October 3
October 3
War Revenue Act passed in U.S.
On October 3, 1917, six months after the United States declared war on Germany and began its participation in the First World War, the U.S. Congress passes the War Revenue…
A Year In History: 1917
Also Within This Year in History:
1917
Across the globe, 1917 brought upheaval. Russians overthrew Czar Nicholas II, then staged a second revolution, putting Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks in power and sparking a civil war. The U.S. and China both declared war on Germany, entering World War I in its fourth year. Puerto Ricans gained U.S. citizenship. And as America’s first-ever female congresswoman took office, the push for women’s suffrage intensified, with increased picketing and the arrest of many activists, followed by jailhouse hunger strikes, force feedings and mistreatment.
October 15
October 15
Dancer and spy Mata Hari is executed
Dancer, courtesan and alleged spy Mata Hari is executed for espionage by a French firing squad at Vincennes outside of Paris. She first came to Paris in 1905 and found fame as…
October 24
October 24
Battle of Caporetto
On October 24, 1917, the Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, or the Battle of Karfreit) begins. A combined German and Austro‑Hungarian force scored…
October 26
October 26
Brazil declares war on Germany
On October 26, 1917, Brazil declares its decision to enter the First World War on the side of the Allied powers. As a major player in the Atlantic trading market,…
November 2
November 2
Balfour Declaration letter written
On November 2, 1917, Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour writes an important letter to Britain’s most illustrious Jewish citizen, Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, expressing the British government’s support for a…
November 6
November 6
British victory at Passchendaele
After more than three months of bloody combat, the Third Battle of Ypres effectively comes to an end on November 6, 1917, with a hard‑won victory by British troops at…
November 6
November 6
Bolsheviks revolt in Russia
Led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin, leftist revolutionaries launch a nearly bloodless coup d’état against Russia’s ineffectual Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and other…
November 15
November 15
Georges Clemenceau named French prime minister
On November 15, 1917, with his country embroiled in a bitter international conflict that would eventually take the lives of over 1 million of its young men, 76‑year‑old Georges Clemenceau…
November 20
November 20
British launch surprise tank attack at Cambrai
At dawn on the morning of November 20, 1917, six infantry and two cavalry divisions of the British Expeditionary Force—with additional support from 14 squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps—join…
December 4
December 4
Psychiatrist reports on the phenomenon of shell shock
Well‑known psychiatrist W.H. Rivers presents his report The Repression of War Experience, based on his work at the Craiglockhart War Hospital for Neurasthenic Officers, to the Royal School of Medicine,…
December 6
December 6
The Great Halifax Explosion
At 9:05 a.m., in the harbor of Halifax in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, the most devastating manmade explosion in the pre‑atomic age occurs when the Mont Blanc, a…
December 9
December 9
Jerusalem surrenders to British troops
On the morning of December 9, 1917, after Turkish troops move out of the region after only a single day s fighting, officials of the Holy City of Jerusalem offer…
December 10
December 10
Red Cross is awarded Nobel Peace Prize
After three years of war, during which there had been no Nobel Peace Prize awarded, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the 1917 prize to the International Committee of the Red…
December 15
December 15
Russia reaches armistice with the Central Powers
A day after Bolsheviks seize control of Russian military headquarters at Mogilev, a formal ceasefire is proclaimed throughout the battle zone between Russia and the Central Powers. Immediately after their…
December 19
December 19
National Hockey League opens its first season
On December 19, 1917, Montreal teams win the first two NHL games played. In a 7‑4 win over the Ottawa Senators, the Canadiens’ Joe Malone scores five goals. In his…
December 22
December 22
Russian‑German peace talks begin at Brest‑Litovsk
A week after the armistice was signed between Russia and Germany and nearly three weeks after a ceasefire was declared on the Eastern Front, representatives of the two countries begin…
December 26
December 26
U.S. government takes over control of nation’s railroads
Eight months after the United States enters World War I on behalf of the Allies, President Woodrow Wilson announces the nationalization of a large majority of the country’s railroads under…
