10 February History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 1258    -    Huegu, a Mongol leader, seizes Baghdad, bringing and end to the Abbasid caliphate.
  • 1620    -    Supporters of Marie de Medici, the queen mother, who has been exiled to Blois, are defeated by the king's troops at Ponts de Ce, France.
  • 1763    -    The Treaty of Paris ends the French-Indian War. France gives up all her territories in the New World except New Orleans and a few scattered islands.
  • 1799    -    Napoleon Bonaparte leaves Cairo, Egypt, for Syria, at the head of 13,000 men.
  • 1814    -    Napoleon personally directs lightning strikes against enemy columns advancing toward Paris, beginning with a victory over the Russians at Champaubert.
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  • 1840    -    Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert.
  • 1846    -    Led by religious leader Brigham Young, the first Mormons begin a long westward exodus from Nauvoo, Il., to Utah.
  • 1863    -    P.T. Barnum's star midgets, Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren, are married.
  • 1904    -    Russia and Japan declare war on each other.
  • 1915    -    President Wilson blasts the British for using the U.S. flag on merchant ships to deceive the Germans.
  • 1939    -    Japanese occupy island of Hainan in French Indochina.
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  • 1941    -    London severs diplomatic relations with Romania.
  • 1941    -    Iceland is attacked by German planes.
  • 1942    -    The war halts civilian car production at Ford.
  • 1945    -    B-29s hit the Tokyo area.
  • 1955    -    Bell Aircraft displays a fixed-wing vertical takeoff plane.
  • 1960    -    Adolph Coors, the beer brewer, is kidnapped in Golden, Colo.
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  • 1966    -    Protester David Miller is convicted of burning his draft card.
  • 1979    -    The Metropolitan Museum announces the first major theft in 110-year history, $150,000 Greek marble head.
  • 1986    -    The largest Mafia trial in history, with 474 defendants, opens in Palermo, Italy.

  • 10 February Birthdays

  • 1890    -    Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist and poet (Dr. Zhivago).
  • 1893    -    Jimmy Durante, American comedian and film actor.
  • 1894    -    Harold MacMillan, British prime minister (1957-1963).
  • 1897    -    John F. Enders, virologist.
  • 1898    -    Bertolt Brecht, German poet and dramatist (The Threepenny Opera).
  • 1901    -    Stella Adler, actress and teacher.
  • 1902    -    Walter Brattain, physicist, one of the inventors of the transistor.
  • 1910    -    Dominique Georges Pire, Belgian cleric and educator.
  • 1914    -    Larry Adler, harmonica virtuoso.
  • 1920    -    Alex Comfort, English physician and author (Joy of Sex).
  • 1927    -     (Mary Violet) Leontyne Price, opera singer.