August 11

August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 142 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre–Columbian Mesoamerican civilisations, notably the Maya, begins, ending either on December 21 or 23, 2012.
106 – The Southwestern part of Dacia (modern Romania) becomes a Roman province, Roman Dacia.
117 – Hadrian becomes Roman Emperor, following Trajan's death.
355 – Claudius Silvanus proclaims himself Roman Emperor.
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.
1332 – The Battle of Dupplin Moor takes place during the Scottish Wars of Independence.
1677 – A large part of the city of Rostock is destroyed by fire.
1711 – The first horse race is held at Ascot, England.
1718 – A British fleet attacks a Spanish fleet in the Naval Battle of Cape Passero.
1786 – Captain Francis Light establishes a British colony at Penang, Malaysia.
1804 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor takes the title of Emperor of Austria.
1812 – Peninsular War: French troops engage in battle with British–Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda.
1813 – In Colombia, Juan de Corral declares the independence of Antioquia.
1858 – The Eiger in the Swiss Alps is first climbed by Charles Barrington, accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohlen.
1863 – Cambodia becomes a French protectorate.
1867 – Das Kapital, by Karl Marx, goes on sale in Hamburg.
1898 – Spanish-American War: American troops enter the city of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

1901 – 2000

1901 – The first German Antarctic expedition, led by Erich von Drygalski, leaves Kiel.
1904 – Battle of Waterberg in present–day Namibia: In a battle with German colonial troops, 30,000 Herero and Nama people are killed.
1914 – World War I: France declares war on Austria-Hungary.
1918 – World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends.
1919 – The Constitution of Germany's Weimar Republic is adopted.
1920 – End of the Latvian War of Independence
1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs, at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.
1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal Prison at Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay.
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 and Wi–Fi.
1952 – Hussein of Jordan is proclaimed king.
1959 – Sheremetyevo International Airport opens near Moscow.
1960 – Chad declares independence from France.
1961 – The former Portuguese territories of India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged into the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, as part of the Republic of India.
1962 – Vostok 3 launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome and Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity.
1965 – Race riots begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.
1968 – The last steam train runs on British railways.
1972 – Vietnam War: The last US ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.
1979 – A dam break in Morvi, Gujarat, India, following heavy rain, kills between 2,000 and 5,000 people.
1982 – A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, between Tokyo and Honolulu, killing one person, and injuring 15.
1983 – Rio Abiseo National Park is created in Peru.
1984 – 'We begin bombing in five minutes': Ronald Reagan jokes while preparing for a weekly radio address while running for re–election as US president.
1986 – Ove Joensen completes his rowing journey from the Faroe Islands to Copenhagen.
1987 – Alan Greenspan becomes Chairman of the US Federal Reserve.
1988 – Al-Qaeda is founded.
1999 – A total Solar eclipse is seen over much of Europe and Asia. It is the last solar eclipse of the 2nd millennium.

From 2001

2003 – A heatwave in Paris, France kills an estimated 144 people, with temperatures reaching 44 degrees Celsius.
2003 – President of Liberia Charles Taylor flees into exile in Nigeria.
2003 – Jemaah Islamiyah leader Ridyan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
2006 – Filipino oil tanker Solar 1 sinks at the island of Guimaras, leading to an oil spill.
2012 – Two earthquakes of a magnitude over 6, followed by several aftershocks, strike the area around Tabriz, in northwestern Iran.
2014 – American actor and comedian Robin Williams is found dead at his home in California, having committed suicide. He was 63 years old.
2017 – A train collision near Alexandria, Egypt, kills at least 41 people.

Births

Up to 1900

1086 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1125)
1379 – Yolande of Aragon (d. 1442)
1467 – Mary of York, English princess (d. 1482)
1667 – Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, Italian princess (d. 1743)
1673 – Richard Mead, English physician (d. 1754)
1706 – Princess Marie Auguste of Thurn and Taxis (d. 1756)
1718 – Sir Frederick Haldimand, professional soldier (d. 1891)
1772 – Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, British general (d. 1842)
1778 – Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, German teacher (d. 1852)
1794 – James Barton Longacre, engraver and designer of United States Indian Head cent (d. 1869)
1801 – Eduard Devrient, German baritone (d. 1877)
1807 – David Rice Atchison, American politician (d. 1886)
1808 – William W. Chapman, American politician (d. 1892)
1816 – Frederick Innes, Scottish–Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1882)
1823 – Charlotte Mary Yonge, British writer (d. 1901)
1824 – Martin Gropius, German architect (d. 1880)
1825 – István Türr, Hungarian soldier, architect and engineer (d. 1908)
1833 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American political leader and orator, atheist, American Civil War Colonel (d. 1899)
1833 – Kido Takayoshi, Japanese politician, leading figure of the Meiji restoration (d. 1877)
1837 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, French statesman (d. 1894)
1858 – Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch doctor, won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering vitamins (d. 1930)
1864 – Duarte Leite, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1950)
1865 – Gifford Pinchot, American politician and environmentalist (d. 1946)
1870 – Tom Richardson, English cricketer (d. 1912).
1872 – Kijuro Shidehara, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1951)
1879 – Frieda von Richthofen, German writer (d. 1956)
1882 – Kimon Georgiev, 24th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 1969)
1882 – Rodolfo Graziani, Italian general and politician (d. 1955)
1889 – Arturo Martini, Italian sculptor (d. 1947)
1891 – Stancho Belkovski, Bulgarian architect and lecturer (d. 1962)
1892 – Eiji Yoshikawa, Japanese novelist (d. 1962)
1892 – Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet (d. 1978)
1897 – Enid Blyton, English writer (d. 1968)
1897 – Louise Bogan, American poet (d. 1970)
1898 – Peter Mohr Dam, 3rd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1968)
1900 – Alexander Mosolov, Russian composer (d. 1973)

1901 - 1950

1902 – Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (d. 1986)
1902 – Lloyd Nolan, actor (d. 1982)
1905 – Erwin Chargaff, Austrian biochemist (d. 2002)
1905 – Kurt Gerstein, German SS officer (d. 1945)
1911 – Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai general and politician (d. 2004)
1912 – Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, astronomer (d. 1954)
1913 – Angus Wilson, British novelist (d. 1991)
1913 – Paul Dupuis, French Canadian actor (d. 1976)
1913 – Bob Scheffing, American baseball player and manager (d. 1985)
1914 – Hugh Martin, American songwriter (d. 2011)
1915 – Morris Weiss, American comic book artist and writer (d. 2014)
1917 – Dik Browne, American cartoonist (d. 1989)
1917 – Ilse Scholl, German activist (d. 1998)
1918 – Thomas A. Bird, British World War II army officer and architect (d. 2017)
1919 – Ginette Neveu, French violinist (d. 1949)
1920 – Mike Douglas, American entertainer (d. 2006)
1921 – Alex Haley, American historian and novelist (d. 1992)
1923 – Stan Chambers, American television reporter (d. 2015)
1925 – Floyd Curry, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2006)
1925 – Arlene Dahl, American actress (d. 2021)
1926 – Aaron Klug, Lithuanian–born British chemist (d. 2018)
1926 – Claus von Bülow, Danish–born socialite (d. 2019)
1927 – Raymond Leppard, English conductor
1927 – Stuart Rosenberg, American director (d. 2007)
1928 – Beniamino Andreatta, Italian economist and politician (d. 2007)
1929 – Alun Hoddinott, Welsh composer (d. 2008)
1932 – Fernando Arrabal, Spanish playwright and novelist
1932 – Peter Eisenman, American architect
1933 – Jerry Falwell, American Christian preacher and politician (d. 2007)
1936 – Bill Monbouquette, American baseball player (d. 2015)
1937 – Anna Massey, British actress (d. 2011)
1937 – Patrick Joseph McGovern, American businessman (d. 2014)
1942 – Mike Hugg, British musician
1943 – Abigail Folger, American Coffee heiress (d. 1969)
1943 – Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and politician, former President of Pakistan (d. 2023)
1943 – Jim Kale, Canadian musician
1944 – Frederick W. Smith, American businessman
1944 – Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
1946 – Marilyn vos Savant, American newspaper columnist
1946 – Oscar Berger, 34th President of Guatemala
1947 – Theo de Jong, Dutch footballer and manager
1948 – Don Boyd, Scottish director, producer and screenwriter
1948 – Jan Palach, Czech activist (d. 1969)
1949 – Ian Charleson, Scottish actor (d. 1990)
1949 – Eric Carmen, American singer and guitarist
1950 – Erik Brann, American guitarist
1950 – Andrei Golovin, Russian composer
1950 – Gennidy Nikonov, designer of the AN-94 assault rifle
1950 – Steve Wozniak, American personal computer pioneer

1951 – 1975

1952 – Reid Blackburn, American photographer (d. 1980)
1953 – Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea), American professional wrestler
1954 – Joe Jackson, British singer
1955 – Sylvia Hermon, British politician
1956 – Pierre-Louis Lions, French mathematician
1957 – Richie Ramone, American musician, drummer with The Ramones
1957 – Ian Stuart Donaldson, British musician (d. 1993)
1958 – Jah Wobble, British musician
1959 – Gustavo Cerati, Argentine singer and musician (d. 2014)
1959 – Richard Scudamore, English businessman
1961 – Sunil Shetty, Indian actor
1961 – Frederick W. Sturckow, American astronaut
1965 – Shinji Mikami, Japanese video game designer
1965 – Viola Davis, American actress
1965 – Marc Bergevin, Canadian ice hockey player and general manager
1965 – Robert Fleck, Scottish footballer
1966 – Juan María Solare, Argentine music composer and pianist
1966 – Nigel Martyn, English footballer
1967 – Joe Rogan, comedian and television host
1968 – Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau, sister–in–law to King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
1968 – Sophie Okonedo, British actress
1968 – Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian terrorist (d. 2009)
1969 – Ashley Jensen, Scottish actress
1969 – Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, Brazilian marathon runner
1970 – Gianluca Pessotto, Italian footballer
1972 – Agnes Samaria, Namibian athlete
1972 – Jonathon Prandi, American male model
1974 – Audrey Mestre, French freediver (d. 2002)
1974 – Marie-France Dubreuil, Canadian ice dancer
1974 – Anju Jain, Indian cricketer and coach

From 1976

1976 – Iván Córdoba, Colombian footballer
1976 – Erick Lindgren, American poker player
1977 – Gemma Hayes, Irish musician
1978 – Jermain Taylor, American boxer
1978 – Chris Kelly, American rapper (Kris Kross) (d. 2013)
1979 – Nemanja Vucicevic, Serbian footballer
1980 – José Antonio Castro, Mexican footballer
1980 – Sébastien Squillaci, French footballer
1980 – Lee Suggs, American football player
1981 – Sandi Thom, Scottish singer
1983 – Chris Hemsworth, Australian actor
1983 – Yuriy Krymarenko, Ukrainian high–jumper
1984 – Melky Cabrera, Dominican baseball player
1984 – Lucas di Grassi, Brazilian racing driver
1986 – Kaori Fukihara, Japanese voice actress
1986 – Richard Keogh, English–Irish footballer
1986 – Pablo Sandoval, Venezuelan baseball player
1987 – Dany N'Guessan, French footballer
1988 – Patty Mills, Australian basketball player
1990 – Nicola Zagame, Australian water polo player
1991 – Cristian Tello, Spanish footballer
1992 – Bryce Cotton, American basketball player
1992 – Tomi Lahren, American conservative political commentator
1992 – Gilli Rólantsson, Faroese footballer
1993 – Alyson Stoner, American actress
1993 – Gita Gutawa, Indonesian singer-songwriter and actress
1993 – Sean McGinty, English–Irish footballer
1993 – Andre Drummond, American basketball player
1994 – Rand Al-Mashhadani, Iraqi competitive shooter

Deaths

Up to 1900

480 BC – Leonidas, King of Sparta
223 – Jia Xu, Chinese politician (b. 147)
353 – Magnentius, Roman usurper (b. 303)
449 – Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople
897 – Wilfred the Hairy, Count of Barcelona
1204 – King Guttorm of Norway (b. 1199)
1253 – Saint Clare of Assisi, patron saint of television (b. 1193)
1259 – Mongke Khan, Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (b. 1208)
1456 – Janos Hunyadi, Hungarian regent (b. 1387)
1563 – Bartolome de Escobedo, Spanish composer (b. 1500)
1578 – Pedro Nunes, Portuguese mathematician (b. 1502)
1656 – Ottavio Piccolomini, Austrian–Italian field marshal (b. 1599)
1801 – Felix Maria Samaniego, Spanish poet (b. 1745)
1813 – Henry James Pye, English poet (b. 1745)
1851 – Lorenz Oken, German industrialist (b. 1779)
1854 – Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist (b. 1798)
1872 – Andrew Smith, Scottish physician, surgeon and zoologist (b. 1797)
1886 – Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (b. 1843)
1890 – John Henry Newman, English cardinal (b. 1801)
1892 – Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician (b. 1813)

1901 – 2000

1903 – Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator and nationalist (b. 1839)
1908 – Khudiram Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1889)
1919 – Andrew Carnegie, Scottish–American industrialist, philanthropist (b. 1835)
1936 – Blas Infante, Spanish writer and politician (b. 1885)
1937 – Edith Wharton, American writer (b. 1862)
1939 – Jean Bugatti, Automobile designer (b. 1909)
1953 – Tazio Nuvolari, Italian racecar driver (b. 1892)
1955 – Robert W. Wood, American experimental physicist (b. 1868)
1956 – Jackson Pollock, American artist (b. 1912)
1956 – Frieda von Richthofen, German writer (b. 1879)
1972 – Max Theiler, South African virologist (b. 1899)
1974 – Vicente Emilio Sojo, Venezuelan musicologist and composer (b. 1887)
1975 – Rachel Katznelson-Shazar, Israeli politician (b. 1885)
1978 – Mario Varglien, Italian footballer (b. 1905)
1980 – Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1910)
1982 – Tom Drake, American actor (b. 1918)
1984 – Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonia–born German chess player (b. 1916)
1984 – Alfred A. Knopf, American publisher (b. 1892)
1986 – Heinz Strehl, German footballer (b. 1938)
1988 – Alfred Kelbassa, German footballer (b. 1925)
1994 – Peter Cushing, British actor (b. 1913)
1996 – Rafael Kubelik, conductor and composer (b. 1914)

From 2001

2003 – Diana Mitford, widow of British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley (b. 1910)
2003 – Herb Brooks, American ice hockey coach (b. 1937)
2003 – Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
2006 – Mike Douglas, American entertainer (b. 1920)
2008 – Fred Sinowatz, former Chancellor of Austria (b. 1929)
2009 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, and sister of John F. Kennedy (b. 1921)
2011 – Jani Lane, American musician (b. 1964)
2013 – Henry Polic II, American actor (b. 1945)
2013 – Shirley Herz, American publicist (b. 1925)
2013 – Jean Bethbo Elshtain, American scholar (b. 1941)
2014 – Vladimir Beara, Yugoslavian footballer (b. 1928)
2014 – Raymond Gravel, Canadian politician (b. 1952)
2014 – Pierre Ryckmans, Belgian–Australian diplomat and author (b. 1935)
2014 – Kika Szaszkiewiczowa, Polish artist and writer (b. 1917)
2014 – Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (b. 1951)
2015 – Nour El-Sherif, Egyptian actor and conspiracy theorist (b. 1946)
2015 – Harald Nielsen, Danish footballer (b. 1941)
2016 – Hanif Mohammad, Pakistani cricketer (b. 1934)
2017 – Abdulhussain Abdulredha, Kuwaiti actor and writer (b. 1939)
2017 – Segun Bucknor, Nigerian musician and journalist (b. 1946)
2017 – Yisrael Kristal, Polish–Israeli supercentenarian and Holocaust survivor, oldest–living man (b. 1903)
2017 – Kent Lee, American Vice Admiral (b. 1923)
2017 – Eugenio Polgovsky, Mexican film director (b. 1977)
2018 – V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian–British writer (b. 1932)
2018 – Fabio Mamerto Rivas Santos, Dominican Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1932)
2018 – Morris G. Hallock, American politician (b. 1926)
2019 – Bluey Adams, Australian footballer (b. 1935)
2019 – Darryl Drake, American football player (b. 1956)
2019 – Michael E. Krauss, American linguist (b. 1934)
2019 – Ningali Lawford, Australian actress (b. 1967)
2019 – Barbara March, Canadian actress (b. 1953)
2019 – Walter Martínez, Honduran footballer (b. 1982)

Observances

Independence Day in Chad