August 11

### 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.

### 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

### 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