July 26Birthdays & History

On this day: July 26 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 657First Fitna: In the Battle of Siffin, troops led by Ali ibn Abu Talib clash with those led by Muawiyah I.Middle East
2. 811Battle of Pliska: Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I is killed and his heir Staurakios is seriously wounded.Europe
3. 920Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at the Battle of Valdejunquera.Europe
4. 1184Erfurt latrine disaster: At a Hoftag, a meeting with local notables, organized by Henry VI, the building collapses and many of the nobles in attendance drown in the sewage pits below.Europe
5. 1309Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans (Holy Roman Emperor) by Pope Clement V.Europe
6. 1509Krishnadevaraya ascends to the throne as Emperor of Vijayanagara, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the Vijayanagara Empire.Asia
7. 1529Francisco Pizarro González, Spanish conquistador, is appointed governor of Peru.EuropeLatin America
8. 1579Francis Drake, the English explorer, discovers a "fair and good" bay on the coast of the Pacific Northwest (probably Oregon or Washington).EuropeNorth America
9. 1581Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration): The northern Low Countries declare their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II.Europe
10. 1703During the Bavarian Rummel the rural population of Tyrol drove the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel out of North Tyrol with a victory at the Pontlatzer Bridge and thus prevented the Bavarian Army, which was allied with France, from marching as planned on Vienna during the War of the Spanish Succession.Europe
11. 1745The first recorded women's cricket match takes place near Guildford, England.Europe
12. 1757A French army under Marshal d'Estrées defeats a smaller British-German army under the duke of Cumberland in the battle of Hastenbeck.Europe
13. 1758French and Indian War: The Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.EuropeNorth America
14. 1775The office that would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania takes office as Postmaster General.North America
15. 1778The Emigration of Christians from the Crimea in 1778 begins.Europe
16. 1788New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.North America
17. 1803The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London, United Kingdom.Europe
18. 1814The Swedish–Norwegian War begins.Europe
19. 1822First day of the three-day Battle of Dervenakia, between the Ottoman Empire force led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha and the Greek Revolutionary force led by Theodoros Kolokotronis.Middle EastEurope
20. 1822José de San Martín arrives in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to meet with Simón Bolívar.Latin America
21. 1847Liberia declares its independence from the United States. France and the United Kingdom are the first to recognize the new nation.AfricaNorth AmericaEurope
22. 1848The University of Wisconsin–Madison is established by Nelson Dewey, first Governor of Wisconsin.North America
23. 1861American Civil War: George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.North America
24. 1863American Civil War: Morgan's Raid ends; At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces.North America
25. 1882Premiere of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal at Bayreuth.Europe
26. 1882The Republic of Stellaland is founded in Southern Africa.Africa
27. 1887Publication of the Unua Libro, founding the Esperanto movement.Europe
28. 1890In Buenos Aires, Argentina the Revolución del Parque takes place, forcing President Miguel Ángel Juárez Celman's resignation.Latin America
29. 1891France annexes Tahiti.EuropeOceania
30. 1892Dadabhai Naoroji is elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain.AsiaEurope
31. 1897Anglo-Afghan War: The Pashtun fakir Saidullah leads an army of more than 10,000 to begin a siege of the British garrison in the Malakand Agency of the North West Frontier Province of India.AsiaEurope
32. 1899Ulises Heureaux, the 27th President of the Dominican Republic, is assassinated.Latin America
33. 1908United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).North America
34. 1918Emmy Noether's paper, which became known as Noether's theorem was presented at Göttingen, Germany, from which conservation laws are deduced for symmetries of angular momentum, linear momentum, and energy.Europe
35. 1936Spanish Civil War: Germany and Italy decide to intervene in the war in support for Francisco Franco and the Nationalist faction.Europe
36. 1936King Edward VIII, in one of his few official duties before he abdicates the throne, officially unveils the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.North America
37. 1937Spanish Civil War: End of the Battle of Brunete with the Nationalist victory.Europe
38. 1941World War II: Battle of Grand Harbour, British forces on Malta destroy an attack by the Italian Decima Flottiglia MAS. Fort St Elmo Bridge covering the harbour is demolished in the process.Europe
39. 1941World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands freeze all Japanese assets and cut off oil shipments.AsiaEuropeNorth America
40. 1944World War II: The Red Army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, capturing it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation.Europe
41. 1945The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.Europe
42. 1945World War II: The USS Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with components and enriched uranium for the Little Boy nuclear bomb.OceaniaNorth America
43. 1945World War II: The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.Europe
44. 1945World War II: HMS Vestal is the last British Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the war.Europe
45. 1946Aloha Airlines begins service from Honolulu International Airport.North America
46. 1947Cold War: U.S. president Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council.North America
47. 1948U.S. president Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the military of the United States.North America
48. 1951Walt Disney's 13th animated film, Alice in Wonderland, premieres in London, England, United Kingdom.Europe
49. 1952King Farouk of Egypt abdicates in favor of his son Fuad.Middle East
50. 1953Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders an anti-polygamy law enforcement crackdown on residents of Short Creek, Arizona, which becomes known as the Short Creek raid.North America
51. 1953Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment repel a number of Chinese assaults against a key position known as The Hook during the Battle of the Samichon River, just hours before the Armistice Agreement is signed, ending the Korean War.OceaniaAsia
52. 1953Cold War: Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July MovementLatin America
53. 1956Following the World Bank's refusal to fund building the Aswan Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal, sparking international condemnation.Middle East
54. 1957Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated.Latin America
55. 1958Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.World
56. 1963Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.World
57. 1963An earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia (present-day North Macedonia) leaves 1,100 dead.Europe
58. 1963The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development votes to admit Japan.Asia
59. 1968Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.Asia
60. 1971Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo "J-Mission", and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle.World
61. 1974Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the country's first civil government after seven years of military rule.Europe
62. 1977The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.North AmericaEurope
63. 1989A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.North America
64. 1990The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.North America
65. 1993Asiana Airlines Flight 733 crashes into a ridge on Mt. Ungeo on its third attempt to land at Mokpo Airport, South Korea. Sixty-eight of the 116 people on board are killed.Asia
66. 1999Kargil conflict officially comes to an end. The Indian Army announces the complete eviction of Pakistani intruders.Asia
67. 2005Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, resulting in floods killing over 5,000 people.Asia
68. 2005Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission: Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.North America
69. 2008Fifty-six people are killed and over 200 people are injured, in the Ahmedabad bombings in India.Asia
70. 2009The militant Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram attacks a police station in Bauchi, leading to reprisals by the Nigeria Police Force and four days of violence across multiple cities.Africa
71. 2011A Royal Moroccan Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashes near Guelmim Airport in Guelmim, Morocco. All 80 people on board are killed.Africa
72. 2016The Sagamihara stabbings occur in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. Nineteen people are killed.Asia
73. 2016Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth.World
74. 2016Hillary Clinton becomes the first female nominee for president of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.North America

Source: Wikipedia "July 26" / CC BY-SA 4.0