Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 June 11

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Alexander (1893–1920) was King of Greece from 11 June 1917 until his death at the age of 27. He succeeded his father, King Constantine I, in 1917, after the Entente Powers of World War I and followers of Eleftherios Venizelos pushed the king and his eldest son Crown Prince George into exile. Venizelos, as prime minister, became the effective ruler with the support of the Entente. Though reduced to the status of a puppet king, Alexander supported Greek troops during their war against the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. Under his reign, Greece expanded, following the victory of the Entente and the early stages of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922. Alexander married the commoner Aspasia Manos in 1919, provoking a major scandal that forced the couple to leave Greece for several months. Soon after returning to Greece with his wife, Alexander was bitten by a domestic Barbary macaque and died of septicemia. The sudden death of the sovereign contributed to the fall of the Venizelist regime. After a general election and a referendum, Constantine I was restored. (Full article...)

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In the UK general election, the ruling Conservative Party, led by Theresa May (pictured), loses its majority but remains the largest party.
A study of fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, suggests that Homo sapiens may have evolved at least 100,000 years earlier than previously thought.
Simultaneous terrorist attacks at the Iranian parliament and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini kill at least 17 people and injure 43 others.
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Several countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt, cut diplomatic relations with Qatar.

On this day...

June 11

The Blackstone Hotel

1345 – Inspecting a new prison without being escorted by his bodyguard, Alexios Apokaukos, megas doux of the Byzantine Navy, was lynched by the prisoners.
1837 – Tensions between Yankees and Irish Americans in Boston, Massachusetts, erupted in the Broad Street Riot.
1920 – During their national convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in The Blackstone Hotel (pictured) to decide their presidential candidate, leading to the phrase "smoke-filled room".
1963 – Vietnamese monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death in Saigon to protest the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem's administration.
2007 – Mudslides caused by heavy monsoon rainfall killed around 130 people in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Klemens von Metternich (d. 1859) · Sandra Schmirler (b. 1963) · Peter Dinklage (b. 1969)

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Today's featured picture

Vivian Malone entering Foster Auditorium on June 11, 1963, to register for classes at the University of Alabama through a crowd that includes photographers, National Guard members, and Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach. During the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, George Wallace, the Democratic Governor of Alabama, stood at the door of the auditorium to try to block the entry of two black students, Malone and James Hood. Intended by Wallace as a symbolic attempt to keep his inaugural promise of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever", the stand ended when President John F. Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard and Guard General Henry Graham commanded Wallace to step aside.

Photograph: Warren K. Leffler; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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