On this day: August 11

Events on August 11

• 106 The region of Dacia, comprising parts of modern Romania, became a province of the Roman Empire. Wikipedia
• 117 Hadrian is proclaimed Roman emperor, two days after Trajan's death. 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
• 1309 Reconquista: Aragonese forces led by King James II landed on the coast of Almería, beginning an ultimately unsuccessful siege of the city, then held by the Emirate of Granada. Wikipedia
• 1492 The first conclave to be held in the Sistine Chapel elected Roderic Borja as Pope Alexander VI to succeed Innocent VIII. Wikipedia
• 1786 Francis Light founded George Town, the first British settlement in Southeast Asia and the present-day capital of the Malaysian state of Penang. Wikipedia
• 1813 In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends. Wikipedia
• 1919 Germany's Weimar Constitution is signed into law. 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
• 1929 The first Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic, the oldest and largest African-American parade in the United States, was held in Chicago. Wikipedia
• 1942 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. 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
• 1952 King Talal of Jordan was forced to abdicate due to mental illness and was succeeded by his eldest son, Hussein. Wikipedia
• 1959 Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens. Wikipedia
• 1969 The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1972 Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1973 At a party in New York City, Jamaican musician DJ Kool Herc began rapping during an extended break, laying the foundation for hip hop music. Wikipedia
• 1975 The Timorese Democratic Union launched a coup in Portuguese Timor, starting the East Timorese civil war. Wikipedia
• 1977 The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration initiated an investigation into the alleged vulnerability of the Ford Pinto to fuel leakage and fire in a rear-end collision. Wikipedia
• 1979 Two Aeroflot passenger jets collided in mid-air near Dniprodzerzhynsk in the Ukrainian SSR, killing all 178 people on both aircraft. 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
• 1992 The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, opened as the largest shopping mall in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1999 A tornado struck downtown Salt Lake City, damaging 120 homes and injuring over 100 people. Wikipedia
• 1999 Ken Levine's System Shock 2 was released to mediocre sales, but later received critical acclaim and influenced subsequent first-person shooter game design. Wikipedia
• 2012 At least 306 people were killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran. 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
• 1932 Fernando Arrabal, Spanish actor, director, and playwright Wikipedia
• 1943 Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and politician, 10th President of Pakistan (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1944 Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor Wikipedia
• 1949 Eric Carmen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2024) 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
• 1991 Cristian Tello, Spanish footballer 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “August 11” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/August 11” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

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 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for August 11 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.