July 26

is the 207th day (208th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 158 days remaining.

Events

657 - Battle of Siffin
811 - Battle of Pliska; Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I is slain, his heir Stauracius is seriously wounded
1139 - Afonso, then a count, is proclaimed first king of Portugal and declares independence from Castile
1469 - Battle of Edgecote Moor
1581 - Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Oath of Abjuration). The declaration of independence of the northern Low Countries from the Spanish king, 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 - José de San Martín arrives in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to meet with Simón Bolívar.
1847 - Liberia gains independence.
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.
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 "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 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, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the 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 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 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 T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris 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 is released for the Sega Megadrive in Japan.
2005 - Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission (STS-114) after the 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, Irish composer (d. 1837)
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 laureate (d. 1950)
1865 - Philipp Scheidemann, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1939)
1874 - Serge Koussevitsky, Russian conductor (d. 1951)
1875 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)
1875 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)
1880 - Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian statesman (d. 1951)
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 President of the Italian Republic
1928 - Stanley Kubrick, American film director (d. 1999)
1931 - Takashi Ono, Japanese gymnast
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 prime minister
1943 - Mick Jagger, English musician (The Rolling Stones)
1945 - Helen Mirren, English actress
1949 - Roger Taylor, English musician (Queen)
1949 - Thaksin Shinawatra-Prime Minister of Thailand
1950 - Nelinho, Brazilian football player
1956 - Dorothy Hamill, American figure skater
1957 - Nana Visitor, American actress
1959 - Rick Bragg, American writer
1959 - Kevin Spacey, American actor
1961 - Keiko Matsui, Japanese musician and composer
1964 - Sandra Bullock, American actress
1965 - Jeremy Piven, American actor
1969 - Jonty Rhodes, South African cricketer
1973 - Kate Beckinsale, British actress
1973 - Lenka Šarounová, Czech astronomer
1974 - Daniel Negreanu, Canadian poker player
1977 - Martin Laursen, Danish footballer
1977 - Rebecca St. James, Australian-born musician
1980 - Dave Baksh, Canadian guitarist (Sum41)
1983 - Delonte West, American NBA player
1985 - Gael Clichy, French footballer
1993 - Taylor Momsen, American child actress

Deaths

796 - 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)
1932 - Frederick S. Duesenberg automotive pioneer (b. 1876)
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

US - Aunt and Uncle's 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)
Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least 2 saints:
- St. Anne (mother of St. Mary)
- St. Germain

External links

BBC: On This Day

July 25 - July 27 - June 26 - August 26 -- listing of all days

Gourt Home::Gourt :: July 26

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and Observances

External links