On this day: October 26

Events on October 26

• 1341 The Byzantine army proclaimed chief minister John VI Kantakouzenos as emperor, triggering a civil war between his supporters and those of John V Palaiologos, the heir to the throne. Wikipedia
• 1520 Charles V was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor. Wikipedia
• 1520 Charles V is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor. Wikipedia
• 1689 General Enea Silvio Piccolomini of Austria burns down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera; he dies of the disease soon afterwards. Wikipedia
• 1774 American Revolution: The First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia. Wikipedia
• 1825 The Erie Canal opens, allowing direct passage from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Wikipedia
• 1860 Unification of Italy: The Expedition of the Thousand ends when Giuseppe Garibaldi presents his conquests to King Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia. Wikipedia
• 1863 The Football Association, world's first governing body of association football, was founded in London. Wikipedia
• 1892 Ida B. Wells began publishing her research on lynching in the United States, for which she was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. Wikipedia
• 1906 The Illinois Memorial, honoring Union army soldiers from Illinois who fought at the Siege of Vicksburg, was dedicated at Vicksburg National Military Park. Wikipedia
• 1917 World War I: Brazil declares war on the Central Powers. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations. Wikipedia
• 1937 Nazi Germany begins expulsions of 18,000 Polish Jews. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier is sunk and another carrier is heavily damaged, while two Japanese carriers and one cruiser are heavily damaged. Wikipedia
• 1955 Ngô Đình Diệm proclaimed himself president of the newly created Republic of Vietnam after defeating former emperor Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum supervised by his brother Ngô Đình Nhu. Wikipedia
• 1955 Ngô Đình Diệm proclaims himself as President of the newly created Republic of Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1967 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran. Wikipedia
• 1977 Ali Maow Maalin, the last natural case of smallpox, develops a rash in Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date to be the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination. Wikipedia
• 1977 Somali hospital cook Ali Maow Maalin began displaying symptoms of smallpox, becoming the last person known to be naturally infected by the disease. Wikipedia
• 1979 Park Chung Hee, President of South Korea, is assassinated by Korean CIA head Kim Jae-gyu. Wikipedia
• 1991 Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia. Wikipedia
• 1994 Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty. Wikipedia
• 1999 The United Kingdom's House of Lords votes to end the right of most hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament. Wikipedia
• 2001 President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law, significantly expanding the authority of United States law enforcement agencies. Wikipedia
• 2012 Microsoft made a public release of Windows 8 and made it available on new PCs. Wikipedia
• 2015 A 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes in the Hindu Kush mountain range in South Asia, killing 399 people and leaving 2,536 people injured. Wikipedia

Born on October 26

• 1685 Domenico Scarlatti, Italian harpsichord player and composer (died 1757) Wikipedia
• 1759 Georges Danton, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice (died 1794) Wikipedia
• 1794 Konstantin Thon, Russian architect, designed the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (died 1881) Wikipedia
• 1800 Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal (died 1891) Wikipedia
• 1842 Vasily Vereshchagin, Russian soldier and painter (died 1904) Wikipedia
• 1869 Washington Luís, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 13th President of Brazil (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1874 Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, American philanthropist, founded the Museum of Modern Art (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1880 Andrei Bely, Russian novelist, poet, and critic (died 1934) Wikipedia
• 1883 Napoleon Hill, American philosopher and author (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1894 Florence Nagle, English trainer and breeder of racehorses (died 1988) Wikipedia
• 1900 Karin Boye, Swedish poet and novelist (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1911 Mahalia Jackson, American singer (died 1972) Wikipedia
• 1916 François Mitterrand, French lawyer and politician, 21st President of France (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1919 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1922 Madelyn Dunham, American grandmother of Barack Obama (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1942 Bob Hoskins, English actor, singer, and director (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1947 Hillary Clinton, American lawyer and politician, 67th United States Secretary of State and 44th First Lady of the United States Wikipedia
• 1959 Evo Morales, Bolivian soldier and politician, 80th President of Bolivia Wikipedia
• 1961 Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenyan politician, 4th President of Kenya Wikipedia
• 1963 Craig Shakespeare, English football player (Walsall, West Bromwich Albion) and manager (Leicester City) (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1973 Seth MacFarlane, American voice actor, singer, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1978 CM Punk, American wrestler, mixed martial artist, and actor Wikipedia

Died on October 26

• 899 Alfred the Great, English king (born 849) Wikipedia
• 1764 William Hogarth, English painter and engraver (born 1697) Wikipedia
• 1890 Carlo Collodi, Italian journalist and author (born 1826) Wikipedia
• 1902 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American activist (born 1815) Wikipedia
• 1909 Itō Hirobumi, Japanese samurai and politician, Prime Minister of Japan (born 1841) Wikipedia
• 1952 Hattie McDaniel, American actress and singer (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1957 Gerty Cori, Czech-American biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1957 Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek philosopher, author, and playwright (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1972 Igor Sikorsky, Ukrainian-American engineer and academic, founded Sikorsky Aircraft (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1973 Semyon Budyonny, Marshal of the Soviet Union (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1979 Park Chung Hee, South Korean general and politician, 3rd President of South Korea (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 1989 Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 2007 Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2021 Roh Tae-woo, South Korean general and politician, 6th President of South Korea (born 1932) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Accession Day (Jammu and Kashmir, India) Wikipedia
• Angam Day (Nauru) Wikipedia
• Armed Forces Day (Benin) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alfred the Great (Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Amandus of Strasbourg Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Beóán (Bean) of Mortlach Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Celine Borzecka Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cedd Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cuthbert of Canterbury Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Demetrius of Thessaloniki Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eadfrith of Leominster Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eata of Hexham Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Evaristus (Aristus) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fulk of Pavia (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Philipp Nicolai, Johann Heermann and Paul Gerhardt (Lutheran Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Quadragesimus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Quodvultdeus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rusticus of Narbonne Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Witta (Albinus) of Büraburg Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eastern Orthodox liturgics Wikipedia
• National Day, celebrates the anniversary of the Declaration of Neutrality in 1955. (Austria) Wikipedia
• Intersex Awareness Day Wikipedia

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