120 things happened on 10 February, from 1306 to 2021. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1840 · 186 years ago
Queen Victoria married her German-born cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, London. Victoria wore a white satin gown trimmed with lace made in Devon, which helped make white wedding dresses popular. Albert …
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
Great Britain, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Seven Years' War. This global war had been fought in Europe, North America and India, with Britain and Prussia on the winning side. The treaty greatly reduced the size of France's empire overseas. It marked the start of a long period when Britain was the leading power outside Europe.
UK story
Queen Victoria married her German-born cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, London. Victoria wore a white satin gown trimmed with lace made in Devon, which helped make white wedding dresses popular. Albert became one of the most influential royal partners in British history, supporting science, education and the arts. The couple had nine children.
UK story
The Royal Navy launched HMS Dreadnought, a battleship whose design changed naval power. It was such a big step forward that a whole generation of battleships became known as 'dreadnoughts'. Older warships were suddenly called 'pre-dreadnoughts'. The ship is credited to Admiral Sir John 'Jacky' Fisher, who wanted a battleship armed only with large 12-inch guns.
UK story
First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon: British defeat Sikhs in the final battle of the war.
UK story
In the first airborne operation undertaken by the British military, a small force of paratroopers landed near Calitri, Italy, to destroy an aqueduct.
The Inter-Allied Women's Conference opened in Paris, alongside the peace conference held after the First World War. Leaders of the campaign for women's right to vote wanted women's issues to be part of the peace process. It was the first time women were formally included in international treaty talks. In April they were finally allowed to present their ideas to the League of Nations Commission.
Puss Gets the Boot, the very first Tom and Jerry cartoon, was released in cinemas. The cat and mouse were not yet called Tom and Jerry. The short film was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and was based on Aesop's fable The Cat and the Mice. The series became best known for its 161 cinema cartoons produced by the film studio MGM.
American artist Roy Lichtenstein opened his first solo exhibition. It included his painting Look Mickey, the first time he used comic-book pictures, speech balloons and printed-style dots called Ben-Day dots. Lichtenstein became a leading figure in Pop Art, famous for large paintings inspired by comics and advertisements. Look Mickey now belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
IBM's chess computer Deep Blue beat world champion Garry Kasparov in a game of chess. It was the first time a computer had won a game against a reigning world champion under normal tournament rules. Kasparov still won that six-game match. But in a rematch in 1997, an upgraded Deep Blue became the first computer to beat a world champion in a whole match.
The communications satellite Iridium 33 and an old Russian military satellite, Kosmos 2251, smashed into each other high above the Earth. It was the first accidental high-speed crash between two whole satellites in low Earth orbit, and both were destroyed. Kosmos 2251 had stopped working in 1995. Russia was later criticised for leaving the old satellite in a crowded orbit.
Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos marries Helena Dragaš, daughter of the Serbian Prince Constantine Dragaš. She is crowned as empress the following day.
Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
The Huilliche in Chile's Chiloé Archipelago rose up against Spanish encomenderos in revenge for perceived injustices.
War of the Sixth Coalition: A French army led by Napoleon effectively destroyed a small Russian corps commanded by Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev.
Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
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.
Józef Haller de Hallenburg performs the symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
About 75% of the population in Zone I votes to join Denmark in the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites.
Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas.
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.
Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists concluded their conquest of Catalonia and sealed the border with France.
World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
Ras Al Khaimah joins the United Arab Emirates, now making up seven emirates.
Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
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.
South Korea decides to stop the operation of the Kaesong joint industrial complex with North Korea in response to the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4.
The traditional Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is canceled for the first time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Texas' worst energy infrastructure failure, the 2021 Texas power crisis, starts.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War”?
B: 1763. 1763 — that’s 263 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert”?
B: 1840. 1840 — that’s 186 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War. 1906: The Royal Navy launches the battleship HMS Dreadnought · 1763: The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War · 1840: Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert Find it on the page
“The Royal Navy launches the battleship HMS Dreadnought” happened in 1906. How many years ago was that?
B: 120 years. 2026 − 1906 = 120. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 10 February.
UK story
Charles Lamb was an English essayist and poet who also collected and studied old things, which made him an antiquarian. He is best known for his Essays of Elia. With his sister, Mary Lamb, he also wrote Tales from Shakespeare. This children's book retells the stories of Shakespeare's plays.
UK story
Mary Rand was an English athlete who was brilliant at jumping, hurdles and the pentathlon. At the 1964 Olympic Games she won the long jump and broke the world record. She was the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics. Until 2024, she was the only British female athlete to win three medals at one Olympics.
Well-known people who died on 10 February.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 10 February somewhere in the world.
Arabian Leopard Day draws attention to the Arabian leopard, the smallest kind of leopard. It is native to the Arabian Peninsula, where it once lived widely in rugged hills and mountains. Its numbers have fallen sharply, and only around 100 to 120 were thought to remain in 2023, in Oman and Yemen. It may already have died out in Saudi Arabia.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “February 10” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.