Historical Events on Saturday, 10th January

10/01/2019

A 13-year-old American girl, Jayme Closs, is found alive in Gordon, Wisconsin, having been kidnapped 88 days earlier from her parents' home whilst they were murdered.

On October 15, 2018, 21-year-old Jake Thomas Patterson abducted 13-year-old Jayme Lynn Closs after fatally shooting her parents, James and Denise Closs, at their home just outside of Barron, Wisconsin, at 12:53 a.m. Patterson took Closs to a house 70 miles (110 km) away in rural Gordon, Wisconsin, and held her in captivity for 88 days until she escaped on January 10, 2019, seeking help from neighbors.

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10/01/2015

A traffic accident between an oil tanker truck and passenger coach en route to Shikarpur from Karachi on the Pakistan National Highway Link Road near Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Karachi, killing at least 62 people.

This list of traffic collisions records serious road traffic accidents, with multiple fatalities. The list includes notable accidents with at least 5 deaths, which either occurred in unusual circumstances, or have some other significance. For crashes that killed notable people, refer to the list of people who died in traffic collisions. This list records crashes from the year 2000. For earlier crashes, see list of traffic collisions.

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10/01/2013

More than 100 people are killed and 270 injured in several bomb blasts in the Quetta area of Pakistan.

On 10 January 2013, several bombings took place in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, killing a total of 130 people and injuring at least 270. The Quetta bombings led to protests by the city's Shia Muslim Hazara community; Prime Minister of Pakistan Raja Pervez Ashraf responded by dismissing the Chief Minister of Balochistan, Aslam Raisani, and replacing him with Zulfikar Ali Magsi. On the same day, a bomb exploded in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing 22 people and injuring 60 others.

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10/01/2012

A bombing at Jamrud in Pakistan, kills at least 30 people and injures 78 others.

The 2012 Khyber Agency bombing occurred on 10 January 2012, when a bomb exploded near a petrol pump in the town of Jamrud near the Afghan border in Khyber Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. The bombing killed at least 30 people while 78 others were injured.

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10/01/2007

A general strike begins in Guinea in an attempt to get President Lansana Conté to resign.

The 2007 Guinean general strike began on January 10, 2007. Guinea's trade unions and opposition parties called on President Lansana Conté to resign, accusing him of mismanaging the economy and abusing his authority. The strikers also accused Conté of personally securing the release of Mamadou Sylla and Fodé Soumah, both accused of corruption, from prison.

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10/01/2003

North Korea withdraws from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, making it the first state to withdraw from the treaty.

North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu (Amnok) and Tumen rivers, and South Korea to the south at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The country's western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eastern border is defined by the Sea of Japan. Pyongyang is the capital and largest city.

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10/01/2000

Crossair Flight 498, a Saab 340 aircraft, crashes in Niederhasli, Switzerland, after taking off from Zurich Airport, killing 13 people.

Crossair Flight 498 was a scheduled commuter flight from Zurich, Switzerland, to Dresden, Germany. On 10 January 2000, the Saab 340B operating the flight crashed two minutes after takeoff in the Swiss municipality of Niederhasli, killing all 10 passengers and crew. It was one of two fatal crashes for Crossair during its existence; the other was Crossair Flight 3597 which crashed less than two years later during approach to Zurich.

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10/01/1990

Time Warner is formed by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications.

WarnerMedia, LLC, formerly Time Warner Inc., was an American multinational entertainment and mass media conglomerate. After being acquired by AT&T, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary in its last years of existence. WarnerMedia's headquarters were at 30 Hudson Yards in New York City.

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10/01/1985

Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba.

The Sandinista National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistance against the United States occupation of Nicaragua in the 1930s.

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10/01/1984

Holy See–United States relations: The United States and Holy See (Vatican City) re-establish full diplomatic relations after almost 117 years, overturning the United States Congress's 1867 ban on public funding for such a diplomatic envoy.

The current Ambassador to the Holy See is Brian Burch, who replaced the ad interim Chargé d'Affaires Laura Hochla, on September 13, 2025. The Holy See is represented by its apostolic nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who assumed office on April 12, 2016. The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See is located in Rome, in the Villa Domiziana. The Nunciature to the United States is located in Washington, D.C., at 3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.

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10/01/1981

Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments.

The Salvadoran Civil War was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guerilla groups backed by Cuba under Fidel Castro as well as the Soviet Union. A coup on 15 October 1979 followed by government killings of anti-coup protesters is widely seen as the start of civil war. The war did not formally end until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when, on 16 January 1992 the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in Mexico City.

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10/01/1980

The New England Journal of Medicine publishes the letter Addiction Rare in Patients Treated with Narcotics, which is later misused to downplay the general risk of addiction to opioids.

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. Founded in 1812, the journal is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. Its 2024 impact factor was 78.5, ranking it 2nd out of 168 journals in the category "Medicine, General & Internal".

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10/01/1972

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist and diarist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangladesh, he led the country as its president and prime minister from 1972 until his assassination in a coup d'état in 1975.

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10/01/1966

Tashkent Declaration, a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

The Tashkent Declaration was signed between India and Pakistan on 10 January 1966 to resolve the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Peace was achieved on 23 September through interventions by the Soviet Union and the United States, both of which pushed the two warring countries towards a ceasefire in an attempt to avoid any escalation that could draw in other powers.

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10/01/1954

BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1, explodes and falls into the Tyrrhenian Sea, killing 35 people.

BOAC Flight 781 was a scheduled British Overseas Airways Corporation passenger flight from Singapore to London. On 10 January 1954, a de Havilland Comet passenger jet operating the flight suffered an explosive decompression at altitude and crashed, killing all 35 people on board.

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10/01/1946

The first General Assembly of the United Nations assembles in the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. Fifty-one nations are represented.

The Methodist Central Hall is a multi-purpose venue in the City of Westminster, serving primarily as a Methodist church and a conference centre. The building also houses an art gallery, a restaurant, and office spaces. It contains 22 conference, meeting and seminar rooms, the largest being the Great Hall, which seats 2,300. Central Hall also acts as an important spiritual and sacred place for Methodists.

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The United States Army Signal Corps successfully conducts Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the Moon and receiving the reflected signals.

The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army responsible for establishing and managing the communication and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It manages new technologies and capability portfolios which are eventually transferred to other U.S. government entities; these responsibilities include military intelligence, weather forecasting, and aviation.

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10/01/1941

World War II: The Greek army captures Kleisoura.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

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10/01/1927

Fritz Lang's futuristic film Metropolis is released in Germany.

Friedrich Christian Anton Lang, better known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked in Germany and later the United States. One of the best-known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. He has been cited as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.

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10/01/1920

The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I for all combatant nations except the United States.

The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace of Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to the war. The other Central Powers on the German side signed separate treaties. Although the armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the actual fighting, and agreed certain principles and conditions including the payment of reparations, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. Germany was not allowed to participate in the negotiations before signing the treaty.

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League of Nations Covenant automatically enters into force after the Treaty of Versailles is ratified by Germany.

The Covenant of the League of Nations was the charter of the League of Nations. It was signed on 28 June 1919 as Part I of the Treaty of Versailles, and became effective together with the rest of the Treaty on 10 January 1920.

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10/01/1917

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: Seven survivors of the Ross Sea party are rescued after being stranded for several months.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. After Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition in 1911, this crossing remained, in Shackleton's words, the "one great main object of Antarctic journeyings". Shackleton's expedition failed to accomplish this objective but became recognised instead as an epic feat of endurance.

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10/01/1916

World War I: Imperial Russia begins the Erzurum Offensive, leading to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire's Third Army.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

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10/01/1901

The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.

Texas is the most populous state in the Southern United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south and southwest, that forms a natural boundary delineated by the Rio Grande. Texas has a coastline on the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. Covering 268,596 square miles (695,660 km2) and with over 31.7 million residents in 2025, it is the second-largest U.S. state by area and population. Texas is nicknamed the "Lone Star State" for the single star on its flag, symbolic of its former status as an independent country, the Republic of Texas.

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New York: Automobile Club of America installs signs on major highways.

The Automobile Club of America (ACA) was the first automobile club formed in America in 1899. The club was dissolved in 1932 following the Great Depression and declining membership.

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10/01/1876

The Plan of Tuxtepec is announced.

In Mexican history, the Plan of Tuxtepec was a plan drafted by General Porfirio Díaz in 1876 and proclaimed on 10 January 1876 in the Villa de Ojitlán municipality of San Lucas Ojitlán, Tuxtepec district, Oaxaca. It was signed by a group of military officers led by Colonel Hermenegildo Sarmiento and drafted by porfiristas Vicente Riva Palacio, Ireneo Paz, and Protasio Tagle on the instigation of Díaz. Díaz signed the previous version of the plan in December 1875, which did not include the three most important articles that appointed Diaz as president. It disavowed Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada as President, while acknowledging the Constitution and the Reform laws, and proclaimed Díaz as the leader of the movement. Díaz later became the president of Mexico, ushering in a period known as the Porfiriato.

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10/01/1870

John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.

John Davison Rockefeller Sr. was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern history. Rockefeller was born into a large family in Upstate New York who moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio. He became an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into several business partnerships beginning at age 20, concentrating his business on oil refining. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897 and remained its largest shareholder. In his retirement, he focused his energy and wealth on philanthropy, especially regarding education, medicine, higher education, and modernizing the Southern United States.

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10/01/1863

The Metropolitan Railway, the world's oldest underground railway, opens between Paddington and Farringdon, marking the beginning of the London Underground.

The Metropolitan Railway was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex suburbs. Its first line connected the main-line railway termini at Paddington, Euston, and King's Cross to the City. The first section was built beneath the New Road using cut-and-cover between Paddington and King's Cross and in tunnel and cuttings beside Farringdon Road from King's Cross to near Smithfield, near the City. It opened to the public on 10 January 1863 with gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, the world's first passenger-carrying designated underground railway.

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10/01/1861

American Civil War: Florida becomes the third state to secede from the Union.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war lasted a little over four years, ending with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

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10/01/1812

The first steamboat on the Ohio River or the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans, 82 days after departing from Pittsburgh.

New Orleans was the first steamboat on the western waters of the United States. Her 1811–1812 voyage from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to New Orleans, Louisiana, on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers ushered in the era of commercial steamboat navigation on the western and mid-western continental rivers.

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10/01/1791

The Siege of Dunlap's Station begins near Cincinnati during the Northwest Indian War.

The siege of Dunlap's Station was a battle that took place on January 10–11, 1791, during the Northwest Indian War between the Northwestern Confederacy of American Indians and European American settlers in what became the southwestern region of the U.S. state of Ohio. This was one of the Indians' few unsuccessful attacks during this period. It was shortly after the Harmar campaign attacks and unprecedented defeat of U.S. Army forces.

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10/01/1776

American Revolution: Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense.

Thomas Paine was an English-born American Founding Father, French Revolutionary, inventor, political philosopher, and statesman. His pamphlets Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783) framed the Patriot argument for independence from Great Britain at the outset of the American Revolution. Paine advanced Enlightenment-era arguments for human rights that shaped revolutionary discourse on both sides of the Atlantic.

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10/01/1645

Archbishop William Laud is beheaded for treason at the Tower of London.

William Laud was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms; he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 and executed towards the end of the First English Civil War in January 1645.

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10/01/1475

Stephen III of Moldavia defeats the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vaslui.

Stephen III, better known as Stephen the Great, was Voivode of Moldavia from 1457 until his death. He was one of the most prominent rulers of late medieval Eastern Europe, noted for his long reign, military leadership and astute diplomacy. His efforts to preserve Moldavian autonomy from more powerful neighbouring states such as the Ottoman Empire, Poland and Hungary, as well as his aptitude for nation-building and repute as a protector of the Christian faith, made him into a national hero in both Romania and Moldova. He is canonised by the Romanian Orthodox Church.

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10/01/1430

Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, establishes the Order of the Golden Fleece, the most prestigious, exclusive, and expensive order of chivalry in the world.

Philip III, also known as Philip the Good, was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the House of Valois, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, the Burgundian State reached the apex of its prosperity and prestige, and became a leading centre of the arts.

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10/01/1072

Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo in Sicily for the Normans.

Robert Guiscard, also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Norman adventurer remembered for his conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century.

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10/01/0236

Pope Fabian succeeds Anterus to become the twentieth pope of Rome.

Pope Fabian was the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church from 10 January 236 until his death on 20 January 250, succeeding Anterus. A dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit's unexpected choice to become the next pope. He was succeeded by Cornelius.

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10/01/0069

Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus is appointed by Galba as deputy Roman Emperor.

AD 69 (LXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the consulship of Galba and Vinius. The denomination AD 69 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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10/01/0009

The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the beginning of his own, the Xin dynasty.

The 0s began on January 1, AD 1 and ended on December 31, AD 9, covering the first nine years of the Common Era.

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01/01/1970

Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, and author who was the dictator of the Roman Republic almost continuously from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. A member of the First Triumvirate, he led the Roman armies through the Gallic Wars and defeated his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil war. He consolidated power and proclaimed himself dictator for life in 44 BC, which contributed to the political conditions that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the Roman Empire. For his role in these events, he is regarded as one of the most influential historical figures.

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