The Stevens Report concludes that members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army cooperated with the Ulster Defence Association in the killings of Catholics in Northern Ireland.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard announces that Australian forces in Operation Falconer will completely pull out by June.
Sir John Stevens releases the Stevens Report, which states that the police and other security services in Northern Ireland colluded in the murders of many innocent people, including Pat Finucane and Francisco Notarantonio, in the 1970s and 1980s.
Schoolchildren in the Central African Empire are arrested (and around 100 killed) for protesting against compulsory school uniforms. An African judicial commission later determines that Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa almost certainly took part in the massacre.
Thursday, April 17, 1975
Following several weeks of successful fighting the Khmer Republic surrenders there fore the Cambodian Civil War ends, in which the Communist party of the Khmer Rouge guerilla forces capture Phnom Penh, prompting a forcible mass evacuation of the city and starting off the infamous genocide.
Monday, April 17, 1972
The first Boston Marathon in which women are officially allowed to compete.
Friday, April 17, 1970
Apollo program: "Apollo 13" splashes down safely in the Pacific.
Saturday, April 17, 1965
The first SDS march against the Vietnam War draws 25,000 protestors to Washington, DC.
Sunday, April 17, 1960
Russwood Park, a baseball stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, burns to the ground from a fire shortly after a Chicago White Sox versus Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball game.
Thursday, April 17, 1958
King Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the World Fair in Brussels, also known as Expo '58. The Atomium forms the centrepiece.
Imre Nagy, the communist Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
Friday, April 17, 1953
Mickey Mantle hits a 565 foot (172 m) home run at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. Mantle's home run is believed to be the longest home run in baseball history by many historians.
The Treaty of Shimonoseki is signed between China and Japan. This marks the end of the first Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of Fengtien province, Taiwan, and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.ref name=shim
May 2 ndash The Grierson's Raid: Union cavalrymen are ambushed while crossing the Tickfaw river in Mississippi.
Wednesday, April 17, 1861
American Civil War: The state of Virginia secedes from the Union.
Thursday, April 17, 1856
The Chicago Historical Society museum is established at 1601 N. Clark Street, Chicago.
Sunday, April 17, 1825
Charles X of France recognizes Haiti, 21 years after it expelled the French following the successful Haitian Revolution, and demands the payment of 150 million gold francs, 30 million of which Haiti must finance through France itself, as down payment.
Monday, April 17, 1797
Sir Ralph Abercromby unsuccessfully invades San Juan, Puerto Rico in what will be one of the largest British attacks on Spanish territories in the western hemisphere, and one of the worst defeats of the English navy for years to come.
Nine Years' War: In Ireland, Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell form an alliance to try to overthrow English domination.ref name=Cassell's Chronology
Tusculum is destroyed by the army of the Commune of Rome. Jean-Claude Maire Vigueur (2010) "L'autre Rome. Une histoire des Romains à l'époque communale (XIIe-XIVe siècle)." Paris: Tallandier. pp.316.
Wednesday, April 19, 69 (Julianian calendar)
Marcus Vettius Bolanus becomes the new governor of Britain and faced a second insurrection of Venutius, king of the Brigantes.
After the Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes emperor.