| 139351 | December 10 | Event | 1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea – Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia. |
| 139352 | December 10 | Event | 1868 – The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps. |
| 139353 | December 10 | Event | 1869 – The Kappa Sigma Fraternity is founded at the University of Virginia. |
| 139354 | December 10 | Event | 1884 – Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published. |
| 139355 | December 10 | Event | 1896 – Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi premieres in Paris. A riot breaks out at the end of the performance. |
| 139356 | December 10 | Event | 1898 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict. |
| 139357 | December 10 | Event | 1899 – Delta Sigma Phi fraternity is founded at the City College of New York. |
| 139358 | December 10 | Event | 1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded. |
| 139359 | December 10 | Event | 1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the mediation of the Russo-Japanese War, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize. |
| 139360 | December 10 | Event | 1907 – The worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1,000 medical students clash with 400 police officers over the existence of a memorial for animals that have been vivisected. |
| 139361 | December 10 | Event | 1909 – Selma Lagerlöf becomes the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature |
| 139362 | December 10 | Event | 1927 – The phrase "Grand Ole Opry" is used for the first time on-air. |
| 139363 | December 10 | Event | 1932 – Thailand becomes a constitutional monarchy. |
| 139364 | December 10 | Event | 1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs the Instrument of Abdication. |
| 139365 | December 10 | Event | 1941 – World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near Malaya. |
| 139366 | December 10 | Event | 1941 – World War II: Battle of the Philippines – Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on Luzon. |
| 139367 | December 10 | Event | 1948 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. |
| 139368 | December 10 | Event | 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The People's Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan. |
| 139369 | December 10 | Event | 1955 – Mighty Mouse Playhouse premieres on American television. |
| 139370 | December 10 | Event | 1963 – Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy, under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah. |
| 139371 | December 10 | Event | 1965 – The Grateful Dead's first concert performance under this new name. |
| 139372 | December 10 | Event | 1968 – Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", is carried out in Tokyo. |
| 139373 | December 10 | Event | 1976 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques. |
| 139374 | December 10 | Event | 1978 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 139375 | December 10 | Event | 1979 – Kaohsiung Incident: Taiwanese pro-democracy demonstrations are suppressed by the KMT dictatorship, and organizers are arrested. |
| 139376 | December 10 | Event | 1983 – Democracy is restored in Argentina with the inauguration of President Raúl Alfonsín. |
| 139377 | December 10 | Event | 1989 – Mongolian Revolution: At the country's first open pro-democracy public demonstration, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of the Mongolian Democratic Union. |
| 139378 | December 10 | Event | 1993 – The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland. The closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages. |
| 139379 | December 10 | Event | 1994 – Rwandan Genocide: Maurice Baril, military advisor to the U.N. Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, recommends that UNAMIR stand down. |
| 139380 | December 10 | Birth | 1452 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1531) |