August 10

Events

955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West.
991 – Battle of Maldon: the English, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, are defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings near Maldon in Essex.
1270 – Yekuno Amlak takes the imperial throne of Ethiopia, restoring the Solomonic dynasty to power after a 100-year Zagwe interregnum.
1316 – The Second Battle of Athenry takes place near Athenry during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
1512 – The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during the War of the League of Cambrai, saw the simultaneous destruction of the breton ship La Cordelière and the English ship The Regent.
1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second in command Sebastian Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines.
1557 – Battle of St. Quentin: Spanish victory over the French in the Habsburg-Valois Wars.
1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks in the Stockholm harbour after only about 20 minutes of her maiden voyage.
1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London is laid.
1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
1755 – Under the orders of Charles Lawrence, the British Army begins to forcibly deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.
1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace – Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred by the Parisian mob.
1793 – The Musée du Louvre is officially opened in Paris, France.
1809 – Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declares independence from Spain. This rebellion will be crushed on August 2, 1810.
1813 – Instituto Nacional, is founded by the Chilean patriot José Miguel Carrera. It is Chile's oldest and most prestigious school. Its motto is Labor Omnia Vincit, which means "Work conquers all things".
1821 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.
1846 – The Smithsonian Institution is chartered by the United States Congress after James Smithson donates $500,000.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Wilson's Creek – the war enters Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops defeat Union forces in the southwestern part of the state.
1901 – The U.S. Steel Recognition Strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins.
1904 – Russo-Japanese War: the Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets takes place.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: peace negotiations begin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
1913 – Second Balkan War: delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.
1920 – World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies.
1932 – A 5.1 kilograms (11 lb) chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri.
1944 – World War II: American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam.
1948 – Candid Camera makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as Candid Microphone.
1949 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act Amendment, streamlining the defense agencies of the United States government, and replacing the Department of War with the United States Department of Defense.
1954 – At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held.
1961 – First use in Vietnam War of the Agent Orange by the U.S. Army.
1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
1971 – The Society for American Baseball Research is founded in Cooperstown, New York.
1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.
1978 – Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto litigation.
1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: the head of John Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America's Most Wanted.
1988 – Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.
1990 – More than 127 Muslims are killed in North East Sri Lanka by paramilitary troops.
1993 – An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale hits the South Island of New Zealand.
1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony.
1998 – HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation.
2003 – The highest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom – 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Kent. It is the first time the United Kingdom has recorded a temperature over 100 °F (38 °C).
2003 – Yuri Malenchenko becomes the first person to marry in space.
2006 – Scotland Yard disrupts a major terrorist plot to destroy aircraft traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States.
2009 – Twenty people are killed in Handlová, Trenčín Region, in the deadliest mining disaster in Slovakia's history.

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day:
Bessus
Blane (Roman Catholic Church)
Geraint of Dumnonia
Lawrence of Rome
Our Lady of Good Success of Parañaque, Patroness of Parañaque, Philippines
August 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Declaration of Independence of Quito, proclaimed independence from Spain on August 10, 1809, but failed with the execution of all the conspirators of the movement on August 2, 1810. Independence finally occurred on May 24, 1822 at the Battle of Pichincha. (Ecuador)

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