On this day: September 11

Events on September 11

• 1390 Lithuanian Civil War (1389–1392): The Teutonic Knights begin a five-week siege of Vilnius. Wikipedia
• 1541 Santiago, Chile, is attacked by indigenous warriors, led by Michimalonco, to free eight indigenous chiefs held captive by the Spaniards. Wikipedia
• 1565 Ottoman forces retreat from Malta ending the Great Siege of Malta. Wikipedia
• 1708 Charles XII of Sweden stops his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the Great Northern War. The army is defeated nine months later in the Battle of Poltava, and the Swedish Empire ceases to be a major power. Wikipedia
• 1709 Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, Netherlands, and Austria fight against France. Wikipedia
• 1714 Siege of Barcelona: Barcelona, capital city of the Principality of Catalonia, surrenders to Spanish and French Bourbon armies in the War of the Catalans, the last phase of the War of the Spanish Succession. Wikipedia
• 1776 British and American leaders held a peace conference on Staten Island, New York, in the hopes of bringing an end to the nascent American Revolutionary War. Wikipedia
• 1857 A legion of Mormon militiamen completed a massacre of at least 120 California-bound Arkansas pioneers at Mountain Meadow, Utah. Wikipedia
• 1881 In the Swiss state of Glarus, a rockslide buries parts of the village of Elm, destroying 83 buildings and killing 115 people. Wikipedia
• 1893 Swami Vivekananda gave a speech introducing Hinduism on the opening day of the first Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. Wikipedia
• 1914 The Second Period of Russification: The teaching of the Russian language and Russian history in Finnish schools is ordered to be considerably increased as part of the forced Russification program in Finland run by Tsar Nicholas II. Wikipedia
• 1914 First World War: The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force invaded German New Guinea, winning the Battle of Bita Paka. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: Australia invades German New Guinea, defeating a German contingent at the Battle of Bita Paka. Wikipedia
• 1941 In Des Moines, Iowa, American aviator Charles Lindbergh delivered an antisemitic speech (reporting pictured) accusing Jews of controlling the media and manipulating the United States into joining World War II. Wikipedia
• 1941 Charles Lindbergh makes his Des Moines speech accusing the British, Jews and FDR's administration of conspiring for war with Germany. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: German troops occupy Corsica and Kosovo-Metohija ending the Italian occupation of Corsica. Wikipedia
• 1961 Hurricane Carla strikes the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the second strongest storm ever to hit the state. Wikipedia
• 1968 Air Canada Flight 303, a Vickers Viscount 757, was the subject of an attempted plane hijacking to Cuba by a person being chased by the CIA. Wikipedia
• 1970 The Dawson's Field hijackers release 88 of their hostages. The remaining hostages, mostly Jews and Israeli citizens, are held until September 25. Wikipedia
• 1973 A coup in Chile, headed by General Augusto Pinochet, topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Wikipedia
• 1982 The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon leave Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Phalange forces. Wikipedia
• 1985 Moimenta-Alcafache train crash, the worst railway accident to occur in Portugal. Wikipedia
• 1995 The first game of the PCA World Chess Championship 1995, pitting incumbent champion Garry Kasparov against challenger Viswanathan Anand, takes place on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower in New York City. Wikipedia
• 1997 NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars. Wikipedia
• 2012 A total of 315 people are killed in two garment factory fires in Pakistan. Wikipedia
• 2015 A crane collapses onto the Masjid al-Haram mosque in Saudi Arabia, killing 111 people and injuring 394 others. Wikipedia

Born on September 11

• 1524 Pierre de Ronsard, French poet and author (died 1585) Wikipedia
• 1771 Mungo Park, Scottish surgeon and explorer (died 1806) Wikipedia
• 1816 Carl Zeiss, German lens maker, created the Optical instrument (died 1888) Wikipedia
• 1862 O. Henry, American short story writer (died 1910) Wikipedia
• 1877 Felix Dzerzhinsky, Polish-Russian academic and politician (died 1926) Wikipedia
• 1877 James Hopwood Jeans, English physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1885 D. H. Lawrence, English novelist, poet, playwright, and critic (died 1930) Wikipedia
• 1903 Theodor Adorno, German sociologist and philosopher (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1917 Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino soldier, lawyer, and politician, 10th President of the Philippines (died 1989) Wikipedia
• 1935 Arvo Pärt, Estonian composer Wikipedia
• 1935 Gherman Titov, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (died 2000) Wikipedia
• 1939 Charles Geschke, American businessman, co-founded Adobe Systems (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1940 Brian De Palma, American director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1945 Franz Beckenbauer, German footballer and manager (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1960 Hiroshi Amano, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1965 Bashar al-Assad, Syrian politician, 21st President of Syria Wikipedia
• 1965 Moby, American singer-songwriter, musician, and DJ Wikipedia
• 1967 Sung Jae-gi, South Korean activist, founded Man of Korea (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1978 Dejan Stanković, Serbian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1979 Eric Abidal, French footballer Wikipedia
• 1981 Dylan Klebold, American mass murderer, responsible for the Columbine High School massacre (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1982 Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarusian politician Wikipedia

Died on September 11

• 1349 Bonne of Luxembourg, spouse of John II of France (born 1315) Wikipedia
• 1733 François Couperin, French organist and composer (born 1668) Wikipedia
• 1823 David Ricardo, English economist and politician (born 1772) Wikipedia
• 1888 Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Argentinian journalist and politician, 7th President of Argentina (born 1811) Wikipedia
• 1948 Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 1st Governor-General of Pakistan (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1966 Collett E. Woolman, American businessman, co-founded Delta Air Lines (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1971 Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1973 Salvador Allende, Chilean physician and politician, 29th President of Chile (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 1994 Luciano Sgrizzi, Italian harpsichordist, pianist, and composer (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 1994 Jessica Tandy, English-American actress (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 2001 Henry Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon, British peer and racing manager to Queen Elizabeth II (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2003 Anna Lindh, Swedish politician, 39th Minister of Foreign Affairs for Sweden (born 1957) Wikipedia
• 2019 B. J. Habibie, 3rd President of Indonesia (born 1936) Wikipedia
• 2024 Alberto Fujimori, Peruvian politician, professor, and engineer, President of Peru (born 1938) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Battle of Tendra Day (Russia) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Blessed Francesco Bonifacio Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Blessed Bonaventura Gran Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Deiniol Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Felix, Regula, and Exuperantius Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Harry Burleigh (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: John Gabriel Perboyre (one of Martyr Saints of China) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Leudinus (Bobo) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Our Lady of Coromoto Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Paphnutius of Thebes (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Patiens of Lyon Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Protus and Hyacinth Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Sperandia Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Theodora of Alexandria Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: September 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Death Anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Pakistan) Wikipedia
• Emergency Number Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Enkutatash falls on this day if it is not a leap year. Celebrated on the first day of Mäskäräm. (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rastafari) Wikipedia
• National Day (Catalonia) Wikipedia
• Nayrouz (Coptic Orthodox Church), September 12 on leap years. Wikipedia
• September 11 attacks-related observances (United States): National Day of Service and Remembrance Wikipedia
• September 11 attacks-related observances (United States): Patriot Day Wikipedia
• Teachers' Day (Argentina) Wikipedia

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