July 26

Events

811 - Battle of Pliska; Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I is slain, his heir Stauracius is seriously wounded

1139 - Afonso I of Portugal|Afonso, then a count, is proclaimed first king of Portugal and declares independence from Castile

1469 - Battle of Edgecote Moor

1581 - Oath of Abjuration|Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Oath of Abjuration). The declaration of independence of the northern Low Countries from the Spain|Spanish king, Philip II of Spain|Philip II.

1775 - The birth of what would later become the United States Post Office Department was established by the Second Continental Congress.

1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 11th state of the United States.

1803 - the Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London.

1822 - Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín meet in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

1847 - Liberia gains independence.

1861 - American Civil War: George McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous United States|Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.

1863 - American Civil War: Morgan's Raid ends - At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate States of America|Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers are captured by United States|Union forces.

1878 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.

1887 - L. L. Zamenhof publishes Unua Libro|"Dr. Esperanto's International Language".

1908 - United 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).

1936 - The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War

1941 - World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.

1945 - The Labour Party (UK)|The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom General Election, removing Winston Churchill from power.

1945 - The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.

1947 - Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council|National Security Council.

1948 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military of the United States.

1948 - André Marie becomes Prime Minister of France

1953 - Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution.

1953 - Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders a law enforcement crackdown on Short Creek, Arizona, home to a polygamy|polygamous sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

1956 - Following the World Bank's decline to fund building the Aswan Aswan Dam|High Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.

1957 Carlos Castillo Armas dictator of Guatemala is assassinated

1958 - Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.

1963 - Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.

1963 - Earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia - 1100 dead

1963 - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development votes to admit Japan.

1966 - Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords stating that the House is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.

1968 - Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh 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.

1971 - Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15.

1989 - A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris, Jr.|Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing a computer worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

1991 - Paul Reubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman, is arrested for allegedly exposing himself at a Sarasota, Florida adult theatre.

1991 - ''Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog'' is released for the Sega Megadrive in Japan.

2005 - Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission (STS-114) after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|''Columbia'' Disaster in 2003.

2005 - Mumbai (f.k.a. Bombay) - the financial capital and most populated city of India - receives 995mm of rain within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days. (See: 2005 Maharashtra floods.)

Births

1030 - Stanislaus of Szczepanów, St. Stanislaw (d. 1079)

1678 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1711)

1782 - John Field (composer)|John Field, Irish composer (d. 1837)

1791 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1844)

1802 - Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (d. 1855)

1829 - Auguste Marie Francois Beernaert, Belgian statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1912)

1855 - Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist (d. 1936)

1856 - George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)

1865 - Philipp Scheidemann, German politician (d. 1939)

1874 - Serge Koussevitsky, Russian conductor (d. 1951)

1875 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)

1875 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)

1886 - Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (d. 1965)

1892 - Sad Sam Jones, baseball player (d. 1966)

1894 - Aldous Huxley, English-born author (d. 1963)

1897 - Paul Gallico, American author (d. 1976)

1903 - Estes Kefauver, U.S. Senator from Tennessee (d. 1963)

1908 - Salvador Allende, President of Chile (d. 1973)

1909 - Vivian Vance, American actress (d. 1979)

1920 - Bob Waterfield, American football player (d. 1983)

1921 - Jean Shepherd, American writer (d. 1999)

1922 - Blake Edwards, American film director

1922 - Jason Robards, American actor (d. 2000)

1923 - Hoyt Wilhelm, baseball player (d. 2002)

1926 - James Best, American actor

1928 - Francesco Cossiga, eighth List of Presidents of the Italian Republic|President of the Italian Republic

1928 - Stanley Kubrick, American film director (d. 1999)

1939 - John Howard, twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia

1939 - Bob Lilly, American football player

1940 - Mary Jo Kopechne, American aide to Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1969)

1942 - Vladimír Mečiar, Slovak president

1943 - Mick Jagger, English musician (The Rolling Stones)

1945 - Helen Mirren, English actress

1949 - Roger Meddows-Taylor|Roger Taylor, English musician (Queen (band)|Queen)

1950 - Nelinho, Brazilian football player

1956 - Dorothy Hamill, American figure skater

1957 - Nana Visitor, American actress

1959 - Kevin Spacey, American actor

1964 - Sandra Bullock, American actress

1965 - Jeremy Piven, American actor

1969 - Jonty Rhodes, South African cricketer

1973 - Kate Beckinsale, British actress

1976 - Chad Pennington, American football player

1977 - Martin Laursen, Danish footballer

1977 - Rebecca St. James, Australian-born musician

1980 - Dave Baksh, Canadian guitarist (Sum41)

1981 - Waqqas Amjad Rana, A Proud Pakistani

1985 - Gael Clichy, French footballer

1993 - Taylor Momsen, American actress

1980 - Aalo Chatterjee,Indian, Santhosh's wife

Deaths

456 - Offa, King of Mercia

811 - Nicephorus I, Byzantine Emperor (killed in battle)

1380 - Emperor Komyo of Japan (b. 1322)

1471 - Pope Paul II (b. 1417)

1592 - Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, French soldier (b. 1524)

1611 - Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1542)

1680 - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English writer (b. 1647)

1712 - Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (b. 1631)

1723 - Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b. 1660)

1863 - Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas (b. 1793)

1867 - King Otto of Greece (b. 1815)

1919 - Sir Edward Poynter, British painter (b. 1836)

1925 - Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician (b. 1848)

1925 - William Jennings Bryan, American politician (b. 1860)

1935 - Winsor McCay, American cartoonist (b. 1871)

1942 - Roberto Arlt, Argentinian writer (b. 1900)

1952 - Eva Perón, wife of Argentine President Juan Perón (b. 1919)

1953 - Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician (b. 1883)

1969 - Frank Loesser, American composer (b. 1910)

1971 - Diane Arbus, American photographer (suicide) (b. 1923)

1984 - Ed Gein, American serial killer (b. 1906)

1986 - Averell Harriman, American diplomat (b. 1891)

1988 - Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani scholar (b. 1919)

1992 - Mary Wells, American singer (b. 1943)

2001 - Peter von Zahn, German journalist (b. 1913)

Holidays and Observances

Cuba - Anniversary of the Moncada Barracks Attack Day (1953), Revolution Day

Liberia - Independence Day

Maldives - Independence Day

India - Vijay Divas (end of Kargil War)

External links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26 ---- July 25 - July 27 - June 26 - August 26 -- historical anniversaries|listing of all days