On this day: February 10

Events on February 10

• 1220 Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire: the city of Bukhara was captured and looted by the Mongol army of Genghis Khan. Wikipedia
• 1258 The last Abbasid caliph surrendered Baghdad to the besieging Mongol army of Hulegu Khan, who later sacked the city, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Wikipedia
• 1306 In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparking the revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence. Wikipedia
• 1355 A tavern dispute between students of the University of Oxford and townspeople in Oxford became a riot that left about 90 people dead. Wikipedia
• 1567 Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o' Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination. Wikipedia
• 1712 The Huilliche in Chile's Chiloé Archipelago rose up against Spanish encomenderos in revenge for perceived injustices. Wikipedia
• 1763 To end the Seven Years' War, Britain, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, which significantly reduced the size of the French colonial empire and marked the beginning of an extensive period of British dominance outside of Europe. Wikipedia
• 1814 War of the Sixth Coalition: A French army led by Napoleon effectively destroyed a small Russian corps commanded by Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev. Wikipedia
• 1840 Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria married at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, London, with Albert being granted the title prince consort. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroyed the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina. Wikipedia
• 1906 The Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought was launched, representing such a marked advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships. Wikipedia
• 1919 The Inter-Allied Women's Conference opened as a counterpart to the Paris Peace Conference, marking the first time that women were allowed formal participation in an international treaty negotiation. Wikipedia
• 1930 The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng launched the failed Yên Bái mutiny in the hope of ending French colonial rule in Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1936 Second Italo-Ethiopian War: The Battle of Amba Aradam began, ending nine days later in a decisive tactical victory for Italy and the neutralisation of almost the entire Ethiopian army as a fighting force. Wikipedia
• 1939 Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists concluded their conquest of Catalonia and sealed the border with France. Wikipedia
• 1940 Puss Gets the Boot, the first Tom and Jerry cartoon, was released to theaters. Wikipedia
• 1941 In the first airborne operation undertaken by the British military, a small force of paratroopers landed near Calitri, Italy, to destroy an aqueduct. Wikipedia
• 1947 The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II. Wikipedia
• 1954 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1962 Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy arrested by the FBI, was exchanged for Francis Gary Powers, the pilot of the CIA spy plane that had been shot down over Soviet airspace two years earlier. Wikipedia
• 1962 The first solo exhibition by Roy Lichtenstein opened, including the painting Look Mickey, which featured his first use of Ben Day dots, speech balloons, and comic imagery sourcing. Wikipedia
• 1967 The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified. Wikipedia
• 1996 Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in a game of chess, the first ever game won by a chess-playing computer against a World Chess Champion under chess tournament conditions. Wikipedia
• 2003 France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq. Wikipedia
• 2008 The Namdaemun gate in Seoul, the first of South Korea's National Treasures, was severely damaged by arson. Wikipedia
• 2009 The satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 destroyed each other in the first accidental hypervelocity collision between two intact satellites in low Earth orbit. Wikipedia

Born on February 10

• 1775 Charles Lamb, English poet and essayist (died 1834) Wikipedia
• 1859 Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (died 1943) Wikipedia
• 1888 Giuseppe Ungaretti, Egyptian-Italian soldier, journalist, and poet (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1890 Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator Nobel Prize laureate (died 1960) Wikipedia
• 1894 Harold Macmillan, English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1897 John Franklin Enders, American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1985) Wikipedia
• 1898 Bertolt Brecht, German director, playwright, and poet (died 1956) Wikipedia
• 1899 Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1902 Walter Houser Brattain, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1987) Wikipedia
• 1910 Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1929 Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1937 Roberta Flack, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1950 Mark Spitz, American swimmer Wikipedia
• 1952 Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporean general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore Wikipedia
• 1962 Cliff Burton, American musician and songwriter (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1967 Laura Dern, American actress, director, and producer Wikipedia
• 1974 Elizabeth Banks, American actress Wikipedia
• 1982 Justin Gatlin, American sprinter Wikipedia
• 1986 Radamel Falcao, Colombian footballer Wikipedia
• 1991 Emma Roberts, American actress Wikipedia
• 1994 Kang Seul-gi, South Korean singer Wikipedia
• 1997 Chloë Grace Moretz, American actress Wikipedia

Died on February 10

• 1755 Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (born 1689) Wikipedia
• 1829 Pope Leo XII (born 1760) Wikipedia
• 1837 Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet and author (born 1799) Wikipedia
• 1879 Honoré Daumier, French illustrator and painter (born 1808) Wikipedia
• 1891 Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (born 1850) Wikipedia
• 1912 Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, English surgeon and academic (born 1827) Wikipedia
• 1918 Abdul Hamid II, Ottoman sultan (born 1842) Wikipedia
• 1918 Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1833) Wikipedia
• 1923 Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1845) Wikipedia
• 1932 Edgar Wallace, English author and screenwriter (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1939 Pope Pius XI (born 1857) Wikipedia
• 2000 Jim Varney, American actor, comedian and writer (born 1949) Wikipedia
• 2005 Arthur Miller, American actor, playwright, and author (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 2014 Shirley Temple, American actress and diplomat (born 1928) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Austrebertha Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Charalambos Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Eusebia Palomino Yenes Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: José Sánchez del Río Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Scholastica Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Feast of St. Paul's Shipwreck (Malta) Wikipedia
• Fenkil Day(commemoration of the Second Battle of Massawa) (Eritrea) Wikipedia
• Kurdish Authors Union Day (Iraqi Kurdistan) Wikipedia
• National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe (Italy) Wikipedia
• Arabian Leopard Day Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “February 10” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/February 10” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 10” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for February 10 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.