Today in History: Liberation of Şarköy from the 2,5-Year Greek Occupation

November 17 is the 321th day of the year (322th in leap years) according to the Gregorian calendar. The number of days left until the end of the year is 44.

Railways

• November 17, 1871 Baron Hirsch donates 1 million Frank to World Jewish Union

Events 

• 284 - Diocletian proclaims his Empire in areas dominated by his Army. It took nearly a year for him to dominate all the lands.
• 1558 - Queen Elizabeth I of England ascends the throne.
• 1869 – The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, was opened with a magnificent ceremony.
• 1877 - Russian troops attacked Kars.
• 1918 – British occupied Baku.
• 1922 - Siberia joins the Soviet Union.
• 1922 – The last Ottoman sultan VI. Mehmet (Vahdettin) left Istanbul.
• 1922 – The liberation of Şarköy from the Greek occupation of 2,5 years.
• 1924 – The first opposition party Progressive Republican Party was founded.
• 1930 - Free Republican Party dissolved itself.
• 1933 - The United States begins to establish commercial and diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
• 1936 – German architect and city planner Bruno Taut was appointed head of the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts.
• 1963 – The Justice Party won the local elections.
• 1967 – In the second secret session of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, it discussed the latest developments in Cyprus for 18 hours and 20 minutes.
• 1972 – Turkey National Women's Party, the first women's party in Turkey, was founded.
• 1972 - Juan Peron returns to Argentina after 17 years of exile.
• 1973 – University students revolt against the junta regime in Athens. As a result of the fire of the soldiers, 34 students were killed and hundreds were injured.
• 1976 – Chilean artists were expelled at the invitation of the Workers' Party of Turkey.
• 1977 – Cahit Karakaş became the 13th President of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. His term ended on September 12, 1980.
• 1989 – The Velvet Revolution begins in Czechoslovakia. The people gathered in the town squares with candles and key chains.
• 1993 – South African political leaders adopt the new Constitution that ends apartheid.
• 1995 – Osman Hamdi Bey's “Green Tomb” painting was sold in the United Kingdom for 37 billion liras.
• 1999 – The Turkish national football team, beating Ireland, qualified for the European Football Championship finals.
• The artificial element with atomic number 2006, discovered in 1994 – 111, was officially named Röntgenium (Rg).

Births 

• 9 – Vespasian, Roman Emperor (d. 79)
• 1019 – Sima Guang, ranking Song Dynasty scholar and historian in China (d. 1086)
• 1503 – Agnolo Bronzino, Italian painter (d. 1572)
• 1612 – Dorgon, Manchu prince and regent of the Qing Dynasty (d. 1650)
• 1749 – Nicolas Appert, French inventor (d. 1841)
• 1755 – XVIII. Louis, King of France (d. 1824)
• 1765 – Étienne Jacques Joseph Macdonald, French soldier (d. 1840)
• 1790 – August Ferdinand Möbius, German astronomer (d. 1868)
• 1831 – Manuel Antônio de Almeida, Brazilian writer (d. 1861)
• 1866 – Voltairine de Cleyre, American anarchist (d. 1912)
• 1867 – Henri Gouraud, French soldier (d. 1946)
• 1870 – İbnülemin Mahmut Kemal İnal, Turkish writer, historian, museologist and mystic (d. 1957)
• 1887 Bernard Montgomery, British soldier (d. 1976)
• 1896 – Lev Vygotsky, Soviet psychologist (d. 1934)
• 1901 – Lee Strasberg, American theater director and actor (d. 1982)
• 1902 – Eugene Wigner, Hungarian-American physicist and mathematician (d. 1995)
• 1906 – Soichiro Honda, Japanese businessman (d. 1991)
• 1911 – Christian Fouchet, French politician, former minister (d. 1974)
• 1920 – Camillo Felgen, Luxembourgish singer (d. 2005)
• 1921 – Albert Bertelsen, Danish painter and graphic artist (d. 2019)
• 1922 – Stanley Cohen, American biochemist and 1986 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2020)
• 1923 – Aristides Pereira, Cape Verdean politician (d. 2011)
• 1925 – Rock Hudson, American actor (d. 1985)
• 1927 – Fenella Fielding, English actress (d. 2018)
• 1928 – Rance Howard, American actor (d. 2017)
• 1934 – Jim Inhofe, American politician
• 1937 – Peter Cook, English actor, variety artist, and writer (d. 1995)
• 1938 – Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1939 – Aşık Mahsuni, Turkish folk poet (d. 2002)
• 1942 – Martin Scorsese, American film director and winner of the Academy Award for Best Director
• 1943 Lauren Hutton, American former model and actress
• 1944 – Danny DeVito, American actor, director, and producer
• 1944 - Rem Koolhaas is a Dutch architect and architectural theorist.
• 1944 – Tom Seaver, American professional baseball pitcher (d. 2020)
• 1945 - Elvin Hayes, retired American basketball player
• 1945 – Roland Joffé, Anglo-French film director
• 1946 – Petra Burka, Canadian figure skater
• 1947 – Traude Dierdorf, Austrian politician (d. 2021)
• 1949 – John Boehner, Retired American politician
• 1949 – Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, Vietnamese politician
• 1952 – Cyril Ramaphosa, South African politician
• 1954 – Chopper Read, Australian criminal and author (d. 2013)
• 1955 – Yolanda Denise King, American activist, singer, and actress (d. 2007)
• 1958 – Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, American actress and singer
• 1960 – RuPaul, American drag queens, actor, model, singer, songwriter
• 1961 – Pat Toomey is an American businessman and politician.
• 1963 – Dylan Walsh, American actor
• 1964 – Susan Rice, US politician
• 1966 – Jeff Buckley, American musician, composer, and songwriter (d. 1997)
• 1966 – Sophie Marceau, French actress
• 1969 – Jean-Michel Saive, Belgian table tennis player
• 1971 – Michael Adams, British chess player
• 1971 – David Ramsey, American actor
• 1971 – Svetlana Sudak, Belarusian athlete
• 1972 – Leonard Roberts, American actor
• 1973 – Bernd Schneider, German football player
• 1973 – Aleksey Urmanov, Russian figure skater
• 1974 - Leslie Bibb is an American actress.
• 1978 - Tom Ellis, Welsh actor
• 1978 – Rachel McAdams, Canadian actress
• 1981 – Sarah Harding, English model, singer and actress (d. 2021)
• 1983 – Viva Bianca, Australian actress
• 1983 – Yannis Burusis, Greek professional basketball player
• 1983 - Harry Lloyd is an English actor.
• 1983 – Christopher Paolini, American writer
• 1984 – Park Han-byul, South Korean actress and model
• 1986 – Nani, Portuguese football player from Cape Verde
• 1986 – Greg Rutherford, British long jumper
• 1987 – Kat DeLuna, Dominican Republic-American singer

Deaths 

• 375 – Valentinian I, Roman Emperor (b. 321)
• 594 – Gregory of Tours, Christian bishop, historian, and hagiographer (b. 538)
• 641 – Jomei, 34th emperor of Japan in the traditional succession order (b. 593)
• 1104 – Nikephoros Melissenos, Byzantine general (b. 1045)
• 1301 – Gertrude of Helfta (or Gertrude the Great), German Cistercian Priestess, mystic, and saint (b. 1256)
• 1417 – Gazi Evrenos Bey, a commander from the founding period of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1288)
• 1558 – Mary I, Queen of England and Ireland (b. 1516)
• 1592 – III. Johan, king of Sweden (b. 1537)
• 1624 – Jakob Böhme, German Christian mystic (b. 1575)
• 1780 – Bernardo Bellotto, an Italian painter (b. 1720)
• 1796 – II. Catherine, Russian Tsarina (b. 1729)
• 1808 – IV. Mustafa, 29th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1779)
• 1818 - Charlotte, King III. George's wife (b. 1744)
• 1893 – Alexander I, first prince of the Principality of Bulgaria (b. 1857)
• 1917 – Auguste Rodin Thinking Man French sculptor known for his statue (b. 1840)
• 1924 – VII. Gregorios served as the 6st Ecumenical Patriarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople from December 1923, 17 to November 1924, 261 (b. 1850)
• 1929 – Herman Hollerith, American statistician (b. 1860)
• 1940 – Eric Gill, British sculptor and typeface designer (b. 1882)
• 1955 – James P. Johnson, American composer (b. 1894)
• 1959 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (b. 1887)
• 1968 – Mervyn Peake, English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator (b. 1911)
• 1971 – Gladys Cooper, British Theater and film actress (b. 1888)
• 1973 – Mirra Alfassa, French-Indian mystic (b. 1878)
• 1982 – Suat Taşer, Turkish poet, writer, theater actor and critic (b. 1919)
• 1984 – Ercüment Behzat Lav, Turkish theater artist and poet (b. 1903)
• 1990 – Robert Hofstadter, an American physicist (b. 1915)
• 1992 – Audre Lorde, American writer (b. 1934)
• 1993 – Günay Sağun, Turkish painter (b. 1930)
• 2000 – Louis Néel, French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate in Physics (b. 1904)
• 2002 – Abba Eban, former foreign minister and diplomat of Israel (b. 1915)
• 2006 – Ruth Brown, American Rhythm and Blues singer (b. 1928)
• 2006 – Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian football player (b. 1927)
• 2013 – Doris Lessing, English writer and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
• 2014 – Ilija Pantelić, Yugoslav national football player and manager (b. 1942)
• 2017 – Earle Hyman (birth name: George Earle Plummer), American black actress (b. 1926)
• 2017 – Salvatore Riina, Italian mafia boss. (b. 1930)
• 2017 – Rikard Wolff, Swedish actor and singer (b. 1958)
• 2018 – Kayo Dottley, Former American football player (b. 1928)
• 2018 – Alyque Padamsee, Indian actress (b. 1931)
• 2018 – Metin Türel, Turkish football player and coach (b. 1937)
• 2019 – Arsenio Corsellas, Spanish actor and dubbing artist (b. 1933)
• 2019 – Yıldız Kenter, Turkish cinema and theater artist (b. 1928)
• 2019 – Adnan al-Paçacı or Adnan Muzahim Emin al-Paçacı, Iraqi politician, former minister and diplomat (b. 1923)
• 2019 – Gustav Peichl, Austrian architect and writer (b. 1928)
• 2019 – Tuka Rocha, Brazilian speedway driver (b. 1982)
• 2020 – Camille Bonnet, French rugby union player (b. 1918)
• 2020 – Kay Morley, American actress (b. 1920)
• 2020 – Roman Viktyuk, Ukrainian-Russian theater director, actor and playwright (b. 1936)

Holidays and special occasions 

• International Students Day
• World Prematurity Day