History of the Day for:
March 11
- 1702: The first English daily newspaper to meet with some success, The Daily Courant, was launched near Fleet Street in London.
- 1845: In New Zealand, further Maori uprisings broke out against British rule.
- 1851: The first performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" as held in Venice.
- 1861: The Confederate convention in Montgomery, Alabama, adopted a constitution.
- 1927: Samuel Roxy Rothafel opened the famous Roxy Theater in New York City; the Flatheads Gang pulled off the first armored car robbery, in Pittsburgh.
- 1930: William Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
- 1935: Hermann Goering officially created the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe.
- 1941: The U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Bill, which enabled Britain to borrow money to buy additional food and arms during World War II.
- 1942: Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia, vowing, "I shall return."
- 1945: World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.
- 1948: Reginald Weit became the first black to play in the U.S. Tennis Open.
- 1959: Lorraine Hansberry's "Raisin in the Sun," the first Broadway play written by a black woman, opened.
- 1968: Otis Redding posthumously received a gold record for the single "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay."
- 1971: ABC, NBC and CBS were told by the FCC that a limited three?hour nightly program serviceor "prime time"would begin in September.
- 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev became head of the Soviet Union following the death of Konstantin Chernenko. At 54, he was the youngest member of the ruling Politburo.
- 1986: Popsicle announced its plan to end the traditional twin-stick frozen treat for a flatter, one-stick model.
- 1993: Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be attorney general.
- 1996: The EU Database Directive is passed.
- 1999: Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
- 2004: Madrid Train Bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid (Spain) kill 191 people.
- 2005: Brian Nichols goes on shooting ramapage at Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, killing three. He kills a fourth person before surrendering to the police the next day.
- 2006: Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as first female president of Chile.
- 2009: Winnenden school shooting – 17 people are killed at a school in Germany.