Historical events on December 10

DECEMBER 10, 1941

Second World War: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers east of Malaya.

World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1884

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by American author Mark Twain was first published in the United Kingdom and Canada, two months earlier than in the US.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a picaresque novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1861

Militia forces led by Nguyễn Trung Trực, an anti-colonial leader in southern Vietnam, sank the French lorcha L'Esperance.

Nguyễn Trung Trực, born Nguyễn Văn Lịch, was a Vietnamese fisherman who organized and led village militia forces which fought against French Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1932

The conclusion of the Emu War, after the Australian Government ordered the withdrawal of all Australian forces from the conflict.

The Emu War was a nuisance wildlife management military operation undertaken in Australia over the later part of 1932 to address public Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1936

Edward VIII, desiring to marry the American socialite Wallis Simpson against widespread British opposition, signed the instrument of abdication to renounce the throne in favour of his brother George VI.

Edward VIII, later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1970

Around the northern Thai village of Mae Salong, remnants of Chinese anti-communist forces now fighting on behalf of the Thai government launched a five-year campaign against local communist insurgents.

Mae Salong, officially known as Santikhiri, is a village in the Thai highlands on Doi Mae Salong mountain of the Daen Lao Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1983

Raúl Alfonsín (pictured) became the first democratically elected president of Argentina to take office after more than seven years of military dictatorship.

Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1848

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte won France's first presidential election, and was elected as the first and only president of the French Second Republic.

Napoleon III was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1684

Edmond Halley presented the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, containing Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, to the Royal Society.

Edmond Halley was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720.

DECEMBER 10, 1911

Calbraith Perry Rodgers completed the first transcontinental flight across the United States.

Calbraith Perry Rodgers Jr. was an American aviation pioneer. He made the first transcontinental airplane flight across the U.S. from September 17, Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1989

At the first open pro-democracy demonstration in Mongolia, journalist Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announced the formation of the Mongolian Democratic Union, which would be instrumental in ending communist rule four months later.

Elbegdorj Tsakhia is a Mongolian politician and journalist who served as President of Mongolia from 2009 to 2017. He previously served as Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1901

On the fifth anniversary of the death of their founder, Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer and businessman. He is known for inventing dynamite, as well as having bequeathed Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1768

The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was released in Edinburgh.

The Encyclopædia Britannica First Edition (1768–1771) is a 3-volume reference work, an edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It was developed during the Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1907

During the Brown Dog affair, protesters marched through London and clashed with police officers in Trafalgar Square over the existence of a memorial (pictured) for animals that had been vivisected.

The Brown Dog affair was a political controversy about vivisection that raged in Britain from 1903 until 1910. It involved the infiltration Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1967

Soul and blues singer, Otis Redding, along with members of his back-up group, The Bar-Kays, are killed when their helicopter crashes in Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin.

Otis Ray Redding Jr. was an American singer-songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1890

The New York World Building, the then-tallest building in the United States at a height of 110 meters, is completed in New York City.

The New York World Building was a building in the Civic Center of Manhattan in New York City, along Park Row between Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1508

The Papal States, France, Aragon and the Holy Roman Empire formed the League of Cambrai, an alliance against the Republic of Venice.

The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign Read More

DECEMBER 10, 1942

Edward Raczyński of the Polish government-in-exile issued a note that was the first official report on the Holocaust.

Count Edward Bernard Raczyński was a Polish diplomat, writer, politician, President of Poland-in-exile.

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Historical events on December 10

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