On This Day — 11 May
2000s
2024
Start/Middle of the May 2024 Solar Storms, the most powerful set of geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms.
May 2024 solar storms
2024
The 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is held in Malmö, Sweden. Nemo from Switzerland win with their song "The Code", making them the contest's first non-binary winner.
Eurovision Song Contest 2024
2022
The Burmese military executes at least 37 villagers during the Mon Taing Pin massacre in Sagaing, Myanmar.
Tatmadaw
2022
Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is killed while covering a raid in Jenin. Israel eventually admitted and apologized for the murder, after initial denials.
Shireen Abu Akleh
2016
One hundred and ten people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.
11 May 2016 Baghdad bombings
2014
Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa, DRC, in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into soccer stands by police officers.
Kinshasa
2013
Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkey.
2013 Reyhanlı car bombings
2011
An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain.
2011 Lorca earthquake
2011
The Istanbul Convention is signed in Istanbul, Turkey.
Istanbul Convention
2010
David Cameron takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the country's first coalition government since the Second World War.
David Cameron
2009
An American soldier in Iraq opens fire on a counseling center at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, killing five other US soldiers and wounding three.
Iraq
2009
Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
Space Shuttle Atlantis
2000
Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.
Second Chechen War
1900s
1998
India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.
Pokhran-II
1997
Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
Deep Blue (chess computer)
1996
After the aircraft's departure from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 on board.
ValuJet Flight 592
1987
Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
Klaus Barbie
1985
Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in the Bradford City stadium fire.
Bradford City stadium fire
1973
Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg's charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.
Pentagon Papers
1973
Aeroflot Flight 6551 crashes in Semey, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan), killing all 63 aboard.
Aeroflot Flight 6551
1970
The 1970 Lubbock tornado kills 26 and causes $250 million in damage.
Lubbock tornado
1953
In the deadliest of a series of tornadoes, an F5 tornado kills 114 in Waco, Texas.
Tornado outbreak of May 9–11, 1953
1919
Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
Uruguay
1800s
1894
Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike.
Pullman Strike
1889
An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honor.
Wham Paymaster robbery
1880
Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California.
Mussel Slough Tragedy
1878
Hödel assassination attempt by anarchist Max Hödel targeting the German Kaiser, Wilhelm I.
Hödel assassination attempt
1858
Minnesota becomes the 32nd U.S. state.
Minnesota
1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
Indian Rebellion of 1857
1813
William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth discover a route across the Blue Mountains, opening up inland Australia to settlement.
William Lawson (explorer)
1812
Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
Spencer Perceval
Before 1800
1713
Great Northern War: After losing the Battle of Helsinki to the Russians, the Swedish and Finnish troops burn the entire city, so that it would not remain intact in the hands of the Russians.
Great Northern War
1560
The Ottoman naval forces inflict a defeat on a Spanish fleet in the battle of Djerba. This marks the highpoint of Ottoman naval dominance in the Mediterranean, which starts declining five years later after the failed siege of Malta.
Ottoman Navy
1258
Louis IX of France and James I of Aragon sign the Treaty of Corbeil, renouncing claims of feudal overlordship in one another's territories and separating the House of Barcelona from the politics of France.
Louis IX of France
1068
Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, is crowned Queen of England.
Matilda of Flanders
973
In the first coronation ceremony ever held for an English monarch, Edgar the Peaceful is crowned King of England, having ruled since 959 AD. His wife, Ælfthryth, is crowned queen, the first recorded coronation for a Queen of England.
Edgar, King of England
868
A copy of the Diamond Sūtra is published, the earliest dated and printed book known.
Diamond Sutra
330
Constantine the Great dedicates the much-expanded and rebuilt city of Byzantium, changing its name to New Rome and declaring it the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Constantine the Great