August 26

Friday 26, 2005:

Fiji's High Court rules that the island's sodomy law is unconstitutional.

Tuesday 26, 2003:

Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Monday 26, 2002:

Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Tuesday 26, 1997:

Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria; 60-100 people killed.

Friday 26, 1988:

Merhan Karimi Nasseri arrives at Charles de Gaulle International Airport.

Wednesday 26, 1987:

President Ronald Wilson Reagan proclaims September 11, 1987 as 9-1-1 Emergency Number Day.

Tuesday 26, 1986:

Toxic gas kills 1700 in Cameroon.

Saturday 26, 1978:

Sigmund Jähn becomes first German cosmonaut on board of the Soyuz 31 spacecraft.

Thursday 26, 1976:

Raymond Barre becomes Prime Minister of France.

Saturday 26, 1972:

Games of the XX Olympiad open in Munich, Germany.

Monday 26, 1968:

The Beatles' "Hey Jude" is released as a single in the United States under the Apple Records label.

Monday 26, 1957:

a "super longdistance intercontinental multistage ballistic rocket ... a few days ago," according to Tass Soviet News Agency.

Saturday 26, 1944:

World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.

Monday 26, 1940:

Chad is the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor.

Saturday 26, 1939:

The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn, New York.

Thursday 26, 1920:

19th amendment to U.S. Constitution gives women the right to vote.

Wednesday 26, 1914:

World War I: The German colony of Togoland is invaded by French and British forces, who take it after 5 days.

Sunday 26, 1883:

Eruption of Mount Krakatoa.

Tuesday 26, 1862:

American Civil War: The Second Battle of Bull Run begins.

Thursday 26, 1858:

First news dispatch by telegraph.

Monday 26, 1839:

The ship Amistad is captured off Long Island.

Wednesday 26, 1789:

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen approved by Constituent Assembly at Palace of Versailles

Wednesday 26, 1778:

The first ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain of Slovenia.

Friday 26, 1498:

Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pietà.

Wednesday 26, 1429:

Joan of Arc enters Paris.

Friday 26, 1346:

Hundred Years' War: The military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights is established at the Battle of Crécy.

Friday 26, 1278:

Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Rudolph I of Germany defeat Premysl Ottokar II of Bohemia in the Battle of Marchfield near Dürnkrut in Moravia.

Saturday 26, 1071:

Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert

Sunday 26, -55:

Julius Caesar invades Britain

More on August, 26

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