On August 17

Michael 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.

American musician Miles Davis released Kind of Blue, which became one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed jazz recordings of all time.

Korean War: Forty-two American prisoners of war were massacred by the Korean People's Army on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea.

Animal Farm, George Orwell's satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism, was first published.

The independence of Indonesia was proclaimed by Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta , igniting a revolution against the Dutch Empire.

World 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.

Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met in a highly secret military conference (pictured) held in Quebec City.

A category 4 hurricane made landfall in Galveston, Texas, leaving at least 275 people dead and causing $50 million in damage.

World 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.

Pike Place Market (pictured), one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the U.S. and a popular tourist attraction, opened in Seattle, Washington.

The premiere of Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner (pictured) closed the first Bayreuth Festival.

Scanian War: Swedish forces defeated Danish troops at the Battle of Halmstad.

An earthquake struck the North Anatolia region, killing over 8,000 people.

The Scottish Reformation Parliament approved a Protestant confession of faith, initiating the Scottish Reformation and disestablishing Catholicism as the national religion.

Byzantine–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.