On This Day
What Happened on February 10 in History
8 events that happened on February 10, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
Colonial America and the Revolution
1763
The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War and the French and Indian War.
France gave up Canada and its lands east of the Mississippi River to Britain, and Spain ceded Florida to the British. The settlement left Britain dominant in North America, but the debts and new taxes that followed helped spark the American Revolution.
Source: history.com; history.state.gov
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1840
Queen Victoria marries her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in London.
The wedding took place at the Chapel Royal of St. James's Palace, and Victoria's white gown helped make white the standard color for brides. Albert became her closest adviser, and the couple had nine children before his death in 1861.
Source: pbs.org
1890
Boris Pasternak, the Russian poet and author of Doctor Zhivago, is born in Moscow.
Doctor Zhivago was banned in the Soviet Union and first published abroad in 1957. Pasternak won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958 but was pressured by Soviet authorities into declining it.
Source: archive.nytimes.com
The Cold War
1947
The Allies sign peace treaties in Paris with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland.
The treaties settled borders, reparations and military limits for the countries that had fought alongside Germany in World War II. Italy gave up its colonies, and the treaties took effect in September 1947.
Source: history.state.gov
1949
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman opens on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre.
Lee J. Cobb starred as Willy Loman, an aging traveling salesman whose dreams of success collapse around him. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and became one of the most performed American plays of the century.
Source: libguides.montgomerybell.edu
1962
The Soviet Union frees U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers in exchange for spy Rudolf Abel.
The swap took place on the Glienicke Bridge linking West Berlin and Potsdam, and an American student held in East Germany was released the same day. Powers had been shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, an incident that wrecked a planned summit between the superpowers.
Source: history.com; archive.nytimes.com
1967
The Twenty-Fifth Amendment, setting rules for presidential succession and disability, is ratified.
The amendment confirmed that the vice president becomes president if the president dies or resigns, created a way to fill a vacant vice presidency, and set procedures for when a president cannot serve. It was first used in 1973, when Gerald Ford was appointed vice president.
Source: archives.gov; constitutioncenter.org
The Modern Era
1996
IBM's Deep Blue becomes the first computer to beat a reigning world chess champion in a game.
Garry Kasparov lost the opening game of a six-game match in Philadelphia, then recovered to win the match. An upgraded Deep Blue defeated him in a rematch in 1997, a milestone in the history of artificial intelligence.
Source: history.com; npr.org