On this day: October 11

Events on October 11

• 1142 The Treaty of Shaoxing was ratified, ending the Jin–Song wars, although sporadic fighting continued until 1234. Wikipedia
• 1311 The peerage and clergy of the Kingdom of England published the Ordinances of 1311 to restrict King Edward II's powers. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: A British fleet defeated American ships at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, but gave American forces enough time to prepare their defenses for the Saratoga campaign. Wikipedia
• 1797 French Revolutionary Wars: The Royal Navy captured eleven Dutch Navy ships without any losses at the Battle of Camperdown. Wikipedia
• 1840 Bashir Shihab II surrendered to the Ottoman Empire and was removed as Emir of Mount Lebanon after an imperial decree by Sultan Abdülmecid I. Wikipedia
• 1852 The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, was inaugurated two years after being established by the University of Sydney Act. Wikipedia
• 1865 The Morant Bay rebellion, led by Paul Bogle and George William Gordon, began in Jamaica; after protestors burned down the courthouse, it was brutally suppressed by Governor Edward John Eyre. Wikipedia
• 1890 In Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution was founded. Wikipedia
• 1899 The Second Boer War erupts in South Africa between the British-ruled Cape Colony, and the Boer-ruled Transvaal and Orange Free State. Wikipedia
• 1937 Former British king Edward and his wife arrived at Berlin Friedrichstraße station to begin a tour of Nazi Germany, where they were greeted with Nazi salutes and dined with high-ranking members of the state apparatus. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: At the Battle of Cape Esperance on the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, American ships intercepted and defeated a Japanese fleet sent to attack Henderson Field. Wikipedia
• 1944 The Tuvan People's Republic is annexed by the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1950 A field-sequential color system developed by Hungarian-American engineer Peter Goldmark became the first color television system to be adopted for commercial use, only for it to be abandoned a year later. Wikipedia
• 1954 In accord with the 1954 Geneva Conference, French troops complete their withdrawal from North Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1958 NASA launches Pioneer 1, its first space probe, although it fails to achieve a stable orbit. Wikipedia
• 1962 The Second Vatican Council becomes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years. Wikipedia
• 1968 Apollo 7, the first manned mission of NASA's Apollo program, and the first three-man American space mission, launched from Complex 34 in Cape Kennedy, Florida. Wikipedia
• 1973 Typhoon Nora, the fourth-most intense tropical cyclone on record, dissipated after killing 40 people and leaving more than a million homeless across Taiwan and the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 1976 George Washington is posthumously promoted to the grade of General of the Armies. Wikipedia
• 1984 Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first American woman to perform a space walk. Wikipedia
• 1987 Sri Lankan Civil War: The Indian Peace Keeping Force began Operation Pawan to take control of Jaffna from the Tamil Tigers and enforce their disarmament as a part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. Wikipedia
• 1987 An estimated 750,000 people attended the "Great March" in Washington, D.C., to demand greater civil rights for the LGBT community. Wikipedia
• 1991 Prof. Anita Hill delivers her televised testimony concerning sexual harassment during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination. Wikipedia
• 2000 NASA launches STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle mission. Wikipedia
• 2002 A bomb exploded in the Myyrmanni shopping center in Helsinki, Finland, resulting in seven deaths and 159 injuries. Wikipedia
• 2018 Soyuz MS-10, launching an intended crew for the ISS, suffers an in-flight abort. The crew lands safely. Wikipedia

Born on October 11

• 1671 Frederick IV of Denmark (died 1730) Wikipedia
• 1739 Grigory Potemkin, Russian general and politician (died 1791) Wikipedia
• 1758 Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers, German physician and astronomer (died 1840) Wikipedia
• 1881 Hans Kelsen, Czech-American jurist and philosopher (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1884 Eleanor Roosevelt, American humanitarian and politician, 32nd First Lady of the United States (died 1962) Wikipedia
• 1884 Friedrich Bergius, German-Argentinian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1949) Wikipedia
• 1885 François Mauriac, French novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1896 Roman Jakobson, Russian-American linguist and theorist (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1926 Thích Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese monk, author, and poet (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1937 Bobby Charlton, English footballer and manager (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1942 Amitabh Bachchan, Indian film actor, producer, television host, and former politician Wikipedia
• 1947 Lucas Papademos, Greek economist and politician, 183rd Prime Minister of Greece Wikipedia
• 1948 Peter Turkson, Ghanaian cardinal Wikipedia
• 1953 David Morse, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1954 Vojislav Šešelj, Serbian lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Wikipedia
• 1962 Joan Cusack, American actress Wikipedia
• 1966 Luke Perry, American actor and producer (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1967 Peter Thiel, German and American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist Wikipedia
• 1976 Emily Deschanel, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1977 Matt Bomer, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1985 Michelle Trachtenberg, American actress (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1992 Cardi B, American rapper Wikipedia

Died on October 11

• 1303 Pope Boniface VIII (born 1235) Wikipedia
• 1347 Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1282) Wikipedia
• 1424 Jan Žižka, Czech general and Hussite leader (born 1360) Wikipedia
• 1531 Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss pastor and theologian (born 1484) Wikipedia
• 1889 James Prescott Joule, English physicist and brewer (born 1818) Wikipedia
• 1896 Anton Bruckner, Austrian organist, composer, and educator (born 1824) Wikipedia
• 1940 Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1958 Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1963 Jean Cocteau, French author, poet, and playwright (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1965 Dorothea Lange, American photographer and journalist (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 2008 Jörg Haider, Austrian lawyer and politician, Governor of Carinthia (born 1950) Wikipedia
• 2019 Alexei Leonov, Soviet/Russian cosmonaut and first human to conduct a spacewalk (born 1934) Wikipedia
• 2022 Angela Lansbury, English-American actress, singer, and producer (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2025 Diane Keaton, American actress (born 1946) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast days: Agilbert Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Alexander Sauli Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Æthelburh of Barking Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Bruno the Great Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Cainnech of Aghaboe Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Gratus of Oloron Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Gummarus Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: James the Deacon (Church of England, Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Lommán of Trim Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Maria Soledad Torres y Acosta Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Nicasius, Quirinus, Scubiculus, and Pientia Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Philip the Evangelist Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Pope John XXIII (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Radim Gaudentius Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Zenaida and Philonella Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: October 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• General Pulaski Memorial Day (United States) Wikipedia
• International Day of the Girl Child Wikipedia
• International Newspaper Carrier Day Wikipedia
• National Coming Out Day Wikipedia
• Revolution Day (North Macedonia) Wikipedia

Sources

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