On this day: February 26

Events on February 26

• 747 BC According to Ptolemy, the reign of the Babylonian king Nabonassar (name in Akkadian pictured) began, marking a new era characterized by the systematic maintenance of chronologically precise historical records. Wikipedia
• 747 BC According to Ptolemy, the epoch (origin) of the Nabonassar Era began at noon on this date. Historians use this to establish the modern BC chronology for dating historic events. Wikipedia
• 1266 Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples. Wikipedia
• 1606 Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon made the first recorded European landing in Australia, although he believed that he was on New Guinea. Wikipedia
• 1794 The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down. Wikipedia
• 1815 Napoleon escaped from the Italian island of Elba, to which he had been exiled after the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau. Wikipedia
• 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba. Wikipedia
• 1876 Japan and Korea sign the Treaty of Kangwha, which grants Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights in Korea, opens three Korean ports to Japanese trade, and ends Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China. Wikipedia
• 1909 Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London. Wikipedia
• 1914 RMS Britannic, the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liner of the White Star Line after RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, was launched at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Wikipedia
• 1914 HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Wikipedia
• 1917 The Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded "Livery Stable Blues", the first jazz single ever released. Wikipedia
• 1919 President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park. Wikipedia
• 1929 President Calvin Coolidge signs legislation establishing the 96,000 acres (390 km2) Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Wikipedia
• 1935 Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe reinstated, violating the Treaty of Versailles signed at the end of World War I. Wikipedia
• 1935 Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Wikipedia
• 1935 With the aid of a radio station in Daventry, England, and two receiving antennae, Scottish engineer and inventor Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated the use of radar. Wikipedia
• 1935 Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1936 In the February 26 Incident, young nationalist Japanese military officers assassinate multiple cabinet statesmen and start a rebellion in downtown Tokyo, which is ended 3 days later. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: US troops reclaim the Philippine island of Corregidor from the Japanese. Wikipedia
• 1960 A Kyiv-bound Aeroflot airliner crashes on approach to Snilow Airport in Lviv, killing 32 of the 33 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1971 U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day. Wikipedia
• 1987 Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff. Wikipedia
• 1993 World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people. Wikipedia
• 2008 In the first significant cultural visit from the United States to North Korea since the Korean War, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra performed in Pyongyang. Wikipedia
• 2026 The government of Pakistan declares "open war" against the Taliban in Afghanistan, initiating the 2026 Afghanistan–Pakistan War. Wikipedia

Born on February 26

• 1564 Christopher Marlowe, English playwright, poet and translator (died 1593) Wikipedia
• 1786 François Arago, French mathematician and politician, 25th Prime Minister of France (died 1853) Wikipedia
• 1802 Victor Hugo, French author, poet, and playwright (died 1885) Wikipedia
• 1808 Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (died 1879) Wikipedia
• 1842 Camille Flammarion, French astronomer and author (died 1925) Wikipedia
• 1861 Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian soldier and politician (died 1939) Wikipedia
• 1861 Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1903 Giulio Natta, Italian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1918 Pyotr Masherov, Leader of Soviet Belarus (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1924 Noboru Takeshita, Japanese soldier and politician, 74th Prime Minister of Japan (died 2000) Wikipedia
• 1928 Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1946 Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1950 Helen Clark, New Zealand academic and politician, 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand Wikipedia
• 1956 Michel Houellebecq, French author, poet, screenwriter, and director Wikipedia
• 1959 Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkish political scientist, academic, and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Turkey Wikipedia
• 1967 Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1973 Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Norwegian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1982 Li Na, Chinese tennis player Wikipedia
• 1983 Pepe, Brazilian-Portuguese footballer Wikipedia
• 1984 Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer Wikipedia
• 2003 Jamal Musiala, German footballer Wikipedia
• 2004 Bibisara Assaubayeva, Kazakhstani chess grandmaster Wikipedia

Died on February 26

• 420 Porphyry of Gaza, Greek bishop and saint (born 347) Wikipedia
• 943 Muirchertach mac Néill, King of Ailech (Ireland) Wikipedia
• 1474 Eom Heung-do, local official of Joseon (born 1404) Wikipedia
• 1821 Joseph de Maistre, French lawyer and diplomat (born 1753) Wikipedia
• 1921 Carl Menger, Polish-Austrian economist and academic (born 1840) Wikipedia
• 1931 Otto Wallach, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1847) Wikipedia
• 1936 February 26 Incident: Wikipedia
• 1936 February 26 Incident: Wikipedia
• 1969 Karl Jaspers, German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1969 Levi Eshkol, Israeli soldier and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Israel (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1985 Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch-American economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 1998 Theodore Schultz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 2005 Jef Raskin, American computer scientist, created Macintosh (born 1943) Wikipedia
• 2025 Michelle Trachtenberg, American actress (born 1985) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Alexander of Alexandria Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Emily Malbone Morgan (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Isabelle of France Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Li Tim-Oi (Anglican Church of Canada) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paula Montal Fornés Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Porphyry of Gaza Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Remembrance for Victims of Khojaly Massacre (Azerbaijan) Wikipedia
• Liberation Day (Kuwait) Wikipedia
• Saviours' Day (Nation of Islam) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 26” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.