On this day: 11 March

Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire.

Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last Bishop of Prague (3 March 1343 O.S.), and, a year later, the first Archbishop of Prague.

Battle of Castagnaro: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giovanni Ordelaffi of Verona.

Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina.

The Frondeurs and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.

The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.

The Battle of Kharda is fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad, resulting in Maratha victory.

Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.

The first performance of Verdi's Rigoletto took place at La Fenice in Venice (poster pictured).

American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.

Shō Tai formally abdicates his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom.

The Great Blizzard of 1888 struck the northeastern United States, producing snowdrifts in excess of 50 ft (15 m) and confining some people to their houses for up to a week.

World War I: Mesopotamian campaign: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Frederick Stanley Maude.

In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.

World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.

World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established.

Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.

Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia.

The anime film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki was released.

Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de facto, and last, head of state.

Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.

Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union.

The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Janet Reno as the first female United States attorney general.

The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.

Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile.

Georgian authorities accused Russia of orchestrating a helicopter attack in the Kodori Valley, in the breakaway territory of Abkhazia.

Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-123, carrying the first component of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station.

During the inauguration of Chilean president Sebastián Piñera, earthquakes registering 6.9 and 7.0 .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Mw struck the O'Higgins Region near the city of Pichilemu, causing widespread damage.

A massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan and triggered a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The World Health Organization (WHO) officialy declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic.

US President Joe Biden signs the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law.