The world in
What happened in 1917?
41 events across 8 world regions, each with its sources.
Europe
- Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a series of revolutionary movements in the former Russian Empire. The February Revolution overthrew the Romanov dynasty and established a provisional government; in the October Revolution the Bolsheviks seized power and formed Soviet Russia. The revolution led to civil war and spurred independence movements within the former empire.
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- October Revolution
The October Revolution was the second revolution of 1917 in Russia. On 7 November 1917 (O.S. 25 October), an insurrection in Petrograd overthrew the Russian Provisional Government led by Kerensky. It is also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution, the October coup, or the Bolshevik Revolution.
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- February Revolution
On March 8, 1917, the February Revolution—first of Russia’s two revolutions that year—opened the Russian Revolution. Within days it forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate, ending the Russian Empire. Power then passed to the Russian Provisional Government, formed by liberal and capitalist forces aiming at political reform and a democratically elected constituent assembly.
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- U-boat campaign
During World War I, the Imperial German Navy waged a submarine campaign against Allied trade routes, primarily in the waters around the British Isles and the Mediterranean. Germany sought to cut off Britain's overseas supplies with U-boats in response to the Royal Navy's blockade, making this a key part of the Atlantic theatre.
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- World War I
World War I was a global military conflict fought from 1914 to 1918 between the Allies and the Central Powers. The war was primarily waged in Europe but extended to the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific, causing tens of millions of casualties and witnessing the large-scale use of new weapons. The conflict directly led to the collapse of the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires.
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- Battle of Caporetto
From 24 October to 9 November 1917, the Battle of Caporetto unfolded on the Isonzo front of World War I in northern Italy. Austro-German forces broke through, shattered Italy’s Second Army, and forced a retreat down the Isonzo to the Tagliamento, then continued the pursuit to the Piave River.
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- Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)
From 31 July to 10 November 1917, the Allies fought the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) in West Flanders, Belgium, against the German Empire. The aim was to seize the ridges south and east of Ypres, focusing on the last ridge at Passchendaele, about 8 km from Roulers on the German 4th Army’s supply route, with a planned advance toward the Thourout–Couckelaere line. The campaign formed part of an Entente strategy decided in late 1916 and May 1917; under British command, it sought to push Germans off the heights and move toward the coast to hinder submarine bases.
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- Building of Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery
Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery was built around World War I, located near the Ypres Salient in West Flanders, Belgium. Managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, it is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world.
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- Battle of Vimy Ridge
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras during the First World War, fought from 9 to 12 April 1917 in the Pas-de-Calais department of France. The Canadian Corps, comprising four divisions, was a main combatant against the German 6th Army. It was the first attack of the Nivelle Offensive, aiming to draw German reserves away from the French forces. It is one of the most renowned battles involving Canada.
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- Kerensky Offensive
The Kerensky Offensive, launched in July 1917, was the last major Russian offensive of World War I. Decided by War Minister Alexander Kerensky and led by General Brusilov, it aimed to capture Galicia from Austria-Hungary. Following the February Revolution, Russian troops suffered from low morale and war-weariness, leading to the offensive's failure. The defeat triggered the July Days crisis and hastened the October Revolution.
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- Battles of the Isonzo
The Battles of the Isonzo were a series of twelve engagements fought between Italy and Austria-Hungary from June 1915 to November 1917 along the Isonzo River on the Italian Front. Most battles took place in present-day Slovenia. Despite heavy casualties, the front changed little until the Twelfth Battle, a major Central Powers victory.
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- Ukrainian–Soviet War
The Ukrainian–Soviet War broke out in 1917 as an armed conflict between the Ukrainian People's Republic and Soviet Russia. It began after the October Revolution when Lenin sent an expeditionary force into Ukraine. The Ukrainian side was led by Symon Petliura. Considered part of the Ukrainian War of Independence, the conflict ultimately ended in the failure of Ukraine's struggle for national independence.
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- Battle of Cambrai (1917)
From 20 November to 7 December 1917, fighting took place around Cambrai in France’s Nord. The British opened the offensive; the Germans then launched the largest counter-attack against the BEF since 1914, leading to hard-fought, shifting fronts.
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- Miracle of the Sun (Fátima)
On 13 October 1917 near Fátima, Portugal, the “Miracle of the Sun” was reportedly witnessed. A prior prophecy by three shepherd children that the Virgin Mary would appear and work miracles drew a large crowd. Newspaper accounts relayed witnesses’ claims of extraordinary solar activity—the Sun seeming to dance, zig‑zag, approach the Earth, and cast multicolored light—lasting about ten minutes. Press coverage in the weeks that followed spread the testimonies widely.
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- Establishment of Canadian Cemetery No. 2
Canadian Cemetery No. 2 is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for World War I dead, situated within the Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park near Neuville-Saint-Vaast, France.
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- Mill Road Cemetery established
Around the time of World War I, a burial ground for the dead of World War I was established near Thiepval, France, known as Mill Road Cemetery, managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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- Mud Corner Cemetery established
During the First World War, the Mud Corner Cemetery was established on the Western Front near Ypres, Belgium, to bury fallen soldiers of the Allied forces. The cemetery grounds were granted to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire during the war.
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- Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery
Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery is a Commonwealth war cemetery located within the Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park in France, established for the burial of soldiers who died in World War I.
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- Establishment of Track "X" Cemetery
During the First World War on the Western Front, Track "X" Cemetery, a Commonwealth war cemetery near Ypres, Belgium, was established under British care to bury the dead of the British Empire. In recognition of the Empire's sacrifices in the defence and liberation of Belgium, King Albert I granted the cemetery grounds to the United Kingdom in perpetuity.
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- Toronto Avenue Cemetery
Toronto Avenue Cemetery is a British military cemetery of the First World War, located in Comines-Warneton, Belgium.
- Lichfield Crater Cemetery opened
During the First World War, the Lichfield Crater Commonwealth military cemetery in Thélus, Pas-de-Calais, France, was opened for the burial of fallen soldiers.
- Establishment of Buffs Road Cemetery
Buffs Road Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground located near Ypres in Belgium, for the dead of the First World War on the Western Front. Its establishment dates to around the early 20th century.
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- Louverval Military Cemetery
Louverval Military Cemetery is a First World War military cemetery in Doignies, Nord, France. Located on the site of the former Château de Louverval, it contains graves of soldiers who fell in the Battle of Cambrai and features the Louverval Memorial to the Missing.
- Battle of the Frontiers begins
The Battle of the Frontiers began in August 1914 as a series of major engagements on the Western Front of World War I. French commander Joffre and German commander Moltke the Younger implemented Plan XVII and the Schlieffen-Moltke Plan respectively. Fighting occurred along the Franco-German border and southern Belgium. The French forces were eventually forced to retreat.
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- Establishment of the Kremlin Wall Necropolis
In November 1917, 240 pro-Bolsheviks who died during the Moscow Bolshevik Uprising were buried in mass graves beneath the Kremlin Wall, marking the origin of the Red Square necropolis. This improvised burial site later evolved into the Soviet Union's national cemetery, where many prominent Communist leaders were interred.
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North America
- Mexican Revolution
A prolonged armed conflict among factions in Mexico from 1910 to 1920, aiming to end dictatorship, culminating in a constitution and a constitutional republic. It caused around one million deaths and profoundly transformed Mexican culture and government.
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- The Radium Girls Poisoning
Around 1917, factory women in Orange, New Jersey, and other sites painted watch dials with radium-based luminous paint. Told the paint was harmless, many shaped brushes with their tongues and even applied the glowing substance to nails or teeth, ingesting radium and developing radiation poisoning. Some workers later sought legal action, and a number died during the proceedings from prior exposure.
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- Pancho Villa Expedition
From March 1916 to February 7, 1917, the U.S. Army conducted the Pancho Villa Expedition to capture Villa after the Battle of Columbus in New Mexico—the first invasion of U.S. territory since the War of 1812. The operation did not achieve its objective.
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- Founding of Marine Corps Base Quantico
In 1917, the United States Marine Corps established this training base near Quantico, Virginia, covering roughly 223 km². The installation was later developed into a primary training hub for the Corps, earning it the nickname 'Crossroads of the Marine Corps'.
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- Langley Research Center founded
The Langley Research Center was founded in Hampton, Virginia, in the late 1910s. It is NASA's oldest field center, initially focused on aeronautical research and later involved in testing space hardware and planning early space missions.
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West Asia
- Armenian Genocide
Between 1915 and 1917, the Ottoman Empire's Committee of Union and Progress systematically destroyed the Armenian people, primarily through death marches and forced Islamization, resulting in approximately one million deaths.
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- Caucasus campaign
The Caucasus campaign was a series of armed conflicts between the Ottoman and Russian Empires in the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia during World War I, part of the Middle Eastern theatre. After the Russian Revolution, other entities including Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Central Caspian Dictatorship, and the British Empire became involved, with fighting continuing until the armistice in 1918. Naval operations also took place in the Black Sea.
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- Founding of the Habima Theatre
The Habima Theatre, the national theatre of Israel and one of the first Hebrew-language theatres, was established in Tel Aviv's Habima Square. Its founding marked a significant start for Hebrew theatre.
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- Arab Revolt
In June 1916, Arabs of the Hejaz, led by Sharif Hussein bin Ali of Mecca, launched an armed revolt against the Ottoman Empire as part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, aiming to create a unified Arab kingdom stretching from Aleppo to Aden.
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North Africa
- Rif War begins
In 1921, armed conflict broke out between Spain and Berber tribes of the Rif region in northern Morocco. Led by Abd el-Krim, Rifian forces used guerrilla tactics and captured Western weaponry to repeatedly defeat Spanish troops. France intervened in 1925, escalating the war, which ended with the surrender of the Rifian resistance.
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- Outbreak of the French conquest of Morocco
In 1907, France began its conquest of the Sultanate of Morocco by occupying Oujda on 29 March. Subsequent military campaigns led to the Treaty of Fes in 1912, establishing the French protectorate, while pacification operations continued until 1934.
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Central Asian steppe
- Outbreak of the Basmachi Movement
In 1916, an uprising by Muslim peoples of Central Asia against tsarist conscription and colonial rule broke out in Turkestan, marking the beginning of the Basmachi movement. This decentralized resistance later turned against Soviet rule and became the most protracted anti-colonial armed struggle in the region, gradually subsiding only by 1934.
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- Central Asian revolt of 1916
In 1916, the Russian Empire's conscription of Central Asian Muslims for service on the Eastern Front of World War I sparked a massive anti-Russian uprising among the indigenous inhabitants of Russian Turkestan. The corrupt colonial regime and Tsarist oppression across economic, political, religious, and national dimensions further fueled the revolt. The uprising spread across Central Asia, profoundly impacting local societies.
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Central & South America
- Banana Wars
Between 1898 and 1934, the United States carried out a series of military occupations, police actions, and interventions in Central America and the Caribbean. These operations were primarily conducted by the United States Marine Corps, which compiled the Small Wars Manual (1921) based on its experiences.
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Sub-Saharan Africa
- Outbreak of the East African Campaign in World War I
In 1914, as World War I broke out, a series of battles erupted in East Africa between the German Empire and the British, Belgian, and Portuguese Entente. The fighting began on the borders of German East Africa and later spread to Portuguese Mozambique, Northern Rhodesia, British East Africa, Uganda, and the Belgian Congo. German forces under Lieutenant-Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck waged a prolonged guerrilla campaign, surrendering only on 23 November 1918.
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East Asia
- Manchu Restoration of 1917
From July 1 to 12, 1917, Qing loyalist General Zhang Xun seized Beijing and reinstated the abdicated Emperor Puyi on the throne, briefly restoring the Qing dynasty. Republican forces under Duan Qirui retook the capital, ending the restoration after less than two weeks. The failed attempt resulted in Puyi's second abdication and Zhang Xun's exile.
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Around 1917
These are known only to the century, not to the year. They are listed separately so a rough date is never mistaken for an exact one.
- Establishment of Women's Suffrage Worldwide
- Establishment of Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park
- Construction of Grimeton Longwave Radio Station
- Construction of the Trans-Iranian Railway begins
- Construction of the 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Begins
- Construction of the Historic Monuments of Dengfeng in 'The Centre of Heaven and Earth'
- Establishment of the Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains
- Designation of the Maotianshan Shales member and type section