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What Happened Today in History on March 11

Explore the historical events that shaped our world on March 11th. From major milestones to cultural achievements, see what happened on this day in history. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.

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222 CE, March 11

Roman Emperor Elagabalus is assassinated, and Alexander Severus becomes emperor.

1000 CE, March 11

Emperor Otto III issues a document establishing the Bishopric of Gniezno, Poland, as an archbishopric. during the Congress of Gniezno which was an amicable meeting between the Polish Duke Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III. Scholars disagree over the details of others decisions made at the convention, especially whether the ruler of Poland was pledged the king's crown or not.

1113 CE, March 11

Baldwin II becomes the King of Jerusalem.

1431 CE, March 11

Pope Eugenius IV succeeds Pope Martin V as the 207th pope.

1503 CE, March 11

Pope Julius II is elected.

1669 CE, March 11

Mount Etna in Sicily erupts, causing significant destruction to nearby towns. A catastrophic event that destroyed a large portion of Catania, Sicily, with a reported death toll of 17,000 with some contemporary accounts suggesting many less fatalities despite massive destruction. The eruption produced the longest lava flow in recorded history for Etna, burying the city and filling the moat of the Ursino Castle before entering the sea.

1702 CE, March 11

The Daily Courant, published by Elizabeth Mallet in London on March 11, 1702 became the first London newspaper to be published daily. It was a single sheet of paper, published daily except for Sundays focused on digests of foreign news providing factual reporting without commentary.

1941 CE, March 11

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act, to provide military aid to Allied nations during World War II.

1985 CE, March 11

Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

2004 CE, March 11

Coordinated bombings in Madrid's commuter train system kill 191 people and wounding around 2,000 others. More

2010 CE, March 11

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami strike in Japan causing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and considerable damage in the region. The tsunami inundated about 560 km2 and resulted in a human death toll of about 19,500 and much damage to coastal ports and towns, with over a million buildings destroyed or partly collapsed. It was a rare and complex double quake giving a severe duration of about 3 minutes. An area of the seafloor extending 650 km north-south moved typically 10-20 meters horizontally. Japan moved a few metres east and the local coastline subsided half a meter. More