THE DAY IN HISTORY · JANUARY 17
January 17 in history
What happened on January 17: 4 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1928, 1935, 1945 and 1961, each linked to the map that shows it.
— Trotsky’s exile to Alma-Ata
17 Jan 1928 — Leon Trotsky, founder of the Red Army, is carried by OGPU agents onto a train and sent to Alma-Ata, more than 3,000 km from Moscow. He kept writing to his supporters from Kazakhstan until the regime decided that even this exile was too close.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE SOVIET UNION UNDER STALIN MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Zunyi Conference
15–17 Jan 1935 — In a merchant’s house in occupied Zunyi, the surviving leadership turns on its Comintern-backed commanders; Mao Zedong, sidelined for two years, joins the military triumvirate. The march changes style at once — feint, double-back, split. The party has found the commander it will keep for forty years.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE CHINA IN REVOLUTION MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
The Red Army enters Warsaw — or what remains of it after the crushed uprising. Perhaps nine in ten buildings are rubble.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WW2 MAP →
— Assassination of Patrice Lumumba
17 Jan 1961 — Congo’s first elected premier, ousted with CIA and Belgian connivance, is executed by secessionist forces in Katanga. Africa’s decolonization collides with the Cold War, and loses.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE COLD WAR MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
THE FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE
Join the Dispatch — a short welcome series, then a letter when a new atlas opens — and a printable atlas study guide of your choice is yours now, free.
NO TRACKING · YOUR ADDRESS IS USED FOR THE DISPATCH AND NOTHING ELSE · UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME