On this day: August 11

Events on August 11

• 106 The south-western part of Dacia (modern Romania) becomes a Roman province: Roman Dacia. Wikipedia
• 490 Battle of Adda: The Goths under Theodoric the Great and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces of Odoacer on the Adda River, near Milan. Wikipedia
• 1473 The Battle of Otlukbeli: Mehmed the Conqueror of the Ottoman Empire decisively defeats Uzun Hassan of Aq Qoyunlu. Wikipedia
• 1675 Franco-Dutch War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire defeat the French in the Battle of Konzer Brücke. Wikipedia
• 1786 Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia. Wikipedia
• 1812 Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda. Wikipedia
• 1813 In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence. Wikipedia
• 1945 Amid rumors of kidnappings of children by Jews in Kraków, a crowd of Poles took part in a pogrom, resulting in at least one death. Wikipedia
• 1945 Poles in Kraków engage in a pogrom against Jews in the city, killing one and wounding five. Wikipedia
• 1952 Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan. Wikipedia
• 1960 Chad declares independence from France. Wikipedia
• 1961 The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Wikipedia
• 1965 Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California. Wikipedia
• 1972 Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1975 East Timor: Governor Mário 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. Wikipedia
• 1979 Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners. Wikipedia
• 1982 A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others. Wikipedia
• 1984 "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. Wikipedia
• 1988 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. Wikipedia
• 1995 The Russell Hill subway accident in Toronto kills three and injures 30, due to a combination of human error and a safety system design flaw. Wikipedia
• 2003 NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history. Wikipedia
• 2003 Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. Wikipedia
• 2006 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. Wikipedia
• 2017 At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt. Wikipedia

Born on August 11

• 1086 Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1125) Wikipedia
• 1833 Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 1899) Wikipedia
• 1837 Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic (died 1894) Wikipedia
• 1858 Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1930) Wikipedia
• 1897 Enid Blyton, English author, poet, and educator (died 1968) Wikipedia
• 1921 Alex Haley, American historian and author (died 1992) Wikipedia
• 1926 Aaron Klug, Lithuanian-English chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1927 Raymond Leppard, English harpsichord player and conductor (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1932 Fernando Arrabal, Spanish actor, director, and playwright Wikipedia
• 1943 Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and politician, 10th President of Pakistan (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1944 Frederick W. Smith, American businessman, founded FedEx (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1944 Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor Wikipedia
• 1950 Steve Wozniak, American computer scientist and programmer, co-founded Apple Inc. Wikipedia
• 1953 Hulk Hogan, American professional wrestler (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1957 Masayoshi Son, Japanese technology entrepreneur and investor Wikipedia
• 1965 Viola Davis, American actress Wikipedia
• 1967 Massimiliano Allegri, Italian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1967 Joe Rogan, American actor, comedian, and television host Wikipedia
• 1968 Anna Gunn, American actress Wikipedia
• 1976 Iván Córdoba, Colombian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1983 Chris Hemsworth, Australian actor Wikipedia
• 1985 Jacqueline Fernandez, Bahraini–Sri Lankan actress Wikipedia

Died on August 11

• 1253 Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi (born 1194) Wikipedia
• 1259 Möngke Khan, Mongolian emperor (born 1208) Wikipedia
• 1464 Nicholas of Cusa, German cardinal and mystic (born 1401) Wikipedia
• 1494 Hans Memling, German-Belgian painter (born 1430) Wikipedia
• 1886 Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet and playwright (born 1843) Wikipedia
• 1890 John Henry Newman, English cardinal and theologian (born 1801) Wikipedia
• 1919 Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Carnegie Steel Company and Carnegie Hall (born 1835) Wikipedia
• 1937 Edith Wharton, American novelist and short story writer (born 1862) Wikipedia
• 1956 Jackson Pollock, American painter (born 1912) Wikipedia
• 1972 Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1994 Peter Cushing, English actor (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 2014 Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (born 1951) Wikipedia
• 2018 V S Naipaul, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 2022 Anne Heche, American actress (born 1969) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day: Athracht Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Clare of Assisi Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Gaugericus Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: John Henry Newman (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Blessed John Sandys and Stephen Rowsham Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Blessed Maurice Tornay Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Philomena Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Susanna Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Taurinus of Évreux Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Tiburtius and Chromatius Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: August 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Pakistan) Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Chad from France in 1960. Wikipedia
• Mountain Day (Japan) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “August 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.