On May 10, 1768, John Wilkes was imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.
On May 10, 1773, the Parliament of Great Britain passed the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade. Resistance to the act led to the Boston Tea Party.
On May 10, 1775, a small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British.
On May 10, 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman nominated for President of the United States. As the nominee of the Equal Rights Party she received no electoral votes. The first woman to receive an electoral vote came 100 years later, when Tonie Nathan, the vice-presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, received a single vote from Virginia.
On May 10, 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, while the first German bombs of World War II were dropped on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent, and Germany invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.