On this day: 26 August
Events, births and deaths on 26 August. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Joyce Jacobson Kaufman
100 years ago1926
- Births · Anahit Tsitsikian
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1071 · Events · Battle of Manzikert
Events · 28
- 1071(Julian date)Battle of Manzikert — 1071 battle between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuk Turks
- 1278Battle on the Marchfeld — 1278 medieval battle in Austria
- 1346(Julian date)Battle of Crécy — 1346 battle of the Hundred Years' War
- 1444(Julian date)Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs — 1444 battle between Swiss and French troops
- 1748Pennsylvania Ministerium — American Lutheran church body
- 1813Battle of Katzbach — 1813 battle during the War of the Sixth Coalition
- 1814Battle of Las Tres Acequias — 1814 battle of the Chilean War of Independence
- 18331833 Bihar–Nepal earthquake — 1833 earthquake in Nepal and India
- 1849Second Empire of Haiti — 1849-1859 empire in the Caribbean
- 1914Battle of Le Cateau — battle fought on 26 August 1914
- 1922Great Offensive — largest and final military operation of the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922)
- 1959Commercial Radio Hong Kong — private radio broadcasting company in Hong Kong
- 19591959 Coatzacoalcos earthquake — earthquake in Mexico
- 1966South African Border War — war on the border of South West Africa/Namibia and Angola
- 19681968 Democratic National Convention — selection of the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in 1968
- 19721972 Summer Olympics — Games of the XX Olympiad, in Munich, West Germany
- 1977Charter of the French Language — 1977 law in Quebec, Canada defining French as the official language of the province
- 1978August 1978 conclave — 1978 Conclave
- 1981Aeropesca Colombia Flight 221 — 1981 aviation accident
- 1993Sakha Avia Flight 301 — aviation accident
- 1997Beni Ali massacre — 1997 mass killing in Algeria
- 1999Second Chechen War — war in Chechnya
- 2003Colgan Air Flight 9446 — 2003 aviation accident near Massachusetts, United States
- 2015murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward — double-murder in the United States, on 26 August 2015
- 2018Jacksonville Landing shooting — mass shooting at Jacksonville Landing in 2018
- 20212021 Kabul airport attack — suicide bombing in Afghanistan
- 20232023 Jacksonville shooting — anti-Black mass shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, US, on 26 Aug. 2023
- 20262026 Nepal–Tibet floods — 2026 flooding in China and Nepal
Births · 60
- 1596Frederick V of the Palatinate — Elector Palatine (1610–23), and King of Bohemia (1619–20), the Winter King; died 1632
- 1676(Julian date)Robert Walpole — British statesman and art collector, 1st Earl of Orford (1676–1745)
- 1728Johann Heinrich Lambert — German mathematician, physicist and astronomer (1728-1777)
- 1743Antoine Lavoisier — French nobleman and chemist (1743–1794)
- 1792Manuel Oribe — 2nd President of Uruguay (1835-38)
- 1819Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha — Consort of Queen Victoria from 1840 to 1861 (1819–1861)
- 1873Lee de Forest — American inventor (1873–1961)
- 1875John Buchan — Scottish author and politician (1875–1940)
- 1880Guillaume Apollinaire — French poet (1880–1918)
- 1882James Franck — German-American physicist (1882–1964)
- 1885Jules Romains — French writer (1885-1972)
- 1897Yun Po-sun — 2nd President of South Korea (1897-1990)
- 1898Peggy Guggenheim — American art collector, art dealer, museum founder and socialite (1898–1979)
- 1901Chen Yi — Chinese military officer, People's Republic of China (1901-1972)
- 1901Maxwell D. Taylor — American military officer and diplomat (1901-1987)
- 1904Christopher Isherwood — British-American novelist (1904-1986)
- 1906Albert B. Sabin — Jewish-Polish-American physician and epidemiologist who developed oral polio vaccines (1906-1993)
- 1910Mother Teresa — Albanian-Indian Catholic nun and missionary (1910–1997)
- 1914Julio Cortázar — Argentine writer and translator (1914–1984)
- 1918Katherine Johnson — African-American mathematician
- 1920Prem Tinsulanonda — former Regent of Thailand (1920-2019)
- 1920Richard E. Bellman — American mathematician (1920–1984)
- 1923Wolfgang Sawallisch — German conductor and pianist (1923–2013)
- 1935Geraldine Ferraro — American politician (1935–2011)
- 1936Benedict Anderson — American political scientist (1936-2015)
Deaths · 60
- 526(Julian date)Theodoric the Great — king of the Germanic Ostrogoths and ruler of Italy (493–526)
- 787(Julian date)Arechis II of Benevento — Duke of Benevento (734-787)
- 1278(Julian date)Ottokar II of Bohemia — King of Bohemia (1253-1278)
- 1346(Julian date)John of Bohemia — king of Bohemia
- 1346(Julian date)Louis I — Count of Flanders and Nevers and Rethel (1304-1346)
- 1346(Julian date)Charles II, Count of Alençon — French noble
- 1346(Julian date)Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine — Duke of Lorraine
- 1349(Julian date)Thomas Bradwardine — English cleric, mathematician and courtier (c.1300–1349)
- 1486(Julian date)Ernest of Saxony — Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486
- 1506(Julian date)Sesshū Tōyō — Japanese artist (1420-1506)
- 1551Margaret Leijonhufvud — Queen consort of Sweden (lived 1516-1551)
- 1572(Julian date)Petrus Ramus — French philosopher
- 1595António, Prior of Crato — Portuguese royal
- 1666Frans Hals — Dutch painter (1580–1666)
- 1723Antonie van Leeuwenhoek — Dutch scientist known as "the Father of Microbiology", and one of the first microscopists (1632–1723)
- 1785George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville — British Army general (1716-1785)
- 1810Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires — Spanish army officer (1753-1810) and 10th viceroy of the Spanish Viceroyalty of the River Plat
- 1813Theodor Körner — German poet (1791–1813)
- 1850Louis-Philippe I — King of the French from 1830 to 1848 (1773-1850)
- 1865Johann Franz Encke — German astronomer (1791–1865)
- 1874Julie-Victoire Daubié — French journalist (1824-1874)
- 1878Mariam Baouardy — Melkite Carmelite nun and saint (1846-1878)
- 1910William James — American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist (1842–1910)
- 1921Matthias Erzberger — German politician (1875–1921)
- 1921Sándor Wekerle — Hungarian politician (1848–1921)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.