Interesting facts about this day – March 11

March 11 is the 70th day of the year (71st in Leap Years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 295 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Wednesday, Friday or Sunday (58 of each in 400 years) than on a Monday or Tuesday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Thursday or Saturday (56).

Here are some significant historical events that occurred on March 11:

• In 222 – Emperor Elagabalus was assassinated, along with his mother, Julia Soaemias, by the Praetorian Guard during a revolt. Their mutilated bodies were dragged through the streets of Rome before being thrown into the Tiber.

• In 1387 – Battle of Castagnaro: English Condottiero, Sir John Hawkwood led Padova to victory in a factional clash with Verona.

• 1641 – Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeated bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina.

• 1649 – The Frondeurs and the French signed the Peace of Rueil.

• 1702 – The Daily Courant, England’s first national daily newspaper, was published for the first time.

• 1708 – Queen Anne withheld Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill – the last time a British monarch vetoed legislation.

• 1784 – The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brought the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.

• 1811 – During André Masséna’s retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras, a division led by French Marshal Michel Ney, fought off a combined Anglo-Portuguese force to give Masséna time to escape.

• 1818 – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, was published.

• 1824 – The United States Department of War created the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

• 1845 – Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hone Heke, Kawiti and Mãori tribe members chopped down the British flagpole for the fourth time and drove settlers out of Kororareka, New Zealand.

• 1848 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin became the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.

• 1851 – The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi took place in Venice.

• 1861 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted.

• 1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood killed 238 people in Sheffield, England.

• 1867 – The first performance of Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi took place in Paris.

• 1872 – Construction began on the Seven Sisters Colliery in South Wales, located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.

• 1879 – Shõ Tai formally abdicated his position of King of Ryukyu, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom

1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 began along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.

• 1916 – USS Nevada (BB-36) was commissioned as the first US Navy ‘super-dreadnought’.

• 1917 – World War I: Mesopotamian campaign: Baghdad fell to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Stanley Maude.

• 1918 – The first case of Spanish flu occurred, starting a devastating world-wide pandemic.

• 1927 – In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opened the Roxy Theatre.

• 1931 – Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, was introduced in the Soviet Union.

• 1932 – Booming Ben, the last heath hen, was seen for the final time.

• 1941 – World War II: United States President Franklin D Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.

• 1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempted a large-scale kamikaze attack on the US Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.

• 1945 – World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, was established with Bão Ðai as its ruler.

• 1946 – Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, was captured by British troops.

• 1975 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerrilla forces took control over Buôn Ma Thuôt commune from the South Vietnamese army.

• 1977 – The 1977 Hanafi Siege: More than 130 hostages held in Washington, DC by Hanafi Muslims were set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined in negotiations.

• 1978 – Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 were killed and more than 70 wounded when Fatah hijacked an Israeli bus, prompting Israel’s Operation Litani.

• 1983 – Pakistan successfully conducted a cold test of a nuclear weapon.

• 1990 – Lithuania declared itself independent from the Soviet Union.

• 1990 – Patricio Aylwin was sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.

• 1993 – Janet Reno was confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.

• 1999 – Infosys became the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

• 2004 – Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain killed 191 people.

• 2006 – Michelle Bachelet was inaugurated as the first female president of Chile.

• 2007 – Georgia claimed Russian helicopters attacked the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia, an accusation that Russia later categorically denied.

• 2009 – Winnenden school shooting: Sixteen were killed and 11 injured before recent graduate Tim Kretschmer shot and killed himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.

• 2010 – Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera was sworn in as President of Chile, while three earthquakes, the strongest measuring at 6.9 on the Richter Scale and all centered next to Pichilemu, capital of Cardenal Caro province, hit central Chile during the ceremony.

• 2011 – An earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter Scale struck 130 km (81 miles) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami that killed thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

• 2012 – A US soldier killed 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.

• 2016 – At least 21 people were killed by flooding and mudslides in and around São Paulo, Brazil, following heavy rain.

* Source — Google/ Wikipedia.

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