In Calendar Form

July 10

0138 Death: Hadrian, the Roman Emperor who planned the great wall across northern Britain.

1099 Death: Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (El Cid) in Valencia. Note: He apparently died of grief after being defeated by the Moors.

1460 The Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians and capture Henry VI at the Battle of Northampton.

1509 Birth: John Calvin, theologian, French Protestant religious leader, reformer, founder of Calvinism. His 'Institutes of the Christian Religion' became the most popular doctrinal statement of the Protestant Reformation. Died in 1564.

1520 The Spanish explorer and conqueror Cortes is driven from Tenochtitlan and retreats to Tlaxcala.

Grey

1553 Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England at the age of 16. Note: She will rule for only nine days before being arrested and executed.

1609 The Catholic states in Germany set up a league under the leadership of Maximillian of Bavaria.

1629 The first non-separatist Congregational church in America is established at Salem, Massachusetts.

1679 The British crown claims New Hampshire as a royal colony.

1690 The Battle of Beachy Head takes place, with the French fleet defeating the Anglo-Dutch fleet.

1692 Death: Bridget Bishop, the first victim of the Salem Witch Trials. "In addition to her somewhat outrageous (by Puritan standards) lifestyle, the fact that Bishop "was in the habit of dressing more artistically than women of the village" also contributed in large part to her conviction and execution. She was described as wearing, "a black cap, and a black hat, and a red paragon bodice bordered and looped with different colors." This was a showy costume for the times. Aside from encouraging rumors and social disdain, this "showy costume" was used as evidence against her at her trial for witchcraft. In his deposition, Shattuck, the town dyer mentions, as corroborative proof of Bishop being a witch, that she used to bring to his dye house "sundry pieces of lace" of shapes and dimensions entirely outside his conceptions of what would be needed in the wardrobe of a plain and honest woman...."

1723 Birth: Sir William Blackstone, in England, jurist, (Blackstone's Commentaries). Note: His writings were very influential among America's Founding Fathers.

1747 Persian ruler Nadir Shah is assassinated at Fathabad in Persia.

1775 US Revolutionary War: Horatio Gates issues orders excluding blacks from the Continental Army. Note: Necessity will soon reverse this early policy, and the Continental Army will eventually be almost half black at times.

1776 US Revolutionary War: The statue of King George III is pulled down in New York City. The lead is used to make bullets with which to kill British soldiers.

1778 US Revolutionary War: In support of the American Revolution and French interest, Louis XVI declares war on England.

Dallas

1792 Birth: George Mifflin Dallas, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 11th Vice President of the US (1845-49). An interesting fellow with some succinct opinions on the office of the Vice Presidency available at the link.

1821 U.S. troops take possession of Florida.

1832 US President Andrew 'Banks Are Evil' Jackson vetoes legislation to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.

1834 Birth: James Abbott McNeil Whistler, American-born painter and graphic artist, active mainly in England. Died in 1903.

1847 Urbain J.J. Leverrier & John Couch Adams, co-discoverers of Neptune, meet for the first time at the home of John Herschel.

1850 Vice President Millard Fillmore is sworn in as the 13th president of the United States following the death of Zachary Taylor. (See July 9)

1866 Edison P. Clark patents his indelible pencil.

1873 Lover's Quarrel: French poet Arthur Rimbaud is wounded by fellow-poet and companion Paul Verlaine with a pistol in Brussels, Belgium. Two years before, the two poets had started a tumultuous relationship which culminated when Verlaine shot Rimbaud after he threatened to leave. Note: Rimbaud is considered one of the most exceptional poets of French symbolism.

1875 Birth: Mary McLeod, in Bethune, South Carolina, slave, black educator, teacher, founder of Bethune-Cookman College and the National Council of Negro Women. Died in 1955.

Blaskowitz

1883 Birth: Johannes Blaskowitz, Wehrmacht General who planned the Polish campaign, led the Eighth Army in Poland, and subsequently became the CIC of the Army Of Occupation. A professional soldier of the old school, his ascendancy in the Third Reich was rapid. In 1935 he was promoted to Lieutenant-General and assumed command of Defense District Three, Stettin. In 1938 he was the field commander of Army Group Three in Dresden, which he led into Austria and Bohemia, and then the Sudetenland in 1939. After surviving a severe flank attack at Pozen, which only the assistance of Reichenau's Tenth Army was able to stem, he received the surrender of Warsaw on September 27, and was made military governor of Poland on October 22. It was at this time that Blaskowitz received his first lesson in Nazi criminality. He wrote two blistering memos to his immediate superior, Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, concerning the activities of the Einsatzkommandos and detailing such crimes as beatings, rapes, looting, and of course, murder. An enraged Hitler, complaining of Blaskowitz's 'childish attitude,' relieved him of his commands, but continued to make use of his superior military talents throughout the war. Surrendering to the British while engaged in the Netherlands, he committed suicide in Nuremberg prison shortly before his trial as a minor war criminal. Though it has never been proven, his fellow prisoners forever remained convinced that he was murdered by an SS death squad.

Flick in 46

1883 Birth: Friedrich Flick, industrial tycoon and strong promoter of the Nazi movement. Flick became one of the most prominent entrepreneurs of the Third Reich era. He was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1949, but was released in 1951. Flick was considered postwar Germany's richest man, but stubbornly refused to pay his former slaves and forced laborers any compensation.

1890 Wyoming becomes the 44th united state.

1892 The first concrete-paved street is built at Bellefountaine, Ohio.

Best

1903 Birth: Werner Best, Senior SS and Nazi Security Police Leader, who later became Reich Commissioner of occupied Denmark. Best was originally sentenced to death after being extradited to Denmark, but his sentence was later commuted to five years and he was released in 1951. He later went to work as an attorney for the Stinnes Co.

Goldman's Mug Shot

1917 Emma Goldman is imprisoned for obstructing the US draft. "To mainstream Americans, Emma was known as a demonic "dynamite eating anarchist". She toured the States, agitating and lecturing everywhere she went. She was hounded for much of her life by FBI agents and was imprisoned in 1893, 1901, 1916, 1917 1918, 1919, and 1921 on charges ranging from incitement to riot to advocating the use of birth control to opposition to World War One......"

1918 The first Soviet Constitution is adopted by the Fifth All-Russia Congress of Soviets. (Polyakov)

1919 The Treaty of Versailles is hand delivered to the US Senate by President Woodrow 'One Horse' Wilson.

1923 All non-fascist parties are dissolved in Italy.

1925 The official news agency of the Soviet Union, TASS, is established.

1925 The famous 'Scopes Monkey Trial' begins in Dayton, Tennessee, after high school biology teacher John T. Scopes, aged 24, is charged with teaching evolution to his students. Clarence Darrow appears for the defense and William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution.

1926 At Lake Denmark, New Jersey, an arsenal explodes killing 21 people and causing $75m in damage.

1928 George Eastman, in Rochester, New York, shows a group of viewers the first color motion pictures ever exhibited. The film subjects include flowers, butterflies, peacocks, goldfish, and attractive women.

1929 The US government begins issuing paper money in the small size currently in use.

1933 A National Peasant Government in Romania begins what Prince Michael Sturdza will later call the "first Calinescu terror" against the Legion of St. Michael and the Romanian Legionary Movement.

1933 Die Brucke (The Bridge), a New York based Nazi newspaper, begins publication.

1933 The London Daily Mail, England's largest daily newspaper, prints an editorial justifying Hitler's anti-Jewish policy.

1934 The Good Neighbor: FDR visits Colombia, becoming the first sitting US president to visit South America.

1936 The British House of Commons debates the activities of Sir Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists.

1938 Industrialist Howard Hughes and a crew of four fly around the world in 91 hours, setting a speed record.

1939 Niculetta Nicolescu, head of the women's branch of the Legionary Movement in Romania, is arrested, tortured, raped, mutilated, and murdered. (Sturdza)

1940 WW2: The German Ambassador in Lisbon informs Berlin that the Duke of Windsor believes that the bombing of England will help bring about a negotiated peace with Germany.

1940 The Battle of Britain: The first greatest air battle in history begins this day. After the occupation of France by Germany, it was only a matter of time before the Axis power turned its sights across the English Channel. 120 German bombers and fighters strike a British shipping convoy in that very Channel, while 70 more bombers attack dockyard installations in South Wales. Note: Although Britain had far fewer fighters than the Germans - 600 to 1,300 - it had a few advantages, such as an effective radar system, which made the prospects of a German sneak attack unlikely. Britain also produced superior quality aircraft. Its Spitfires could turn tighter than Germany's ME109s, enabling it to better elude pursuers; and its Hurricanes could carry 40mm cannon, and would shoot down, with its American Browning machine guns, over 1,500 Luftwaffe aircraft.

1940 Adding Dishonor To Defeat: The French National Assembly, dazed by defeat and maneuvered by Vice-Premier Pierre Laval, meets in the resort town of Vichy and vote 569 to 80 to grant Premier Henri Philippe Petain full emergency and constitution-making power. Note: Vichy France will attempt to consummate a "National Revolution" of a corporate nature: Eliminating divisive political party and class strife, encouraging family growth and cohesion, and favoring church and patriotic organizations. Under pressure from the Germans, anti-Semitic measures are gradually enacted and enforced.

Guderian

1941 Barbarossa: Germans cross Dnieper River. Guderian, the most brilliant, and also the most aggressive, German general in the theater, wishes to push on. Kluge, his superior, orders him to hold and wait for the infantry to catch up. Guderian persuades him to allow further penetration, but Kluge worries, "your operations always hang by a thread." (Clark II)

1942 WW2: General Carl Spaatz becomes the head of the US Air Force in Europe.

1943 WW2: American and British forces complete their amphibious landing of Sicily.

Hassel

1944 The Secret Diary of Anti-Hitler Conspirator Ulrich von Hassel: (Ebenhausen) "The catastrophe shapes up ever more clearly on the horizon. Until now all signs were pointing toward a rather long duration, but now the indications are increasing that a quick end is possible. First, there are the evidences of deterioration that were to be noted within our ranks on the occasion of the Russian successes, evidences that were surprising to our army command, and obviously also to the Russians as well. In East Prussia, three generals died sacrificing themselves; a rout that wasn't equaled in 1918. Second to come into the scales is the hopeless inferiority in the air, with more and more terrible consequences. Third is the increasing shortage of supplies, especially gasoline. The "V-1" obviously is having considerable effects, but certainly no decisive ones; and even if "V" missiles with higher serial numbers should achieve more, nevertheless these weapons must be evaluated as measures of desperation; which, it is true, make on already horrible war still more ghastly, but which also destroy any reasonable prospect of peace and, at the most, only postpone our catastrophe."

1943 Operation CITADEL: Due to heavy losses and slow progress by the Panzers, Hoth is obligated to commit his reserves to the battle. They are merely chewed up along with hundreds of other German and Russian tanks. (Clark II)

1945 WW2: British and American carrier forces attack the Japanese home islands in preparation for invasion. Tokyo is attacked by more than 1,000 aircraft.

1949 The first practical rectangular television is introduced in Toledo, Ohio. The picture tube measures 12 by 16 and sells for $12.

1951 Korea: Armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean conflict begin at Kaesong.

1953 Korea: American forces withdraw from Pork Chop Hill after heavy fighting.

1962 The Telstar Communications satellite is launched. The satellite relays TV and telephone signals between Europe and the U.S.

1962 Martin Luther King Jr is arrested during demonstration in Georgia.

1968 How Nice Was That: The rock and roll band The Nice are banned from playing at London's Royal Albert Hall after burning an American flag on stage.

1973 This Really Is The End Of The Bloody Empire, Mate: Britain grants the Bahamas their independence after three centuries of British colonial rule.

1980 Iranian Revolution: Ayatollah Khomeini releases hostage Richard I. Queen.

1985 Fire The CEO And The Entire Board Of Directors: Coca-Cola resumes selling the old formula of Coke; it is renamed "Coca-Cola Classic." They also announce that they will continue to sell "New" Coke, which tastes like Pepsi.

1987 France Again: In Auckland harbor in New Zealand, Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior sinks after French agents in diving gear plant a bomb on the hull of the vessel. One person, Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira, is killed. The Rainbow Warrior, the flagship of international conservation group Greenpeace, had been preparing for a protest voyage to a French nuclear test site in the South Pacific. Note: Two days after the incident, French authorities deny responsibility in the bombing and continued to do so even after New Zealand police arrested two French secret service agents in Auckland. Under pressure from New Zealand authorities, the French government formed an inquiry to investigate the incident and after several weeks concluded that the French agents were merely spying on Greenpeace. Later in the year, however, a British newspaper uncovered evidence of French President Francois Mitterrand's authorization of the bombing plan, leading to several top-level resignations in Mitterrand's cabinet and an admission by French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius that the agents had sunk the vessel under orders. In Auckland, the two agents pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of manslaughter and willful damage and were each sentenced to 10 years in prison. Following negotiations with the French government, New Zealand released them a year later. In 1992, President Mitterrand ordered a halt to French nuclear testing, but in 1995 it was resumed, and Greenpeace sent the Rainbow Warrior II to French Polynesia to protest and disrupt the tests.

1989 The new Rainbow Warrior is launched in Hamburg and immediately started a European tour.

1989 Death: Mel Blanc, the "man of a thousand voices," dies at age 81. He was known for such cartoon characters as Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig.

1990 Mikhail Gorbachev wins reelection as the leader of the Soviet Communist Party.

1991 Russian Revolution II: Boris N. Yeltsin is inaugurated as the first democratically elected president in Russia's 1000-year history. Yeltsin's public acclaim was partly due to his favoring of a market-oriented economy and a multiparty political system. However, the war in Chechnia and the failure of his economic reforms to improve material conditions dimmed his popularity. Despite poor health and low ratings, Yeltsin was reelected to Russia's presidency in 1996.

1991 Russian Revolution II: The bodies of Czar Nicholas II and his family are exhumed.

1991 U.S. President George 'The Senior' Bush lifts economic sanctions against South Africa, citing its "profound transformation" toward racial equality.

1992  A federal judge in Miami sentences former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega to 40 years in prison after being convicted of drug and racketeering charges.

1992 In New York, a jury finds Pan Am responsible for allowing a terrorist to destroy Flight 103 in 1988, killing 270 people.

1992 An Alaskan appeals court overturns the conviction of former Exxon Valdez Captain Joseph Hazelwood in connection with the massive oil spill in Prince William Sound.

1997 NATO forces capture one Serb war crimes suspect and kill another in a warning to Bosnia's most wanted.

1999 The Democratic Republic of the Congo and five other African nations - all of which had troops in Congo - sign a cease-fire agreement in a bid to end that country's civil war.

2002 Peter Paul Rubens' painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" sells for $76.2 million at Sotheby's.

2004