December 17

546 – The Siege of Rome by the Ostrogoths under King Totila ends by bribing the Byzantine garrison and sacking the city.

1538 – After separating from the Church of Rome and appointing himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, King Henry VIII of England is excommunicated by Pope Paul III.

1777 – France formally recognizes the United States as an independent nation.

1790 – The Aztec Sun Stone calendar is discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City during repairs to the city cathedral.

1819 – Simón Bolívar, who later dies on this date in 1830, declares the independence of Gran Colombia during the Congress of Angostura.

1835 – The second Great Fire of New York destroys 13 acres of New York City’s Financial District.

1862 – General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky due to his belief they were engaged in unlicensed trade.

1892 – First issue of Vogue magazine is published.

1903 – Orville Wright, piloting the Wright Flyer, makes the first controlled powered flight of a heavier than air craft flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1933 – The first NFL Championship Game is played at Wrigley Field between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears.

1935 – The Douglas DC-3 make its first flight

1938 – While working as the head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin, Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of uranium releasing large amounts of energy.

1944 –  During the Battle of the Bulge, in areas around Malmedy, Belgium, a total of 373 known U.S. soldiers, held as Prisoners of War, are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe troops under the command of Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper.

1947 – The Boeing B-47 Stratojet makes its first flight

1950 – The 94th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the U.S. Air Force 1st Fighter Wing flies its first combat sortie in Korea in F-86 Sabres.

1957 – The U.S. successfully launches the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

1960 – Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia crush the coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil.

1969 – The U.S. Air Force officially closes its Project Blue Book study of UFOs.

1973 – Thirty travelers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.

1981 – American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.

1989 – Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President in almost 30 years.

2003 –Mojave Aerospace Ventures’ SpaceShipOne, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first powered flight reaching supersonic speed.

2014 – The United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations