Thursday, August 10 --1955 King Otto I of Germany defeated the Magyars (Hungarians) at the battle of Lechfeld, ending the threat of a Magyar invasion.
1557 In the Spanish-French wars, the French army lost over 14,000 men when they tried to block a Spanish army under Count Egmont at the battle of Saint Quentin. The Spaniards lost just 50 men.
1627 In France, Cardinal Richelieu with royal troops began the siege of the Huguenot Fortress La Rochelle. The siege continued for 14 months before finally falling in October 1628.
1759 Ferdinand VI died.
King of Spain from 1746-1759, he tried to maintain Spanish neutrality in European conflicts. He was succeeded by Charles III.
1792 In the French Revolution, more than 1,000 people were killed when a mob stormed the Tuileries in Paris. King Louis XVI was arrested and the monarchy was suspended. A commune was set up.
1821 The state of Missouri was admitted to the Union as the 24th of the United States.
1846 In the United States, the Smithsonian Institution was established in Washington as a center for scientific research from funds left at the bequest of British scientist James Smithson.
1874 Herbert Hoover born; statesman and 31st president of the U.S. from 1929-1933, he was the last president whose term of office ended in March.
1885 The first commercially operated electrical streetcar began operation on one line only in Baltimore, Maryland.
1894 Indian statesman Varahagiri Venkata Giri born; prominent in India's labor movement, he was president of India from 1969-1974.
1904 In the Russian-Japanese War, the Russian fleet took heavy losses when the Japanese fleet blocked it as it was trying to escape from Port Arthur in the battle of the Yellow Sea.
1913 The treaty of Bucharest was signed between Bulgaria and the Balkan allies Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania, ending the second Balkan War.
1920 After World War I the treaty of Sevres was signed between Turkey and the Allied powers, relieving Turkey of much of the land ruled by the Ottoman Empire.
1944 In World War II, after three weeks of fighting U.S. forces finally overran Pati point and recaptured Guam from the Japanese.
1966 Orbiter 1 was launched from Cape Kennedy and became the first craft to transmit lunar photographs of possible landing sights.
It crashed into the far side of the moon on October 29.
1984 Mary Decker crashed out of the 3,000 meters final at the Los Angeles Olympics after a collision with Britain's Zola Budd. Budd was initially disqualified but later reinstated.
1995 Former army friends Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were indicted for the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19 that killed 168 people.
1998 Brunei proclaimed Sultan Hassan Bolkiah's eldest son, Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah, heir to the throne.
1999 Islamist activists declared Russia's Dagestan Province an independent state and called for a holy war of liberation.