Timeline November 1917

Events in November 1917 17

• 1840 – 1917 Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) Died 17 November 1917, aged 77 Auguste Rodin was a French sculptor widely regarded as the progenitor of modern sculpture, celebrated for works including "The Thinker" and "The Kiss". His death came shortly after the opening of a museum dedicated to his work in Paris.
• 1840 – 1917 Auguste Rodin The Thinker Renowned sculptor often considered the founder of modern sculpture.
• 1917 Passchendaele Ypres, Belgium The Third Battle of Ypres was fought through the wettest autumn in decades, on ground whose drainage the shelling had destroyed. Men and horses drowned in the mud. Around half a million casualties for five miles.
• 1917 Battle of Caporetto Austro-German breakthrough routs the Italian army A combined Austro-Hungarian and German offensive shattered the Italian front near Caporetto, forcing a chaotic retreat of over 100 kilometers and huge losses in prisoners and equipment. The disaster led to a change in Italian military command and the word "Caporetto" becoming synonymous with catastrophic defeat in Italian.
• 1917 Caporetto Isonzo, Italy A German-Austrian attack using new infiltration tactics broke the Italian line and drove it back 80 miles. Italy lost 300,000 men, most of them prisoners.
• 1917 Balfour Declaration Britain endorses a Jewish national home in Palestine British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a public letter stating the government's support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, while noting that the rights of existing non-Jewish communities should not be prejudiced. The declaration became a foundational document in the modern Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• 1917 The Balfour Declaration London, United Kingdom A letter of 67 words committing Britain to a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, while promising not to prejudice the rights of the existing population. Both halves are still being argued over.
• 1917 – 1924 Lenin leads Soviet Russia October Revolution to death — 1917 to 1924 Lenin led Soviet Russia from the October Revolution on November 7, 1917, and the Soviet Union from its formation in December 1922 until his death on January 21, 1924. He established the one-party Bolshevik state and the foundations of Soviet communism.
• 1917 Russian Revolution Invokes Marxism Marxist theory put into revolutionary practice The Bolshevik-led Russian Revolution of October 1917, guided by Vladimir Lenin's adaptation of Marxist theory, established the world's first self-declared Marxist state and marked the beginning of Marxism-Leninism as a global political force. The revolution demonstrated the enormous 20th-century impact of Marx's ideas, decades after his death, reshaping global geopolitics for the rest of the century.
• 1917 The October Revolution Petrograd, Russia The Bolsheviks seized power, promising peace, land and bread. Russia's exit from the war freed fifty German divisions for the Western Front — and set the century's other great course.
• 1917 Marries Rose Beuret — both die within weeks In January 1917, with both seriously ill, Rodin finally marries Rose Beuret — his companion of 53 years. She dies on 14 February 1917, two weeks after their wedding. Rodin, who has suffered a series of strokes, survives her by nine months. He dies on 17 November 1917 at Meudon, aged 77, from congestion of the lungs. He is buried beside Rose in the garden of the Villa des Brillants at Meudon, beneath a cast of The Thinker. The inscription on the base reads: 'Au grand créateur, à l'artiste inspiré' — To the great creator, to the inspired artist.
• 1917 – 1984 Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) Died 31 October 1984, aged 66 Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was shot and killed by two of her Sikh bodyguards at her residence in New Delhi, in apparent revenge for Operation Blue Star. Her assassination triggered widespread anti-Sikh violence across India. She was succeeded as prime minister by her son Rajiv Gandhi.
• 1917 Battle of Cambrai First massed use of tanks in warfare British forces launched a surprise offensive near Cambrai using hundreds of tanks en masse for the first time, achieving rapid early gains before a German counterattack recovered most of the lost ground. The battle proved the tactical potential of armored warfare and influenced military doctrine for decades.
• 1917 Cambrai Cambrai, France Nearly 400 tanks attacked together over firm ground without a preliminary bombardment, and broke through. Church bells rang in Britain. A German counter-attack took most of the ground back.
• 1917 Deraa Deraa, Ottoman Syria Captured while scouting in disguise, Lawrence was beaten and, by his own account in Seven Pillars, sexually assaulted before escaping. Historians disagree about what happened; he described it as the night his will broke.
• 1917 – 2010 Robert Byrd (1917-2010) Died 28 June 2010, aged 92 Byrd was a United States Senator from West Virginia who served longer than any other senator in American history, spanning more than 50 years in office. He was a leading advocate for Senate procedure and constitutional authority. He died in office of natural causes.
• 1917 National Hockey League founded Canadian teams form a new professional ice hockey league Team owners meeting in Montreal established the NHL after a dispute within its predecessor league. It began play that December with four teams and would go on to become the sport's dominant professional league.