY

2014: Malaysia Airlines flight 17 crashed in separatist-held territory in Ukraine , killing all 298 people on board; a Dutch investigation later determined that the aircraft was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile. [Watch a video summarizing the Dutch Safety Board's investigation of the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight 17.]

2009: American journalist Walter Cronkite—who, as the longtime anchor of CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (1962–81), became known as “the most trusted man in America”—died in New York.

1998: The United Nations completed the statute establishing the International Criminal Court, which began sittings four years later. [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about world organizations.]

1955: Disneyland, an amusement park featuring attractions based on the creations of Walt Disney and the Disney Company, opened in Anaheim, California. [ How much do you know about Disney?]

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Harry S. Truman, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Potsdam (Germany) Conference, 1945.

1945: Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Harry S. Truman met at the Potsdam Conference, the last Allied summit conference of World War II. [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about World War II.]

1944: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was seriously injured when his car was forced off the road by British fighter-bombers. [Take our quiz about Germany and World War II.]

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ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1954

Angela Merkel
chancellor of Germany

1935

Donald Sutherland
Canadian actor

1947

Camilla, duchess of Cornwall
British duchess

1899

James Cagney
American actor

1975

Terence Tao
Australian mathematician