10 February 1954

The satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 destroyed each other in the first accidental hypervelocity collision between two intact satellites in low Earth orbit.

The Namdaemun gate in Seoul, the first of South Korea's National Treasures, was severely damaged by arson (damage pictured).

Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in a game of chess, the first ever game won by a chess-playing computer against a World Chess Champion under chess tournament conditions.

Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy arrested by the FBI, was exchanged for Francis Gary Powers, the pilot of the CIA spy plane that had been shot down over Soviet airspace two years earlier.

The first solo exhibition by Roy Lichtenstein (pictured) opened, including the painting Look Mickey, which featured his first use of Ben Day dots, speech balloons, and comic imagery sourcing.

In the first airborne operation undertaken by the British military, a small force of paratroopers landed near Calitri, Italy, to destroy an aqueduct.

Puss Gets the Boot, the first Tom and Jerry cartoon, was released to theaters.

Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists concluded their conquest of Catalonia and sealed the border with France.

Second Italo-Ethiopian War: The Battle of Amba Aradam began, ending nine days later in a decisive tactical victory for Italy and the neutralisation of almost the entire Ethiopian army as a fighting force.

The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng launched the failed Yên Bái mutiny in the hope of ending French colonial rule in Vietnam.

The Inter-Allied Women's Conference (delegates pictured) opened as a counterpart to the Paris Peace Conference, marking the first time that women were allowed formal participation in an international treaty negotiation.

The Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought was launched, representing such a marked advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships.

American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroyed the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria married at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, London, with Albert being granted the title prince consort.

War of the Sixth Coalition: A French army led by Napoleon effectively destroyed a small Russian corps commanded by Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev.

To end the Seven Years' War, Britain, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, which significantly reduced the size of the French colonial empire and marked the beginning of an extensive period of British dominance outside of Europe.

The Huilliche in Chile's Chiloé Archipelago rose up against Spanish encomenderos in revenge for perceived injustices.

A tavern dispute between students of the University of Oxford and townspeople in Oxford became a riot that left about 90 people dead.

The last Abbasid caliph surrendered Baghdad to the besieging Mongol army of Hulegu Khan, who later sacked the city, killing hundreds of thousands of people.

The traditional Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is canceled for the first time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Texas' worst energy infrastructure failure, the 2021 Texas power crisis, starts.

Nineteen people are killed and 66 injured when a Kowloon Motor Bus double decker on route 872 in Hong Kong overturns.

South Korea decides to stop the operation of the Kaesong joint industrial complex with North Korea in response to the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4.

The communications satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collide in orbit, destroying both.