On This Day — 11 March
2000s
2023
The Burmese military kills at least 30 villagers, including 3 Buddhist monks, during the Pinlaung massacre in Shan State, Myanmar.
Tatmadaw
2021
US President Joe Biden signs the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law.
President of the United States
2020
The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic.
World Health Organization
2018
A Bombardier Challenger 604 crashes into the Zagros Mountains near the Iranian city of Shar-e-kord, killing all 11 people on board.
Bombardier Challenger 600 series
2012
A U.S. soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.
Kandahar massacre
2011
An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
2010
Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile. Aftershocks of the 2010 Pichilemu earthquakes hit central Chile during the ceremony.
Sebastián Piñera
2009
Winnenden school shooting: Fifteen are killed and nine are injured before recent graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.
2009 Winnenden shootings
2008
Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-123, carrying the first component of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station.
Space Shuttle Endeavour
2006
Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile.
Michelle Bachelet
2004
Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain kill 191 people.
2004 Madrid train bombings
2003
The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.
International Criminal Court
1900s
1990
Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union.
Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania
1990
Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.
Patricio Aylwin
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.
Mikhail Gorbachev
1983
Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia.
Bob Hawke
1982
Fifteen people are killed when Widerøe Flight 933 crashes into the Barents Sea near Gamvik, Norway.
Widerøe Flight 933
1981
Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.
Kosovo
1978
Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel's Operation Litani.
Coastal road massacre
1977
The 1977 Hanafi Siege: Around 150 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
1977 Washington, D.C., attack and hostage taking
1946
Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.
Rudolf Höss
1945
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.
Imperial Japanese Navy
1945
World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established.
Empire of Vietnam
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.
World War II
1927
In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.
Samuel Roxy Rothafel
1917
World War I: Mesopotamian campaign: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Frederick Stanley Maude.
World War I
1800s
1892
The Saint-Germain bombing ushers France into the Ère des attentats (1892-1894).
Saint-Germain bombing
1888
The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people.
Great Blizzard of 1888
1879
Shō Tai formally abdicates his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Shō Tai
1872
Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; it is located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.
Seven Sisters, Neath Port Talbot
1864
The Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England.
Great Sheffield Flood
1861
American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
American Civil War
1851
The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.
Rigoletto
1848
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
1845
Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hōne Heke, Kawiti and Māori tribe members chop down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororāreka, New Zealand.
Flagstaff War
Before 1800
1795
The Battle of Kharda is fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad, resulting in Maratha victory.
Battle of Kharda
1784
The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.
Treaty of Mangalore
1708
Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
1702
The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time.
The Daily Courant
1649
The Frondeurs and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.
The Fronde
1641
Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina.
Guaraní people
1387
Battle of Castagnaro: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giovanni Ordelaffi of Verona.
Battle of Castagnaro
1343
Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last Bishop of Prague (3 March 1343 O.S.), and, a year later, the first Archbishop of Prague.
Arnošt of Pardubice
843
Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire.
Feast of Orthodoxy