Today In History. September 11

September 11 is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 111 days remaining until the end of the year.

 

Today's Highlight in History:

On September 11, 2001, on America's single-worst day of terrorism, nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 al-Qaida members hijacked four passenger jetliners, sending two of the planes smashing into New York's World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania.

 1226 – The Roman Catholic practice of public adoration of the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass spreads from monasteries to parishes.

1297 – Battle of Stirling Bridge: Scots jointly-led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeat the English.

1708 – Charles XII of Sweden stops his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the Great Northern War. The army is defeated nine months later in the Battle of Poltava, and the Swedish Empire ceases to be a major power.

1709 – Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, Netherlands and Austria fight against France.

1714 – Siege of Barcelona: Barcelona, capital city of Catalonia, surrenders to Spanish and French Bourbon armies in the War of the Spanish Succession.

1939 – World War II: Canada declares war on Germany, the country's first independent declaration of war

1940 – George Stibitz performs the first remote operation of a computer.

1941 – Ground is broken for the construction of The Pentagon.

1954 – Hurricane Edna hits New England as a Category 3 hurricane, causing significant damage and 29 deaths.
1961 – Hurricane Carla strikes the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the second strongest storm ever to hit the state.

1968 – Air France Flight 1611 crashes off Nice, France, killing 89 passengers and 6 crew.

1968 – The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) was found.

1971 – The Egyptian Constitution becomes official.

1973 – A coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Pinochet exercises dictatorial power until ousted in a referendum in 1988, staying in power until 1990.

1974 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashes in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing 69 passengers and two crew.

1985 – Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's baseball record for most career hits with his 4,192nd hit

1992 – Hurricane Iniki, one of the most damaging hurricanes in United States history, devastates the Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Oahu.

1997 – NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars.

1998 – Opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the games.
2000 – Melbourne hosts World Economic Forum where S11 protests also took place.

2001 – Two hijacked aircraft crash into the World Trade Center in New York City, while a third smashes into The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and a fourth into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in a series of coordinated suicide attacks by 19 members of al-Qaeda. Altogether, 2,996 people are killed.

2007 – Russia tests the largest conventional weapon ever, the Father of All Bombs.

2012 – The U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya is attacked, resulting in four deaths.

2013 – 400 km long Human chain called Catalan Way is organized by the Assemblea Nacional Catalana for the independence of Catalonia