January 9, 1917 – World War I: the Battle of Rafa occurs near the Egyptian border with Palestine.

January 23, 1917 – New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Fire Snake in Chinese astrology.

February 5, 1917 – The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

March 10, 1917 – Batangas is formally founded as one of the Philippines’s earliest encomiendas.

March 25, 1917 – The Georgian Orthodox Church restores its autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811.

May 13, 1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal.

August 18, 1917 – A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.

September 26, 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood begins.

November 5, 1917 – October Revolution: In Tallinn, Estonia, Communist leader Jaan Anvelt leads revolutionaries in overthrowing the Provisional Government (As Estonia and Russia are still using the Julian Calendar, subsequent period references show an October 23 date).

November 7, 1917 – The Gregorian calendar date of the October Revolution, which gets its name from the Julian calendar date of 25 October. On this date in 1917, the Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace.

January 10, 1917 – Jerry Wexler, American record producer (d. 2008)

March 22, 1917 – Irving Kaplansky, American mathematician (d. 2006)

April 10, 1917 – Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)

May 2, 1917 – Van Tien Dung, Vietnamese general and politician (d. 2002)

June 20, 1917 – Igor Śmiałowski, Polish actor (d. 2006)

July 10, 1917 – Reg Smythe, British cartoonist (Andy Capp) (d. 1998)

September 2, 1917 – Cleveland Amory, American author (d. 1997)

September 25, 1917 – Johnny Sain, American baseball player (d. 2006)

October 22, 1917 – Joan Fontaine, American actress

December 5, 1917 – Wenche Foss, Norwegian actress