On this day: March 26

Events on March 26

• 590 Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Wikipedia
• 1169 Saladin becomes the emir of Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1169 Saladin was inaugurated as vizier of Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1636 Utrecht University is founded in the Netherlands. Wikipedia
• 1640 The Royal Academy of Turku, the first university of Finland, is founded in the city of Turku by Queen Christina of Sweden at the proposal of Count Per Brahe. Wikipedia
• 1697 The Safavid Empire began a four-year occupation of the Ottoman city of Basra on the Persian Gulf. Wikipedia
• 1700 William Dampier is the first European to circumnavigate New Britain, discovering it is an island (which he names Nova Britannia) rather than part of New Guinea. Wikipedia
• 1812 An earthquake devastates Caracas, Venezuela. Wikipedia
• 1885 The Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel begin the North-West Rebellion against Canada. Wikipedia
• 1913 First Balkan War: Bulgarian forces capture Adrianople. Wikipedia
• 1913 First Balkan War: After a five-month siege, Bulgarian and Serbian forces captured the Ottoman city of Adrianople. Wikipedia
• 1917 First World War: Attempting to advance into Palestine, the British were defeated by Ottoman troops at the First Battle of Gaza. Wikipedia
• 1917 World War I: First Battle of Gaza: British troops are halted after 17,000 Turks block their advance. Wikipedia
• 1931 Swissair is founded as the national airline of Switzerland. Wikipedia
• 1931 Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union is founded in Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1942 The American tanker Dixie Arrow is torpedoed and sunk off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, by the German U-boat U-71. Wikipedia
• 1942 The Holocaust: The first female prisoners arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends as the island is officially secured by American forces. Wikipedia
• 1955 Pan Am Flight 845/26 ditches in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oregon, killing four. Wikipedia
• 1958 The African Regroupment Party is launched at a meeting in Paris. Wikipedia
• 1967 Ten thousand people gather for one of many Central Park be-ins in New York City. Wikipedia
• 1971 East Pakistan, then a province of Pakistan, declares its independence from Pakistan to form Bangladesh; the Bangladesh War of Independence begins. Wikipedia
• 1974 A group of peasant women in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India, surrounded trees in order to prevent loggers from felling them, giving rise to the Chipko movement. Wikipedia
• 1979 Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in Washington, D.C. Wikipedia
• 1991 Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay sign the Treaty of Asunción, establishing Mercosur, the South Common Market. Wikipedia
• 2005 Around 200,000 to 300,000 Taiwanese demonstrate in Taipei in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of China. Wikipedia

Born on March 26

• 1874 Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (died 1963) Wikipedia
• 1875 Syngman Rhee, South Korean journalist and politician, 1st President of South Korea (died 1965) Wikipedia
• 1881 Guccio Gucci, Italian fashion designer, founded Gucci (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1905 Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1908 Franz Stangl, Austrian-German SS officer, convicted Holocaust extermination camp commandant (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1911 Tennessee Williams, American playwright and poet (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1911 Bernard Katz, German-English biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1913 Paul Erdős, Hungarian-Polish mathematician and academic (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1914 William Westmoreland, American general, commander during the Vietnam War (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1916 Christian B. Anfinsen, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1995) Wikipedia
• 1929 Edwin Turney, American businessman, co-founded Advanced Micro Devices (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1931 Leonard Nimoy, American actor (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1934 Alan Arkin, American actor (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1938 Anthony James Leggett, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1940 Nancy Pelosi, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Wikipedia
• 1940 James Caan, American actor and singer (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1941 Richard Dawkins, Kenyan-English ethologist, biologist, and academic Wikipedia
• 1944 Diana Ross, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1951 Carl Wieman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1956 Charly McClain, American country music singer Wikipedia
• 1973 Larry Page, American computer scientist and businessman, co-founder of Google Wikipedia
• 1985 Keira Knightley, English actress Wikipedia

Died on March 26

• 809 Ludger, Frisian missionary Wikipedia
• 908 Ai, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (born 892) Wikipedia
• 973 Guntram ("the Rich"), Frankish nobleman Wikipedia
• 1827 Ludwig van Beethoven, German pianist and composer (born 1770) Wikipedia
• 1892 Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist (born 1819) Wikipedia
• 1902 Cecil Rhodes, English-South African colonialist, businessman and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (born 1853) Wikipedia
• 1923 Sarah Bernhardt, French actress and screenwriter (born 1844) Wikipedia
• 1945 David Lloyd George, English-Welsh lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1863) Wikipedia
• 1959 Raymond Chandler, American crime novelist and screenwriter (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1980 Roland Barthes, French linguist and critic (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 1996 David Packard, American engineer and businessman, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (born 1912) Wikipedia
• 2005 James Callaghan, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1912) Wikipedia
• 2015 Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, translator, and psychologist Nobel Prize laureate (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 2026 Noelia Castillo, Spanish woman who died after receiving euthanasia (born 2000) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast days: Barontius and Desiderius Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Castulus Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Emmanuel and companions Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Felicitas Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Harriet Monsell (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Larissa Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Ludger Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Maddalena Caterina Morano Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Richard Allen (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: March 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Independence Day and National Day (Bangladesh), celebrates the declaration of independence from Pakistan in 1971. Wikipedia
• Martyr's Day or Day of Democracy (Mali) Wikipedia
• National Science Appreciation Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Prince Kūhiō Day (Hawaii, United States) Wikipedia
• Purple Day (Canada and United States) Wikipedia
• Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel (Eastern Christianity) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 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.