February 26
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 308 days remaining until the end of the year (309 in leap years).
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Events [change]
- 364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
- 1266 - Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as King of Sicily and Naples.
- 1548 - Admiral Piri Reis conquers Portuguese-occupied Aden in Yemen for the Ottoman Empire.
- 1658 – Treaty of Roskilde: After defeat in the Northern Wars, King Frederick III of Denmark-Norway is forced to give up nearly a third of territory to Sweden.
- 1794 – Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
- 1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba.
- 1848 – The Second French Republic is proclaimed.
- 1852 – The troop transporter Birkenhead of the Royal Navy sinks off South Africa, killing 450 of the 643 people on board. The call Women and children first is believed to have been used for the first time.
- 1876 - Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea's status as a tributary state to Qing Dynasty China.
- 1885 - The Berlin Africa Conference takes place, deciding the colonial boundaries in Africa, between different European colonial powers.
- 1909 - Kinemacolor, the first successful color movie process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
- 1914 – The ship HMHS Britannic is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
- 1917 – Denali National Park is founded in Alaska, originally named Mt. McKinley National Park. The mountain's English-language name comes from US President William McKinley.
- 1918 – A German U-boat sinks the British hospital ship HMHS Glenart Castle, killing 153 people.
- 1919 – The Grand Canyon becomes part of the Grand Canyon National Park.
- 1929 – The Grand Teton National Park is founded in Wyoming.
- 1935 – Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates the radar near Daventry.
- 1935 - Adolf Hitler orders the re-formation of the Luftwaffe.
- 1936 – February 26 Incident: Japanese military officers stage a military coup against the government.
- 1952 - Vincent Massey becomes the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
- 1960 - A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after take-off, killing 34 of the 52 people on board.
- 1961 - Hassan II becomes King of Morocco.
- 1966 - Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of a Saturn IB rocket.
- 1966 - Vietnam War; The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians.
- 1972 – The Buffalo Creek Flood is caused when a dam bursts, in West Virginia, killing 125 people.
- 1980 - Egypt and Israel create full diplomatic relations.
- 1984 – US troops withdraw from Lebanon.
- 1990 – The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections, also meaning that Violeta Chamorro becomes Nicaragua's first female President.
- 1991 – The Gulf War ends when Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of all Iraqi troops in Kuwait.
- 1991 - Tim Berners-Lee introduces WorldWideWeb. As it is confused with the World Wide Web, it is later renamed Nexus.
- 1992 – Khojaly Massacre: Armenian forces kill 613 Azerbaijani civilians in Nagorno Karabakh.
- 1993 – World Trade Center bombing: A bomb explodes in a car park under the North Tower of New York City's World Trade Center, killing 6 people, and injuring over 1,000.
- 1995 - Barings Bank, the United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, collapses.
- 2000 – The Hekla volcano in Iceland erupts.
- 2004 – Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski dies in a plane crash near Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2006 – End of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
Births [change]
- 1361 – Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (d. 1419)
- 1416 – Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark (d. 1448)
- 1564 – Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
- 1584 - Albert VI of Bavaria (d. 1666)
- 1587 - Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
- 1671 - Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (d. 1713)
- 1672 - Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)
- 1677 - Nicolas Fago, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1745)
- 1718 – Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop, botanist and zoologist (d. 1773)
- 1720 - Gian Francesco Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1803)
- 1724 - Gottfried Heinrich Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1763)
- 1732 - Francis Marion, American Revolutionary officer (d. 1795)
- 1770 – Anton Reicha, Bohemian composer and flautist (d. 1836)
- 1777 - Matija Nenadovic, Serbian uprising leader (d. 1854)
- 1786 – Francois Arago, Catalan-French physicist and politician (d. 1853)
- 1802 – Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)
- 1808 - Honore Daumier, French painter, illustrator and sculptor (d. 1879)
- 1814 - Charles-Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (d. 1876)
- 1829 – Levi Strauss, German-born clothing designer (d. 1902)
- 1846 – Buffalo Bill, American bison hunter and showman (d. 1917)
- 1852 – John Harvey Kellogg, American physician (d. 1943)
- 1861 – King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1939)
- 1866 - Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (d. 1930)
- 1869 – Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary, wife of Vladimir Lenin (d. 1939)
- 1879 – Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)
- 1880 - Kenneth Edgeworth, Irish astronomer (d. 1972)
- 1881 – Janus Djurhuus, Faroese poet (d. 1948)
- 1882 - Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
- 1885 – Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
- 1887 - Stefan Grabinski, Polish writer (d. 1936)
- 1887 - Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player (d. 1950)
- 1896 - Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov, Soviet politician and ideologist (d. 1948)
- 1899 - Max Petitpierre, Swiss politician (d. 1994)
- 1900 - Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)
- 1903 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist (d. 1979)
- 1906 - Madeleine Carroll, English actress (d. 1987)
- 1908 – Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
- 1909 – King Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
- 1909 – Fanny Cradock, British cookery writer and television presenter (d. 1994)
- 1911 - Taro Okamoto, Japanese avant-garde artist (d. 1996)
- 1914 – Robert Alda, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1916 – Jackie Gleason, American actor and producer (d. 1987)
- 1917 - Robert Taft, Jr., American politician (d. 1993)
- 1918 - Otis R. Bowen, 44th Governor of Indiana and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
- 1920 - Lucjan Woldanowski, Polish journalist, writer and traveler (d. 2006)
- 1920 – Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
- 1921 – Betty Hutton, American actress (d. 2007)
- 1924 - Noboru Takeshita, Japanese politician (d. 2000)
- 1924 - Marc Bucci, American composer, lyricist and dramatist (d. 2002)
- 1928 - Anatoly Filipchenko, Soviet cosmonaut
- 1928 – Fats Domino, American musician
- 1931 – Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer (d. 2004)
- 1932 – Johnny Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1936 - Jose Policarpo, Roman Catholic Patriarch of Lisbon
- 1937 - Cliff Osmond, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1939 – Josephine Tewson, English actress
- 1940 - Whitney Smith, American vexillologist (someone who studies flags)
- 1942 – Jozef Adamec, Slovakian footballer
- 1943 - Bill Duke, American actor and director
- 1944 - Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress
- 1945 – Mitch Ryder, American rock musician
- 1946 – Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian chemist
- 1946 – Bobby "Bingo" Smith, American basketball player
- 1947 – Sandie Shaw, British singer
- 1949 – Elizabeth George, American writer
- 1949 – Emma Kirkby, British singer
- 1950 – Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1953 – Michael Bolton, American singer
- 1954 - Leon de Winter, Dutch writer
- 1954 – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey
- 1954 – Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, German aristocrat, married into the Monegasque royal family
- 1956 - Kevin Dunn, American actor
- 1956 - Michel Houellebecq, French writer
- 1957 - Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player
- 1957 – David Muldrow, 113th Governor of South Carolina
- 1958 – Michel Houellebecq, French writer
- 1958 – Tim Kaine, American politician, former Governor of Virginia
- 1959 – Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player
- 1963 - Chase Masterson, American actress and singer
- 1966 - Marc Fortier, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1966 - Garry Conille, Prime Minister of Haiti
- 1967 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese footballer
- 1969 - Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer
- 1969 - Steve Agee, American actor and comedian
- 1971 – Erykah Badu, American singer
- 1972 - Jonny Quinn, Northern Irish musician (Snow Patrol)
- 1973 – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Norwegian footballer
- 1973 – Marshall Faulk, American football player
- 1973 – Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
- 1974 – Sebastien Loeb, French World-Champion rally driver
- 1977 – Shane Williams, Welsh rugby player
- 1977 - Tim Thomas, American basketball player
- 1978 – Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Senegalese footballer
- 1979 – Corinne Bailey Rae, British singer
- 1979 – Pedro Mendes, Portuguese footballer
- 1980 - Steve Blake, American basketball player
- 1981 – Chris Thile, American musician
- 1982 – Li Na, Chinese tennis player
- 1983 – Pepe, Brazilian-Portuguese footballer
- 1984 – Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer
- 1985 – Miki Fujimoto, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
- 1985 – Fernando Llorente, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Hannah Kearney, American skier
- 1986 - Leila Lopes, Angolan model
- 1986 - Teresa Palmer, Australian model and actress
- 1989 - Gabriel Obertan, French footballer
- 1993 – Taylor Dooley, American actress
Deaths [change]
- 1154 – King Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)
- 1266 – King Manfred of Sicily (b. 1232)
- 1360 – Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English military leader (b. 1328)
- 1577 – King Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)
- 1611 - Antonio Possevino, Italian Jesuit humanist, diplomat and bibliographer
- 1726 - Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
- 1770 - Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (b. 1692)
- 1813 - Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
- 1883 – Alexandros Koumoundouros, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1817)
- 1903 – Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
- 1909 – Hermann Ebbinghaus, German philosopher (b. 1850)
- 1931 – Otto Wallach, German chemist (b. 1847)
- 1933 – Princess Thyra of Denmark (b. 1853)
- 1936 – Saito Makoto, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1858)
- 1950 - Harry Lauder, Scottish entertainer (b. 1870)
- 1952 - Theodoros Pangalos, Greek interim leader (b. 1878)
- 1961 – King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
- 1966 - Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter and writer (b. 1883)
- 1969 – Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist (b. 1883)
- 1969 – Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
- 1971 - Fernandel, French actor (b. 1903)
- 1981 - Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
- 1985 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist (b. 1910)
- 1989 – Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
- 1994 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
- 1995 – Jack Clayton, British movie director (b. 1921)
- 1998 – Theodore Schultz, American economist (b. 1902)
- 2001 - Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (b. 1906)
- 2002 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
- 2004 – Boris Trajkovski, President of Macedonia (b. 1956)
- 2009 – Ruth Drexel, German actress (b. 1930)
- 2009 – Wendy Richard, British actress (b. 1943)
- 2009 - Norm Van Lier, American basketball player (b. 1947)
- 2011 – Arnost Lustig, Czech writer (b. 1926)
- 2013 - Marie-Claire Alain, French organist and teacher (b. 1926)
- 2013 - Stephane Hessel, German-born French writer, diplomat and Resistance activist (b. 1917)
Observances [change]
- Liberation Day in Kuwait
- Savior's Day (Nation of Islam)
