11 October History
- 1531 - The Catholics defeat the Protestants at Kappel during Switzerland's second civil war.
- 1540 - Charles V of Milan puts his son Philip in control.
- 1727 - George II of England crowned.
- 1795 - In graditude for putting down a rebellion in the streets of Paris, France's National Convention appoints Napoleon Bonaparte second in command of the Army of the Interior.
- 1862 - The Confederate Congress in Richmond passes a draft law allowing anyone owning 20 or more slaves to be exempt from military service. This law confirms many southerners opinion that they are in a 'rich man's war and a poor man's fight.'
- 1877 - Outlaw Wild Bill Longley, who killed at least a dozen men, is hanged, but it took two tries; on the first try, the rope slipped and his knees drug the ground.
- 1899 - South African Boers, settler from the Netherlands, declare war on Great Britain.
- 1906 - San Francisco school board orders the segregation of Oriental schoolchildren, inciting Japanese outrage.
- 1915 - Despite international protests, Edith Cavell, an English nurse in Belgium, is executed by Germans for aiding the escape of Allied prisoners.
- 1942 - In the Battle of Cape Esperance, near the Solomon Islands, U.S. cruisers and destroyers decisively defeat a Japanese task force in a night surface encounter.
- 1945 - Negotiations between Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and Communist leader Mao Tse-tung break down. Nationalist and Communist troops are soon engaged in a civil war.
- 1950 - The Federal Communications Commission authorizes the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to begin commercial color TV broadcasts.
- 1962 - Pope John XXIII opens the 21st Ecumenical Council (Vatican II) with a call for Christian unity. This is the largest gathering of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in history; among delegate-observers are representatives of major Protestant denominations, in itself a sign of sweeping change.
- 1968 - Apollo 7, with three men aboard, is successfully launched from Cape Kennedy.
- 1972 - A French mission in Vietnam is destroyed by a U.S. bombing raid.
- 1976 - The so-called "Gang of Four," Chairman Mao Tse-tung's widow and three associates, are arrested in Peking, setting in motion an extended period of turmoil in the Chinese Communist Party.
- 1991 - Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas begin.
11 October Birthdays
- 1820 - Sir George Williams, founder of the YMCA.
- 1844 - Henry Heinz, manufacturer, founder of H.J. Heinz Co.
- 1884 - Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt.
- 1885 - Francois Mauriac, Nobel Prize-winning novelist.
- 1887 - Willie Hoppe, billiards champion.
- 1910 - Joseph Alsop, American journalist.
- 1918 - Jerome Robbins, choreographer, won Oscar for West Side Story.
- 1919 - Art Blakey, jazz drummer.