August 11

## Events 
### Up to 1900 
* 3114 BC &ndash; 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 &ndash; The Southwestern part of Dacia (modern Romania) becomes a Roman province, Roman Dacia.
* 117 &ndash; Hadrian becomes Roman Emperor, following Trajan's death.
* 355 &ndash; Claudius Silvanus proclaims himself Roman Emperor.
* 490 &ndash; 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 &ndash; The Battle of Dupplin Moor takes place during the Scottish Wars of Independence.
* 1677 &ndash; A large part of the city of Rostock is destroyed by fire.
* 1711 &ndash; The first horse race is held at Ascot, England.
* 1718 &ndash; A British fleet attacks a Spanish fleet in the Naval Battle of Cape Passero.
* 1786 &ndash; Captain Francis Light establishes a British colony at Penang, Malaysia.
* 1804 &ndash; Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor takes the title of Emperor of Austria.
* 1812 &ndash; Peninsular War: French troops engage in battle with British–Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda.
* 1813 &ndash; In Colombia, Juan de Corral declares the independence of Antioquia.
* 1858 &ndash; The Eiger in the Swiss Alps is first climbed by Charles Barrington, accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohlen.
* 1863 &ndash; Cambodia becomes a French protectorate.
* 1867 &ndash; Das Kapital, by Karl Marx, goes on sale in Hamburg.
* 1898 &ndash; Spanish-American War: American troops enter the city of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1901 &ndash; The first German Antarctic expedition, led by Erich von Drygalski, leaves Kiel.
* 1904 &ndash; Battle of Waterberg in present–day Namibia: In a battle with German colonial troops, 30,000 Herero and Nama people are killed.
* 1914 &ndash; World War I: France declares war on Austria-Hungary.
* 1918 &ndash; World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends.
* 1919 &ndash; The Constitution of Germany's Weimar Republic is adopted.
* 1920 &ndash; End of the Latvian War of Independence
* 1929 &ndash; Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs, at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.
* 1934 &ndash; The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal Prison at Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay.
* 1942 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Hussein of Jordan is proclaimed king.
* 1959 &ndash; Sheremetyevo International Airport opens near Moscow.
* 1960 &ndash; Chad declares independence from France.
* 1961 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Vostok 3 launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome and Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity. 
* 1965 &ndash; Race riots begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.
* 1968 &ndash; The last steam train runs on British railways.
* 1972 &ndash; Vietnam War: The last US ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.
* 1979 &ndash; A dam break in Morvi, Gujarat, India, following heavy rain, kills between 2,000 and 5,000 people.
* 1982 &ndash; A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, between Tokyo and Honolulu, killing one person, and injuring 15.
* 1983 &ndash; Rio Abiseo National Park is created in Peru.
* 1984 &ndash; '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 &ndash; Ove Joensen completes his rowing journey from the Faroe Islands to Copenhagen.
* 1987 &ndash; Alan Greenspan becomes Chairman of the US Federal Reserve.
* 1988 &ndash; Al-Qaeda is founded.
* 1999 &ndash; 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 &ndash; A heatwave in Paris, France kills an estimated 144 people, with temperatures reaching 44 degrees Celsius.
* 2003 &ndash; President of Liberia Charles Taylor flees into exile in Nigeria.
* 2003 &ndash; Jemaah Islamiyah leader Ridyan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
* 2006 &ndash; Filipino oil tanker Solar 1 sinks at the island of Guimaras, leading to an oil spill.
* 2012 &ndash; Two earthquakes of a magnitude over 6, followed by several aftershocks, strike the area around Tabriz, in northwestern Iran.
* 2014 &ndash; American actor and comedian Robin Williams is found dead at his home in California, having committed suicide. He was 63 years old.
* 2017 &ndash; A train collision near Alexandria, Egypt, kills at least 41 people.

## Births 
### Up to 1900 
*1086 &ndash; Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1125)
*1379 &ndash; Yolande of Aragon (d. 1442)
*1467 &ndash; Mary of York, English princess (d. 1482)
*1667 &ndash; Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, Italian princess (d. 1743)
*1673 &ndash; Richard Mead, English physician (d. 1754)
*1706 &ndash; Princess Marie Auguste of Thurn and Taxis (d. 1756)
*1718 &ndash; Sir Frederick Haldimand, professional soldier (d. 1891)
*1772 &ndash; Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, British general (d. 1842)
*1778 &ndash; Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, German teacher (d. 1852)
*1794 &ndash; James Barton Longacre, engraver and designer of United States Indian Head cent (d. 1869)
*1801 &ndash; Eduard Devrient, German baritone (d. 1877)
*1807 &ndash; David Rice Atchison, American politician (d. 1886)
*1808 &ndash; William W. Chapman, American politician (d. 1892)
*1816 &ndash; Frederick Innes, Scottish–Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1882)
*1823 &ndash; Charlotte Mary Yonge, British writer (d. 1901)
*1824 &ndash; Martin Gropius, German architect (d. 1880)
*1825 &ndash; István Türr, Hungarian soldier, architect and engineer (d. 1908)
*1833 &ndash; Robert G. Ingersoll, American political leader and orator, atheist, American Civil War Colonel (d. 1899)
*1833 &ndash; Kido Takayoshi, Japanese politician, leading figure of the Meiji restoration (d. 1877)
*1837 &ndash; Marie François Sadi Carnot, French statesman (d. 1894)
*1858 &ndash; Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch doctor, won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering vitamins (d. 1930)
*1864 &ndash; Duarte Leite, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1950)
*1865 &ndash; Gifford Pinchot, American politician and environmentalist (d. 1946)
*1870 &ndash; Tom Richardson, English cricketer (d. 1912).
*1872 &ndash; Kijuro Shidehara, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1951)
*1879 &ndash; Frieda von Richthofen, German writer (d. 1956)
*1882 &ndash; Kimon Georgiev, 24th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 1969)
*1882 &ndash; Rodolfo Graziani, Italian general and politician (d. 1955)
*1889 &ndash; Arturo Martini, Italian sculptor (d. 1947)
*1891 &ndash; Stancho Belkovski, Bulgarian architect and lecturer (d. 1962)
*1892 &ndash; Eiji Yoshikawa, Japanese novelist (d. 1962)
*1892 &ndash; Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet (d. 1978)
*1897 &ndash; Enid Blyton, English writer (d. 1968)
*1897 &ndash; Louise Bogan, American poet (d. 1970)
*1898 &ndash; Peter Mohr Dam, 3rd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1968)
*1900 &ndash; Alexander Mosolov, Russian composer (d. 1973)

### 1901 - 1950 
*1902 &ndash; Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (d. 1986)
*1902 &ndash; Lloyd Nolan, actor (d. 1982)
*1905 &ndash; Erwin Chargaff, Austrian biochemist (d. 2002)
*1905 &ndash; Kurt Gerstein, German SS officer (d. 1945)
*1911 &ndash; Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai general and politician (d. 2004)
*1912 &ndash; Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, astronomer (d. 1954)
*1913 &ndash; Angus Wilson, British novelist (d. 1991)
*1913 &ndash; Paul Dupuis, French Canadian actor (d. 1976)
*1913 &ndash; Bob Scheffing, American baseball player and manager (d. 1985)
*1914 &ndash; Hugh Martin, American songwriter (d. 2011)
*1915 &ndash; Morris Weiss, American comic book artist and writer (d. 2014)
*1917 &ndash; Dik Browne, American cartoonist (d. 1989)
*1917 &ndash; Ilse Scholl, German activist (d. 1998)
*1918 &ndash; Thomas A. Bird, British World War II army officer and architect (d. 2017)
*1919 &ndash; Ginette Neveu, French violinist (d. 1949)
*1920 &ndash; Mike Douglas, American entertainer (d. 2006)
*1921 &ndash; Alex Haley, American historian and novelist (d. 1992)
*1923 &ndash; Stan Chambers, American television reporter (d. 2015)
*1925 &ndash; Floyd Curry, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2006)
*1925 &ndash; Arlene Dahl, American actress (d. 2021)
*1926 &ndash; Aaron Klug, Lithuanian–born British chemist (d. 2018)
*1926 &ndash; Claus von Bülow, Danish–born socialite (d. 2019)
*1927 &ndash; Raymond Leppard, English conductor
*1927 &ndash; Stuart Rosenberg, American director (d. 2007)
*1928 &ndash; Beniamino Andreatta, Italian economist and politician (d. 2007)
*1929 &ndash; Alun Hoddinott, Welsh composer (d. 2008)
*1932 &ndash; Fernando Arrabal, Spanish playwright and novelist
*1932 &ndash; Peter Eisenman, American architect
*1933 &ndash; Jerry Falwell, American Christian preacher and politician (d. 2007)
*1936 &ndash; Bill Monbouquette, American baseball player (d. 2015)
*1937 &ndash; Anna Massey, British actress (d. 2011)
*1937 &ndash; Patrick Joseph McGovern, American businessman (d. 2014)
*1942 &ndash; Mike Hugg, British musician
*1943 &ndash; Abigail Folger, American Coffee heiress (d. 1969)
*1943 &ndash; Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and politician, former President of Pakistan (d. 2023)
*1943 &ndash; Jim Kale, Canadian musician
*1944 &ndash; Frederick W. Smith, American businessman
*1944 &ndash; Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
*1946 &ndash; Marilyn vos Savant, American newspaper columnist
*1946 &ndash; Oscar Berger, 34th President of Guatemala
*1947 &ndash; Theo de Jong, Dutch footballer and manager
*1948 &ndash; Don Boyd, Scottish director, producer and screenwriter
*1948 &ndash; Jan Palach, Czech activist (d. 1969)
*1949 &ndash; Ian Charleson, Scottish actor (d. 1990)
*1949 &ndash; Eric Carmen, American singer and guitarist
*1950 &ndash; Erik Brann, American guitarist
*1950 &ndash; Andrei Golovin, Russian composer
*1950 &ndash; Gennidy Nikonov, designer of the AN-94 assault rifle
*1950 &ndash; Steve Wozniak, American personal computer pioneer

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
*1952 &ndash; Reid Blackburn, American photographer (d. 1980)
*1953 &ndash; Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea), American professional wrestler
*1954 &ndash; Joe Jackson, British singer
*1955 &ndash; Sylvia Hermon, British politician
*1956 &ndash; Pierre-Louis Lions, French mathematician
*1957 &ndash; Richie Ramone, American musician, drummer with The Ramones
*1957 &ndash; Ian Stuart Donaldson, British musician (d. 1993)
*1958 &ndash; Jah Wobble, British musician
*1959 &ndash; Gustavo Cerati, Argentine singer and musician (d. 2014)
*1959 &ndash; Richard Scudamore, English businessman
*1961 &ndash; Sunil Shetty, Indian actor
*1961 &ndash; Frederick W. Sturckow, American astronaut
*1965 &ndash; Shinji Mikami, Japanese video game designer
*1965 &ndash; Viola Davis, American actress
*1965 &ndash; Marc Bergevin, Canadian ice hockey player and general manager
*1965 &ndash; Robert Fleck, Scottish footballer
*1966 &ndash; Juan María Solare, Argentine music composer and pianist
*1966 &ndash; Nigel Martyn, English footballer
*1967 &ndash; Joe Rogan, comedian and television host
*1968 &ndash; Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau, sister–in–law to King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
*1968 &ndash; Sophie Okonedo, British actress
*1968 &ndash; Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian terrorist (d. 2009)
*1969 &ndash; Ashley Jensen, Scottish actress
*1969 &ndash; Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, Brazilian marathon runner
*1970 &ndash; Gianluca Pessotto, Italian footballer
*1972 &ndash; Agnes Samaria, Namibian athlete
*1972 &ndash; Jonathon Prandi, American male model
*1974 &ndash; Audrey Mestre, French freediver (d. 2002)
*1974 &ndash; Marie-France Dubreuil, Canadian ice dancer
*1974 &ndash; Anju Jain, Indian cricketer and coach

### From 1976 
*1976 &ndash; Iván Córdoba, Colombian footballer
*1976 &ndash; Erick Lindgren, American poker player
*1977 &ndash; Gemma Hayes, Irish musician
*1978 &ndash; Jermain Taylor, American boxer
*1978 &ndash; Chris Kelly, American rapper (Kris Kross) (d. 2013)
*1979 &ndash; Nemanja Vucicevic, Serbian footballer
*1980 &ndash; José Antonio Castro, Mexican footballer
*1980 &ndash; Sébastien Squillaci, French footballer
*1980 &ndash; Lee Suggs, American football player
*1981 &ndash; Sandi Thom, Scottish singer
*1983 &ndash; Chris Hemsworth, Australian actor
*1983 &ndash; Yuriy Krymarenko, Ukrainian high–jumper
*1984 &ndash; Melky Cabrera, Dominican baseball player
*1984 &ndash; Lucas di Grassi, Brazilian racing driver
*1986 &ndash; Kaori Fukihara, Japanese voice actress
*1986 &ndash; Richard Keogh, English–Irish footballer
*1986 &ndash; Pablo Sandoval, Venezuelan baseball player
*1987 &ndash; Dany N'Guessan, French footballer
*1988 &ndash; Patty Mills, Australian basketball player
*1990 &ndash; Nicola Zagame, Australian water polo player
*1991 &ndash; Cristian Tello, Spanish footballer
*1992 &ndash; Bryce Cotton, American basketball player
*1992 &ndash; Tomi Lahren, American conservative political commentator
*1992 &ndash; Gilli Rólantsson, Faroese footballer
*1993 &ndash; Alyson Stoner, American actress
*1993 &ndash; Gita Gutawa, Indonesian singer-songwriter and actress
*1993 &ndash; Sean McGinty, English–Irish footballer
*1993 &ndash; Andre Drummond, American basketball player
*1994 &ndash; Rand Al-Mashhadani, Iraqi competitive shooter

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
*480 BC &ndash; Leonidas, King of Sparta
*223 &ndash; Jia Xu, Chinese politician (b. 147)
*353 &ndash; Magnentius, Roman usurper (b. 303)
*449 &ndash; Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople
*897 &ndash; Wilfred the Hairy, Count of Barcelona
*1204 &ndash; King Guttorm of Norway (b. 1199)
*1253 &ndash; Saint Clare of Assisi, patron saint of television (b. 1193)
*1259 &ndash; Mongke Khan, Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (b. 1208)
*1456 &ndash; Janos Hunyadi, Hungarian regent (b. 1387)
*1563 &ndash; Bartolome de Escobedo, Spanish composer (b. 1500)
*1578 &ndash; Pedro Nunes, Portuguese mathematician (b. 1502)
*1656 &ndash; Ottavio Piccolomini, Austrian–Italian field marshal (b. 1599)
*1801 &ndash; Felix Maria Samaniego, Spanish poet (b. 1745)
*1813 &ndash; Henry James Pye, English poet (b. 1745)
*1851 &ndash; Lorenz Oken, German industrialist (b. 1779)
*1854 &ndash; Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist (b. 1798)
*1872 &ndash; Andrew Smith, Scottish physician, surgeon and zoologist (b. 1797)
*1886 &ndash; Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (b. 1843)
*1890 &ndash; John Henry Newman, English cardinal (b. 1801)
*1892 &ndash; Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician (b. 1813)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
*1903 &ndash; Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator and nationalist (b. 1839)
*1908 &ndash; Khudiram Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1889)
*1919 &ndash; Andrew Carnegie, Scottish–American industrialist, philanthropist (b. 1835)
*1936 &ndash; Blas Infante, Spanish writer and politician (b. 1885)
*1937 &ndash; Edith Wharton, American writer (b. 1862)
*1939 &ndash; Jean Bugatti, Automobile designer (b. 1909)
*1953 &ndash; Tazio Nuvolari, Italian racecar driver (b. 1892)
*1955 &ndash; Robert W. Wood, American experimental physicist (b. 1868)
*1956 &ndash; Jackson Pollock, American artist (b. 1912)
*1956 &ndash; Frieda von Richthofen, German writer (b. 1879)
*1972 &ndash; Max Theiler, South African virologist (b. 1899)
*1974 &ndash; Vicente Emilio Sojo, Venezuelan musicologist and composer (b. 1887)
*1975 &ndash; Rachel Katznelson-Shazar, Israeli politician (b. 1885)
*1978 &ndash; Mario Varglien, Italian footballer (b. 1905)
*1980 &ndash; Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1910)
*1982 &ndash; Tom Drake, American actor (b. 1918)
*1984 &ndash; Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonia–born German chess player (b. 1916)
*1984 &ndash; Alfred A. Knopf, American publisher (b. 1892)
*1986 &ndash; Heinz Strehl, German footballer (b. 1938)
*1988 &ndash; Alfred Kelbassa, German footballer (b. 1925)
*1994 &ndash; Peter Cushing, British actor (b. 1913)
*1996 &ndash; Rafael Kubelik, conductor and composer (b. 1914)

### From 2001 
*2003 &ndash; Diana Mitford, widow of British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley (b. 1910)
*2003 &ndash; Herb Brooks, American ice hockey coach (b. 1937)
*2003 &ndash; Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
*2006 &ndash; Mike Douglas, American entertainer (b. 1920)
*2008 &ndash; Fred Sinowatz, former Chancellor of Austria (b. 1929)
*2009 &ndash; Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, and sister of John F. Kennedy (b. 1921)
*2011 &ndash; Jani Lane, American musician (b. 1964)
*2013 &ndash; Henry Polic II, American actor (b. 1945)
*2013 &ndash; Shirley Herz, American publicist (b. 1925)
*2013 &ndash; Jean Bethbo Elshtain, American scholar (b. 1941)
*2014 &ndash; Vladimir Beara, Yugoslavian footballer (b. 1928)
*2014 &ndash; Raymond Gravel, Canadian politician (b. 1952)
*2014 &ndash; Pierre Ryckmans, Belgian–Australian diplomat and author (b. 1935)
*2014 &ndash; Kika Szaszkiewiczowa, Polish artist and writer (b. 1917)
*2014 &ndash; Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (b. 1951)
*2015 &ndash; Nour El-Sherif, Egyptian actor and conspiracy theorist (b. 1946)
*2015 &ndash; Harald Nielsen, Danish footballer (b. 1941)
*2016 &ndash; Hanif Mohammad, Pakistani cricketer (b. 1934)
*2017 &ndash; Abdulhussain Abdulredha, Kuwaiti actor and writer (b. 1939)
*2017 &ndash; Segun Bucknor, Nigerian musician and journalist (b. 1946)
*2017 &ndash; Yisrael Kristal, Polish–Israeli supercentenarian and Holocaust survivor, oldest–living man (b. 1903)
*2017 &ndash; Kent Lee, American Vice Admiral (b. 1923)
*2017 &ndash; Eugenio Polgovsky, Mexican film director (b. 1977)
*2018 &ndash; V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian–British writer (b. 1932)
*2018 &ndash; Fabio Mamerto Rivas Santos, Dominican Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1932)
*2018 &ndash; Morris G. Hallock, American politician (b. 1926)
*2019 &ndash; Bluey Adams, Australian footballer (b. 1935)
*2019 &ndash; Darryl Drake, American football player (b. 1956)
*2019 &ndash; Michael E. Krauss, American linguist (b. 1934)
*2019 &ndash; Ningali Lawford, Australian actress (b. 1967)
*2019 &ndash; Barbara March, Canadian actress (b. 1953)
*2019 &ndash; Walter Martínez, Honduran footballer (b. 1982)

## Observances 
* Independence Day in Chad