On This Day: 10 June

Emperor Tenji of Japan introduces a water clock called Rokoku in his capital, Ōtsu		671
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) – leader of the Third Crusade – drowns in the river Saleph (Göksu) in Turkey, on his way to the Holy Land		1190
Dutch explorers Willem Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk discover Bear Island – the southernmost island of the Svalbard archipelago, between Norway and the Arctic		1596
Bridget Bishop, the first of the 'witches' of Salem, Massachusetts (14 women and five men) is hanged		1692
Government forces defeat the Jacobites in the Battle of Glen Shiel – the most significant military action of the Jacobite Rebellion of that year		1719
King George I of England dies in Osnabruck; succeeded by his son George II		1727
One hundred thousand lives are lost when a landslide dam on the Dadu River, in the Sichuan province of China – created by an earthquake ten days earlier – collapses		1786
Following the arrests of Girondin leaders, the Jacobins gain control of the Committee of Public Safety – installing the revolutionary dictatorship (a.k.a. the Reign of Terror)		1793
The Jardin des Plantes opens in Paris; one year later it would become the first public zoo		1793
The first revolt of the Janissaries in Turkey begins		1826
The first Oxford / Cambridge boat race, contested at Henley–on–Thames, is won by Oxford		1829
At least 28 unarmed Indigenous Australians are brutally murdered by eleven colonists at the Myall Creek near Bingara, Murchison County, in northern New South Wales		1838
Crystal Palace opened		1854
Wagner's Tristan und Isolde – written 1857–9 - premiered in Munich		1865
Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupts, killing 153 people and burying the famous Pink and White Terraces – New Zealand's most famous tourist attraction, sometimes referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World (on the 125^th anniversary of the eruption it was announced that they had been rediscovered)		1886
Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, declares the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire		1916
Battle of Belleau Woods ends		1918
Italian Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti is kidnapped and assassinated by Mussolini's Fascists		1924
Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio by stockbroker William Wilson and surgeon Robert Smith		1935
Italy declares war on Britain and France; US President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions in his 'Stab in the Back' speech at the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia		1940
Military resistance to the German occupation of Norway ends		1940
In reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich, German security police enter the village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic), sending the women and children to concentration camps and executing all 172 males over 16		1942
Lazlo Biro patents his ball point pen		1943
German troops enter the town of Oradour–sur–Glane, Limousin (Haut–Vienne), France, executing 197 men, 240 women, and 205 children (five men escaped and one woman survived)		1944
In Distomo, Boeotia, Greece, 218 people (men, women and children) are massacred by German troops		1944
Italy becomes a republic		1946
Saab produces its first car		1947
Two thousand lives are lost in an earthquake in northern Afghanistan, lasting over eight days		1956
John Diefenbaker leads the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to a stunning upset in the federal election, ending 22 years of Liberal Party government		1957
US President John F. Kennedy signs the Equal Pay Act into law		1963
The US Senate breaks a 75–day filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, leading to the bill's passage on 2 July		1964
A BEA de Havilland jet, arriving in London from Paris, makes the first automatic landing		1965
Israeli forces stop their advance into Syria and comply with a UN ceasefire, bringing to an end six days of fighting on three fronts (the 'Six–Day War')		1967
Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark marries Count Henri de Monpezat		1967
James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee – but is recaptured three days later		1977
An elusive perch with a prodigious appetite for goldfish is finally netted by two Southern Water Board engineers after two years on the rampage in a breeding lake at Ickham, near Canterbury		1977
The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a call to fight from its imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela		1980
The Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher are re–elected for a second term		1983
Klaus von Bulow found not guilty of murdering his wife Sunny with an overdose of insulin		1985
Belfast–born Patrick Joseph Magee is found guilty of planting the bomb that ripped through the Grand Hotel, Brighton, during the 1984 Conservative Party conference, killing five people		1986
Bob Geldof and John Paul Getty III are awarded honorary knighthoods		1986
Vaclav Havel's Civic Forum wins Czechoslovakia's first free elections for 40 years		1990
A British Airways BAC One–Eleven, on a flight from Birmingham, lands safely at Southampton Airport after a blowout in the cockpit causes the captain to be partially sucked from the cockpit – but with no fatalities		1990
The eruption of Mount Pinatubo causes the evacuation of the USAF's Clark Air Base in the Philippines		1991
Multi–party peace talks begin at Stormont – Sinn Fein is excluded		1996
Before fleeing his northern stronghold, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defence chief Son Sen and eleven of Sen's family members		1997
NATO suspends air strikes after Slobodan Milosevic agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo		1999
The Conservatives poll 36% to Labour's 29% in Britain's European elections		1999
The Millennium Bridge – London's newest bridge, and its first for decades – is closed for safety checks after large crowds cause it to sway violently		2000
Kevin Warwick, Deputy Vice–Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University, carries out the first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans		2002
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission opens with the launch of the Spirit rover		2003
The World Expo – aimed at finding a way to ensure safe and sustainable access to energy for all, while reducing CO₂ emissions – opens in Astana, Kazakhstan		2017

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On This Day: 10 June