Monday, August 17, 2026

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.

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

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

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

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.

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