October 10

Events
Up to 1900
19 - Roman general Germanicus dies under mysterious circumstances in Antioch in present-day Turkey. It is believed that he was poisoned on the orders of Emperor Tiberius.
680 - Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was decapitated by forces under Caliph Yazid I. This is commemorated by Shi'a Muslims as Aashurah.
732 - Battle of Tours: Near Poitiers, France, leader of the Franks Charles Martel and his men, defeat a large army of Moors, stopping the Muslims from spreading into Western Europe. The governor of Cordoba, Abd-ar-Rahman, is killed during the battle.
1471 - Battle of Brunkeberg in Stockholm: Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent of Sweden, with help of farmers and miners, repels an attack by Christian I, King of Denmark.
1575 - Battle of Dormans: Catholic forces under Duke Henry of Guise defeated the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others.
1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1631 - Thirty Years' War: A Saxon army takes over Prague.
1760 - In a treaty with the Dutch colonial authorities, the Ndyuka people of Suriname, descended from escaped slaves, gain extra freedom.
1780 - The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000-30,000 in the Caribbean.
1798 - British troops occupy Menorca.
1845 - In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opens with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors.
1846 - Neptune's moon Triton is discovered by British astronomer William Lassell.
1868 - Carlos Cespedes issued the Grito de Yara from his plantation, La Demajagua, proclaiming Cuba's independence.
1871 - Chicago burns after an accident.
1877 - Lieutenant-Colonel George Armstrong Custer is given a funeral with full military honors.
1882 - The Bank of Japan is founded.
1892 - British passenger ship Bokhara sinks in a Typhoon off the west of Taiwan, killing 125 people.
1897 - German chemist Felix Hoffmann discovers an improved way of synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin).
1901 1950
1908 - Baseball Writers Association forms.
1910 - Tau Epsilon Phi Fraternity is established at Columbia University.
1911 - Wuchang Uprising which led to the demise of Qing Dynasty, the last emperial court in China, and the founding of the Republic of China.
1913 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson triggered the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal.
1920 - The Carinthian Plebiscite determined that the larger part of Carinthia became part of Austria.
1928 - Chiang Kai-shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China.
1933 - A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage while en route from Cleveland, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois, the first such proven case in the history of commercial aviation.
1935 - A coup occurs in Athens the royalist leadership of the Greek Army.
1938 - The Blue Water Bridge opens, connecting Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario.
1938 - World War II: The Munich Agreement cedes the Sudetenland to Germany.
1942 - The Soviet Union and Australia create diplomatic relations.
1944 - Holocaust: 800 Gypsy children are systematically murdered at Auschwitz death camp.
1951 2000
1957 - The Windscale fire occurs in Cumbria, England, in the world's first nuclear accident.
1957 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he was refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.
1963 - France cedes control of Bizerte naval base to Tunisia.
1964 - The 1964 Summer Olympics open in Tokyo, Japan
1966 - Simon and Garfunkel release the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
1967 - The Outer Space Treaty comes into force, having been signed on January 27.
1970 - Fiji becomes independent.
1970 - In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
1971 - Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, the London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
1973 - Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with federal income tax evasion.
1975 - Papua New Guinea joins the UN.
1978 - US President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
1979 - The Pac-Man arcade game is released to the Japanese market by Namco.
1980 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits the town of El Asnam, Algeria, killing 3,500 people.
1985 - United States Navy F-14 fighter jets intercept an Egyptian plane carrying the Achille Lauro cruise ship hijackers and force it to land at a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) base in Sigonella, Sicily where they are arrested.
1986 - An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
1987 - Fiji becomes a republic.
1997 - An Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74.
1998 - A Lignes Aeriennes Congolaises Boeing 727 airplane is shot down by rebels over Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 41 people.
1999 - In London, the London Eye is raised.
From 2001
2001 - US President George W. Bush presents a list of 22 most wanted terrorists.
2005 - Channel 4's new 'adult' entertainment channel More4 starts broadcasting on ntl, Sky Digital and Freeview in the UK.
2005 - Angela Merkel is announced to be the new Chancellor of Germany. She officially becomes Chancellor on November 22.
2005 - Most Aardman Animations props are melted in a warehouse fire. Props from Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit are destroyed.
2008 - Martti Ahtisaari wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
2008 - A bomb attack in Orakzai, Pakistan, kills 110 people.
2010 - The Netherlands Antilles are split up. The islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius becomes special municipalities of the Netherlands proper. Curacao and Sint Maarten become constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
2014 - The Nobel Peace Prize is shared between Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai, who also becomes the youngest-ever winner of a Nobel Prize.
2015 - Two bomb attacks at a peace demonstration in Ankara kill at least 102 people.
2017 - President of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont delays his region's declaration of independence from Spain.
2018 - Hurricane Michael makes landfall in Florida, as one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the mainland of the United States.
2019 - Olga Tokarczuk (for 2018) and Peter Handke win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
2020 - A ceasefire takes effect after almost two weeks of intense fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Births
Up to 1900
1201 - Richard de Fournival, French philosopher (d. 1260)
1344 - Mary Plantagenet, English princess (d. 1362)
1470 - Selim I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1520)
1486 - Charles III of Savoy (d. 1553)
1567 - Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain (d. 1597)
1669 - Johann Nicolaus Bach, German composer (d. 1753)
1678 - John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (d. 1743)
1684 - Antoine Watteau, French painter (d. 1721)
1700 - Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (d. 1759)
1731 - Henry Cavendish, English scientist (d. 1810)
1738 - Benjamin West, American painter (d. 1820)
1780 - John Abercrombie, Scottish physician (d. 1844)
1794 - William Whiting Boardman, American politician (d. 1871)
1813 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (d. 1901)
1819 - Heinrich Joseph Dominicus Denzinger, German theologian (d. 1883)
1825 - Paul Kruger, South African Boer politician (d. 1904)
1828 - Samuel J. Randall, American politician (d. 1890)
1830 - Isabella II of Spain (d. 1904)
1834 - Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer (d. 1872)
1837 - Robert Gould Shaw, American army officer (d. 1863)
1858 - Maurice Prendergast, American painter (d. 1924)
1860 - Joan Maragall, Catalan poet (d. 1911)
1861 - Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian polar explorer, scientist and diplomat (d. 1930)
1861 - Edouard Dujardin, French writer (d. 1949)
1861 - Claudio Williman, President of Uruguay (d. 1934)
1863 - Helen Dunbar, American actress (d. 1933)
1863 - Vladimir Obruchev, Russian geographer, geologist and writer (d. 1956)
1870 - Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, Russian writer (d. 1953)
1870 - Louise Mack, Australian writer (d. 1935)
1878 - Blanche Lazzell, American painter, printmaker and designer (d. 1956)
1885 - Walter Anderson, German folklorist (d. 1962)
1885 - Jose Alvalade, Portuguese football team founder (d. 1918)
1888 - Pietro Lana, Italian footballer (d. 1950)
1889 - Kermit Roosevelt, American writer, businessman and military officer (d. 1943)
1890 - Morley Griswold, Governor of Nevada (d. 1951)
1895 - Wolfram von Richthofen, German field marshal (d. 1945)
1899 - Wilhelm Ropke, German economist (d. 1966)
1900 - Helen Hayes, American actress and singer (d. 1993)
1901 1925
1901 - Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (d. 1966)
1903 - Charles, Prince Regent of Belgium (d. 1983)
1910 - Price Daniel, Governor of Texas (d. 1988)
1910 - Harold LeVander, Governor of Minnesota (d. 1992)
1911 - Clare Hollingworth, English journalist and author (d. 2017)
1913 - Claude Simon, French writer (d. 2005)
1917 - Thelonious Monk, American jazz musician (d. 1962)
1918 - John W. King, Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1996)
1918 - Yigal Allon, Israeli politician (d. 1980)
1919 - Edgar Laprade, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
1920 - Gail Halvorsen, American pilot, took part in the Berlin Airlift
1923 - Nicholas Parsons, British actor and presenter (d. 2020)
1923 - Murray Walker, British sports commentator
1923 - James Jabara, American air force pilot (d. 1966)
1924 - James Clavell, Australian writer (d. 1994)
1924 - Ludmilla Tcherina, French ballerina, sculptor, actress, painter, choreographer and author (d. 2004)
1924 - Ed Wood, American director, producer, actor and screenwriter (d. 1978)
1926 1950
1926 - Richard Jaeckel, American actor (d. 2007)
1926 - Oscar Brown, Jr., American singer, poet and activist (d. 2005)
1927 - Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Indian singer (d. 2014)
1929 - Bernard Mayes, British broadcaster (d. 2014)
1930 - Yves Chauvin, French chemist (d. 2015)
1930 - Harold Pinter, British playwright (d. 2008)
1933 - Daniel Massey, British actor (d. 1998)
1933 - Jay Sebring, American hairstylist and murder victim (d. 1969)
1935 - Abu Jihad, Palestinian founder of Fatah (d. 1988)
1935 - Hermann Nuber, German footballer
1936 - Gerhard Ertl, German chemist
1936 - Judith Chalmers, English television host
1937 - Peter Underwood, 27th Governor of Tasmania (d. 2014)
1940 - Nol Heijerman, Dutch footballer (d. 2015)
1940 - Winston Spencer-Churchill, British politician, grandson of Winston Churchill (d. 2010)
1941 - Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigerian writer and activist (d. 1995)
1941 - Peter Coyote, American actor
1942 - Radu Vasile, former Prime Minister of Romania (d. 2013)
1943 - Reinhard Libuda, German footballer (d. 1996)
1945 - Edoardo Reja, Italian footballer and coach
1946 - Charles Dance, English actor
1946 - Naoto Kan, former Prime Minister of Japan
1946 - John Prine, American singer, songwriter and guitarist (d. 2020)
1946 - Chris Tarrant, English television presenter
1946 - Ann Mather, English author
1948 - Sue Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Loughborough, English academic and businesswoman
1948 - Roger B. Wilson, former Governor of Missouri
1949 - Lance Cairns, New Zealand cricketer
1949 - Wang Wanxing, Chinese activist
1950 - Nora Roberts, American novelist
1951 1975
1951 - Epeli Ganilau, Fijian statesman
1953 - Midge Ure, Scottish musician
1954 - David Lee Roth, American singer (Van Halen)
1954 - Rekha, Indian actress
1954 - Fernando Santos, Portuguese footballer and manager
1956 - Taur Matan Ruak, Prime minister and former President of East Timor
1956 - Amanda Burton, British actress
1956 - Fiona Fullerton, British actress
1956 - David Hempleman-Adams, English businessman and adventurer
1956 - Paul Sturrock, Scottish footballer and manager
1957 - Rumiko Takahashi, Japanese mangaka
1958 - Tanya Tucker, American country music singer and musician
1959 - Kirsty MacColl, English singer (d. 2000)
1959 - Julia Sweeney, American actress
1959 - Bradley Whitford, American actor
1960 - Simon Townshend, English guitarist, singer and songwriter
1961 - Martin Kemp, English singer and actor (Spandau Ballet)
1964 - Sarah Lancashire, English actress
1964 - Daniel Pearl, American journalist (d. 2002)
1965 - Toshi, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
1965 - Chris Penn, American actor (d. 2006)
1965 - Rebecca Pidgeon, American-English actress and singer-songwriter
1966 - Tony Adams, English footballer
1967 - Jonathan Littell, American-French writer
1967 - Mike Malinin, American drummer (Goo Goo Dolls)
1967 - Gavin Newsom, American politician, current Governor of California and former Mayor of San Francisco
1969 - Brett Favre, American football player
1970 - Silke Kraushaar-Pielach, German luger
1970 - Matthew Pinsent, British rower
1970 - Dean Kiely, Irish footballer
1970 - Bai Ling, Chinese actress
1971 - Graham Alexander, British footballer and manager
1971 - Markus Heitz, German author
1972 - Alexei Zhitnik, Russian ice hockey player
1972 - Nicky Morgan, English politician
1974 - Julio Ricardo Cruz, Argentine footballer
1974 - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., American racing driver
1975 - Ihsahn, Norwegian singer-songwriter, musician and producer
1975 - Jacqueline Pirie, Scottish actress
From 1976
1976 - Shane Doan, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 - Nicolas Massu, Chilean tennis player
1979 - Mya, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer and actress
1979 - Kangta, South Korean singer-songwriter, producer and actress
1980 - Sherine, Egyptian singer and actress
1980 - Tim Maurer, American singer-songwriter (Suburban Legends)
1981 - Una Healy, Irish singer (The Saturdays)
1982 - Logi Geirsson, Icelandic handball player
1982 - Yasser Al-Qahtani, Saudi Arabian footballer
1983 - Nikos Spiropoulos, Greek footballer
1984 - Chiaki Kuriyama, Japanese actress
1985 - Marina Diamandis, Welsh singer-songwriter (Marina and the Diamonds)
1987 - Colin Slade, New Zealand rugby player
1988 - Luis Cardozo, Paraguayan footballer
1989 - Aimee Teegarden, American actress
1991 - Gabriella Cilmi, Australian singer
1991 - Xherdan Shaqiri, Swiss footballer
1991 - Michael Carter-Williams, American basketball player
1992 - Jano Ananidze, Georgian footballer
1992 - Gabrielle Aplin, English singer-songwriter
1994 - Bae Suzy, South Korean singer, dancer and actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
19 - Germanicus, father of Caligula and brother of Claudius (b. 15 BC)
680 - Husayn bin Ali, grandson of Muhammad (b. 626)
1359 - Hugh IV of Cyprus (b. 1295)
1459 - Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist, classicist (b. 1380)
1531 - Huldrych Zwingli, leader of Swiss Reformation (b. 1484)
1659 - Abel Tasman, Dutch explorer (b. 1603)
1708 - David Gregory, Scottish mathematician (b. 1659)
1723 - William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper, English politician (b. 1665)
1725 - Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil, French politician (b. 1643)
1747 - John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1674)
1795 - Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian theologian and historian (b. 1714)
1806 - Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, German prince (b. 1772)
1825 - Dmitry Bortniansky, Russian and Ukrainian composer (b. 1751)
1827 - Ugo Foscolo, Italian writer (b. 1778)
1837 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (b. 1772)
1872 - William H. Seward, Secretary of State (b. 1801)
1875 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian novelist, poet and dramatist (b. 1817)
1893 - Lip Pike, American baseball player (b. 1845)
1901 2000
1901 - Lorenzo Snow, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1814)
1911 - Jack Daniel, American businessman (b. 1849)
1913 - Katsura Taro, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1848)
1913 - Adolphus Busch, German-American brewer and businessman (b. 1839)
1914 - Charles I of Romania (b. 1839)
1927 - Gustave Whitehead, German-born inventor (b. 1874)
1940 - Berton Churchill, American pioneer Hollywood actor (b. 1876)
1962 - Trygve Gulbranssen, Norwegian writer (b. 1894)
1964 - Eddie Cantor, American singer, vaudeville performer (b. 1892)
1964 - Guru Dutt, Indian actor, producer and director (b. 1925)
1966 - Charlotte Cooper, English tennis player (b. 1870)
1970 - Edouard Daladier, French politician (b. 1884)
1971 - John Cawte Beaglehole, New Zealand historian (b. 1901)
1973 - Ludwig von Mises, Austrian economist (b. 1881)
1978 - Ralph Metcalfe, track and field athlete (b. 1910)
1979 - Christopher Evans, British psychologist and computer scientist (b. 1931)
1983 - Ralph Richardson, actor (b. 1902)
1985 - Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor (b. 1920)
1985 - Orson Welles, American director, actor (b. 1915)
1998 - Marvin Gay, Sr., father and killer of Marvin Gaye (b. 1914)
1998 - Clark Clifford, United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1906)
2000 - Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan Prime Minister (b. 1916)
From 2001
2003 - Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b. 1925)
2004 - Arthur H. Robinson, cartographer (b. 1915)
2004 - Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer (b. 1932)
2004 - Christopher Reeve, American actor (b. 1952)
2004 - Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (b. 1963)
2005 - Milton Obote, President of Uganda (b. 1924)
2008 - Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman (b. 1947)
2009 - Stephen Gately, Irish singer (Boyzone) (b. 1976)
2010 - Solomon Burke, American soul singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
2010 - Hwang Jang-yop, North Korean politician and defector (b. 1923)
2010 - Joan Sutherland, Australian operatic soprano (b. 1926)
2011 - Albert Rosellini, American politician (b. 1910)
2011 - Jagjit Singh, Indian musician (b. 1941)
2012 - Kevin Curran, Zimbabwean cricketer (b. 1959)
2012 - Alex Karras, American football player and actor (b. 1935)
2012 - Amanda Todd, American student, victim of cyberbullying (b. 1996)
2013 - Scott Carpenter, American test pilot, astronaut and aquanaut (b. 1925)
2014 - Valeri Karpov, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1971)
2014 - Ed Nimmervoll, Austrian-Australian music journalist and author (b. 1947)
2014 - Finn Lied, Norwegian military researcher and politician (b. 1916)
2015 - Richard F. Heck, American chemist (b. 1931)
2017 - Cho Jin-ho, South Korean footballer (b. 1973)
2017 - Don Pedro Colley, American actor (b. 1938)
2017 - Pentti Holappa, Finnish poet, writer and politician (b. 1927)
2017 - Bob Schiller, American television writer (b. 1918)
2018 - Mary Midgley, English philosopher (b. 1919)
2018 - Raye Montague, American naval engineer (b. 1935)
2018 - Tex Winter, American basketball coach (b. 1922)
2019 - Ugo Colombo, Italian cyclist (b. 1940)
2019 - Richard Jeranian, Armenian-French painter and draftsman (b. 1921)
2019 - Tarek Kamel, Egyptian politician and computer engineer (b. 1962)
2019 - Juliette Kaplan, British actress (b. 1939)
2019 - Enrique Moreno, Mexican-American lawyer (b. 1955)
2019 - Marie-Jose Nat, French actress (b. 1940)
2020 - Vasili Kulkov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1966)
Observances
Independence Day (Fiji)
National Day of the Republic of China
World Mental Health Day
International Day Against the Death Penalty
Arbor Day (Poland)
Army Day (Sri Lanka)
Days of the year