What Happened on August 11th in History
30 historical events on this date
The 1920 Cork hunger strike begins which eventually results in the deaths of three Irish Republicans including the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney.
After the death of the Irish revolutionary Thomas Ashe on hunger strike Irish Republicans prisoners carried out several hunger strikes with their demands being granted. The 1920 Cork hunger strike...
The LatvianāSoviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence.
The LatvianāSoviet Peace Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Riga, was signed on 11 August 1920 by representatives of the Republic of Latvia and Soviet Russia. It officially ended the Latvian War of...
Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.
George Herman "Babe" Ruth was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan...
The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.
United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz or The Rock, was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles (2.01Ā km) off the coast of San Francisco,...
Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi.
Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian and American actress and inventor. Regarded as a successful film star, she also co-invented a radio guidance system during World War II.
Poles in KrakĆ³w engage in a pogrom against Jews in the city, killing one and wounding five.
KrakĆ³w, officially the Royal Capital City of KrakĆ³w, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a...
Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan.
Hussein bin Talal was King of Jordan from 1952 until his death in 1999. A member of the Hashemite dynasty, he is regarded as a 40th-generation direct descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens.
Alexander S. Pushkin Sheremetyevo International Airport, more commonly known as Sheremetyevo International Airport or simply Sheremetyevo is one of four international airports that serve the city of...
Chad declares independence from France.
Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the...
The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country in the world and, since its independence in 1947, the...
Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity.
Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 were Soviet space program flights in August 1962, intended to determine the ability of the human body to function in conditions of weightlessness, test the ground control...
Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.
The Watts riots, sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion or Watts Uprising, took place in the Watts neighborhood and its surrounding areas of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965. The riots...
The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the Moon.
Apollo 11 was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon, and the fifth crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program. The mission was crewed by Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module...
Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.
The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while...
At the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in The Bronx, New York, DJ Kool Herc hosts a house party widely considered to mark the birthplace of hip-hop culture and music. DJ Kool Herc demonstrates a new technique of beat juggling and Coke La Rock performs a new style of vocal performance called rapping.
1520 Sedgwick Avenue is a 102-unit apartment building in the Morris Heights neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Described in The New York Times as a long-time "haven for working class...
East Timor: Governor MƔrio Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of...
Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners.
PJSC AeroflotĀ ā Russian Airlines, commonly known as Aeroflot, is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its...
A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others.
Pan Am Flight 830 was a scheduled international flight from New Tokyo International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California via Honolulu...
"We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.
"We begin bombing in five minutes" is the last sentence of a controversial, off-the-record joke made by the president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, in 1984 during the Cold War. While...
A meeting between Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan culminates in the formation of Al-Qaeda.
Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl or Abd Al-Qader Bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz, has been described as a "major" figure "in the global jihad movement." He is said to be "one of Ayman Al-Zawahiri's...
Nickelodeon's first line of "Nicktoons" (Doug, Rugrats & Ren & Stimpy) premiere on the channel.
Nickelodeon is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Skydance. Launched on April 1,...
The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota opens. At the time the largest shopping mall in the United States.
Mall of America (MOA) is a super-regional shopping mall and entertainment complex in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located within the MinneapolisāSaint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of...
The Russell Hill subway accident in Toronto kills 3 and injures 30, due to a combination of human error and a safety system design flaw.
The 1995 Russell Hill subway accident was a train crash that occurred in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Line 1 YongeāUniversity of the Toronto subway on August 11, 1995. Three people were killed and...
An air rage incident occurs on board Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 when 19-year-old Jonathan Burton attempts to storm the cockpit, but he is subdued by other passengers and dies from his injuries.
Air rage is aggressive or violent behavior on the part of passengers and crew of aircraft, especially during flight. Air rage generally covers both behavior of a passenger or crew member that is...
NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance between 32 member statesā30 in Europe and two in North America. Founded in the aftermath of World War II, NATO...
Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
Jemaah Islamiyah was a Southeast Asian Islamist militant group based in Indonesia, which was dedicated to the establishment of an Islamic state in Southeast Asia. On 25 October 2002, immediately...
The oil tanker MT Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill.
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude...
At least 306 people are killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran.
The 2012 East Azerbaijan earthquakes ā also known as the Ahar earthquakes ā occurred on 11 August 2012, at 16:53 Iran Standard Time, near the cities of Ahar and Varzaqan in Iran's East Azerbaijan...
At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt.
The Alexandria train collision occurred on 11 August 2017 near Khorshid station in the suburbs of the eastern edge of Alexandria, Egypt.
Luna 25 launches from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Luna 25, also known as the Luna-Glob lander, was a failed Russian lunar lander mission operated by Roscosmos. It was the first lunar mission undertaken by Russia since the Soviet-era Luna 24 in...