26th July, on this day

657 Battle of Siffin : key battle of the first Muslim civil war
811 Battle of Pliska :Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I is slain, his heir Stauracius is seriously wounded.
920 Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at Pamplona.
1139 Afonso, then a count, is proclaimed first king of Portugal and declares independence from Leon.
1309 Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
1469 Wars of the Roses: Battle of Edgecote Moor - Pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of King Edward IV.
1581 Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration). The declaration of independence of the northern Low Countries from the Spanish king, Philip II.1745 The first recorded women's cricket match takes place at Gisden Common near Guildford, between neighbouring villages Hambledon and Bramley
1775 Benjamin Franklin becomes 1st Postmaster General
1788 New York State becomes the 11th state of the Union
1803 The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London.
1835 1st sugar cane plantation started in Hawaii
1847 Liberia becomes the first independent republic in Africa.
1858 Lionel Rothschild takes his seat in the House of Commons to become Britain's first Jewish member of Parliament
1861 American 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.
1863 At Salineville, OH John Hunt Morgan and 364 troops surrender
1865 Patrick Francis Healy is 1st black awarded PhD (Louvain Belgium)
1878 In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
1887 1st Esperanto book published
1891 France annexes Tahiti.
1908 In America, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is established in Washington DC
1918 Race riot in Philadelphia (3 whites and 1 black killed)
1914 Serbia and Bulgaria interrupt diplomatic relationship.
1936 The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
1937 End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War
1941 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.
1941 US President Franklin Roosevelt appoints General Douglas MacArthur as Commander of US Forces in the Far East
1943 World War II: The Allies mount one of the largest raids of the war – sending more than 1,000 aircraft to bomb the German industrial city of Hamburg. An estimated 60,000 people are killed
1944 World War II: Soviet army enters Lviv, major city of western Ukraine, liberating it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jewish survivors left, out of 160,000 Jews in Lviv prior to Nazi occupation.
1944 The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain.
1945 In Britain, the Labour Party led by Clement Attlee wins a landslide victory in the General Election - defeating Winston Churchill who had led the country to victory in World War II
1945 The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.
1945 The US Navy cruiser Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with the warhead for the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
1947 National Security Act establishes the CIA
1948 1st black host of a network show-CBS' Bob Howard Show
1948 President Truman issues Executive Order No. 9981 directing "equality of
treatment and opportunity" in the armed forces
1952 King Farouk of Egypt abdicates in favor of his son Fuad.
1953 Fidel Castro leads attack on Moncada Barracks, begins Cuban revolution
1953 Arizona 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.
1955 Ted Allen throws a record 72 consecutive horseshoe ringers
1956 Egyptian President Gamal Nasser nationalises the Suez Canal - one month after coming to power and following the World Bank's decline to fund building the Aswan High Dam
1957 Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated
1957 USSR launches 1st intercontinental multistage ballistic missile
1958 US Army launches 4th US successful satellite, Explorer IV
1958 In Britain, debutantes are presented at the Royal Court for the last time
1963 US Syncom 2, 1st geosynchronous communications satellite, launched
1963 Earthquake in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) - 1100 dead
1963 The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development votes to admit Japan.
1964 Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa convicted of fraud and conspiracy
1964 Train from Povoa de Varzin, Portugal derails near Oporto, 94 die
1965 Republic of Maldives gains independence from Britain
1966 Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords stating that the House is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.
1968 Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu 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.
1969 Sharon Sites Adams, 39, becomes 1st lady to solo sail the Pacific
1971 Apollo 15 launched to the Moon
1974 USSR's Soyuz fails to dock with Salyut 3
1974 Greek Prime Minister Constantin Caramanlis forms the country's first civil government after seven years of military rule.
1975 Formation of a military triumvirate in Portugal
1977 The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.
1981 2 climbers rappell 550 m down cliff near Angel Falls, Venezuela
1981 NY Mayor Ed Koch is given Heimlich maneuver in a Chinese restaurant
1982 Canada's Anik D1 Comsat launched by US Delta rocket
1986 Lebanese kidnappers released Rev Lawrence Martin Jenco
1989 A 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.
1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.
1991 Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) is arrested in Florida, for exposing
himself at an adult movie theatre
1994 Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders the removal of Russian troops from Estonia
2005 Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission - Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.
2005 Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days
.

26th July 2006

Israel troops 'ignored' UN plea

Germany signs Nazi files accord

Glaxo has bird flu 'breakthrough'

26th July 2007

Crisis warning on Iraq refugees

Taleban fighters dead in clashes

Bulgarian baby trade exposed

26th July 2008

Deaths reported in India blasts

US Senate approves housing bill

Trans-fats banned in California

26th July 2009

Dozens killed in Nigeria clashes

Suicide attack at Chechen concert

One killed in China steel riot

26th July 2010

US Afghan war records leaked

Twin car bomb in Iraq kills 20

Pakistan suicide bomber targets mourners

Birthdates which occurred on 26th July :

1739 George Clinton NY, (D-R) 4th VP (1805-12)
1796 George Catlin US, author/painter of American Indian scenes
1799 Isaac Babbitt invented babbitt's metal for bearings
1805 Constantine Brumidi artist (Myrtle Murdock)
1829 Auguste Beernaert Belgium (Nobel Peace Prize-1909)
1856 George Bernard Shaw Dublin Ire, dramatist (Pygmalion-Nobel 1925)
1872 George Louis Beer historian (authority on British colonies)
1874 Serge Koussevitzky Vishny-Volotchok, Russia conductor (Boston Symp)
1875 Dr Carl Gustav Jung Switzerland, founded analytic psychology
1876 Ernest Schelling Belvidere NJ, composer/conductor (Victory Ball)
1892 Pearl S Buck US, novelist (The Good Earth)
1894 Aldous Huxley England, author (Brave New World)
1899 Danton Walker Mariette Ga, columnist (Broadway Spotlight)
19-- Robert Colbert Long Beach Ca, actor (Time Tunnel, Young & Restless)
1902 Gracie Allen SF Calif, Mrs George Burns/comedian (Burns & Allen)
1903 Donald Voorhees Allentown Pa, conductor (Bell Telephone Hour)
1907 Istvan Pelle Hungary, gymnist (Olympic-gold-1932)
1908 Salvador Allende Gossens Chile's last elected president (1970-73)
1913 Lou Salica US, flyweight boxer (Olympic-bronze-1932)
1917 Bertil Nordahl Sweden, soccer players (Olympic-gold-1948)
1917 Richard Burnell England, double sculls (Olympic-gold-1948)
1920 Bob Waterfield NFL QB (Rams)
1922 Blake Edwards writer/director (10, SOB, Breakfast at Tiffany's)
1922 Jason Robards Jr actor (A Thousand Clowns, Act 1, Any Wednesday)
1922 Marjorie Lord SF Calif, actress (Kathy-Danny Thomas Show)
1924 Louis Bellson Rock Falls Ill, orch leader (Pearl Bailey Show)
1926 Don Carter bowling great (1st PBA president)
1926 James Best Corydon Ind, actor (Savages, Sounder, Rolling Thunder)
1928 Stanley Kubrick NYC, director (2001, Dr Strangelove, Lolita)
1929 Alexis Weissenberg Sofia Bulgaria, pianist (Levintritt-1948)
1929 Jean Shepherd humorist (Playboy satire Award 1966, 1967, 1969)
1931 Takashi Ono Japan, gymnist (Olympic-gold-1956, 60)
1936 Kathryn Hays actress (Kim-As the World Turns)
1940 Mary Jo Kopechne Ted Kennedy's d(r)iving buddy
1941 Bobby Hebb Nashville Tn, country singer (Sunny)
1941 Brenton Wood Shreveport La, rocker (Gimme Little Sign)
1941 Darlene Love singer/actress (Lethal Weapon)
1942 Dobie Gray Brookshire Tx, singer (In Crowd)
1943 Mick Jagger Rolling Stone, never gathers moss
1944 Kiel Martin Pitts Pa, actor (Det LaRue-Hill Street Blues)
1944 Micki J King springboard diver (Olympic-gold-1972)
1945 Linda Harrison Berlin Md, actress (Bracken's World, Planet of Apes)
1946 Helen Mirren [Eleni Mironova], England, actress (Cook Thief Wife)
1948 Norair Nurikian Bulgari, bantam weight (Olympic-gold-1972, 76)
1949 Roger Taylor rocker (Queen-Bohemian Rhapsody)
1949 William M Shepherd Oak Ridge Tenn, Capt USN/astronaut (STS-27, 41)
1950 Susan George London England, actress (Straw Dogs, Mandingo)
1951 William Surles "Bill" McArthur Jr Laurinburg NC, Lt Col/astronaut
1952 Ludmila Maslakova USSR, relay runner (Olympic-silver-1980)
1954 Vitas Gerulaitis Brooklyn NY, tennis star (Australia 1987)
1955 Nicholas Walker Bogota Col, actor (Capitol, Jimmy-General Hospital)
1956 Dorothy Hamill Ct, ice figure skater (Olympic-gold-1976)
1961 Andy Connel rocker (Swingout Sister-Swingout)
1961 Gary Cherone Boston, heavy metal vocalist (Extreme-More Than Words)
1963 Andrew C Timmons Scottsdale Az, guitarist (Danger Danger-Screw It)
1965 Jennifer Ashe actress (As the World Turns)
1973 Mike Burke NY Yankees pres/CEO of Madison Sq Garden

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Deaths which occurred on July 26th:
1863 Sam Houston president of Texas, dies at 70
1925 William Jennings Bryan jurist, dies
1941 Marx Dormoy French socialist, killed by a time bomb
1952 Eva "Evita" Peron Argentina's 1st lady, dies in Buenos Aires at 33
1965 Constance Bennett actress, dies at 59
1982 Betty Walker actress (Steve Lawrence Show), dies at 54
1984 Ed "Psycho" Gein dies
1986 Averell Harriman statesman, dies in Yorktown Heights, NY at 94
1990 Brian Mydland keyboardist (Grateful Dead), dies at 38