11 Things That Happened This Day In History - 17 July

1. 1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders to the British at Rochefort, France

2. 1917 - The British Royal Family adopts the Windsor name

3. 1941 - New York Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio fails to get a hit against the Cleveland Indians, which brings his historic 56-game hitting streak to an end

4. 1954 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is born

5. 1955 - Disneyland opens in California 

6. 1956 - High Society, Grace Kelly’s last film, opens

7. 1961 - Motown Records release The Supremes' first single, Buttered Popcorn

8. 1972 - A bomb explodes at a Rolling Stones gig in Montreal

9. 1974 - An explosion in the Tower of London leaves one person dead and 41 injured

10. 1976 - The opening ceremony of the 21st Olympic games in Montreal is marred by the withdrawal of 25 African countries 

11. 1998 - The last Russian Czar Nicholas II is buried 80 years after he and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks

Sources: BBC, Wikipedia,historyorb.com, infoplease.com, history.co.uk,brainyhistory.com, on-this-day.com, thepeoplehistory, onthisdayinhistory.com 

image: © Dirk Vorderstrasse