Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 17
August 17: Independence Day in Indonesia (1945), Gabon (1960)
- 1807 - Robert Fulton started the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
- 1896 - Bridget Driscoll became the first person to be killed in a petrol-driven car accident.
- 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.
- 1962 - East German border guards shot and killed Peter Fechter as he attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.
- 1988 - President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan was killed in a plane crash.