What happened on 17 July?

13 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1936 Spanish Civil War Republican government vs Franco's Nationalists; precursor to WWII and ideological battleground.
2. 1918 Execution of the Romanov family Bolsheviks shoot Tsar Nicholas II and his family in Yekaterinburg.
3. 1453 End of Hundred Years' War (Castillon) French victory at Castillon; English driven from continental France except for Calais.
4. 1936 Nationalist coup d'état Military officers in Spanish Morocco rise against the Republic; partial success splits Spain and triggers civil war.
5. 1761 Bridgewater Canal opens First major British industrial canal; sparks Britain's canal-building boom.
6. 1429 Charles VII crowned at Rheims Anointed with the sacred oil of Clovis in the cathedral where French kings are made — deep in territory that was enemy ground four months earlier — the disinherited Dauphin becomes
7. 1945 Potsdam Conference Truman, Stalin, Churchill/Attlee shaped post-war Europe; Potsdam Declaration to Japan.
8. 1948 The Candy Bomber Pilot Gail Halvorsen starts wiggling his wings on approach to Tempelhof and dropping chocolate to the children below on handkerchief parachutes. 'Operation Little Vittles' spreads
9. 1945 The Szilárd petition Leo Szilárd — whose letter began it all — circulates a petition signed by seventy Manhattan scientists urging Truman not to use the bomb without first offering Japan terms. It is c
10. 2014 Shootdown of MH17 A Malaysia Airlines jet is downed by a missile over war-torn eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 and hardening the West against Russia.
11. 1955 Disneyland opens Walt Disney's California park reinvents the amusement park as an immersive 'theme' world, a template copied worldwide.
12. 2013 Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act Same-sex marriage legalised in England and Wales; first weddings March 2014.
13. 1791 Champ de Mars massacre A month after Louis XVI's flight to Varennes, Parisians gather to petition for a republic; Lafayette's National Guard fires into the crowd, killing dozens. The Revolution's moderat