1917

Years :	1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
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Years:	1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920

1917 by topic:
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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.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Nobel prizes
5 External links

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Events

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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 [1]
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.

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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.
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.

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May-October

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 XV<ref>L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 12/19 August 1998, page 9</ref>
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 persons.
May 27 - Over 30.000 French troops refuse to go to the trenches in Missy-aux-Bois
June 1 - French infantry regiment seizes Missy-aux-Bois and declares anti-war military government. French army soon apprehend them
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 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 7 - Aleksandr Kerensky forms the Provisional Government in Russia after the deposing of the tsar.
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 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 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.

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November

November - Don Republic declares independence from Soviet 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.Peterburg 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.

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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.