On this day in History - Jul 26

• 0456 - Offa, king of Mercia dies
• 0657 - Battle of Siffin
• 0811 - Battle of Pliska; Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I is slain, his heir Stauracius is seriously wounded
• 0811 - Nicephorus I, dies (slain in battle). Byzantine emperor.
• 1030 - Stanislaus of Szczepanów was born (d. 1079). St. Stanislaw.
• 1139 - Afonso, then a count, is proclaimed first king of Portugal and declares independence from Castile
• 1380 - Emperor Komyo of Japan, dies (b. 1322). Second of the Northern Ashikaga Pretenders
• 1469 - Battle of Edgecote Moor .
• 1471 - Pope Paul II died.
• 1581 - Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Oath of Abjuration). The declaration of independence of the northern Low Countries from the Spanish king, Philip II.
• 1678 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor was born (d. 1711)
• 1680 - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester dies (b. 1647). English writer.
• 1712 - Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds dies (b. 1631). English statesman.
• 1723 - Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, dies (b. 1660). English statesman
• 1782 - John Field was born (d. 1837). Irish composer.
• 1775 - The birth of what would later become the United States Post Office Department was established by the Second Continental Congress and Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General.
• 1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 11th state of the United States.
• 1791 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart was born (d. 1844). Composer.
• 1802 - Mariano Arista was born (d. 1855). President of Mexico.
• 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.
• 1852 - O general Justo José de Urquiza assume o governo da República Argentina.
• 1855 - Ferdinand Tönnies was born (d. 1936). Sociologist.
• 1856 - George Bernard Shaw was born (d. 1950). Author, playwright, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1925.
• 1861 - American Civil War: George McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.
• 1863 - American 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.
• 1863 - Sam Houston dies (b. 1793). President of the Republic of Texas.
• 1865 - Philipp Scheidemann was born (d. 1939). Politician.
• 1870 - Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta was born. Spanish painter.
• 1874 - Serge Koussevitsky was born (d. 1951). Russian conductor.
• 1874 - Guilherme Braga dies in Porto (b. 22 Mar 1845). Portuguese poet.
• 1875 - Carl Jung was born (d. 1961), Swiss psychiatrist and analytical psychologist who identified the introvert and extrovert types.
• 1875 - Antonio Machado was born (d. 1939). Spanish poet.
• 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.
• 1884 - Lino Ferreira was born. Portuguese dramatist, actor and film director.
• 1885 - André Maurois was born in Elbeuf, Normandy (d. 7 Oct 1967) . French writer. Honorary president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1965. Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966
• 1887 - L. L. Zamenhof publishes "Dr. Esperanto's International Language".
• 1890 - Dórdio Gomes was born. Portuguese painter.
• 1890 - Explode em Buenos Aires uma revolução dirigida por Leandro N. Alem contra Miguel Juárez Celman, que deixou a presidência argentina.
• 1891 - A França faz a anexação da ilha do Taiti.
• 1892 - Sad Sam Jones was born (d. 1966). Major League Baseball player.
• 1894 - Aldous Huxley was born (d. 22 Nov 1963). English writer ( Brave New World -1932 ).
• 1897 - Paul Gallico was born (d. 1976). Author.
• 1899 - O presidente da República Dominicana Ulises Heureaux é assassinado
• 1900 - Ernesto Rodolfo Hintze Ribeiro assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro de Portugal
• 1902 - Gracie Allen was born (d. 27 Aug 1964). Actress, comedienne.
• 1903 - Estes Kefauver was born (d. 1963). U.S. Senator from Tennessee.
• 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).
• 1908 - Salvador Allende was born (d. 1973). President of Chile.
• 1909 - Vivian Vance was born (d. 17 Aug 1979). Emmy Award-winning actress: I Love Lucy [1953]; The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, Lucy in Connecticut, The Lucy Show;
• 1914 - Erskine Hawkins was born (d. 11 Nov 1993). Jazz trumpeter
• 1915 - Juan Luis Sanfuentes is elected President of Chile.
• 1919 - Sir Edward Poynter dies (b. 1836). British painter.
• 1920 - Bob Waterfield was born (d. 1983). American football player.
• 1921 - Jean Shepherd was born (d. 1999). Writer.
• 1922 - Blake Edwards was born. Film director (The Pink Panther, 10, Victor/Victoria, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Days of Wine and Roses, Switch, Peter Gunn)
• 1922 - Jason Robards was born (d. 26 Dec 2000). Actor.
• 1923 - Hoyt Wilhelm was born (d. 2002). Major League Baseball player.
• 1925 - Gottlob Frege dies (b. 1848). German mathematician and logician
• 1925 - William Jennings Bryan dies (b. 1860). American politician.
• 1926 - James Best was born. Actor (The Dukes of Hazzard, Ode to Billy Joe, The Naked and the Dead, Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair)
• 1928 - Stanley Kubrick was born (d. 7 Mar 1999). Movie director ( 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange, Lolita, Paths of Glory).
• 1928 - Francesco Cossiga was born. Eighth President of Italy.
• 1930 - João Pessoa, político paraibano, é assassinado.
• 1931 - José Lino Grünewald dies (b. 13 Feb 1931). Brazilian lawyer, journalist and poet.
• 1932 - Frederick Duesenberg dies. Automotive inventor.
• 1935 - Winsor McCay dies (b. 1871). Early cartoonist.
• 1935 - Charlotte Beers was born. Advertising executive.
• 1936 - The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War
• 1939 - John Howard was born. Twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia
• 1939 - Bob Lilly was born. American football player.
• 1939 - Rogelio Polesello was born. Argentinian artist.
• 1940 - Dobie Gray was born. Singer
• 1940 - Mary Jo Kopechne was born (d. 1969). Aide to Robert F. Kennedy
• 1941 - Darlene Love was born. Singer-actress
• 1941 - Brenton Wood was born. American singer-songwriter
• 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.
• 1942 - Roberto Arlt dies. Argentinian novelist, journalist and dramatist.
• 1942 - Vladimír Mečiar was born. Slovak prime minister.
• 1943 - Peter Hyams was born. Film director
• 1943 - Mick Jagger was born. English musician (Rolling Stones)
• 1944 - Micki King was born. Diver
• 1945 - General election results in the United Kingdom are announced; The Labour Party wins 48% of the vote and a Parliamentary majority of 146 seats (the largest in post-warBritish history). This is in spite of Conservative Party leader Winston Churchill's popularity.
• 1945 - The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.
• 1945 - Reunião constituinte das Nações Unidas em Nova York.
• 1946 - Helen Mirren was born. Actress
• 1947 - Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
• 1947 - President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• 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
• 1949 - Roger Taylor was born. Musician (Queen)
• 1950 - Nelinho was born. Brazilian football player
• 1952 - King Farouk I of Egypt abdicated in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
• 1952 - Eva Perón dies from cancer (b. 1919). Wife of Argentine President Juan Perón.
• 1953 - Nikolaos Plastiras dies (b. 1883). Greek general and politician.
• 1953 - Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution.
• 1954 - Vitas Gerulaitis was born (d. 17 Sep 1994, killed by carbon monoxide from a faulty heater) . Tennis champion: Australian Open [1977]
• 1956 - Following the World Bank's decline to fund building the Aswan High Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.
• 1956 - Dorothy Hamill was born. American figure skater.
• 1957 - Nana Visitor was born. Actress.
• 1957 - Carlos Castillo Armas, President of Guatemala (1954-1957) , is assassinated.
• 1958 - Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.
• 1959 - Kevin Spacey was born. Academy Award-winning actor: American Beauty [1999]; Academy Award-winning supporting actor: The Usual Suspects [1995]; A Time to Kill, Outbreak, Consenting Adults, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Lost in Yonkers, Henry and June, Working Girl, Wiseguy, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, L.A. Confidential
• 1963 - Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.
• 1963 - Earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia - 1800 dead
• 1964 - Sandra Bullock was born. Actress: ( Speed, Speed 2: Cruise Control, The Net, While You Were Sleeping, A Time to Kill, Hope Floats, Forces of Nature, Miss Congeniality, Fool Proof, Exactly 3:30, The Chambermaid) See wallpapers
• 1964 - Train from Povoa de Varzim, Portugal derails at Custóias near Oporto, killing over 100 people
• 1965 - Jeremy Piven was born. Actor (The Larry Sanders Show, Ellen, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Kiss the Girls, Cupid, Serendipity, Highway, Black Hawk Down)
• 1965 - Republic of Maldives gains independence from Britain (National Day)
• 1966 - World Cup 1966 - Portugal lose the semi-final face hosts England 2-1. After beating Hungary 3-1, Bulgaria 3-0, Brazil 3-1 and North Korea 5-3 (after have been losing 0-3) Eusebio's team lose against England that would go win The World Cup
• 1966 - Jennifer Ashe was born. Actress (As the World Turns)
• 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.
• 1967 - De Gaulle’s political sensation - During a speech on a state visit to Canada, Charles de Gaulle caused a political sensation. He supported French-Canadian separatism, thereby offending the public and the Canadian government.
• 1967 - Ignacio Corsini dies. Tango singer.
• 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.
• 1969 - Jonty Rhodes was born. South African cricketer
• 1969 - Frank Loesser dies (b. 1910). Composer.
• 1970 - Albano and Romina Power get married.
• 1971 - Diane Arbus dies (b. 1923). Photographer.
• 1971 - Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15.
• 1973 - Kate Beckinsale was born in London. British actress .Pearl Harbor, One Against the Wind, Much Ado About Nothing, Haunted, Shooting Fish, Brokedown Palace, Alice Through the Looking Glass , The Aviator. See wallpapers
• 1973 - Lenka Šarounová was born. Czech astronomer
• 1975 - O Movimento das Forças Armadas de Portugal acorda concentrar o poder num triunvirato formado pelo Presidente da República, General Costa e Gomes; o primeiro- ministro, general Vasco Gonçalves, e o general Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho.
• 1976 - Chad Pennington was born. American football player
• 1977 - Rebecca St. James was born. Australian born Gospel musician.
• 1977 - Martin Laursen was born. Danish footballer.
• 1979 - Carlo Rizzo dies in Milan (b. 30 Apr 1907 in Trieste). Italian actor.
• 1983 - Charlie Rivel dies. Spanish circe comedian.
• 1984 - Ed Gein dies (b. 1906). American serial killer.
• 1986 - Averell Harriman dies (b. 1891). American diplomat.
• 1986 - Mangualde é elevada a cidade (Portugal).
• 1988 - Fazlur Rahman dies (b. 1919). Pakistani scholar.
• 1989 - A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student 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.
• 1990 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a young woman, later identified as Kimberly Bergalis, had been infected with the AIDS virus, apparently by her dentist.
• 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 is released for the Sega Megadrive in Japan
• 1992 - Miguel Indurain of Spain won cycling's Tour de France for the second year in a row.
• 1992 - Patty Sheehan defeated Juli Inkster in a playoff to win the 47th U. S. Women’s Open at the Oakmont (PA) Country Club.
• 1993 - Taylor Momsen was born. Actress. How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Prophet’s Game, We Were Soldiers .
• 1994 - Israel's London embassy bombed: A car bomb explodes outside the Israeli embassy in London injuring 14 people.
• 1996 - Amy Van Dyken became the first American woman to win four gold medals at a single Olympics as she captured the 50-meter freestyle in Atlanta.
• 1997 - Kunihiko Kodaira dies (b. 16 Mar 1915). Japanese mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1954 for his work in algebraic geometry and complex analysis.
• 1997 - William Burroughs dies. American writer.
• 1998 - Carlos Anasagasti Zulueta dies. Bolivian bishop.
• 1999 - El escritor mexicano Sergio Pitol gana el premio de Literatura Iberoamericana y del Caribe Juan Rulfo.
• 1999 - Luis Alvarez Piñer dies. Spanish poet.
• 2001 - Peter von Zahn dies (b. 1913). German journalist
• 2002 - Inauguração do 'Museo Evita Perón'
• 2004 - In response to an explosion of violence in the Darfur region, the European Union advocated that the United Nations institute economic sanctions against The Sudan.
• 2005 - Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission (STS-114) after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.
• 2005 - Lebanese Christian Militia leader, Samir Geagea, has been released from prison after 11 years
• 2005 - Over 200 people have been killed in intense rain storms in Maharashtra, India, described by the Chief Minister of the state as the heaviest recorded rainfall in a single day in India. One third of the state Capital, Mumbai, is said to be underwater causing more than a two hundred thousand people to be stranded in offices and roads for about 24 hours.
• Algeria - Fanon Day
• Cuba - Anniversary of the Moncada Barracks Attack Day (1953), Revolution Day
• Liberia - Independence Day
• Maldives - Independence Day
• India - Vijay Divas (end of Kargil War)
• Hoje é O Dia Nacional dos Avós (Portugal)