On this day: March 10

Events on March 10

• 241 BC The Roman Republic defeated Carthaginian forces at the Battle of the Aegates, off the western coast of Sicily, in the final battle of the First Punic War. Wikipedia
• 1496 After establishing the city of Santo Domingo, Christopher Columbus departs for Spain, leaving his brother in command. Wikipedia
• 1535 Spaniard Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the fourth Bishop of Panama, discovers the Galápagos Islands by chance on his way to Peru. Wikipedia
• 1661 French "Sun King" Louis XIV begins his personal rule of France after the death of his premier, the Cardinal Mazarin. Wikipedia
• 1735 An agreement between Nader Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja, Azerbaijan and Russian troops are withdrawn from occupied territories. Wikipedia
• 1762 French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform. Wikipedia
• 1814 Emperor Napoleon I is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France. Wikipedia
• 1861 El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali. Wikipedia
• 1906 The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in northern France. Wikipedia
• 1909 By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates. Wikipedia
• 1917 Russia and France reached an agreement' to support one another's territorial ambitions for Europe in the aftermath of World War I. Wikipedia
• 1922 Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The United States Army Air Forces conducted a firebombing raid on Tokyo that killed at least 90,000 people. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians. Wikipedia
• 1952 Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba. Wikipedia
• 1959 An anti-Chinese uprising began as thousands of Tibetans surrounded the Potala Palace in Lhasa to prevent the Dalai Lama from leaving or being removed by the Chinese army. Wikipedia
• 1969 In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to recant. Wikipedia
• 1974 1974 Belgian general election: Elections are held in Belgium for all 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, the Belgian Socialist Party taking the majority with 59. Wikipedia
• 1975 Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1977 Astronomers using NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory discovered a faint ring system around Uranus. Wikipedia
• 1982 Syzygy: All nine planets recognized at this time — Mercury to Pluto — align on the same side of the Sun. Wikipedia
• 1990 In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted eighteen months after seizing power in a coup d'état in September 1988. Wikipedia
• 2006 The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars. Wikipedia
• 2006 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (artist's impression pictured) reached and entered orbit around Mars. Wikipedia
• 2017 The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in response to a major political scandal is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending her presidency. Wikipedia
• 2024 2024 Portuguese legislative election: Elections are held in Portugal for all 230 seats in the Assembly of the Republic. The Partido Socialista loses its absolute majority to the Partido Social Democrata, winning 77 and 79 seats respectively. Wikipedia

Born on March 10

• 1452 Ferdinand II, King of Castile and León (died 1516) Wikipedia
• 1503 Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1564) Wikipedia
• 1628 Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician and biologist (died 1694) Wikipedia
• 1772 Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, German poet and critic (died 1829) Wikipedia
• 1788 Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, German author, poet, playwright, and critic (died 1857) Wikipedia
• 1845 Alexander III of Russia (died 1894) Wikipedia
• 1846 Edward Baker Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (died 1850) Wikipedia
• 1923 Val Logsdon Fitch, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1928 James Earl Ray, American criminal; assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1936 Sepp Blatter, Swiss businessman and eighth president of FIFA Wikipedia
• 1940 Chuck Norris, American actor, producer, and martial artist (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1947 Kim Campbell, Canadian lawyer and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Canada Wikipedia
• 1952 Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwean politician, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1957 Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist, founded al-Qaeda (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1958 Sharon Stone, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1964 Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh Wikipedia
• 1972 Timbaland, American rapper and producer Wikipedia
• 1981 Samuel Eto'o, Cameroonian footballer Wikipedia
• 1983 Carrie Underwood, American singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1984 Olivia Wilde, American actress and director Wikipedia
• 1988 Ivan Rakitić, Croatian football player Wikipedia
• 1994 Bad Bunny, Puerto Rican rapper, songwriter, producer, actor, and wrestler Wikipedia

Died on March 10

• 483 Pope Simplicius Wikipedia
• 1291 Arghun, Mongol ruler in Persia (born c. 1258) Wikipedia
• 1792 John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1713) Wikipedia
• 1861 Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet, playwright, and ethnographer (born 1814) Wikipedia
• 1872 Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian journalist and politician (born 1805) Wikipedia
• 1913 Harriet Tubman, American nurse and activist (born c. 1820) Wikipedia
• 1923 Salvador Seguí, Catalan anarcho-syndicalist leader (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1937 Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian journalist and author (born 1884) Wikipedia
• 1940 Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist and playwright (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1951 Kijūrō Shidehara, Japanese lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Japan (born 1872) Wikipedia
• 1966 Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1985 Konstantin Chernenko, Russian soldier and politician, Head of State of The Soviet Union (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 1986 Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (born 1907) Wikipedia
• 2012 Frank Sherwood Rowland, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1927) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day Attala Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Harriet Tubman (Lutheran) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day John Ogilvie Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Macarius of Jerusalem Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Marie-Eugénie de Jésus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Pope Simplicius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Sojourner Truth (Lutheran) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day March 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Harriet Tubman Day (United States of America) Wikipedia
• Mario Day (International) Wikipedia
• Holocaust Remembrance Day (Bulgaria) Wikipedia
• National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Székely Freedom Day (Romania) Wikipedia
• Tibetan Uprising Day (Tibetan independence movement) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 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.