On this day: April 11

Events on April 11

• 1727 Premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion BWV 244b at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony (now Germany). Wikipedia
• 1814 The Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed, ending the War of the Sixth Coalition and forcing Napoleon to abdicate as ruler of France and sending him into exile on Elba. Wikipedia
• 1814 The Treaty of Fontainebleau ends the War of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon Bonaparte, and forces him to abdicate unconditionally for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1881 Spelman College is founded in Atlanta, Georgia, as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, an institute of higher education for African-American women. Wikipedia
• 1888 The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, considered one of the world's finest concert halls, was inaugurated. Wikipedia
• 1909 The city of Tel Aviv is founded. Wikipedia
• 1919 Paris Peace Conference: Woodrow Wilson overturns Japan's Racial Equality Proposal, stating that unanimous support was required. Wikipedia
• 1935 Stresa Front: Opening of the conference between the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini and the French Minister for Foreign Affairs Pierre Laval to condemn the German violations of the Treaty of Versailles. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. Wikipedia
• 1951 U.S. president Harry S. Truman relieved General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of his commands for making public statements about the Korean War that contradicted the administration's policies. Wikipedia
• 1957 United Kingdom agrees to Singaporean self-rule. Wikipedia
• 1961 The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem. Wikipedia
• 1968 US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. Wikipedia
• 1979 Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed. Wikipedia
• 1979 Uganda–Tanzania War: The allied forces of Tanzania and the Uganda National Liberation Front captured the capital Kampala, deposing Ugandan president Idi Amin. Wikipedia
• 1987 The London Agreement is secretly signed between Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan. Wikipedia
• 1990 Customs officers in Middlesbrough, England, seize what they believe to be the barrel of a massive gun on a ship bound for Iraq. Wikipedia
• 1993 Four hundred fifty prisoners riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, and would continue to do so for ten days, citing grievances related to prison conditions, as well as the forced vaccination of Nation of Islam prisoners (for tuberculosis) against their religious beliefs. Wikipedia
• 2001 In a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, Australia defeated American Samoa 31–0, the largest margin of victory recorded in international football. Wikipedia
• 2001 The Australia national men's soccer team sets a world record for the largest victory in an international association football match, winning the game 31–0 against American Samoa at the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for OFC. Australia's Archie Thompson also breaks the record for most goals scored by a player in an international match by scoring 13 goals. Wikipedia
• 2002 The Ghriba synagogue bombing by al-Qaeda kills 21 in Tunisia. Wikipedia
• 2002 In a coup attempt, members of the Venezuelan military detained President Hugo Chávez and demanded his resignation. Wikipedia
• 2002 Over two hundred thousand people march in Caracas towards the presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chávez. Nineteen protesters are killed. Wikipedia
• 2006 Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces Iran's claim to have successfully enriched uranium. Wikipedia
• 2007 Algiers bombings: Two bombings in Algiers kill 33 people and wound a further 222 others. Wikipedia
• 2012 A pair of great earthquakes occur in the Wharton Basin west of Sumatra in Indonesia. The maximum Mercalli intensity of this strike-slip doublet earthquake is VII (Very strong). Ten are killed, twelve are injured, and a non-destructive tsunami is observed on the island of Nias. Wikipedia

Born on April 11

• 145 Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (probable; died 211) Wikipedia
• 1770 George Canning, Irish-English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1827) Wikipedia
• 1825 Ferdinand Lassalle, German philosopher and jurist (died 1864) Wikipedia
• 1862 Charles Evans Hughes, American lawyer and politician, 44th United States Secretary of State (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1869 Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor, designed the Nobel Peace Prize medal (died 1943) Wikipedia
• 1872 Aleksandër Stavre Drenova, Albanian poet, rilindas and author of national anthem of Albania (died 1947) Wikipedia
• 1893 Dean Acheson, American lawyer and politician, 51st United States Secretary of State (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1908 Masaru Ibuka, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1917 David Westheimer, American soldier, journalist, and author (died 2005)[better source needed] Wikipedia
• 1930 Anton LaVey, American occultist, founded the Church of Satan (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1950 Bill Irwin, American actor and clown Wikipedia
• 1953 Andrew Wiles, English mathematician and academic Wikipedia
• 1953 Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian politician, 47th Prime Minister of Belgium Wikipedia
• 1957 Tessa Dahl, daughter of Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal Wikipedia
• 1960 Jeremy Clarkson, English journalist and television presenter Wikipedia
• 1981 Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 1982 Ian Bell, English cricketer[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 1987 Joss Stone, English singer-songwriter and actress[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 1987 Lights, Canadian singer-songwriter[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 1991 Thiago Alcântara, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1996 Dele Alli, English international footballer Wikipedia
• 2014 Arabella Stanton, British actress, plays Hermione Granger Wikipedia

Died on April 11

• 618 Yang Guang, Chinese emperor of the Sui Dynasty (born 569) Wikipedia
• 678 Donus, pope of the Catholic Church (born 610) Wikipedia
• 1626 Marino Ghetaldi, Ragusan mathematician and physicist (born 1568)[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 1870 Justo José de Urquiza, Argentine general, politician and first constitutional president of Argentina (born 1801) Wikipedia
• 1895 Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist (born 1830) Wikipedia
• 1918 Otto Wagner, Austrian architect and urban planner (born 1841) Wikipedia
• 1977 Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1983 Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1985 Enver Hoxha, Albanian educator and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Albania (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 1987 Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (born 1919) Wikipedia
• 2003 Cecil Howard Green, English-American geophysicist and businessman, founded Texas Instruments (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 2007 Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 2012 Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian soldier and politician, 1st President of Algeria (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 2013 Jonathan Winters, American comedian, actor and screenwriter (born 1925) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Antipas of Pergamum (Greek Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Barsanuphius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elena Guerra Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gemma Galgani Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed George Gervase Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Godeberta Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Guthlac of Crowland Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: George Selwyn (Anglicanism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Stanislaus of Szczepanów Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: April 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Juan Santamaría Day, anniversary of his death in the Second Battle of Rivas. (Costa Rica) Wikipedia
• International Louie Louie Day Wikipedia
• World Parkinson's Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “April 11” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.