October 26Birthdays & History

On this day: October 26 in history

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

1. 1185The Uprising of Asen and Peter begins on the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki and ends with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire.Europe
2. 1341The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 formally begins with the proclamation of John VI Kantakouzenos as Byzantine Emperor.Europe
3. 1377Tvrtko I is crowned the first king of Bosnia.Europe
4. 1520Charles V is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor.Europe
5. 1597Imjin War: Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin routs the Japanese Navy of 300 ships with only 13 ships at the Battle of Myeongnyang.AsiaAsia
6. 1640The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Covenanter Scotland and King Charles I of England.Europe
7. 1689General Enea Silvio Piccolomini of Austria burns down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera; he dies of the disease soon afterwards.Europe
8. 1774American Revolution: The First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.North America
9. 1813War of 1812: A combined force of British regulars, Canadian militia and Mohawks defeat the United States Army in the Battle of the Chateauguay.EuropeNorth America
10. 1825The Erie Canal opens, allowing direct passage from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.North America
11. 1859The Royal Charter Storm kills at least eight hundred people in the British Isles.Europe
12. 1860Unification of Italy: The Expedition of the Thousand ends when Giuseppe Garibaldi presents his conquests to King Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia.Europe
13. 1863The Football Association is founded.Europe
14. 1871Liberian President Edward James Roye is deposed in a coup d'état.Africa
15. 1881Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday participate in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.North America
16. 1890Malleco Viaduct in Chile, at the time "the highest railroad bridge in the world", is inaugurated by President José Manuel Balmaceda.Latin America
17. 1892Ida B. Wells publishes Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.North America
18. 1905King Oscar II recognizes the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden.Europe
19. 1909Japanese occupation of Korea: An Jung-geun assassinates Japan's Resident-General of Korea.AsiaAsia
20. 1912First Balkan War: The Ottomans lose the cities of Thessaloniki and Skopje.Europe
21. 1917World War I: Brazil declares war on the Central Powers.Latin America
22. 1918World War I: Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.Europe
23. 1936The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.North America
24. 1937Nazi Germany begins expulsions of 18,000 Polish Jews.Europe
25. 1942World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier is sunk and another carrier is heavily damaged, while two Japanese carriers and one cruiser are heavily damaged.OceaniaNorth AmericaAsia
26. 1944World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming American victory.North America
27. 1947Partition of India: The Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu signs the Instrument of Accession with India, beginning the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948 and the Kashmir conflict.Asia
28. 1955After the last Allied troops have left the country, and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares that it will never join a military alliance.Europe
29. 1955Ngô Đình Diệm proclaims himself as President of the newly created Republic of Vietnam.Asia
30. 1956Hungarian Revolution: In the towns of Mosonmagyaróvár and Esztergom, Hungarian secret police forces massacre civilians. As rebel strongholds in Budapest hold, fighting spreads throughout the country.Europe
31. 1958Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris.North AmericaEurope
32. 1967Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran.Middle East
33. 1968Space Race: The Soyuz 3 mission achieves the first Soviet space rendezvous.Europe
34. 1977Ali Maow Maalin, the last natural case of smallpox, develops a rash in Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date to be the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.Africa
35. 1979Park Chung Hee, President of South Korea, is assassinated by Korean CIA head Kim Jae-gyu.Asia
36. 1985The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aboriginals.Oceania
37. 1989China Airlines Flight 204 crashes after takeoff from Hualien Airport in Taiwan, killing all 54 people on board.Asia
38. 1991Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia.Europe
39. 1994Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty.Middle East
40. 1995Mossad agents assassinate Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shaqaqi in his hotel in Malta.Middle EastEurope
41. 1995An avalanche hits the Icelandic village of Flateyri, destroying 29 homes and burying 45 people, and killing 20.Europe
42. 1999The United Kingdom's House of Lords votes to end the right of most hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.Europe
43. 2000A wave of protests forces Robert Guéï to step down as president after the Ivorian presidential election.Africa
44. 2001The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.North America
45. 2002Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian special forces troops storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.Europe
46. 2003The Cedar Fire, the third-largest wildfire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km2), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego.North America
47. 2004Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PlayStation 2 in North America, which sold 12 million units for the PS2, becoming the console's best-selling video game.North America
48. 2012Microsoft made a public release of Windows 8 and made it available on new PCs.North America
49. 2015A 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes in the Hindu Kush mountain range in South Asia, killing 399 people and leaving 2,536 people injured.Asia

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