October 10 in History

2008

Orakzai bombing takes place in Afghanistan: members of the Taliban drive an explosive-laden truck into a meeting of 600 people discussing ways to rid their area of the Taliban; the bomb kills 110.

1985

An Egyptian plane carrying hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise ship is intercepted by US Navy F-14s and forced to land at a NATO base in Sicily.

1973

Spiro Agnew resigns the vice presidency amid accusations of income tax evasion. President Richard Nixon names Gerald Ford as the new vice president. Agnew is later convicted and sentenced to three years probation and fined $10,000.

1971

The London Bridge, built in 1831 and dismantled in 1967, reopens in Lake Havusu City, Arizona, after being sold to Robert P. McCulloch and moved to the United States.

1970

The Quebec Provincial Minister of Labour, Pierre Laporte, is kidnapped by terrorists.

1966

U.S. Forces launch Operation Robin, in Hoa Province south of Saigon in South Vietnam, to provide road security between villages.

1953

The Mutual Defense Treaty between the US and South Korea signed.

1941

Soviet troops halt the German advance on Moscow.

1933

At Rio de Janeiro, nations of the Western Hemisphere sign a non-aggression and conciliation treaty. President Roosevelt adopts a “good neighbor” policy toward Latin America and announces a policy of nonintervention in Latin American affairs at the December 7th International American Conference at Montevideo, Uruguay.

1911

Revolution in China begins with a bomb explosion and the discovery of the revolutionary headquarters in Hankow. The revolutionary movement spreads rapidly through west and southern China, forcing the abdication of the last Ch’ing emperor, six-year-old Henry Pu-Yi. By October 26, the Chinese Republic will be proclaimed, and on December 4, Premier Yuan Shih-K’ai will sign a truce with the rebel general Li Yuan-hung.

1911

The Panama Canal opens.

1877

Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer is buried at West Point in New York.

1863

The first telegraph line to Denver is completed.

1845

The U.S. Naval Academy is founded at Annapolis, Md.

1794

Russian General Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov crushes the rebel Polish army at Maciejowice, Poland.

1789

In Versailles France, Joseph Guillotin says the most humane way of carrying out a death sentence is decapitation by a single blow of a blade.

1733

France declares war on Austria over the question of Polish succession.