Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 17
August 17: Independence Day in Indonesia (1945), Gabon (1960)
- 1862 – The Lakotas, an ethnic group of the Sioux Native Americans, attacked settlements along the Minnesota River, sparking the Dakota War of 1862 against the United States.
- 1914 – World War I: Ignoring orders to retreat, Hermann von François (pictured) led a successful counterattack defending East Prussia in the Battle of Stalluponen and scored the first German victory in the Eastern Front.
- 1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank was lynched by a mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl, turning the spotlight on antisemitism in the United States.
- 1962 – East German border guards shot and killed Peter Fechter as he attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.
- 1978 – Double Eagle II became the first hot air balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Miserey near Paris six days after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
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