What happened on July 26? There are more than 277 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About July 26
July 26 is the 207th day of the year 2025. There are 158 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday. This day falls under the 30th week of the year 2025.
On this day in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467 sunrise will occur at 05:30 AM and sunset will occur at 08:12 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Leo. The modern birthstone for this month is Ruby while the mystical birthstone is Ruby.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 206 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (February 17, 2026).
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Historical Events For July 26
- 657First Fitna: the Battle of Siffin see the troops led by Ali ibn Abi Talib and those led by Muawiyah I clashing.
- 811Battle of Pliska: Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I is killed and his heir Stauracius is seriously wounded.
- 920Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at Pamplona.
- 1309Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
- 1469Wars of the Roses: the Battle of Edgecote Moor pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of Edward IV of England takes place.
- 1509The Emperor Krishnadeva Raya ascends to the throne, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the Vijayanagara Empire.
- 1533Atahualpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands of Francisco Pizarro’s Spanish conquistadors. His death marks the end of 300 years of Inca civilization.
- 1581Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration): the northern Low Countries declare their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II.
- 1745The first recorded women’s cricket match takes place near Guildford, England.
- 1758French and Indian War: the Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- 1775The office that would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress.
- 1788New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.
- 1803The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opens in south London.
- 1822First day of the three-day Battle of Dervenakia, between the Ottoman Empire force led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha and the Greek Revolutionary force led by Theodoros Kolokotronis.
- 1822José de San Martín arrives in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to meet with Simón Bolívar.
- 1847Liberia declares independence.
- 1861American Civil War: George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.
- 1863American 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.
- 1882Premiere of Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal at Bayreuth.
- 1882The Republic of Stellaland is founded in Southern Africa.
- 1887Publication of the Unua Libro, founding the Esperanto movement.
- 1890In Buenos Aires the Revolución del Parque takes place, forcing President Juárez Celman’s resignation.
- 1891France annexes Tahiti.
- 1897Anglo-Afghan wars: The Pashtun fakir Saidullah leads an army of more than 10,000 to begin a siege of the British garrison in the Malakand Agency of the North West Frontier Province of India.
- 1908United 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).
- 1914Serbia and Bulgaria interrupt diplomatic relationship.
- 1936King Edward VIII, in one of his few official duties before he abdicates the throne, officially unveils the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
- 1936The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
- 1937End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War.
- 1941World 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.
- 1944The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain.
- 1944World War II: the Soviet army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, liberating it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation.
- 1945The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.
- 1945The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.
- 1945The US Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with parts of the warhead for the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
- 1946Aloha Airlines begins service from Honolulu International Airport
- 1947Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council.
- 1948U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military of the United States.
- 1951Walt Disney’s 13th animated film, Alice in Wonderland, premieres in London, United Kingdom.
- 1952King Farouk of Egypt abdicates in favor of his son Fuad.
- 1953Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders an anti-polygamy law enforcement crackdown on residents of Short Creek, Arizona, which becomes known as the Short Creek Raid.
- 1953Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement
- 1956Following the World Bank’s refusal to fund building the Aswan High Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.
- 1957Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated.
- 1958Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.
- 1963An earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia (now in the Republic of Macedonia) leaves 1,100 dead.
- 1963Syncom 2, the world’s first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.
- 1963The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development votes to admit Japan.
- 1965Full independence is granted to the Maldives.
- 1968Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzũ 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.
- 1971Apollo Program: launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo “J-Mission”, and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle.
- 1974Greek Prime Minister Constantinos Karamanlis forms the country’s first civil government after seven years of military rule.
- 1977The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.
- 1989A 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.
- 1990The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.
- 2005Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days.
- 2005Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission – Launch of Discovery, NASA’s first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.
- 2007Shambo, a black cow in Wales that had been adopted by the local Hindu community, is slaughtered due to a bovine tuberculosis infection, causing widespread controversy.
- 200856 people are killed and over 200 people are injured in 21 bomb blasts in Ahmedabad bombing in India.
- 2009The militant Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram attacks a police station in Bauchi, leading to reprisals by the Nigeria Police Force and four days of violence across multiple cities.
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Who Were Born On July 26?
- 1030Stanislaus of Szczepanów, Polish bishop and martyr (d. 1079)
- 1678Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1711)
- 1739George Clinton, American politician, 1st Governor of New York, and 4th Vice President of the United States (d. 1812)
- 1782John Field, Irish composer (d. 1837)
- 1791Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1844)
- 1802Mariano Arista, 42nd President of Mexico (d. 1855)
- 1829Auguste Marie François Beernaert, Belgian statesman, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (d. 1912)
- 1842Alfred Marshall, neoclassical economist (d. 1924)
- 1846Texas Jack Omohundro, American frontier scout, actor and cowboy (d. 1880)
- 1854Philippe Gaucher, French dermatologist (d. 1918)
- 1855Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist (d. 1936)
- 1856George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Laureate (d. 1950)
- 1858Tom Garrett, Australian cricketer (d. 1943)
- 1865Philipp Scheidemann, First Chancellor of the Weimar Republic (d. 1939)
- 1865Rajanikanta Sen, Bengali poet and music composer (d. 1910)
- 1874Serge Koussevitsky, Russian conductor (d. 1951)
- 1875Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)
- 1875Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)
- 1880Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian statesman (d. 1951)
- 1885André Maurois, French author (d. 1967)
- 1886Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (d. 1965)
- 1888Reginald Hands, South African cricketer (d. 1918)
- 1892Sam Jones, American baseball player (d. 1966)
- 1893George Grosz, German painter (d. 1959)
- 1894Aldous Huxley, English-born author (d. 1963)
- 1895Gracie Allen, American actress and comedian (d. 1964)
- 1895Jane Bunford, Britain’s tallest-ever person (d. 1922)
- 1896Henry Birkin, British racing driver (d. 1933)
- 1897Paul Gallico, American novelist (d. 1976)
- 1903Estes Kefauver, U.S. Senator from Tennessee (d. 1963)
- 1906Irena Iłłakowicz, Polish agent of Intelligence (d. 1943)
- 1908Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourgish sculptor (d. 2002)
- 1908Salvador Allende, Chilean president (d. 1973)
- 1909Peter Thorneycroft, British politician (d. 1994)
- 1909Vivian Vance, American actress (d. 1979)
- 1914Ellis Kinder, American baseball player (d. 1968)
- 1914Erskine Hawkins, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1993)
- 1916Herbert Norkus, German Nazi and murder victim (d. 1932)
- 1918Marjorie Lord, American actress
- 1919Virginia Gilmore, American actress (d. 1986)
- 1920Bob Waterfield, American football player (d. 1983)
- 1921Jean Shepherd, American writer, radio and TV personality and actor (d. 1999)
- 1922Blake Edwards, American film director (d. 2010)
- 1922Jason Robards, American actor (d. 2000)
- 1923Hoyt Wilhelm, American baseball player (d. 2002)
- 1923Jan Berenstain, American author
- 1925Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-born Swedish doctor, researcher, politician and concentration camp survivor (d. 2000)
- 1926Ana María Matute, Spanish writer
- 1926James Best, American actor
- 1927Gulabrai Ramchand, Indian cricketer (d. 2003)
- 1928Bernice Rubens, Welsh novelist (d.2004)
- 1928Don Beauman, British racing driver (d. 1955)
- 1928Francesco Cossiga, 8th President of the Italian Republic
- 1928Ibn-e-Safi, Pakistani fiction writer and Urdu poet (d. 1980)
- 1928Peter Lougheed, Canadian politician
- 1928Stanley Kubrick, American film director (d. 1999)
- 1929Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-born French pianist
- 1929Joe Jackson, American manager, boxer and talent scout, the patriarch of the Jackson family
- 1929Marc Lalonde, French-Canadian politician
- 1931Robert Colbert, American actor
- 1931Takashi Ono, Japanese gymnast
- 1931Telê Santana, Brazilian football manager and player (d. 2006)
- 1934Tommy McDonald, American football player
- 1936Mary Millar, English actress (d. 1998)
- 1938Darlene Love, American singer
- 1939Bob Lilly, American football player
- 1939John Howard, 25th Prime Minister of Australia
- 1939Jun Henmi, Japanese writer and poet
- 1940Bobby Rousseau, Quebec ice hockey player
- 1940Dobie Gray, American singer
- 1940Mary Jo Kopechne, American aide to Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1969)
- 1940Tolis Voskopoulos, Greek singer
- 1941Bobby Hebb, American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1941Brenton Wood, American singer-songwriter
- 1941Jean Baubérot, French historian and sociologist
- 1942Teddy Pilette, Belgian racing driver
- 1942Vladimír Mečiar, Slovakian politician, 1st and 3rd Prime Minister of Slovakia
- 1943Mick Jagger, English singer (The Rolling Stones)
- 1943Peter Hyams, American film director
- 1944Kiel Martin, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1945Betty Davis, American funk, rock and soul singer
- 1945Helen Mirren, English actress
- 1948Herbert Wiesinger, German pairs skater
- 1949Roger Taylor, English drummer and vocalist (Queen)
- 1949Thaksin Shinawatra, 23rd Prime Minister of Thailand
- 1950Nelinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1950Rich Vogler, American race car driver (d. 1990)
- 1950Susan George, English actress
- 1951Rick Martin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1953Edie Mirman, American voice actress
- 1953Robert Phillips, American classical guitarist
- 1954Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (d. 1994)
- 1955Aleksandrs Starkovs, Latvian footballer
- 1956Dorothy Hamill, American figure skater
- 1956Tommy Rich, American professional wrestler
- 1957Hart Hanson, American television writer and producer
- 1957Nana Visitor, American actress
- 1957Yuen Biao, Hong Kong actor
- 1958Angela Hewitt, Canadian classical pianist
- 1959Kevin Spacey, American actor
- 1959Michael Ross, American serial killer (d. 2005)
- 1959Rick Bragg, American writer
- 1959Tom McGowan, American actor
- 1961Andy Connell, English keyboardist (Swing Out Sister, A Certain Ratio)
- 1961Dimitris Saravakos, Greek footballer
- 1961Gary Cherone, American vocalist (Extreme, Van Halen)
- 1962Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Irish fiddler and vocalist (Altan)
- 1964Danny Woodburn, American actor
- 1964Ralf Metzenmacher, German painter and designer
- 1964Sandra Bullock, American actress
- 1965Jeremy Piven, American actor
- 1967Anthony Durante, American professional wrestler (d. 2003)
- 1967Tim Schafer, American computer game designer
- 1968Frédéric Diefenthal, French actor and director
- 1968Olivia Williams, English actress
- 1969Greg Colbrunn, American baseball player
- 1970Joan Wasser, American singer-songwriter and violinist (Dambuilders)
- 1971Khaled Mahmud, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1972Nathan Buckley, Australian rules footballer
- 1972Wayne Wonder, Jamaican singer
- 1973Chris Pirillo, American TV host and blogger
- 1973Kate Beckinsale, British actress
- 1973Lenka Kotková, Czech astronomer
- 1973Vaniity, Mexican transsexual pornographic actress
- 1974Daniel Negreanu, Canadian poker player
- 1974Dean Sturridge, English footballer
- 1975Joe Smith, American basketball player
- 1976Tanja Szewczenko, German figure skater
- 1977Kim Walther, TV actress
- 1977Martin Laursen, Danish footballer
- 1977Rebecca St. James, Australian-born singer
- 1979Derek Paravicini, British autistic savant
- 1979Erik Westrum, American ice hockey player
- 1979Friedrich Michau, German rugby player
- 1979Mageina Tovah, American actress
- 1979Peter Sarno, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980Dave Baksh, Canadian guitarist (Sum 41)
- 1980Lee Dong-gun, South Korean actor
- 1981Abe Forsythe, Australian actor and director
- 1981Maicon Douglas Sisenando, Brazilian footballer
- 1982Chez Starbuck, American actor
- 1983Delonte West, American basketball player
- 1983Roderick Strong, American professional wrestler
- 1984Kyriakos Ioannou, Cypriot high jumper
- 1984Leigh Lezark, American DJ and model
- 1985Audrey De Montigny, Canadian singer
- 1985Marcus Benard, American football player
- 1985Mugdha Godse, Indian actress and model
- 1987Fredy Montero, Colombian footballer
- 1987Miriam McDonald, Canadian actress
- 1988Francia Raisa, American actress
- 1989Ivian Sarcos, Venezuelan beauty pageant
- 1993Elizabeth Gillies, American actress
- 1993Taylor Momsen, American actress and singer
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Who Died On July 26?
- 342Jin Chengdi, Chinese emperor (b. 321)
- 796King Offa of Mercia (birth year unknown)
- 811Nikephoros I Logothetes, Byzantine Emperor (birth year unknown)
- 1380Emperor Komyo of Japan (b. 1322)
- 1471Pope Paul II (b. 1417)
- 1592Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, French soldier (b. 1524)
- 1611Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1542)
- 1680John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English writer (b. 1647)
- 1684Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician (b. 1646)
- 1712Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (b. 1631)
- 1723Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b. 1660)
- 1801Archduke Maximilian Franz of Austria (b. 1756)
- 1863Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas (b. 1793)
- 1867King Otto of Greece (b. 1815)
- 1919Sir Edward Poynter, British painter (b. 1836)
- 1925Antonio Ascari, Italian racing driver (b. 1888)
- 1925Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician (b. 1848)
- 1925William Jennings Bryan, American politician (b. 1860)
- 1930Pavlos Karolidis, Greek historian (b. 1849)
- 1932Fred Duesenberg German-born American automotive pioneer (b. 1876)
- 1934Winsor McCay, American cartoonist (b. 1871)
- 1941Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (b. 1875)
- 1942Roberto Arlt, Argentinian writer (b. 1900)
- 1952Eva Perón, Argentine First Lady (b. 1919)
- 1953Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1883)
- 1957Dorotheus, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece (b. 1888)
- 1960Cedric Gibbons, American art director (b. 1893)
- 1960Maud Menten, Canadian biochemist (b. 1879)
- 1964Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, British politician and race driver (b. 1884)
- 1969Frank Loesser, American composer (b. 1910)
- 1970Robert Taschereau, French-Canadian jurist (b. 1896)
- 1971Diane Arbus, American photographer (b. 1923)
- 1976Stefanos Natsinas, Greek politician (b. 1910)
- 1980Ibn-e-Safi, Pakistani fiction writer and Urdu poet (b. 1928)
- 1984Ed Gein, American serial killer (b. 1906)
- 1984George Gallup, American statistician and opinion pollster (b. 1901)
- 1986Averell Harriman, American diplomat (b. 1891)
- 1988Fazlur Rahman Malik, Pakistani scholar (b. 1919)
- 1990Brent Mydland, American keyboardist (Grateful Dead) (b. 1952)
- 1992Mary Wells, American singer (b. 1943)
- 1993Matthew Ridgway, American army general (b. 1895)
- 1994Christy Henrich, American gymnast (b. 1972)
- 1994James Luther Adams, American theologian (b. 1901)
- 1994Terry Scott, British actor (b. 1927)
- 1994Tonia Marketaki, Greek film director and screenwriter (b. 1942)
- 1995George W. Romney, American businessman and politician (b. 1907)
- 1995Laurindo Almeida, Brazilian guitarist (b. 1917)
- 1995Raymond Mailloux, Quebec politician (b. 1918)
- 1999Phaedon Gizikis, Greek Army officer, president of Greece during the military junta (b. 1917)
- 2000John Tukey, American statistician (b. 1915)
- 2001Peter von Zahn, German journalist (b. 1913)
- 2001Rex Barber, American WWII aviator (b. 1917)
- 2004William A. Mitchell, American food chemist (b. 1911)
- 2005Alexander Golitzen, American art director (b. 1908)
- 2005Betty Astell, British actress (b. 1912)
- 2005Gilles Marotte, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1945)
- 2005Jack Hirshleifer, American economist (b. 1925)
- 2007John Normington, English actor (b. 1937)
- 2007Lars Forssell, Swedish writer (b. 1928)
- 2007Skip Prosser, American basketball coach (b. 1950)
- 2009Marcey Jacobson, American photographer (b. 1911)
- 2010Sivakant Tiwari, senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service (b. 1945)
- 2011Margaret Olley, Australian artist (b.1923)
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