This Day in History - April 10th

1919: Zapata assassinated in Mexico

Emiliano Zapata, a leader of peasants and indigenous people during the Mexican Revolution, is ambushed and shot dead in Morelos by government forces. Born a peasant, Zapata was forced into the Mexican army in 1908 following his attempt to recover village lands taken over by a rancher. After the revolution began in 1910, he raised an army of peasants in the southern state of Morelos under the slogan Land and Liberty. Demanding simple agrarian reforms, Zapata and his guerrilla farmers opposed the central Mexican government under Madero, later under Victoriano Huerta, and finally under Venustiano Carranza. Zapata and his followers never gained control of the central Mexican government, but they redistributed land and aided poor farmers within the territory under their control. Zapata's influence has endured long after his death and his agrarian reform movement, known as Zapatismo, remains important to many Mexicans today.

Also On This Day

2000

In County Durham, England a shop manager who was sacked for being HIV positive reaches an out-of-court settlement believed to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

1998

The Good Friday peace agreement is signed in Northern Ireland.

1981

In Northern Ireland, Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands is elected parliament as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.

1972

A massive earthquake hits the south of Iran, killing 4,000 people.

1972

One his first visit to the U.S. in twenty years, Charlie Chaplin is awarded an honorary Oscar.

1971

The U.S. table tennis team start a weeklong visit to China. The visit begins a thaw the frosty relationship between the two countries, in what comes to be known as “ping-pong diplomacy.”

1970

Paul McCartney formally announces that the Beatles have broken up.

1968

A ferry, the TEV Wahine, capsizes in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, killing 51 people.

1963

An atomic submarine, the USS Thresher, sinks in the Atlantic Ocean, killing the entire crew.

1942

The Second World War: Start of the “Bataan Death March”, American and Filipino soldiers captured by the Japanese are forced to march 85 miles in six days, with only one meal of rice during the entire journey.

1941

The Second World War: The Axis powers form the puppet state of Croatia.

1938

Edouard Daladier forms his third government in France.

1916

The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) is established in New York City, America.

1912

The Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on what is to be it last trip.

1741

Prussia defeats Austria at the Battle of Mollwitz, gaining control of the province of Silesia.