| 10 December 969 | Byzantine Empire [political events] | The general John Tzimisces, becomes Byzantine emperor after murdering the emperor Nicephorus II, in a conspiracy with Nicephorus's wife, Theophano, who is his lover. |
| 10 December 1041 | Byzantine Empire [political events] | Following the death of the Byzantine emperor Michael IV, he is succeeded by his nephew, Michael V. |
| 10 December 1830 | USA [births and deaths] | Emily Dickinson, US poet, born in Amherst, Massachusetts (–1886). |
| 10 December 1834 | UK [administration] | The Tory politician Robert Peel becomes prime minister of Britain following the resignation of Lord Melbourne. |
| 10 December 1865 | Belgium [political events] | King Leopold I of Belgium dies and is succeeded by his son, Leopold II. |
| 10 December 1890 | USA [wars] | US Army troops capture Sioux chief Sitting Bull, who resists the white settlement of South Dakota. |
| 10 December 1896 | Sweden, Italy [births and deaths] | Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist who invented dynamite and founded the Nobel prizes, dies in San Remo, Italy (63). |
| 10 December 1898 | USA, SPAIN, CUBA, PHILIPPINES [treaties] | The USA and Spain sign the Treaty of Paris, in which Spain cedes Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and also the Philippines (which is yet to be conquered) for $20 million, thus ending the Spanish–American War. |
| 10 December 1901 | Sweden [charities] | King Charles XV of Sweden awards the first Nobel prizes, funded by the legacy of the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. |
| 10 December 1902 | Egypt [other structures] | The Aswan Dam on the River Nile in Egypt is officially opened, having been started in 1898. The largest dam in the world, it is 2,142 m/7,027 ft long and has 180 sluices. |
| 10 December 1908 | [births and deaths] | Olivier Messiaen, French composer and organist, born in Avignon, France (–1992). |
| 10 December 1963 | Zanzibar [decolonization] | Zanzibar gains independence within the British Commonwealth (now part of Tanzania). |
| 10 December 1979 | Zimbabwe Rhodesia [political events] | The rebel parliament in Zimbabwe Rhodesia concludes, ending Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence (UDI). |
| 10 December 1989 | Czechoslovakia [law and government] | A majority noncommunist coalition government takes power in Czechoslovakia, led by Marian Calfa. |
| 10 December 1998 | World [biology] | The first genetic blueprint for a whole multicellular animal – a nematode worm – is completed. The 97 million-letter code, which is published on the Internet, is for a tiny worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. The study began 15 years previously and cost £30 million. |
| 10 December 2000 | Spain [tennis] | Spain's national tennis team claims the Davis Cup for the first time, following their victory in the final against Australia in Barcelona. |
