Today in History : January 10
1072 : Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger take Palermo in Sicily.
1645 : The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, is beheaded on Tower Hill, accused of acting as an enemy of the British Parliament.
1724 : King Philip V shocks all of Europe when he abdicates his throne in favor of his eldest son, Louis.
1811 : An uprising of over 400 slaves is put down in New Orleans. Sixty-six blacks are killed and their heads are strung up along the roads of the city.
1847 : General Stephen Kearny and Commodore Robert Stockton retake Los Angeles in the last California battle of the Mexican War.
1861 : Florida secedes from the Union.
1863 : London’s Underground begins operations.
1870 : John D. Rockefeller and his brother William establish the Standard Oil Company of Ohio.
1899 : Filipino leader Emilio Aguinaldo renounces the Treaty of Paris, which annexed the Philippines to the United States.
1901 : The Automobile Club of America installs signs on major highways.
1903 : Argentina bans the importation of American beef because of sanitation problems.
1911 : Two German cruisers, the Emden and the Nurnberg, suppress a native revolt on island of Ponape in the Caroline Islands in the Pacific when they fire on the island and land troops.
1912 : The world’s first flying-boat airplane, designed by Glenn Curtiss, makes its maiden flight at Hammondsport.
1917 : Germany is rebuked as the Entente officially rejects a proposal for peace talks and demands the return of occupied territories from Germany.
1918 : In Washington, the House of Representatives passes legislation for women’s suffrage.
1920 : The Treaty of Versailles goes into effect.
1923 : The United States withdraws its last troops from Germany.
1940 : German planes attack 12 ships off the British coast; sinking 3 ships and killing 35 people.
1941 : The Soviets and Germany agree on the East European borders and the exchange of industrial equipment.
1946 : Chiang Kai-shek and the Yenan Communist forces halt fighting in China.
1964 : Panama breaks ties with the U.S. and demands a revision of the canal treaty.
1984 : The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations for the first time in 117 years.
1985 : Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes President of Nicaragua, vowing to continue the country’s transformation to a socialist state with close ties to the USSR and Cuba.
2007 : A general strike begins in Guinea; eventually, it will lead to the resignation of the country’s president, Lansana Conte.
Born on January 10
1834 : Lord Acton [John E.E. Dalberg], English historian, editor of The Rambler.
1864 : George Washington Carver, chemist, agronomist, helped change the agricultural economy of the South.
1945 : Rod Stewart, singer, songwriter (“Maggie May,” “Tonight’s the Night”).
1949 : George Foreman, world heavyweight champion boxer.
1949 : Linda Lovelace (Linda Boreman), pornographic actress made famous by the movie Deep Throat, she later became an anti-pornography activist.
1953 Pat Benatar, singer; the four-time Grammy winner’s hits include “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and “Invincible”.
