17 September 1961

The Israeli Air Force conducted missile strikes that hit multiple targets in western Syria; Syrian air defences responding to the strikes accidentally downed a Russian plane.

Adbusters, a Canadian anti-consumerist publication, organized a protest against corporate influence on democracy at Zuccotti Park in New York City that became known as Occupy Wall Street.

Seven al-Qaeda fighters attack the embassy of the United States in Sanaa, Yemen, leaving 20 people dead.

American president George W. Bush delivered remarks at the Islamic Center of Washington (pictured) condemning Islamophobia in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

Four years after AIDS was first identified in the United States, Ronald Reagan publicly acknowledged AIDS (video featured) for the first time.

Solidarity, a Polish trade union, was founded as the first independent labor union in an Eastern Bloc country.

The Jordanian army entered Amman as part of operations to oust Palestinian fedayeen from the country in events later known as Black September (smoke over city pictured).

NASA announced the Next Nine astronauts selected for the purpose of landing on the moon.

Tintin in Tibet, the twentieth volume of The Adventures of Tintin by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé and which he regarded as his favourite in the series, began serialisation.

Second World War: The Royal Navy lost its first warship in the war when German submarine U-29 torpedoed and sank HMS Courageous.

World War II: The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, sixteen days after Nazi Germany's attack on the country from the west.

Andrew Fisher, who in his previous term as premier oversaw a period of reform unmatched in the Commonwealth until the 1940s, became Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.

A British surveyor was detained by the Zulu on the border with the Colony of Natal; a demand for reparations for the incident formed part of an ultimatum that led to the Anglo-Zulu War.

American Civil War: Almost 23,000 total casualties were suffered at the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, where Confederate and Union troops fought to a tactical stalemate.

Disgruntled with the legal and political structures of the United States, Joshua Norton (pictured) distributed letters to various newspapers in San Francisco proclaiming himself to be Emperor Norton.

Harriet Tubman (pictured) escaped from slavery in the U.S. state of Maryland, and later orchestrated the rescues of other slaves via the Underground Railroad.

War of the Pyrenees: Forces from the French Army of the Eastern Pyrenees defeated two divisions of the Army of Catalonia, ending the furthest Spanish encroachment in their invasion of Roussillon.

American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army under Richard Montgomery began the Siege of Fort St. Jean in the British province of Quebec.

Portuguese Restoration War: Having crossed the Minho and entered Portuguese territory, a Spanish army was victorious in the Battle of Vilanova.

Following Louis I's death without a male heir, his daughter Mary was crowned with the title of "King" of Hungary.

Byzantine–Seljuk wars: At the Battle of Myriokephalon in Phrygia, the Seljuq Turks prevented Byzantine forces from taking the interior of Anatolia.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement.

Two bombs explode in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and Manhattan. Thirty-one people are injured in the Manhattan bombing.

Grand Theft Auto V earns more than half a billion dollars on its first day of release.