April 11 in History

The Second Battle of Rivas occurred on 11 April 1856 between Costa Rican militia under General Juan Rafael Mora Porras and the Nicaraguan forces of American mercenary William Walker. The lesser known First Battle of Rivas took place on the 29 June 1855 between Walker's forces and the forces of the Chamorro government of Nicaragua.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE), commonly known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks, is an American fraternal order and charitable organization founded in 1868 in New York City. Originally established as a social club for entertainers active in theatrical and minstrel show circuits, it evolved into a nationwide fraternal organization dedicated to charitable, civic, and community service. With over 750,000 members across 1,700-plus local lodges, the Elks are known for philanthropic programs supporting veterans, youth scholarships, and disaster relief. The organization upholds four pillars—Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love, and Fidelity—and maintains traditions like the 11 o'clock toast to absent members. Historically membership was limited to white male citizens; these requirements were revised through legal decisions and internal rule changes beginning in the 1970s and continuing into the 1990s. Today, The Elks now admits all U.S. citizens over 21 who profess belief in God. The Elks National Memorial and Headquarters in Chicago, was originally dedicated in 1926 to members who served in World War I and later rededicated to honor American veterans more broadly.

Luton Town Football Club is a professional football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", Luton have played their home games at Kenilworth Road since 1905.

Tel Aviv, officially Tel Aviv-Yafo, and also known as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a population of 494,900, it is the economic and technological center of the country and a global high-tech hub. If East Jerusalem is considered part of Israel, Tel Aviv is the country's second-most-populous city, after Jerusalem; if not, Tel Aviv is the most populous city, ahead of West Jerusalem.

The Stresa Front was an agreement made in Stresa, a town on the banks of Lake Maggiore in Italy, between French prime minister Pierre-Étienne Flandin, British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, and Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini on 14 April 1935. Practically, the Stresa Front was an alliance between France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, aimed against Nazi Germany.

The Korean War was an armed conflict fought on the Korean Peninsula between North Korea and South Korea and their allies. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union, while South Korea was supported by the United Nations led by the United States under the auspices of the United Nations Command (UNC). The conflict was one of the first major proxy wars of the Cold War and one of its deadliest conflicts on non-combatants, as it is estimated that 1.5 to 3 million civilians were killed during the war. The war was the first time the United Nations Security Council authorized the use of force under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

The Bolivian Revolution of 1952, also known as the Revolution of '52, was a series of political demonstrations led by the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR), which, in alliance with the liberals and the communists, sought to overthrow the ruling Bolivian oligarchy and implement a new socioeconomic model in Bolivia. Its main leaders were the former presidents Víctor Paz Estenssoro and Hernán Siles Zuazo. The MNR government after this Revolution lasted from 9 April 1952 until the coup of 4 November 1964. In these twelve years, there was a co-government and at the same time a power struggle between the party and the labor unions.

Air India is the flag carrier of India, headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. Its primary hub is located at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, with secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The airline is owned by Air India Limited, which is owned by the Tata Group (74.9%) and Singapore Airlines (25.1%). As of November 2025, the airline serves 87 domestic and international destinations, operates a variety of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and is the second-largest airline in India by passenger volume, after IndiGo. Air India became the 27th member of Star Alliance on 11 July 2014.

Otto Adolf Eichmann was a German-Austrian official of the Nazi Party, an officer of the Schutzstaffel (SS), a convicted war criminal, and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust. He participated in the January 1942 Wannsee Conference, at which the implementation of the genocidal Final Solution to the Jewish Question was planned. Following this, he was tasked by SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich with facilitating and managing the logistics involved in the mass deportation of millions of Jews to Nazi ghettos and Nazi extermination camps across German-occupied Europe. He was captured and detained by the Allies in 1945, but escaped and eventually settled in Argentina. In May 1960, he was tracked down and abducted by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, and put on trial before the Supreme Court of Israel. The highly publicised Eichmann trial resulted in his conviction in Jerusalem, following which he was executed by hanging in 1962.

Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco was a Brazilian military officer and politician who served as the 26th president of Brazil, the first leader of the Brazilian military dictatorship following the 1964 coup d'état. He was a member of a more liberal "legalist" faction within the regime, as opposed to his more authoritarian successors.

Lyndon Baines Johnson, also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Johnson was vice president under John F. Kennedy from 1961 until Kennedy's assassination in 1963, when he assumed the presidency. Before becoming vice president, he served in both houses of the U.S. Congress, representing Texas as a member of the Democratic Party.

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency during Project Mercury and executed after Project Gemini. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in his address to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961.

The London Transport Executive was the executive agency within the Greater London Council, responsible for public transport in Greater London from 1970 to 1984. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.

The 1981 Brixton riot, or Brixton uprising, was a series of clashes between mainly black youths and the Metropolitan Police in Brixton, London, between 10 and 12 April 1981. It resulted from racial discrimination against the local black community by the mainly white police, notably over the police's increased use of stop-and-search in the area, and tensions resulting from the deaths of 13 black teenagers and young adults in the suspicious New Cross house fire that January. The main riot on 11 April, dubbed "Bloody Saturday" by Time magazine, resulted in 279 injuries to police and 45 injuries to members of the public; over a hundred vehicles were burned, including 56 police vehicles; almost 150 buildings were damaged, thirty of which were burnt out, and many shops were looted. There were 82 arrests. Reports suggested that up to 5,000 people were involved. The Brixton riot was followed by the 1981 England riots in July in many other English cities and towns. The Thatcher government commissioned an inquiry, which resulted in the Scarman Report.

On April 11, 1986, a shootout occurred between field agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and two armed men in what is now Pinecrest, Miami-Dade County, Florida. The two men, former U.S. Army servicemen Michael Lee Platt and William Russell Matix, were suspected of committing a series of robberies and violent crimes, including a murder, in and around the Miami metropolitan area.

Middlesbrough, colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, it lies in the Borough of Middlesbrough, and forms part of the Teesside built-up area and the Tees Valley. The city is governed by the Middlesbrough Council unitary authority, which is divided into twenty wards, and forms part of the Tees Valley Combined Authority along with Darlington, Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees. It is represented in Parliament by two MPs. In 2021, it had a population of 148,215.

Guillem Agulló i Salvador was a young Valencian active in the pro-independence and revolutionary political organization Maulets. He was murdered on April 11, 1993 at age 18.

The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF).

A failed coup d'état on 11 April 2002 saw Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, ousted from office for 47 hours before being restored to power. Chávez was aided in his return to power by popular support and mobilization against the coup by loyal ranks in the military. By early 2002, Chávez's approval rating had dropped to around 30%, with many business, church and media leaders being opposed to Chávez's use of emergency powers to bypass the National Assembly and institute significant government changes, arguing they were increasingly authoritarian. Meanwhile, the growing dissatisfaction with Chávez among those in the military due to his aggressive manner and alliances with Cuba and paramilitaries led multiple officers to call on Chávez to resign. Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations took place on a weekly basis as the country became increasingly divided. Retired military officers, former politicians, union leaders, and spokespeople for the Catholic Church claimed they had military support to remove Chávez from power, with an April 6 CIA intelligence report warning that plotters would try to exploit social unrest from upcoming opposition demonstrations for his removal.

The Algiers Government Palace bombings occurred on 11 April 2007 when two suicide car bombs exploded in the Algerian capital Algiers.

The 2011 Minsk Metro bombing took place on 11 April 2011 when 15 people were killed and 315 were injured when a bomb exploded within the Minsk Metro, Belarus. The explosion happened at the central Kastrychnitskaya station at 17:55 local time.

Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund or by its initialism BVB, or just Dortmund by international fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional football team, which plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system.

On 11 April 2023, the Myanmar Air Force massacred at least 165 people in the village of Pazigyi, Kantbalu Township, which is located 92 miles (148 km) west of Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city. The air force used fighter jets and helicopters to attack a large crowd of people gathering for the opening of a local office of an opposition movement. The Pazigyi attack was the junta's deadliest attack since seizing power in the 2021 coup d'état.