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Today in History, February 10th

On February 10, 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War. Plus Victoria weds Albert, the Powers–Abel swap and Brecht's birth.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published February 10, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

February 10 is best known for the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which ended the Seven Years’ War (the French and Indian War in America) and pushed France off the North American mainland. The date also saw Queen Victoria marry Prince Albert in 1840 and the 1962 swap of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for a Soviet spy.

The big story: The Treaty of Paris Ends the Seven Years’ War (1763)

The Seven Years’ War pulled in the great powers of Europe and spilled into their colonies around the world. The treaty that closed it, signed in Paris on February 10, 1763, redrew the map of the Americas. France gave up its mainland North American territory. Britain gained Canada and everything east of the Mississippi River, and it took Florida from Spain, which kept Cuba. Spain received the French lands west of the Mississippi, including New Orleans. For British colonists, the French threat on their borders was gone. But victory came with a bill. Britain had borrowed heavily to fight the war and expected the colonies to help pay it off, and arguments over taxes soon followed. American Indian nations also lost the ability to play one European power against the other. In hindsight, the treaty that made Britain master of North America also set its colonists on the road to independence.

More events on February 10

Year	What happened
1840	Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in a widely publicized ceremony that set lasting trends for royal and bridal weddings.
1846	British forces defeated the Sikh army at the Battle of Sobraon, the decisive battle of the First Sikh War.
1957	Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House books, died at 90 in Mansfield, Missouri.
1962	The Soviet Union released U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, shot down in 1960, in exchange for KGB officer Rudolf Abel on the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin.
1966	Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, author of Unsafe at Any Speed, testified before Congress for the first time on auto safety.
1970	An avalanche at the ski resort of Val d’Isère, France, killed 42 people, most of them young skiers.
1972	David Bowie debuted his Ziggy Stardust character at a pub concert in Greater London.
1990	NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flew past Venus, picking up speed on its long route to Jupiter.
1996	World chess champion Garry Kasparov lost a game to IBM’s Deep Blue computer.
2005	Playwright Arthur Miller, author of Death of a Salesman, died at 89.
2014	Shirley Temple Black, the most famous child movie star of the 1930s, died at 85 at her home in Woodside, California.

Born on February 10

1775: Charles Lamb, English essayist and critic, born in London.
1898: Bertolt Brecht, German playwright of The Threepenny Opera and a founder of “epic theater.”
1950: Mark Spitz, swimmer who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics.