AUGUST 11

• 480 BC - Persians under Xerxes defeat Spartans under King Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans fight to the last man
• 480 BC - The Persian and Greek fleets also fight the indecisive Battle of Artemisium.
• 1918 - Great War - Battle of Amiens ends
• 1919 - Constitution of Weimar Republic adopted
• 1934 - Federal prison opened at Alcatraz Island
• 1943 - World War II - First Quebec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, T. V. Soong and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
• 1948 - Olympic games open in London
• 1952 - Hussein proclaimed king of Jordan
• 1960 - Chad declares independence
• 1965 - Race riots begin in Watts area of Los Angeles, California
• 1966 - John Lennon held a press conference in Chicago excusing himself from the "Jesus affair"
• 1970 - Patent issued for the spork to the Van Brode Milling Company
• 1972 - Last United States ground combat unit departs South Vietnam
• 1994 - An Aviateca Boeing 737 crashes into Chichontepec volcano, El Salvador killing 65
• 2003 - NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
• 2003 - Jemaah Islamiah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.

Births

• 1718 - Sir Frederick Haldimand - professional soldier
• 1807 - David Rice Atchison, American politician (†1886)
• 1833 - Robert G. Ingersoll, American political leader and orator, atheist, American Civil War Colonel († 1899)
• 1902 - Lloyd Nolan, actor († 1982)
• 1902 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist († 1986)
• 1905 - Erwin Chargaff, biochemist († 2002)
• 1921 - Alex Haley, historian, novelist († 1992)
• 1925 - Carl Rowan, journalist
• 1932 - Fernando Arrabal, playwright, novelist
• 1933 - Jerry Falwell, Christian preacher and politician
• 1943 - Abigail Folger, Coffee heiress.
• 1946 - Marilyn vos Savant, newspaper columnist
• 1950 - Steve Wozniak, personal computer pioneer
• 1950 - Gennidy Nikonov- Designer of the AN-94 assault rifle
• 1953 - Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea), professional wrestler
• 1954 - Joe Jackson, singer
• 1954 - Juan Maria Solare, music composer and pianist
• 1972 - Jonathon Prandi, male model
• 1974 - Audrey Mestre, freediver

Deaths

• 480 BC - Leonidas, king of Sparta
• 1919 - Andrew Carnegie, industrialist
• 1937 - Edith Wharton, author
• 1953 - Tazio Nuvolari, racecar driver
• 1956 - Jackson Pollock, artist
• 1977 - Frederick Williams, inventor of the mercury tube

Holidays and observances

See Also:

August 10 - August 12 - July 11 - September 11 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December