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
• 9 The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the beginning of his own, the Xin dynasty. Wikipedia
• 69 Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus is appointed by Galba as deputy Roman Emperor. Wikipedia
• 236 Pope Fabian succeeds Anterus to become the twentieth pope of Rome. 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
• 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
• 1475 Stephen III of Moldavia defeats the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vaslui. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolution: Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense. Wikipedia
• 1791 The Siege of Dunlap's Station begins near Cincinnati during the Northwest Indian War. Wikipedia
• 1812 New Orleans, the first steamship on the Mississippi River, arrived at New Orleans to complete its maiden voyage. Wikipedia
• 1812 The first steamboat on the Ohio River or the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans, 82 days after departing from Pittsburgh. Wikipedia
• 1861 American Civil War: Florida becomes the third state to secede from the Union. Wikipedia
• 1901 The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: Imperial Russia begins the Erzurum Offensive, leading to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire's Third Army. Wikipedia
• 1920 League of Nations Covenant automatically enters into force after the Treaty of Versailles is ratified by Germany. Wikipedia
• 1927 The science fiction film Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, was released in Germany. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: The Greek army captures Kleisoura. Wikipedia
• 1972 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan. Wikipedia
• 1984 Holy See–United States relations: The United States and Holy See (Vatican City) re-establish full diplomatic relations after almost 117 years, overturning the United States Congress's 1867 ban on public funding for such a diplomatic envoy. Wikipedia
• 1985 Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba. 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 begins in Guinea in an attempt to get President Lansana Conté to resign. Wikipedia
• 2013 More than 100 people are killed and 270 injured in several bomb blasts in the Quetta area of Pakistan. Wikipedia
• 2015 A traffic accident between an oil tanker truck and passenger coach en route to Shikarpur from Karachi on the Pakistan National Highway Link Road near Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Karachi, killing at least 62 people. Wikipedia

Born on January 10

• 626 Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia Imam (died 680) Wikipedia
• 1769 Michel Ney, French general (died 1815) Wikipedia
• 1802 Carl Ritter von Ghega, Italian-Austrian engineer, designed the Semmering railway (died 1860) Wikipedia
• 1810 Jeremiah S. Black, American jurist and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of State (died 1883) 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
• 1912 Maria Mandl, Austrian Lagerführerin at Auschwitz koncentration camp (died 1948) 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
• 1981 Jared Kushner, American real estate investor and political figure 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
• 1358 Abu Inan Faris, Marinid ruler of Morocco (born 1329) Wikipedia
• 1778 Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist and physician (born 1707) 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
• 1997 Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907) 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

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

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 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.