November 11

Events

• 1620 - In what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod, the Mayflower Compact is signed on the Mayflower, establishing the basic laws for the Plymouth Colony.
• 1648 - France and the Netherlands agree to divide the island of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin.
• 1831 - In Jerusalem, Virginia, Nat Turner is hanged after inciting a violent slave uprising.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea - Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins burning Atlanta, Georgia to the ground in preparation for his march south.
• 1880 - Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly is hanged in Melbourne.
• 1889 - Washington is admitted as the 42nd U.S. state.
• 1911 - Many cities in the midwest broke their record highs and lows on the same day as a strong cold front rolls through. (see The 11/11/11 cold wave).
• 1918 - World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compiègne in France.
• 1918 - Poland is reestablished as a nation.
• 1918 - Emperor Charles I of Austria abdicates.
• 1921 - During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding.
• 1933 - Dust Bowl: In South Dakota, a very strong dust storm strips topsoil from desiccated farmlands (this is just one of a series of disastrous dust storms that year).
• 1940 - World War II: Battle of Taranto - The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto.
• 1940 - The German cruiser Atlantis captures top secret British mail, and sends it to Japan.
• 1940 - Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in U.S. Midwest.
• 1942 - The Road to Morocco, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour, premieres.
• 1965 - Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) was declared independent by the white minority regime of Ian Smith.
• 1966 - Gemini program: NASA launches Gemini 12.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: In a propaganda ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong and turned over to "new left" antiwar activist Tom Hayden.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt initiated - The goal of the operation is to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through Laos into South Vietnam (by the end of the operation, 3 million tons of bombs were dropped on Laos, which slowed but did not seriously disrupt trail operations).
• 1968 - A second republic is declared in the Maldives.
• 1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.
• 1975 - Angola becomes independent from Portugal (a deadly civil war soon erupts).
• 1975 - Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is sacked by the Australian Governor General, Sir John Kerr.
• 1986 - Sperry Rand and Burroughs merge to form Unisys, becoming the second largest computer company.
• 1988 - In Sacramento, California, police find a body buried in the lawn of 60-year-old boardinghouse landlady Dorothea Puente (seven bodies were eventually found and Puente was convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison).
• 1992 - The Church of England votes to allow women to become priests.
• 2000 - In Kaprun, Austria, 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.

Births

• 1050 - Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor († 1106)
• 1154 - King Sancho I of Portugal († 1212)
• 1493 - Paracelsus, physician († 1541)
• 1633 - George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, British statesman († 1695)
• 1668 - Johann Albert Fabricius, German classical scholar and bibliographer († 1736)
• 1744 - Abigail Adams, First Lady of the United States († 1818)
• 1748 - King Charles IV of Spain († 1819)
• 1792 - Mary Anne Evans, wife of Benjamin Disraeli
• 1810 - Alfred de Musset, French dramatist, poet, and novelist († 1857)
• 1821 - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist († 1881)
• 1852 - Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff, WWI († 1925)
• 1863 - Paul Signac, painter († 1935)
• 1864 - Alfred Hermann Fried, pacifist and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize 1911 († 1921)
• 1869 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy († 1947)
• 1882 - King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden († 1973)
• 1885 - George Patton, American general († 1945)
• 1887 - Roland Young, actor († 1953)
• 1889 - Clifton Webb, actor († 1966)
• 1891 - Rabbit Maranville, baseball Hall of Famer († 1954)
• 1897 - Lucky Luciano, mobster († 1962)
• 1901 - F. Van Wyck Mason, author
• 1903 - Sam Spiegel, film producer († 1985)
• 1904 - Alger Hiss, American government official, spy († 1994)
• 1909 - Robert Ryan, actor (†1973)
• 1914 - Howard Fast, author
• 1915 - William Proxmire, former U.S. Senator
• 1920 - Roy Jenkins, British politician (†2003)
• 1922 - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., American novelist
• 1925 - June Whitfield, British comedienne
• 1925 - Jonathan Winters, comedian, actor
• 1927 - Mose Allison, jazz musician
• 1928 - LaVern Baker
• 1929 - Hans Magnus Enzensberger, poet
• 1940 - Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator
• 1944 - Jesse Colin Young, musician ("The Youngbloods")
• 1945 - Daniel Ortega, Sandinista, President of Nicaragua
• 1953 - Marshall Crenshaw, musician
• 1962 - Demi Moore (born "Demetria Guynes"), actress
• 1959 - Lee Haney, American body builder
• 1964 - Calista Flockhart, American actress
• 1974 - Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor

Deaths

• 397 - Martin of Tours, French saint
• 537 - St. Silverius, Pope
• 1028 - Constantine VIII of the Byzantine Empire
• 1285 - Peter III of Aragon
• 1831 - Nat Turner, American leader of a slave rebellion
• 1855 - Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher
• 1880 - Ned Kelly hanged
• 1880 - Lucretia Mott, American feminist, abolitionist
• 1945 - Jerome David Kern, American composer
• 1974 - Alfonso Leng, Chilean composer
• 1975 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian geneticist
• 1979 - Dimitri Tiomkin, composer
• 1989 - Kenneth Maclean Glazier, Sr., minister, librarian, Secretary of the Liberal Party in Alberta
• 1995 - Corneliu Coposu, Romanian politician and dissident
• 1997 - Rodney Milburn, American athlete
• 1999 - Jacobo Timmerman, writer, journalist
• 1999 - Mary Kay Bergman, VO artist
• 2000 - Hugh Paddick, British actor
• 2003 - Jonathan Brandis, American actor

Holidays and observances

• Poland - the Independence Day
• Opening of carnival season in Germany (on 11-11, at 11:11)
• The Feast of Saint Martin
• Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth
• Armistice Day in Europe
• Veteran's Day in the United States (Formerly "Armistice Day")

See Also

November 10 - November 12 - October 11 - December 11 -- listing of all days

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

Referenced By