📜 This Day in History

August 17

• 986Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: The Bulgarians defeated Byzantine forces at the battle of the Gates of Trajan near present-day Ihtiman, with Emperor Basil II barely escaping.
• 1676Scanian War: Swedish forces defeated Danish troops at the Battle of Halmstad.
• 1914World War I: Ignoring orders to retreat, Hermann von François led a successful counterattack defending East Prussia at the Battle of Stallupönen and scored the first German victory in the Eastern Front.
• 1943World War II: The Royal Air Force began a strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany's V-weapon programme by attacking the Peenemünde Army Research Center.
• 1945The independence of Indonesia was proclaimed, igniting a revolution against the Dutch Empire.
• 2008Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, setting the record for the most gold medals won by an athlete at a single games.

Born on this day

• 1893Mae West, American stage and film actress (died 1980)
• 1932V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-English novelist and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018)
• 1943Robert De Niro, American actor, entrepreneur, director, and producer
• 1953Herta Müller, Romanian-German poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate