On This Day in History for October 10

Events 1 - 100 of 147

• 680 Al-Hussein (Al-Ḥusayn ibn) and his followers killed at Karbala by army of Yazid, the Umayyad caliph, on the way to Kufa
• 1375 Westfriese sea wall breaks flooding northern Netherlands
• 1471 Battle of Brunkeberg: Swedish regent Sten Sture defeats forces led by Danish King Christian I
• 1549 Duke of Somerset fired as Lord Protector & imprisoned
• 1575 Battle of Dormans: Roman Catholic forces under Duke Henry of Guise defeated the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others.
• 1578 Count Johan Casimir occupies Ghent with 500 horsemen
• 1631 Saxon army occupies Prague
• 1695 King Willem III escapes South Netherlands, back to England
• 1720 French government proclaims strike on banknotes
• 1733 France declares war on emperor Charles VI
• 1760 Suriname Colonial Regime signs treaty with Aukaners (ex-slaves)
• 1780 Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000 to 30,000 in Caribbean, hitting Barbados first. Atlantic's deadliest recorded hurricane.
• 1787 Amsterdam surrenders to Prussian invasion army
• 1799 Convention of Alkmaar: British-Russian invasion army departs Holland
• 1802 1st non-Indian settlement in Oklahoma
• 1839 British troops under General Charles Napier occupy Beirut


• 1845 Naval School (now called US Naval Academy) opens at Annapolis
• 1846 Alexis de Tocqueville writes about "Algerian problem"
• 1846 Neptune's moon Triton discovered by William Lassell
• 1854 US Assay Office in NYC, New York opens
• 1863 Skirmish at Blue Springs, Tennessee (166 casualties)
• 1865 John Wesley Hyatt patents the billiard ball made from cellulose nitrate (celluloid) in Albany, New York (patent US50359A)
• 1868 1st written account of a Canadian football game
• 1868 Cuba revolts for independence against Spain
• 1871 The Great Chicago Fire is finally extinguished after 3 days, leaving approximately 300 dead, 100,000 homeless, and costing $222m in damage
• 1874 Fiji becomes a British possession
• 1886 1st dinner jacket (tuxedo) worn to autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, NY
• 1888 Teatotalers excursion train crushed, killing 64 at Mud Run, Pennsylvania
• 1889 Barnard College is founded in New York City after Columbia University refuses to accept women
• 1900 Foreign ministers in Peking begin their first serious negotiations over what conditions their nations will impose on the Chinese after putting down the Boxer uprising
• 1900 In Manchuria, Russia captures the major city of Mukden, part of their own plan to take over the whole province
• 1902 South Africa's President of Transvaal Paul Kruger visits Utrecht

• 1904 Liberty Theater opens at 234 W 42nd St NYC

• 1911 The KCR East Rail commences service between Kowloon and Canton.

• 1913 British passenger ship Volturno catches fire in Atlantic (136 killed)
• 1913 Gamboa Dam in Panama blown up; Atlantic & Pacific waters mix
• 1913 Yuan Shikai installed as the 1st President of China


• 1914 German forces rout Belgians in Antwerp, Belgium (WWI)
• 1917 Plymouth Theater opens at 236 W 45th St NYC
• 1918 Baden's Geisz forms government
• 1919 Richard Strauss & Hugo van Hofmannsthals premieres in Vienna
• 1920 1st Grandslam in WS (Smith) & 1st unassisted triple play (Wambsganss)
• 1920 Italy annexes South Tirol (Alto Adige)
• 1923 Saxony gets Social Democratic & Communist coalition government

• 1930 AP votes Joe Cronin unofficial AL MVP & BWA names Hack Wilson NL MVP
• 1930 Yankees announce signing Joe McCarthy to manage for 4 years
• 1931 A J Bennett hits H Garbarino for 1st scoring pass in Canada's Big 4
• 1931 William Waltons "Belshazzar's Feast" premieres in Leeds
• 1932 "Betty & Bob" premieres on radio
• 1932 Dnjepr Dam in USSR put into operation (world's biggest)
• 1933 1st synthetic detergent, "Dreft" by Procter & Gamble, goes on sale
• 1935 Coup under Gen Giorgios Kondylis in favor of Greek monarchy
• 1935 League of Nations denounces Italian invasion of Abyssinia
• 1938 Germany completes its annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland
• 1941 German U-boat torpedoes US destroyer Kearney
• 1941 RAF bombs Piraeus to prevent German heavy armor advancing
• 1942 1,300 Austrian Jews transported to Theresienstadt concentration camp
• 1943 US bombers accidentally strike Enschede, Netherlands, causing 151 deaths
• 1944 Admiral Halsey's Task Force 30 bombs Okinawa, 700 die
• 1946 Max Frisch' "Die Chinesische Mauer" premieres in Zurich

• 1956 Fazal Mahmood takes 13-114 for match v Australia in Karachi

• 1957 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1957 A fire at the Windscale nuclear plant in Cumbria, England becomes the world's first major nuclear accident
• 1958 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1958 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR

• 1959 Pan Am begins regular flights around the world
• 1960 16 California Poly football team members die in plane crash in Toledo
• 1960 Cyclone hits coast of Gulf of Bengal; about 4000 die
• 1961 Otis M Smith appointed to Michigan Supreme Court
• 1961 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1962 Indies assault up Chinese positions in North-India attack
• 1963 Netherlands population hits 12,000,000
• 1963 France cedes control of the Bizerte naval base to Tunisia
• 1965 The Supremes appear on Ed Sullivan Show
• 1965 "Vinland Map" is introduced by Yale University as being the first known map of America, drawn about 1440
• 1966 The Beach Boys release their influential single "Good Vibrations"

• 1968 Lee Evans of US sets 400 metre record at 43.86
• 1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1970 Fiji gains independence from Britain (National Day)
• 1972 3 members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) die in a premature explosion in a house in Balkan Street, Lower Falls, Belfast

• 1974 A's Mike Andrews files $25 million lawsuit against Charlie Finley
• 1974 Canadian John Hathaway begins 2-yr ride of 50,600 miles

• 1974 The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and its political wing the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) founded at the Spa Hotel in the village of Lucan near Dublin
• 1975 Israel formally signs Sinai accord with Egypt

• 1976 NJ Meadowlands' Giant's Stadium opens

• 1978 Steve Perry joins Journey

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• 1344 Mary Plantagenet, English princess, daughter of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, born in Waltham, Hampshire (d. 1362)
• 1486 Charles III, Duke of Savoy (1504-53), born in Chazey-sur-Ain, France (d. 1553)
• 1567 Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain [Catalina Micaela de Austria], Duchess consort of Savoy (1585-97), born in Madrid, Spain (d. 1597)
• 1599 Jacob Aertsz Colom, Dutch publisher (Consolation of the Sea), born in Dordrecht, Netherlands (d. 1673)
• 1678 John Campbell, 2nd duke of Argyll and field marshal (Union of 1707), born in Ham House, Petersham, Surrey (d. 1743)
• 1684 Jean-Antoine Watteau, French Rococo painter (fêtes galantes), born in Valenciennes, France (d. 1721)
• 1700 Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor, born in Nancy, Kingdom of France (d. 1759)
• 1731 Henry Cavendish, England, physicist and chemist (discovered hydrogen), born in Nice (d. 1810)
• 1738 Benjamin West, Anglo-American painter (Death of General Wolfe), born in Springfield, Province of Pennsylvania (d. 1820)
• 1757 Erik Acharius, Swedish botanist (lichens), born in Gävle, Sweden (d. 1819)
• 1779 Antoine Philippe Vischer, comte de Celles, Belgian-French politician, born in Brussels (d. 1841)
• 1780 John Abercrombie, Scottish physician, born in Aberdeen (d. 1844)
• 1794 William Whiting Boardman, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut), born in New Milford, Connecticut (d. 1871)
• 1817 C. H. D. Buys Ballot, Dutch meteorologist (Buys Ballot's law), born in Kloetinge, Netherlands (d. 1890)
• 1819 Zebulon York, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Avon, Maine (d. 1900)
• 1825 Paul Kruger, 3rd President of South African Republic (1883-1900), born in Steynsburg, Cape Colony (d. 1904)
• 1828 Samuel J. Randall, American politician (Speaker of the United States House of Representatives), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1890)
• 1829 Dandridge McRae, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Baldwin County, Alabama (d. 1899)
• 1830 Isabella II, Queen of Spain (1833-68), born in Madrid, Spain (d. 1904)
• 1832 Theodore Shelton Bowers, Bvt Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Hummelstown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (d. 1866)
• 1834 Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer and poet (Nummisuutarit), born in Nurmijärvi, Grand Duchy of Finland (d. 1872)

• 1863 Louis Cyr, French Canadian strongman (lifting 500 pounds (227 kg) with one finger and backlifting 4,337 pounds (1,967 kg)), born in Quebec, Canada (d. 1912)
• 1864 T. Frank Appleby, American Republican Party politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey), born in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey (d. 1924)
• 1865 Rafael Merry del Val, British-born Spanish Roman Catholic cardinal, born in London, England (d. 1930)
• 1870 Louise Mack, Australian poet and novelist, born in Hobart, Tasmania (d. 1935)
• 1884 Ferdinand Bordewijk, Dutch lawyer and writer (Bint), born in Amsterdam (d. 1965)
• 1885 Walter Anderson, German folklorist, born in Minsk, Russian Empire (d. 1962)
• 1887 Rie Cramer, Dutch writer and illustrator, born in Sukabumi, Dutch East Indies (d. 1977)
• 1889 Han [Henricus Antonius] van Meegeren, Dutch painter and art forger (Vermeer), born in Deventer, Netherlands (d. 1947)
• 1892 Earle Dickson, American inventor (Band-Aid), born in Grandview, Tennessee (d. 1961)
• 1893 August Balthazar, Belgian politician, born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1952)
• 1895 Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, German field marshal (German Air Force-WW II), born in Barzdorf, German Empire (d. 1945)
• 1898 Lilly Daché, French-American milliner and fashion designer, born in Bègles, France (d. 1989)
• 1901 Alberto Giacometti, Swiss-French painter and sculptor, born in Borgonovo, Stampa, Graubünden, Switzerland (d. 1966)
• 1902 Dick Ket, Dutch painter and cartoonist, born in Den Helder, Netherlands (d. 1940)
• 1903 Charles Théodore Henri Antoine Meinrad de Belgique, Count of Flanders, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1983)

• 1908 Mercè Rodoreda, Catalan novelist (La plaça del diamant), born in Barcelona (d. 1983)
• 1909 Luc van Brabant, Flemish writer and erotic poet, born in Lokoren, Belgium (d. 1977)
• 1910 Price Daniel, American politician (38th Governor of Texas), born in Dayton, Texas (d. 1988)

• 1912 Charles Henry Madge, English poet and founder of Mass-Observation, born in Johannesburg, South Africa (d. 1996)
• 1913 Claude Simon, Malagasy-French writer (Nobel Prize Literature 1985), born in Tananarive, Madagascar (d. 2005)
• 1918 Jean Gimpel, French author and medievalist, born in Paris (d. 1996)
• 1918 Yigal Allon, Israeli politician, born in Kfar Tavor, Palestine (d. 1980)
• 1921 Boy Trip, Dutch minister, born in Amersfoort, Netherlands (d. 1990)
• 1922 Boeli van Leeuwen, Antillian writer (Vreemdeling Op Aarde), born in Curaçao (d. 2007)
• 1924 James Clavell, British-American author (The Asian Saga), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1994)
• 1925 Ivan Sviták, Czech philosopher and poet, born in Hranice na Moravě, Czechoslovakia (d. 1994)
• 1925 Great Antonio, Croatian-Canadian strongman, born in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (d. 2001)
• 1927 John Eric Tieman, production manager (The Guardian) (d. 1995)
• 1930 Adlai Stevenson III, American politician (U.S. Senator from Illinois), born in Chicago, Illinois
• 1930 Harold Pinter, British playwright (The Homecoming, Servant), born in London, England (d. 2008)
• 1930 Mustafa Zaidi, Pakistani Urdu poet, born in Allahabad, India (d. 1970)
• 1933 Gerald Masters, South African-British author (Pan Book of Dates)
• 1933 Jay Sebring, American hair stylist and Manson murder victim, born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1969)
• 1935 André Bureau, French Canadian lawyer and communications executive, born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada
• 1935 Khalil al-Wazir [Abu Jihad], Founder of Palestinian group Fatah and PLO leader, born in Ramla, Mandatory Palestine (d. 1988)
• 1935 Ousmane Sow, Senegalese sculptor, born in Dhakar (d. 2016)
• 1936 Gerhard Ertl, German surface chemist (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2007), born in Stuttgart, Germany
• 1938 Marcus Jan Adriani, biologist and director (Weevers' Duin) (d. 1995)
• 1938 Toby Roth, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin), born in Strasburg, North Dakota
• 1938 Daidō Moriyama, Japanese photographer, born in Ikeda, Osaka
• 1939 Joe Pitts, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania), born in Lexington, Kentucky
• 1941 Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigerian writer and environmentalist, born in Bori, Nigeria (d. 1995)
• 1941 Laurence Henry Tribe, Harvard Law professor, born in Shanghai, China
• 1942 Radu Vasile, Prime Minister of Romania (1998-99), born in Sibiu, Romania (d. 2013)
• 1942 James Marshall, American illustrator and author (George and Martha, The Stupids), born in San Antonio, Texas (d. 1992)
• 1943 Alexander MacMillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton, English publisher and politician
• 1943 Frederick Barthelme, American author (There Must be Some Mistake), born in Houston, Texas
• 1944 Christopher Ndodebandla Dlamini, South African trade unionist and SACP-leader, born in Benoni, Transvaal, South Africa
• 1944 Renier Schoeman, South African journalist and politician
• 1946 Franco Malerba, Italian astronaut (STS 46), born in Genoa, Italy
• 1946 Mildred Grieveson, English writer (Leopard in the Snow), born in England
• 1946 Naoto Kan, Japanese politician (61st Prime Minister of Japan), born in Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan
• 1950 Nora Roberts, American novelist (Angels Fall), born in Silver Spring, Maryland
• 1951 Epeli Ganilau, Fijian soldier and politician (National Alliance Party of Fiji)
• 1954 James Fearnley, English accordionist (The Pogues), born in Worsley, Greater Manchester
• 1957 Rumiko Takahashi, Japanese artist, born in Niigata, Japan
• 1958 John M. Grunsfeld, American physicist and astronaut (STS 67, 81), born in Chicago, Illinois
• 1962 Rex J. Walheim, U.S. Air Force officer and NASA astronaut, born in Redwood City, California
• 1963 Daniel Pearl, American journalist (kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan), born in Princeton, New Jersey (d. 2002)
• 1965 Steve Scalise, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana), born in New Orleans, Louisiana
• 1967 Jonathan Littell, French-American writer (The Kindly Ones), born in NYC, New York

• 1982 Amon Buchanan, Australian rules footballer

• 1993 Ted Kennedy Jr (32) weds psychiatrist Katherine Gershman (34)

• 413 BC Nicias, Athens politician (Peace of Nicias), killed at about 57
• 19 Julius Caesar Germanicus, Roman commandant of Rijnleger, dies at 33
• 680 Hazrat Hussein ibn Ali (RA), Muhammad's (SAW) grandson (b. 626) beheaded
• 732 Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Moorish Governor of Andalusia
• 833 al-Ma'mun, Abbasid caliph of Baghdad (b. 786)
• 1359 King Hugh IV of Cyprus (b. 1295)
• 1616 Maria van Nassau, countess of Buren, dies at 60
• 1617 Bernardino Baldi, Italian mathematician and writer, dies at 64
• 1651 Philippus Rovenius, [Rouveen], apostole, dies at 77

• 1691 Isaac de Benserade, French poet (b. 1613)
• 1708 David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (b. 1659)
• 1714 Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (b. 1646)
• 1720 Antoine Coysevox, French sculptor (b. 1640)
• 1723 William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1665)
• 1725 Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil, Governor-General of New France (b. 1643)
• 1747 John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1674)
• 1759 Granville Elliott, British military officer (b. 1713)
• 1765 Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, dies at 77
• 1791 C F D Schubart, writer, dies
• 1795 Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian theologian and historian, dies at 81
• 1797 Carter Braxton, US plantation owner and signer of the US Declaration of Independence, dies at 61
• 1827 Ugo Foscolo, Italian poet, dies at 49
• 1834 Thomas Say, American naturalist and father of descriptive entomology, dies from typhoid fever at 47
• 1836 Martha Jefferson Randolph, daughter of Thomas Jefferson the 3rd President of the U.S., dies at 64
• 1858 Karl A Varnhagen von Ense, German author/poet/diplomat, dies at 73
• 1864 David Bullock Harris, US Confederate colonel, dies of yellow fever

• 1875 Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian novelist, poet and dramatist (Prince Serebrenni), dies at 58
• 1876 Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (b. 1814)
• 1885 John McCloskey, 1st American cardinal and Archbishop of New York, dies at 75
• 1886 David L Yule, 1st Jewish US senator, dies
• 1901 Lorenzo Snow, 5th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon Church), dies at 87
• 1910 Willem Maris, painter (Hague School), dies at 66
• 1913 Katsura Taro, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1848)
• 1913 Adolphus Busch, German-born American brewer (Anheuser-Busch), dies at 74
• 1914 Gijsbert van Tienhoven, mayor (Amsterdam)/foreign minister, dies at 73
• 1914 Karol I, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, King of Romania (1881-1914), dies
• 1914 Carol I, King of Romania (1881-1914), dies at 75
• 1927 Gustave Whitehead, German-born inventor (b. 1874)

• 1930 Adolf Engler, German botanist (b. 1844)
• 1931 Carl von Bach, German mechanical engineer, dies at 84
• 1935 Arthur Henderson, British Labour minister (Nobel Peace Prize 1934), dies at 72
• 1942 Richard von Schaukal, Austria poet/writer (Schlemihle), dies at 68
• 1943 Charlotte Salomon, German-Jewish artist gassed at Auschwitz aged 26
• 1957 Karl Genzken, Nazi physician, Chief of the Medical Office of the Waffen-SS, dies at 72
• 1959 Prince Friedrich Aloys Johannes Maria, Prince of Liechtenstein, Romania, dies at 88
• 1963 Roy Cazaly, Australian rules footballer, dies at 70
• 1964 Konrad Bayer, writer, dies
• 1970 Adam Rapacki, Polish minister of Maritime (1956-68), dies at 60

• 1971 John Cawte Beaglehole, New Zealand historian (b. 1901)
• 1973 Albe [Renaut A. Joostens], Flemish writer (Paradise Bird), dies at 71
• 1974 Marie Luise Kaschnitz, writer, dies at 73
• 1975 Lillian Walker, dies at 88
• 1977 Jean Duvieusart, 36th Prime Minister of Belgium, dies at 77
• 1978 Gesina Van der Molen, Dutch WWII resistance fighter/lawyer, dies at 86
• 1978 Ralph H Metcalfe, (Rep-D-Ill), dies at 68
• 1979 Christopher Evans, British psychologist and computer scientist (b. 1931)
• 1982 Jean Effel, French painter and journalist (b. 1908)
• 1986 Gleb Wataghin, Ukrainian-Italian physicist (b. 1899)
• 1990 Michael A Salcido, dies at 39
• 1990 Tom Murton, American penologist (b. 1928)
• 1990 Irene Mayer Selznick, American socialite and theatrical producer (Street Car Named Desire), dies at 83
• 1991 Stephen J Falat, dies after long illness at 34
• 1993 Djillali Belkhenchir, Algerian doctor, murdered at 52
• 1993 Owen Saunders, English mathematician and mechanical engineer, dies at 89
• 1994 Anna Hauptmann, wife of Lindbergh baby kidnapper Bruno, dies at 95
• 1994 Chaim Raphael, English Jewish scholar and writer, dies at 86
• 1994 Richard John Copeland Atkinson, archaeologist, dies at 74
• 1995 Jimmy Nash, record company owner, dies at 47
• 1995 John Rodolph, wheelchair-race world record holder, hit by truck at 31
• 1995 Michelle Francis Bird, campaigner, dies at 30
• 1995 Paolo Gucci, entrepreneur/accessories designer, dies at 64
• 1995 Robert Finch, American politician (8th U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare), dies at 70
• 1996 Dick Pickering, trade unionist, dies at 54
• 1996 Hugh Stirling Mackenzie, British Royal Navy officer, dies at 83
• 1996 John Hillaby, English writer and traveller, dies at 79
• 1996 Siddig El Nigoumi, ceramicist, dies at 65
• 1998 Clark Clifford, United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1906)
• 1998 Tommy Quaid, Irish hurler (b. 1957)

• 2001 Vasily Mishin, Soviet rocket designer (b. 1917)
• 2004 Arthur H. Robinson, American cartographer (b. 1915)
• 2004 Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer (b. 1932)
• 2005 Wayne Booth, American literary critic (b. 1921)
• 2005 Milton Obote, President of Uganda (b. 1925)
• 2006 Michael John Rogers, English ornithologist (b. 1932)
• 2006 Ian Scott, Canadian politician (b. 1934)
• 2007 Mehmed Uzun, Contemporary Kurdish writer and novelist. (b. 1953)
• 2008 Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman (b. 1947)
• 2012 Kyaw Zaw, Burmese politician and soldier, dies at 92
• 2013 Scott Carpenter, American astronaut (Mercury 7-Aurora 7), dies from complications from a stroke at 88
• 2015 Hilla Becher (née Wobeser), German artist, worked collaboratively with husband Bernd Becher, dies at 81

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