On This Day: 10 April

10 April in Indian history

• 2016An earthquake of 6.6 magnitude strikes 39 km west-southwest of Ashkasham, impacting India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Srinagar and Pakistan.India
• 1868At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops die.India

10 April in world history

• 2019Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project released the first image of the black hole at the center of the galaxy M87.
• 2016The Paravur temple accident, in which a devastating fire caused by the explosion of firecrackers stored for Vishu kills more than one hundred people out of the thousands gathered for the seventh day of Bhadrakali worship.
• 2010Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.
• 2009Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo announced that he had suspended the constitution and assumed all governance in the country after it was ruled that the government of Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was illegal.
• 1991A rare tropical storm develops in the South Atlantic Ocean near Angola, the first to be documented by satellites.
• 1981Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands is elected to Westminster as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He died twenty-six days later.
• 1973In the deadliest aviation accident in Swiss history, Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 crashed into a hillside near Hochwald, killing 108 people of 145 on board.
• 1972Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
• 1972Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Bin's lost military treatise, are discovered by construction workers in Shandong.
• 1944The Holocaust: Slovak Jewish prisoners Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escaped from Auschwitz, later publishing a report that became one of the earliest and most detailed descriptions of the camp's mass killings.
• 1941World War II: The Axis powers establish the Independent State of Croatia.
• 1919Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata was shot to death near Ciudad Ayala, Morelos.
• 1912RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, UK, on her maiden and only voyage.
• 1809Napoleonic Wars: The War of the Fifth Coalition began with the Austrian invasion of Bavaria, then a client state of France.
• 1741War of the Austrian Succession: Prussian forces defeated Austrian troops at the Battle of Mollwitz in present-day Małujowice, Poland, cementing Frederick II's authority over the newly conquered territory of Silesia.
• 1724Bach led the first performance of his cantata Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, his first cantata composed for Easter in Leipzig.

Born on 10 April

• 1952Narayan Rane, Indian politician, 16th Chief Minister of MaharashtraIndia
• 1938Don Meredith, American football player and sportscaster (died 2010)
• 1930Spede Pasanen, Finnish film director and producer, comedian, and inventor (died 2001)
• 1901Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil, Indian economist (died 1971)India
• 1900Arnold Orville Beckman, American chemist, inventor, and philanthropist (died 2004)
• 1897Prafulla Chandra Sen, Indian accountant and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of West Bengal (died 1990)India

Died on 10 April

• 2013Robert Edwards, English physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1925)
• 1995Morarji Desai, Indian politician, 4th Prime Minister of India (born 1896)India
• 1965Linda Darnell, American actress (born 1923)
• 1935Rosa Campbell Praed, Australian novelist (born 1851)

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 10 April in history?

2019: Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project released the first image of the black hole at the center of the galaxy M87. 2016: An earthquake of 6.6 magnitude strikes 39 km west-southwest of Ashkasham, impacting India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Srinagar and Pakistan. 2016: The Paravur temple accident, in which a devastating fire caused by the explosion of firecrackers stored for Vishu kills more than one hundred people out of the thousands gathered for the seventh day of Bhadrakali worship. 2010: Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.

What happened on 10 April in Indian history?

2016: An earthquake of 6.6 magnitude strikes 39 km west-southwest of Ashkasham, impacting India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Srinagar and Pakistan. 1868: At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops die.

Which famous people were born on 10 April?

Narayan Rane, Indian politician, 16th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (1952); Don Meredith, American football player and sportscaster (died 2010) (1938); Spede Pasanen, Finnish film director and producer, comedian, and inventor (died 2001) (1930); Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil, Indian economist (died 1971) (1901).

Which day is observed on 10 April?

Day of the Builder (Azerbaijan); Feast of the Third Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema); Siblings Day (International observance).