This Day in History: September 11

1297 The Battle at Stirling Bridge

In a significant and historic battle at Stirling Bridge, the Scottish rebel William Wallace triumphed over the English forces.

1609 Expulsion of the Moriscos of Valencia

A definitive expulsion order was declared against the Moriscos of Valencia, which set the stage for the expulsion of all Moriscos in Spain.

1697 The Battle of Zenta

Marking a historic victory, forces of Prince Eugen of Savoye overwhelmingly defeated the Turks in the Battle of Zenta, thereby ending Ottoman control on many regions in Central Europe.

1708 The Great Northern War

In what turned out to be a turning point in the Great Northern War, Charles XII of Sweden refrained from proceeding with his march to conquer Moscow and paused outside Smolensk.

2001 United Airlines Flight 93

In an act of extraordinary courage, passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 attempted to retake control from hijackers, but tragically, it resulted in the plane crash in a Pennsylvania field killing all 64 people onboard.

2001 The Pentagon Attack

Terrorists hijacked a passenger plane and catastrophically crashed it into the Pentagon, causing the horrific deaths of 125 people.

2001 World Trade Towers Attack

In one of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever, two passenger planes hijacked by Al Qaeda crashed into New York's World Trade Towers, causing both towers to collapse and resulting in the loss of 2,606 lives.

2012 Attacks on US Diplomatic Compounds in Benghazi, Libya

Approximately 150 Islamic militants launched attacks on two separate US diplomatic buildings in Benghazi. The assaults, which involved gunfire, grenades, and mortars, tragically took the lives of four Americans, including US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. The incident resulted in significant political controversy, particularly regarding the remarks made by then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and members of the State Department.

2011 Occupy Wall Street Movement

The influential Occupy Wall Street movement took its roots in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street District of New York City.

2007 Russia Tests the Father of All Bombs

Russia tested the world’s most powerful non-nuclear weapon named "Father of All Bombs". This thermobaric bomb causes an explosion mid-air by using the oxygen in the air and is destructive enough to release the energy equivalent to 44 tons of TNT.

2001 September 11 Attacks in the United States

Nineteen Al Qaeda militants carried out a coordinated suicide attack on the morning of September 11, hijacking four California-bound airplanes from east coast US cities and targeting major American landmarks. The World Trade Center towers collapsed within two hours of being struck by two of these airplanes, one crashed into the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, while passengers fought back against the hijackers in the fourth plane which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks claimed about 3,000 lives, injured around 6,000 people, inflicted significant economic damage, and destroyed property worth billions of dollars. These attacks set off a chain of events marking the beginning of the War Against Terror and the War in Afghanistan.

1998 The 16th Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur

The 16th Commonwealth Games, held for the first time in an Asian country without the British monarchy at the helm, took place in Kuala Lumpur. 69 nations participated in these quadrennial games.