This Day That Year

February 10

in History

Genghis Khan Takes Bukhara — The Mongol storm engulfs Central Asia
Bukhara, Khwarazmian EmpireMedieval
1220

Genghis Khan Takes Bukhara

The Mongol storm engulfs Central Asia

The great city of Bukhara, jewel of the Khwarazmian Empire and one of the Islamic world's most learned centers, fell to the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan. The conqueror's forces looted the city with devastating thoroughness, destroying libraries, mosques, and centuries of accumulated knowledge. The fall of Bukhara was a harbinger of the wider devastation to come as the Mongol horde swept across Central Asia, reshaping the entire region.

1220 AD
Stella Adler Was Born — The teacher who reshaped American acting
New York City, United StatesEarly 20th Century
1901

Stella Adler Was Born

The teacher who reshaped American acting

Stella Adler was born in New York City to a famous Yiddish theater family. She would become one of America's most influential acting teachers, training generations of performers including Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, and Warren Beatty. Her approach, which emphasized imagination and given circumstances over emotional memory, revolutionized the craft of acting and made her name synonymous with the highest standards of theatrical artistry.

1901 AD
Cold War — Cold War: Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
1947–1991 geopolitical rivalry between US and USSRLate 20th Century
1962

Cold War

Cold War: Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

1962 AD