On this day: March 11

Events on March 11

• 1669 Mount Etna in Sicily began erupting, eventually producing the largest lava flow in the volcano's history, and damaging Catania and other towns. Wikipedia
• 1708 Queen Anne withheld royal assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, in the most recent veto by a British monarch of a bill that had been passed by Parliament. Wikipedia
• 1843 During a period of activity known as the Great Eruption, Eta Carinae briefly became the second-brightest star in the night sky. Wikipedia
• 1845 Māori forces, led by chiefs Te Ruki Kawiti and Hōne Heke, attacked the British settlement of Kororāreka, New Zealand, beginning the Flagstaff War. Wikipedia
• 1851 The first performance of Verdi's Rigoletto took place at La Fenice in Venice. Wikipedia
• 1888 The Great Blizzard of 1888 struck the northeastern United States, producing snowdrifts in excess of 50 ft (15 m) and confining some people to their houses for up to a week. Wikipedia
• 1941 World 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. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established. Wikipedia
• 1946 Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops. Wikipedia
• 1978 After hijacking a bus north of Tel Aviv, Israel, members of the Palestine Liberation Organization faction Fatah engaged in a shootout with police, resulting in the deaths of 38 civilians and most of the perpetrators. Wikipedia
• 1983 Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia. Wikipedia
• 1984 The anime film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki was released. Wikipedia
• 1985 Mikhail 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. Wikipedia
• 1990 Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970. Wikipedia
• 1990 Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1993 The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Janet Reno as the first female United States attorney general. Wikipedia
• 2003 The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague. Wikipedia
• 2004 Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain kill 191 people. Wikipedia
• 2006 Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile. Wikipedia
• 2007 Georgian authorities accused Russia of orchestrating a helicopter attack in the Kodori Valley, in the breakaway territory of Abkhazia. Wikipedia
• 2008 Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-123, carrying the first component of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station. Wikipedia
• 2009 A teenage gunman engaged in a shooting spree at a secondary school in Winnenden, Germany, killing 16, including himself. Wikipedia
• 2010 During the inauguration of Chilean president Sebastián Piñera, earthquakes registering 6.9 and 7.0 Mw struck the O'Higgins Region near the city of Pichilemu, causing widespread damage. Wikipedia
• 2011 A massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan and triggered a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Wikipedia
• 2012 U.S. Army soldier Robert Bales murdered sixteen civilians and wounded six others in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Wikipedia
• 2020 The World Health Organization (WHO) officialy declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. Wikipedia

Born on March 11

• 1544 Torquato Tasso, Italian poet and educator (died 1595) Wikipedia
• 1811 Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician and astronomer (died 1877) Wikipedia
• 1818 Marius Petipa, French-Russian dancer and choreographer (died 1910) Wikipedia
• 1890 Vannevar Bush, American engineer and academic (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1899 Frederik IX of Denmark (died 1972) Wikipedia
• 1916 Harold Wilson, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1995) Wikipedia
• 1920 Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1921 Astor Piazzolla, Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player (died 1992) Wikipedia
• 1931 Rupert Murdoch, Australian-American businessman and media magnate Wikipedia
• 1936 Antonin Scalia, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1950 Bobby McFerrin, American singer-songwriter, producer, and conductor Wikipedia
• 1952 Douglas Adams, English author and playwright (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1955 Nina Hagen, German singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1957 Qasem Soleimani, Former Iranian commander of the Quds Force (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1969 Terrence Howard, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1971 Johnny Knoxville, American actor and entertainer Wikipedia
• 1978 Didier Drogba, Ivorian footballer Wikipedia
• 1982 Thora Birch, American actress, producer, and director Wikipedia
• 1988 Fábio Coentrão, Portuguese footballer Wikipedia
• 1989 Anton Yelchin, Russian-American actor (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1993 Anthony Davis, American basketball player Wikipedia
• 1994 Andy Robertson, Scottish footballer Wikipedia

Died on March 11

• 222 Elagabalus, Roman emperor (born 203) Wikipedia
• 1722 John Toland, Irish philosopher and theorist (born 1670) Wikipedia
• 1907 Jean Casimir-Perier, French lawyer and politician, 6th President of France (born 1847) Wikipedia
• 1908 Edmondo De Amicis, Italian journalist and author (born 1846) Wikipedia
• 1931 F. W. Murnau, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1955 Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1881) Wikipedia
• 1957 Richard E. Byrd, American admiral and explorer (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1969 John Wyndham, English author (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 1970 Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1971 Philo Farnsworth, American inventor, developer of the first all electronic television system (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 1978 Claude François, French entertainer (born 1939) Wikipedia
• 2002 James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2006 Slobodan Milošević, Serbian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (born 1941) Wikipedia
• 2022 Rupiah Banda, President of Zambia (born 1937) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Alberta of Agen Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Constantine Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Óengus of Tallaght Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sophronius of Jerusalem Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vindicianus Wikipedia
• Day of Restoration of Independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 (Lithuania) Wikipedia
• Moshoeshoe Day (Lesotho) Wikipedia
• Saudi Flag Day Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “March 11” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/March 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 “March 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 March 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.