10 January History
- 1072 - Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger take Palermo in Sicily.
- 1645 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, is beheaded on Tower Hill, accused of acting as an enemy of the British Parliament.
- 1724 - King Philip V shocks all of Europe when he abdicates his throne in favor of his eldest son, Louis.
- 1811 - An uprising of over 400 slaves is put down in New Orleans. Sixty-six blacks are killed and their heads are strung up along the roads of the city.
- 1847 - General Stephen Kearny and Commodore Robert Stockton retake Los Angeles in the last California battle of the Mexican War.
- 1861 - Florida secedes from the Union.
- 1863 - London's Underground begins operations.
- 1870 - John D. Rockefeller and his brother William establish the Standard Oil Company of Ohio.
- 1899 - Filipino leader Emilio Aguinaldo renounces the Treaty of Paris, which annexed the Philippines to the United States.
- 1901 - The Automobile Club of America installs signs on major highways.
- 1903 - Argentina bans the importation of American beef because of sanitation problems.
- 1911 - Two German cruisers, the Emden and the Nurnberg, suppress a native revolt on island of Ponape in the Caroline Islands in the Pacific when they fire on the island and land troops.
- 1912 - The World's first flying-boat airplane, designed by Glenn Curtiss, makes its maiden flight at Hammondsport.
- 1917 - Germany is rebuked as the Entente officially rejects a proposal for peace talks and demands the return of occupied territories from Germany.
- 1918 - In Washington, the House of Representatives passes legislation for women's suffrage.
- 1920 - The Treaty of Versailles goes into effect.
- 1923 - The United States withdraws its last troops from Germany.
- 1940 - German planes attack 12 ships off the British coast; sinking 3 ships and killing 35 people.
- 1941 - The Soviets and Germany agree on the East European borders and the exchange of industrial equipment.
- 1946 - Chiang Kai-shek and the Yenan Communist forces halt fighting in China.
- 1964 - Panama breaks ties with the U.S. and demands a revision of the canal treaty.
- 1984 - The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations for the first time in 117 years.
10 January Birthdays
- 1834 - Lord Acton [John E.E. Dalberg], English historian, editor of The Rambler.
- 1864 - George Washington Carver, chemist, agronomist, helped change the agricultural economy of the South.
- 1949 - George Foreman, world heavyweight champion boxer.