Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History
December 11
| 1688 | James II abdicates the throne because of William of Orange landing in England. | |
| 1816 | Indiana is admitted to the Union as the 19th state. | |
| 1861 | A raging fire sweeps the business district of Charleston, South Carolina, adding to an already depressed economic state. A walking tour of Charleston. | |
| 1862 | Union General Ambrose Burnside occupies Fredericksburg and prepares to attack the Confederates under Robert E. Lee. | |
| 1863 | Union gunboats Restless, Bloomer and Caroline enter St. Andrew's Bay, Fla., and begin bombardment of both Confederate quarters and saltworks. | |
| 1882 | A production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe at Boston's Bijou Theatre becomes the first performance in a theatre lit by incandescent electric lights. | |
| 1927 | Nearly 400 world leaders sign a letter to President Calvin Coolidge asking the United States to join the World Court. | |
| 1930 | As the economic crisis grows, the Bank of the United States closes its doors. | |
| 1933 | Reports say Paraguay has captured 11,000 Bolivians in the war over Chaco. | |
| 1936 | Britain's King Edward VIII abdicates the throne to marry American Wallis Warfield Simpson. | |
| 1941 | The United States declares war on Italy and Germany. | |
| 1943 | U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull demands that Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria withdraw from the war. | |
| 1945 | A Boeing B-29 Superfortress shatters all records by crossing the United States in five hours and 27 minutes. | |
| 1951 | Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball. | |
| 1955 | Israel raids Syrian positions on the Sea of Galilee. | |
| 1964 | Frank Sinatra, Jr., is returned home to his parents after being kidnapped for the ransom amount of $240,000. | |
| 1967 | The Concorde, a joint British-French venture and the world's first supersonic airliner, is unveiled in Toulouse, France. | |
| 1972 | Challenger, the lunar lander for Apollo 17, touches down on the moon's surface, the last time that men visit the moon. | |
| 1978 | Massive demonstrations take place in Tehran against the shah. | |
| Born on December 11 | ||
| 1803 | Hector Berlioz, French composer and conductor (Symphonie Fantastique, La Damnation de Faust). | |
| 1843 | Robert Koch, physician and medical researcher. | |
| 1882 | Fiorella H. La Guardia, mayor of New York City from 1933 to 1945. | |
| 1911 | Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian novelist. | |
| 1918 | Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer and winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Famous for The Gulag Archipelago. | |
| 1922 | Grace Paley, short story writer. | |
| 1926 | Willie "Big Mama" Thorton, blues singer. | |
| 1937 | Jim Harrison, novelist and poet (Legends of the Fall). | |
| 1939 | Tom McGuane, novelist and screenwriter (The Sporting Club, Bushwacked Piano). | |
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