October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 81 days remaining until the end of the year.
1634 – A flood disaster kills 15,000 people in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
1649 – After a 10-day siege, the English New Model Army under Oliver Cromwell storms the town of Wexford, Ireland - 2,000 Irish troops and 1,500 civilians are killed.
1727 – King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned king and queen.
1767 – Surveying for the Mason–Dixon line, separating Maryland and Pennsylvania, iscompleted.
1776 – American War of Independence: In the Battle of Valcou, British forces destroy most United States Navy ships.
1809 – Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies in mysterious circumstances.
1811 The Juliana, 1st steam-powered ferryboat, begins operation
1890 – In Washington, DC, the group Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
1906 – The San Francisco school board orders Japanese, Chinese and Korean students to be taught in racially segregated schools (different schools from White American students), sparking a diplomatic crisis .
1910 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to fly in an airplane.
1931 100,000 extreme-right Germans form 'Harzburger Front'
1939 : Albert Einstein wrote his famous letter to FDR about the potential of the atomic bomb. In the letter, he argued the scientific feasibility of atomic weapons, and urged the need for development of a US atomic program.
1941 : Berlin released a statement today saying that the massive offensive against Russia is almost complete and only a mopping up operation is now needed to take full control of the last English Ally on the continent of Europe. Many believe that although Russia's plight is critical it is not terminal as the red army are still a force to be reckoned with and as the cold Russian winter sets in Russia will gain back much of the ground it has lost.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance In northwest Guadalcanal, U.S. troops intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
1943 Baseball World Series: NY Yankees become first team to win 10 Championships; beat St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at Sportsman's Park for 4 games to 1 series triumph
1949 – Wilhelm Pieck is elected the first, and only, President of East Germany.
1968 – NASA launches the Apollo 7 mission; Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham on board.
1969 American blues musician Muddy Waters involved in a car crash that kills 3
1973 : The Arab Israeli war is now in it's sixth day and Israeli ground forces have crossed the cease fire line agreed after the 1967 6 day war, in commando attacks on Syrian forces with torpedo boats and commando forces.
1975 – Saturday Night Live is first broadcast; Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen hits No. 1
1982 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, is salvaged near Portsmouth, England.
1984 – On board the Space Shuttle Challenger, Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a spacewalk.
1986 – Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan meet for talks in Reykjavik, Iceland.
2002 Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wins the Nobel Peace Prize