August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 136 days remaining until the end of the year.
- 986 - A Byzantine army was destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aaron. The Byzantine emperor Basil II narrowly escaped.
- 1807 - Robert Fulton's first American steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
- 1862 - Indian Wars: The Lakota (Sioux) Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Major General JEB Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
- 1863 - American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville - Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
- 1883 - The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
- 1907 - Pike Place Market, the longest continuously-running public farmers market in the US, opened in Seattle.
- 1908 - Projection in Paris of the very first cartoon, Fantasmagorie realized by Émile Cohl.
- 1914 - World War I: Battle of Stalluponen - The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.
- 1915 - Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia.
- 1918 - Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
- 1942 - U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin (Butaritari).
- 1942 - World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force begins regular combat operations in Europe with an attack on the marshalling yards at Rouen-Sotteville.
- 1943 - The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission.
- 1943 - World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrive in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
- 1943 - World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
- 1945 - Indonesian Declaration of Independence.
- 1947 - The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
- 1953 - Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
- 1959 - Quake Lake: Quake Lake was formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
- 1960 - Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.
- 1962 - East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.
- 1969 - Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.
- 1970 - Venera Program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
- 1978 - Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
- 1979 - Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156
- 1980 - Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.
- 1982 - The first Compact Discs (CDs) were released to the public in Germany.
- 1988 - Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
- 1998 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.
- 1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
- 2004 - MD5 collision found by Chinese researchers.
- 2004 - The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Boze Pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
- 2005 - The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
- 2008 - By winning the Men's 4x100m medley relay, Michael Phelps becomes the first Olympian to win eight gold medals in the same Olympics.
- 1473 - Richard, Duke of York
- 1562 - Hans Leo Hassler (baptized), German composer (d. 1612)
- 1578 - Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
- 1601 - Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)
- 1629 - King John III of Poland (d. 1696)
- 1753 - Josef Dobrovský, Czech linguist (d. 1828)
- 1768 - Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
- 1786 - Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and soldier (d. 1836)
- 1786 - Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria (d. 1861)
- 1794 - Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest (d. 1849)
- 1828 - Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
- 1844 - Menelek II of Ethiopia (d. 1913)
- 1863 - Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and naturalist (d. 1924)
- 1866 - Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
- 1866 - Julia Marlowe, English actress (d. 1950)
- 1873 - John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946)
- 1878 - Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
- 1880 - Percy Sherwell, South African cricketer (d. 1948)
- 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer (d. 1974)
- 1887 - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born Black rights activist (d. 1940)
- 1887 - Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
- 1888 - Monty Woolley, American actor (d. 1963)
- 1890 - Harry Hopkins, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1946)
- 1890 - Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920)
- 1893 - Mae West, American actress (d. 1980)
- 1896 - Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970)
- 1904 - Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)
- 1904 - Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)
- 1909 - Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985)
- 1911 - Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player (d. 1995)
- 1913 - W. Mark Felt, American Watergate informant
- 1913 - Rudy York, American baseball player (d. 1970)
- 1913 - Óscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989)
- 1914 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (d. 1988)
- 1919 - Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006)
- 1920 - Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress
- 1921 - Geoffrey Rudolph Elton, British historian (d. 1994)
- 1922 - Roy Tattersall, England cricketer
- 1926 - Jiang Zemin, Chinese politician
- 1926 - George Melly, British singer (d. 2007)
- 1926 - Jean Poiret, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1929 - Francis Gary Powers, American U-2 pilot (d. 1977)
- 1930 - Glenn Corbett, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1930 - Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998)
- 1932 - V. S. Naipaul, West Indian writer, Nobel Laureate
- 1933 - Eugene F. Kranz, American NASA executive
- 1933 - Mark Dinning, American singer (d. 1986)
- 1935 - Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor
- 1936 - Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Native American musician-actor (d. 2007)
- 1938 - Abu Bakar Bashir, Indonesian Muslim cleric
- 1938 - Theodoros Pangalos, Greek politician
- 1939 - Luther Allison, American musician
- 1939 - Anthony Valentine, British actor
- 1940 - Eduardo Mignogna, Argentinian film director (d. 2006)
- 1941 - Jean Pierre Lefebvre, French Canadian film director
- 1941 - Boog Powell, American baseball player
- 1943 - Robert De Niro, American actor
- 1943 - Dave "Snaker" Ray, American musician (d. 2002)
- 1944 - Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, Billionaire
- 1946 - Martha Coolidge, American film director
- 1946 - Patrick Manning, 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago
- 1947 - Gary Talley, American musician (Box Tops)
- 1947 - Sylvia Nasar, German-born American economist and author
- 1948 - Rod MacDonald, American musician
- 1949 - Sib Hashian, American musician (Boston)
- 1949 - Norm Coleman, American politician
- 1951 - Robert Joy, Canadian actor
- 1951 - Alan Minter, British boxer
- 1952 - Nelson Piquet, Brazilian race car driver
- 1952 - Dr. Mario Theissen, German F1 team principal (BMW Sauber)
- 1952 - Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
- 1953 - Judith Regan, American book publisher
- 1953 - Kevin Rowland, English musician (Dexys Midnight Runners)
- 1954 - Eric Johnson, American guitarist
- 1955 - Richard Hilton, American heir
- 1956 - Gail Berman, American film executive
- 1956 - Álvaro Pino, Spanish cyclist
- 1957 - Robin Cousins, British figure skater
- 1958 - Belinda Carlisle, American singer
- 1958 - Fred Goodwin British banker
- 1958 - Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player
- 1959 - David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
- 1959 - Jonathan Franzen, American author
- 1960 - Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer
- 1960 - Sean Penn, American actor and director
- 1962 - Gilby Clarke, American musician (Guns N' Roses)
- 1962 - Buddy Landel, American professional wrestler
- 1963 - Jon Gruden, American football coach
- 1963 - S. Shankar, Indian film director
- 1964 - Colin James, Canadian musician
- 1966 - Maysa Leak, American Jazz Singer
- 1966 - Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder
- 1966 - Don Sweeney, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1967 - Kevin Max, American singer (dc talk)
- 1968 - Ed McCaffrey, American football player
- 1968 - Helen McCrory, English actress
- 1969 - Christian Laettner, American basketball player
- 1969 - Donnie Wahlberg, American actor and singer (New Kids On The Block)
- 1969 - Kelvin Mercer, American rapper (De La Soul)
- 1970 - Jim Courier, American tennis player
- 1970 - Rupert Degas, English actor and voice artist
- 1970 - Oyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer
- 1971 - Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
- 1971 - Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1971 - Shaun Rehn, Australian Rules footballer
- 1972 - Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1972 - Ken Ryker, American pornographic actor
- 1974 - Tony Hajjar, Lebanese musician (At the Drive-In, Sparta)
- 1974 - Nicola Kraus, American novelist
- 1975 - Giuliana DePandi, Italian-born American television personality
- 1975 - İlhan Mansız, Turkish footballer
- 1976 - Scott Halberstadt, American actor
- 1976 - Geertjan Lassche, Dutch reporter
- 1977 - Nathan Deakes, Australian race walker
- 1977 - William Gallas, French footballer
- 1977 - Thierry Henry, French footballer
- 1977 - Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer
- 1978 - Karena Lam, Hong Kong actress
- 1978 - Vibeke Stene, Norwegian singer (Tristania)
- 1979 - Antwaan Randle El, American football player
- 1979 - Marcus Patric, British actor
- 1980 - Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1980 - Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer
- 1980 - Shannon Lucio, American actress
- 1980 - Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer
- 1981 - Kristin Holt, American television personality
- 1982 - Melissa Anderson, American professional wrestler
- 1982 - Phil Jagielka, English footballer
- 1983 - Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player
- 1984 - Dee Brown, American basketball player
- 1984 - Garrett Wolfe, American football player
- 1985 - Yū Aoi, Japanese actress
- 1986 - Rudy Gay, American basketball player
- 1986 - Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player
- 1988 - Brady Corbet, American actor
- 1988 - Erika Toda, Japanese actress
- 1989 - Nichole Cordova, Performer (Girlicious)
- 1990 - Colin Bates, American actor
- 1990 - Rachel Hurd-Wood, British actress
- 1996 - Ella Cruz, Filipina actress
- 1153 - Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England (b. 1130)
- 1304 - Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
- 1510 - Edmund Dudley, English statesman (b. 1462)
- 1657 - Robert Blake, British admiral (b. 1599)
- 1673 - Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
- 1676 - Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, German novelist (b. 1621)
- 1720 - Anne Lefèvre, French scholar (b. 1654)
- 1723 - Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668)
- 1768 - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)
- 1785 - Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut (b. 1710)
- 1786 - King Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1712)
- 1834 - Husein Gradaščević, Bosnian rebel leader (b. 1802)
- 1838 - Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian librettist (b. 1749)
- 1850 - Don José de San Martín, Argentine general (b. 1778)
- 1861 - Alcée Louis la Branche, American Politician (b. 1806)
- 1870 - Pedro Figueredo, Cuban poet, musician, and freedom fighter of the 19th century (b. 1818)
- 1875 - Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827)
- 1880 - Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (b. 1810)
- 1896 - Bridget Driscoll, British automobile fatality
- 1901 - Edmond Audran, French composer (b. 1842)
- 1903 - Hans Gude, Norwegian landscape painter (b. 1825)
- 1918 - Moisei Uritsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1873)
- 1920 - Ray Chapman, American baseball player (b. 1891)
- 1924 - Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
- 1925 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (b. 1848)
- 1940 - Billy Fiske, American aviator (b. 1911)
- 1949 - Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino jurist and politician (b. 1891)
- 1954 - Billy Murray, American recording artist (b. 1877)
- 1962 - Peter Fechter, East German defector (b. 1944)
- 1969 - Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)
- 1970 - Rattana Pestonji, Thai filmmaker (b. 1908)
- 1971 - Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880)
- 1973 - Jean Barraqué, French composer (b. 1928)
- 1973 - Paul Williams, American singer (The Temptations) (b. 1939)
- 1973 - Conrad Aiken, American author (b. 1889)
- 1979 - Vivian Vance, American actress (b. 1909)
- 1983 - Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (b. 1896)
- 1987 - Rudolf Hess, Nazi deputy (b. 1894)
- 1987 - Shaike Ophir, Israeli actor (b. 1929)
- 1987 - Gary Chester, Italian studio drummer (b. 1924)
- 1988 - Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani politician (b. 1924)
- 1988 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (b. 1914)
- 1988 - Victoria Shaw, Australian-born American actress (b. 1935)
- 1990 - Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)
- 1992 - Al Parker, American adult film actor (b. 1952)
- 1993 - Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician (b. 1920)
- 1994 - Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver and team owner (b. 1901)
- 1994 - Jack Sharkey, American boxer (b. 1902)
- 1995 - Howard Koch, American screenwriter (b. 1902)
- 1995 - Ted Whitten, Australian rules footballer (b. 1933)
- 1998 - Wladyslaw Komar, Polish track and field athlete (b. 1940)
- 1998 - Tadeusz Slusarski, Polish track and field athlete (b. 1950)
- 2004 - Thea Astley, Australian writer (b. 1925)
- 2004 - Gérard Souzay, French baritone (b. 1918)
- 2005 - John Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934)
- 2007 - Bill Deedes, British journalist and politician (b. 1913)
- 2007 - Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
- 2008 - Franco Sensi, Italian businessman and football team owner (b. 1926)
