On this day: January 10

Events on January 10

• 49 BC Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war. Wikipedia
• 9 The Western Han dynasty of China ended after the throne was usurped by Wang Mang, who founded the Xin dynasty. Wikipedia
• 236 Pope Fabian, said to have been chosen by the Holy Spirit when a dove landed on his head, began his papacy. Wikipedia
• 976 After the death of his guardian John I Tzimiskes, Basil II became the effective ruler and senior emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Wikipedia
• 1072 Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo in Sicily for the Normans. Wikipedia
• 1430 Philip the Good established the Order of the Golden Fleece, referred to as the most prestigious, exclusive, and expensive order of chivalry in the world. Wikipedia
• 1475 Moldavian–Ottoman Wars: Stephen the Great led Moldavian forces to defeat an Ottoman attack under Hadım Suleiman Pasha near Vaslui in present-day Romania. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolution: Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense. Wikipedia
• 1812 New Orleans, the first steamship on the Mississippi River, arrived at New Orleans to complete its maiden voyage. Wikipedia
• 1863 Service began on the Metropolitan Railway between Paddington and Farringdon Street, today the oldest segment of the London Underground. Wikipedia
• 1870 John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil. Wikipedia
• 1901 The first great gusher of the Texas oil boom was discovered in the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: Imperial Russia begins the Erzurum Offensive, leading to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire's Third Army. Wikipedia
• 1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: Seven survivors of the Ross Sea party were rescued after being stranded for several months. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I for all combatant nations except the United States. Wikipedia
• 1923 Lithuanian residents of the Klaipėda Region began a revolt, ahead of a League of Nations decision on their future which they expected to be against their interest. Wikipedia
• 1927 The science fiction film Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, was released in Germany. Wikipedia
• 1929 Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, the first volume of The Adventures of Tintin by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé, began serialisation. Wikipedia
• 1941 Greco-Italian War: The Greek army captured the strategically important Klisura Pass in Albania. Wikipedia
• 1946 The first session of the United Nations General Assembly convened at the Methodist Central Hall in London with representatives from 51 member states. Wikipedia
• 1966 Tashkent Declaration, a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Wikipedia
• 1972 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan. Wikipedia
• 1985 Sir Clive Sinclair launched the Sinclair C5 personal electric vehicle, "one of the great marketing bombs of postwar British industry", which later became a cult collectable despite its commercial failure. Wikipedia
• 1993 The Braer Storm, the strongest extratropical cyclone ever recorded in the North Atlantic, reached peak intensity. Wikipedia
• 2003 North Korea withdraws from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, making it the first state to withdraw from the treaty. Wikipedia
• 2007 A general strike began in Guinea as an attempt to force President Lansana Conté to resign, eventually resulting in the appointment of two new prime ministers. Wikipedia

Born on January 10

• 626 Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia Imam (died 680) Wikipedia
• 1769 Michel Ney, French general (died 1815) Wikipedia
• 1834 John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, Italian-English historian and politician (died 1902) Wikipedia
• 1880 Manuel Azaña, Spanish jurist and politician, 7th President of Spain (died 1940) Wikipedia
• 1883 Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian journalist, author, and poet (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1913 Gustáv Husák, Slovak politician, 9th President of Czechoslovakia (died 1991) Wikipedia
• 1916 Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1934 Leonid Kravchuk, Ukrainian politician, 1st President of Ukraine (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1936 Robert Woodrow Wilson, American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1938 Donald Knuth, American computer scientist and mathematician Wikipedia
• 1945 Rod Stewart, British singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1949 George Foreman, American boxer, actor, and businessman (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1949 Linda Lovelace, American pornographic actress and activist (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1953 Pat Benatar, American singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1960 Brian Cowen, Irish lawyer and politician, 12th Taoiseach of Ireland Wikipedia
• 1974 Hrithik Roshan, Indian actor Wikipedia
• 1974 Jemaine Clement, New Zealand comedian, actor, and musician Wikipedia
• 1980 Sarah Shahi, American actress Wikipedia
• 1981 Jared Kushner, American real estate investor and political figure Wikipedia
• 1984 Marouane Chamakh, Moroccan footballer Wikipedia
• 1984 Kalki Koechlin, Indian actress Wikipedia
• 1999 Mason Mount, English footballer Wikipedia

Died on January 10

• 314 Miltiades, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 681 Agatho, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 1276 Gregory X, pope of the Catholic Church (born c.1210) Wikipedia
• 1778 Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist and physician (born 1707) Wikipedia
• 1862 Samuel Colt, American engineer and businessman, founded Colt's Manufacturing Company (born 1814) Wikipedia
• 1951 Sinclair Lewis, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1885) Wikipedia
• 1957 Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1961 Dashiell Hammett, American detective novelist and screenwriter (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1971 Coco Chanel, French fashion designer, founded Chanel (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1986 Jaroslav Seifert, Czech journalist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 2016 David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (born 1947) Wikipedia
• 2020 Qaboos bin Said, ruler of Oman (born 1940) Wikipedia
• 2023 Constantine II of Greece, King of Greece (1964-1973) (born 1940) Wikipedia
• 2023 Jeff Beck, English guitarist and songwriter (born 1944) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Behnam, Sarah, and the Forty Martyrs (Armenian Apostolic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gregory of Nyssa Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Leonie Aviat Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Obadiah (Coptic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter Orseolo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Agatho (Roman Catholic) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: William Laud (Anglican Communion) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: William of Donjeon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Fête du Vodoun (Benin) Wikipedia
• Margaret Thatcher Day (Falkland Islands) Wikipedia
• Majority Rule Day (Bahamas) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “January 10” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/January 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 “January 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 January 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.