March 11Birthdays & History

On this day: March 11 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 843Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire.Europe
2. 1343Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last Bishop of Prague (3 March 1343 O.S.), and, a year later, the first Archbishop of Prague.Europe
3. 1387Battle of Castagnaro: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giovanni Ordelaffi of Verona.Europe
4. 1641Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina.EuropeLatin America
5. 1649The Frondeurs and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.Europe
6. 1702The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time.Europe
7. 1708Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.Europe
8. 1784The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.Asia
9. 1795The Battle of Kharda is fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad, resulting in Maratha victory.North America
10. 1845Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hōne Heke, Kawiti and Māori tribe members chop down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororāreka, New Zealand.EuropeOceania
11. 1848Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.North America
12. 1851The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.Europe
13. 1861American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.North America
14. 1864The Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England.Europe
15. 1872Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; it is located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.Europe
16. 1879Shō Tai formally abdicates his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom.Asia
17. 1888The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people.North America
18. 1892The Saint-Germain bombing ushers France into the Ère des attentats (1892-1894).Europe
19. 1917World War I: Mesopotamian campaign: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Frederick Stanley Maude.Middle EastAsia
20. 1927In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.North America
21. 1941World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.North America
22. 1945World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.AsiaNorth America
23. 1945World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established.AsiaAsia
24. 1946Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.Europe
25. 1977The 1977 Hanafi Siege: Around 150 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.North America
26. 1978Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel's Operation Litani.Middle East
27. 1981Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.Europe
28. 1982Fifteen people are killed when Widerøe Flight 933 crashes into the Barents Sea near Gamvik, Norway.Europe
29. 1983Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia.Oceania
30. 1985Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de facto, and last, head of state.Europe
31. 1990Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union.Europe
32. 1990Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.Latin America
33. 2003The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.Europe
34. 2004Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain kill 191 people.Europe
35. 2006Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile.Latin America
36. 2008Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-123, carrying the first component of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station.Asia
37. 2009Winnenden school shooting: Fifteen are killed and nine are injured before recent graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.Europe
38. 2010Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile. Aftershocks of the 2010 Pichilemu earthquakes hit central Chile during the ceremony.Latin America
39. 2011An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.Asia
40. 2012A U.S. soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.North AmericaAsia
41. 2018A Bombardier Challenger 604 crashes into the Zagros Mountains near the Iranian city of Shar-e-kord, killing all 11 people on board.Middle East
42. 2020The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic.World
43. 2021US President Joe Biden signs the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law.North America
44. 2023The Burmese military kills at least 30 villagers, including 3 Buddhist monks, during the Pinlaung massacre in Shan State, Myanmar.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "March 11" / CC BY-SA 4.0