10 MARCH

SLAVE REBELLION EVOKES BRUTAL EXECUTIONS IN TOBAGO

[ 10 March 1774 ]

On 10 March 1774, two hundred slaves staged a rebellion on a plantation at Queen’s Bay, Tobago, owned by two wealthy planters, Sir William Young and Robert Stewart.

BRITAIN’S FIRST WAR TO IMPOSE REGIME CHANGE IN AFGHANISTAN

[ 10 March 1839 ]

Today in 1839, 10,000 British and Indian troops marched through the Bolan Pass, marking the start of the first British invasion of Afghanistan. London’s aim was to impose a puppet ruler, the arrogant and ruthless Shah Shuja, who described ordinary Afghans as ‘a pack of dogs one and all.’¹ Lord Melbourne, the British prime minister, duly explained to Queen Victoria, that the planned campaign of regime change was part of a ‘a great war,’ which would determine whether Britain or Russia would take ‘possession of the East.’²

2000 KILLED AS THE NIGERIAN VILLAGE OF SITARU IS WIPED OFF THE MAP

[ 10 March 1906 ]

On 10 March 1906, soldiers of the West African Frontier Force, led by Major R. H. Goodwin of the Royal Artillery, opened fire on a large gathering of peasants and fugitive slaves armed with hoes, hatches and other agricultural implements outside the village of Sitaru in north western Nigeria. 

BBC DIRECTOR GENERAL OFFERS TO FLY THE SWASTIKA FROM BROADCASTING HOUSE

[ 10 March 1938 ]

On Thursday 10 March 1938, the newly appointed German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, was on the second day of a four day diplomatic visit to London.

FOOTNOTES

1.  Shah Shuja cited in Saul David, Victoria’s Wars: The Rise of Empire, Penguin Books, London, 2007, p. 26 and p. 29.
2. Lord Melbourne cited in Ibid, p. 35.

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