This day in history
Every day is full of amazing anniversaries, ancient and modern! As well as today, you can also look at any other day of the year - click the arrows to select the month, then click a number to select the day.
10 March
Events
- 1045: Pope Benedict IX returns from exile to Rome, Italy, and deposes Sylvester III.
- 1780: Russia creates the League of Armed Neutrality to prevent British ships from searching neutral vessels for contraband of war. The confederacy is subsequently joined by France, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden.
- 1826: King John VI of Portugal dies and is succeeded by his son, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, as King Pedro IV.
- 1876: Scottish-born US inventor Alexander Graham Bell transmits the first complete sentence by voice over wire using his newly invented telephone in the USA: Mr Watson, come here. I want you.
- 1893: The French colonies of French Guinea and the Ivory Coast are formally established.
- 1911: Clocks are put back by 9 minutes and 21 seconds at midnight in France and Algeria, making Greenwich time the standard.
- 1970: The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, defines what constitutes a Jew under Israeli law, following a dispute between secular and religious factions.
- 1998: MI5, the British secret service, releases its telephone number to the public for the first time.
- 1998: Thojib Suharto is re-elected president of Indonesia despite his deteriorating health and an economy weakened by a sharp decline in value of Indonesian currency. He remains opposed to economic reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which has arranged a $43 billion/27 billion economic bail-out programme.
Births and Deaths
- Ferdinand the Catholic
1452: Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Sicily (as Ferdinand II) 14681516, Aragon (as Ferdinand II) 14791516, Castile (as Ferdinand V and joint sovereign with his wife Isabella I) 14741504, and Naples (as Ferdinand III) 150416, who united the Spanish kingdoms into one nation and began Spain's period of imperial expansion, born in Sos, Aragon (1516). - Lloyd Bridges
1998: Lloyd Bridges, US actor, dies in Los Angeles, USA (85).
Data provided by Helicon Publishing
