| 11 December 1192 | England, Austria, Holy Roman Empire [political events] | On his return journey to England from the Third Crusade, King Richard I the Lionheart is captured by Leopold V, Duke of Austria who he humiliated at Acre in Palestine. |
| 11 December 1282 | Byzantine Empire [administration] | The Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus dies. He is succeeded by his son, Andronicus II Palaeologus, who immediately renounces the reunion of the Greek church with Rome. |
| 11 December 1475 | Milan [births and deaths] | Giovanni de' Medici, Pope Leo X 1513–21, noted for his political skill and personal extravagance, born in Milan, Italy (–1521). |
| 11 December 1686 | France [births and deaths] | Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, French noble, leader of the last of the Fronde uprisings (1648–53), later an outstanding general under King Louis XIV, dies in Fontainebleu, France (65). |
| 11 December 1688 | UK [political events] | An assembly of peers and bishops meets at the Guildhall to secure order and take on the government of London, England. They invite the Dutch stadtholder William of Orange to enter the city. Many other provincial centres have already fallen to William's supporters. |
| 11 December 1718 | Sweden, Denmark-Norway, Russia [Great Northern War (1700–21)] | When King Charles XII of Sweden, having renewed his attack against Norway, is killed by a musket ball through the head while besieging the fortress of Frederikshald, Norway, he is succeeded by his sister Ulrica Eleanor. The Russo-Swedish peace conference at Lövö on the Åland Islands, in the Gulf of Bothnia, is abandoned. |
| 11 December 1845 | India, UK [wars] | The First Anglo-Sikh War breaks out in northwest India when the powerful Sikh army crosses the Sutlej River to attack British territories in central Hindustan, after a period of growing tension following the death of the Sikh maharaja Ranjit Singh. |
| 11 December 1936 | UK [political events] | Edward VIII abdicates as king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland following his refusal to give up the idea of marriage to the US divorcee Wallis Simpson. |
| 11 December 1937 | Italy [League of Nations] | Italy withdraws from the League of Nations. |
| 11 December 1975 | USA [weights and measures] | The US Congress passes legislation calling for the voluntary conversion to the metric system in ten years. |
| 11 December 1994 | Russia, Chechnya [political events] | Russian forces invade the breakaway republic of Chechnya. |
| 11 December 2000 | France [international organizations] | At the end of a four-day summit meeting in Nice, France, leaders of the 15 member states of the European Union agree on new voting rules and other institutional changes to pave the way for other countries to join the EU from 2005. |
| 11 December 2001 | [trade] | China formally joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) after 15 years of negotiations. |
| 11–13 December 2005 | England [natural disasters] | An explosion at Buncefield oil terminal near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, causes the largest industrial fire in Europe since World War II which rages for two days before being extinguished by hundreds of firefighters. Despite widespread local property damage and concerns about environmental contamination, there are no fatalities. |
