A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on June 11th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On June 11, 323 BC, one of History’s greatest conquerors and generals died at the age of 32, not on the battlefield where he had spent so much time putting his life in danger, but in bed in the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon.
On June 11, 173, during the Marcomannic Wars (166–180), the Roman army in Moravia was encircled by the Quadi, a Germanic tribe, who had broken the peace treaty of 171.
On June 11, 980, Vladimir the Great was proclaimed the ruler of all Kievan Rus’, having consolidated an empire consisting of the lands from what is now Ukraine in the East to the Baltic Sea in the West, the White Sea in the North, and to the Black Sea in the South.
On June 11, 1919, Sir Barton, a chestnut Thoroughbred race horse, won the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel in America’s horse racing Triple Crown, the “Big Three” horse races held in the United States each year.
On June 11, 1937, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had eight of his top army generals executed as part of The Great Purge.
On June 11, 1939, a picnic at which hot dogs were served helped re-establish the political closeness between the United States and Great Britain and introduced the traditionally American food to an international public.
On June 11, 1963, George Wallace, the governor of Alabama stood in the doorway to the University of Alabama in a vain attempt to block four newly admitted African-American students from entering the school.
On June 11, 1963, on the same day that Alabama Governor George Wallace tried to block two Black students from entering the University of Alabama, President John F. Kennedy made a speech telling the country about his plan for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a law that would end segregation and provide equal access to all aspects of American life for people of any race.
On June 11, 1964, World War II veteran Walter Seifert went on a rampage at a Catholic elementary school outside of Cologne, Germany earning him a place on the list of history’s most evil people.
On June 11, 2002, the House of Representatives of the United States Congress officially recognized Italian American inventor Antonio Meucci as the inventor of the telephone.
On June 11, 2015, President Obama was in the strange position of having a trade agreement he and many congressional Republicans supported shot down in a vote by members of his own party.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.