July 26 facts for kids

July 26 is the 207th day of the year (208th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 158 days remain until the end of the year.

This page tells you about important events, famous births, and notable deaths that happened on July 26th throughout history. It also lists special holidays and observances celebrated on this day around the world.

Historical Events

Early History (Before 1600)

• 657 – A major battle called the Battle of Siffin took place. It was a clash between forces led by Ali ibn Abu Talib and those led by Muawiyah I.
• 920 – An army from Navarre and Léon in Spain was defeated by Muslim forces at the Battle of Valdejunquera.
• 1309 – Henry VII, who was the Holy Roman Emperor, was officially recognized as the King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
• 1509 – Emperor Krishnadevaraya became ruler, starting a period of growth for the Vijayanagara Empire in India.
• 1529 – Francisco Pizarro González, a Spanish explorer, was named the governor of Peru.
• 1579 – English explorer Francis Drake found a "fair and good" bay on the Pacific Northwest coast. This was likely in what is now Oregon or Washington.
• 1581 – The northern Low Countries (like modern-day Netherlands) declared their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II. This was called the Act of Abjuration.

Later History (1601–1900)

• 1703 – During a conflict called the Bavarian Rummel, people from Tyrol drove out the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel. This stopped the Bavarian army from marching on Vienna during the War of the Spanish Succession.
• 1745 – The first recorded women's cricket match was played near Guildford, England.
• 1758 – In the French and Indian War, British forces won the Siege of Louisbourg. They took control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence from the French.
• 1775 – The Second Continental Congress created the office that would later become the United States Post Office Department. Benjamin Franklin became the first Postmaster General.
• 1778 – The movement of Christians from the Crimea began.
• 1788 – New York approved the United States Constitution. It became the 11th state in the United States.
• 1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway, possibly the world's first public railway, opened in south London, United Kingdom.
• 1814 – The Swedish–Norwegian War started.
• 1822 – José de San Martín arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to meet with Simón Bolívar.
• 1822 – The first day of the three-day Battle of Dervenakia took place. It was fought between the Ottoman Empire army and the Greek Revolutionary forces.
• 1847 – Liberia declared its independence from the United States. France and the United Kingdom were the first countries to recognize Liberia as a new nation.
• 1861 – During the American Civil War, George B. McClellan took command of the Army of the Potomac. This happened after a big defeat for the Union at the First Battle of Bull Run.
• 1863 – The American Civil War's Morgan's Raid ended. Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers were captured by Union forces in Ohio.
• 1882 – Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal was performed for the first time in Bayreuth, Germany.
• 1882 – The Republic of Stellaland was founded in Southern Africa.
• 1887 – The Unua Libro was published, which started the Esperanto language movement.
• 1890 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Revolución del Parque happened. This forced President Miguel Ángel Juárez Celman to resign.
• 1891 – France took control of Tahiti.
• 1892 – Dadabhai Naoroji became the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain.
• 1897 – The Pashtun leader Saidullah led an army of over 10,000 to begin a siege of the British garrison in India.
• 1899 – Ulises Heureaux, who was the 27th President of the Dominican Republic, was assassinated.

Modern History (1901–Present)

• 1908 – United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte ordered the creation of the Office of the Chief Examiner. This office later became the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
• 1918 – Emmy Noether's important paper, known as Noether's theorem, was presented in Germany. This paper helped explain conservation laws for things like angular momentum, linear momentum, and energy.
• 1936 – During the Spanish Civil War, Germany and Italy decided to help Francisco Franco and his Nationalist faction.
• 1936 – King Edward VIII officially unveiled the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
• 1937 – The Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War ended with a Nationalist victory.
• 1941 – In World War II, British forces on Malta stopped an attack by the Italian navy in the Battle of Grand Harbour.
• 1941 – Also in World War II, the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands froze all Japanese assets and stopped oil shipments to Japan. This was in response to Japan taking over French Indochina.
• 1944 – During World War II, the Red Army entered Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, taking it from the Nazis.
• 1945 – The Labour Party won the United Kingdom general election by a large amount, removing Winston Churchill from power.
• 1945 – The Potsdam Declaration was signed in Potsdam, Germany, during World War II.
• 1945 – HMS Vestal became the last British Royal Navy ship to be sunk in World War II.
• 1945 – The USS Indianapolis arrived at Tinian with parts and enriched uranium for the "Little Boy" nuclear bomb.
• 1946 – Aloha Airlines began its flight services from Honolulu International Airport.
• 1947 – During the Cold War, U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 into law. This created important groups like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the United States Department of Defense.
• 1948 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which ended segregation in the United States military.
• 1951 – Walt Disney's animated film, Alice in Wonderland, premiered in London, England.
• 1952 – King Farouk of Egypt gave up his throne to his son Fuad.
• 1953 – During the Cold War, Fidel Castro led an attack on the Moncada Barracks. This event marked the beginning of the Cuban Revolution.
• 1953 – Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fought off Chinese attacks at a place called The Hook during the Battle of the Samichon River. This happened just hours before the agreement to end the Korean War was signed.
• 1956 – After the World Bank refused to fund the Aswan Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser took control of the Suez Canal. This led to the Suez Crisis and international criticism.
• 1957 – Carlos Castillo Armas, the leader of Guatemala, was assassinated.
• 1958 – The Explorer 4 satellite was launched as part of the Explorer program.
• 1963 – Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite (a satellite that stays in the same spot above Earth), was launched.
• 1963 – An earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia (now North Macedonia) caused about 1,100 deaths.
• 1963 – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) voted to allow Japan to join.
• 1968 – During the Vietnam War, South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu was sentenced to five years of hard labor. He had suggested forming a coalition government to end the war.
• 1971 – The Apollo program launched Apollo 15. This was the first "J-Mission" and the first time a Lunar Roving Vehicle was used on the Moon.
• 1974 – Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis formed the country's first civilian government after seven years of military rule.
• 1977 – The National Assembly of Quebec made French the official language of the provincial government.
• 1989 – A federal grand jury charged Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm. He was the first person to be charged 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. This law protects the rights of people with disabilities.
• 1993 – Asiana Airlines Flight 733 crashed into a mountain in South Korea while trying to land. Sixty-eight people died.
• 1999 – The Kargil conflict officially ended. The Indian Army announced that all Pakistani intruders had been removed.
• 2005 – The Space Shuttle program launched Discovery on the STS-114 Mission. This was NASA's first planned flight after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.
• 2005 – Mumbai, India, received a huge amount of rain (99.5cm or 39.17 inches) in 24 hours. This caused floods that killed over 5,000 people.
• 2016 – Hillary Clinton became the first female nominee for President of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
• 2016 – Solar Impulse 2 became the first solar-powered aircraft to fly around the Earth.

Famous Births

Born Before 1600

• 1030 – Stanislaus of Szczepanów, a Polish bishop and saint.
• 1400 – Isabel le Despenser, an English noblewoman.
• 1502 – Christian Egenolff, a German printer.

Born 1601–1900

• 1678 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1739 – George Clinton, an American general and the 4th Vice President of the United States.
• 1782 – John Field, an Irish pianist and composer.
• 1791 – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, an Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor. He was the son of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
• 1796 – George Catlin, an American painter and author, known for his paintings of Native Americans.
• 1802 – Mariano Arista, a Mexican general and the 42nd President of Mexico.
• 1829 – Auguste Beernaert, a Belgian politician and Prime Minister, who won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1842 – Alfred Marshall, an English economist.
• 1855 – Ferdinand Tönnies, a German sociologist and philosopher.
• 1856 – George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright and critic, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1874 – Serge Koussevitzky, a Russian-American conductor.
• 1875 – Carl Jung, a famous Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist.
• 1875 – Antonio Machado, a Spanish poet.
• 1893 – George Grosz, a German painter and illustrator.
• 1894 – Aldous Huxley, an English novelist and philosopher, known for Brave New World.
• 1895 – Gracie Allen, an American actress and comedian.

Born 1901–Present

• 1904 – Edwin Albert Link, an American inventor who created the first flight simulator.
• 1909 – Vivian Vance, an American actress and singer, known for her role in I Love Lucy.
• 1919 – James Lovelock, an English biologist and chemist, known for the Gaia hypothesis.
• 1922 – Blake Edwards, an American director, producer, and screenwriter, known for The Pink Panther films.
• 1922 – Jason Robards, an American actor.
• 1923 – Jan Berenstain, an American author and illustrator, co-creator of the Berenstain Bears.
• 1928 – Francesco Cossiga, the 8th President of Italy.
• 1928 – Joe Jackson, an American talent manager, and father of Michael Jackson.
• 1928 – Stanley Kubrick, a famous American director, producer, and screenwriter.
• 1939 – John Howard, an Australian lawyer and politician, who was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia.
• 1941 – Darlene Love, an American singer and actress.
• 1943 – Mick Jagger, an English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor, famous as the lead singer of The Rolling Stones.
• 1945 – Helen Mirren, a famous English actress.
• 1949 – Thaksin Shinawatra, a Thai businessman and politician, who was the 23rd Prime Minister of Thailand.
• 1949 – Roger Taylor, an English singer-songwriter and drummer for the band Queen.
• 1950 – Susan George, an English actress.
• 1955 – Asif Ali Zardari, a Pakistani businessman and politician, who was the 11th President of Pakistan.
• 1956 – Dorothy Hamill, an American figure skater and Olympic gold medalist.
• 1959 – Kevin Spacey, an American actor and director.
• 1964 – Sandra Bullock, a famous American actress and producer.
• 1967 – Tim Schafer, an American video game designer.
• 1967 – Jason Statham, an English actor.
• 1969 – Tanni Grey-Thompson, a Welsh baroness and a very successful wheelchair racer.
• 1973 – Kate Beckinsale, an English actress.
• 1975 – Liz Truss, a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1980 – Jacinda Ardern, the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand.
• 1993 – Taylor Momsen, an American singer-songwriter, model, and actress.
• 2000 – Thomasin McKenzie, a New Zealand actress.

Notable Deaths

Died Before 1600

• 811 – Nikephoros I, a Byzantine emperor.
• 1380 – Kōmyō, an emperor of Japan.
• 1471 – Pope Paul II, a pope of the Catholic Church.

Died 1601–1900

• 1680 – John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, an English poet.
• 1693 – Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark, queen of Sweden.
• 1863 – Sam Houston, an American general and politician, who was the governor of both Texas and Tennessee.
• 1899 – Ulises Heureaux, who was the President of the Dominican Republic.

Died 1901–Present

• 1915 – James Murray, a Scottish expert on words who helped create the Oxford English Dictionary.
• 1925 – William Jennings Bryan, an American lawyer and politician.
• 1926 – Robert Todd Lincoln, an American lawyer and politician, and the son of Abraham Lincoln.
• 1934 – Winsor McCay, an American cartoonist and animator.
• 1941 – Henri Lebesgue, a French mathematician.
• 1952 – Eva Perón, an Argentinian politician and the First Lady of Argentina.
• 1957 – Carlos Castillo Armas, the leader of Guatemala.
• 1971 – Diane Arbus, an American photographer.
• 1984 – George Gallup, an American statistician who founded the Gallup polling company.
• 1992 – Mary Wells, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1993 – Matthew Ridgway, an American general.
• 1995 – George W. Romney, an American businessman and politician, and the governor of Michigan.
• 2009 – Merce Cunningham, an American dancer and choreographer.
• 2012 – Lupe Ontiveros, an American actress.
• 2017 – June Foray, an American voice actress, known for many cartoon characters.
• 2020 – Olivia de Havilland, a famous American actress.
• 2021 – Joey Jordison, an American musician.
• 2023 – Sinéad O'Connor, an Irish singer and musician.

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Andrew of Phú Yên
  • Anne (Western Christianity)
  • Bartolomea Capitanio
  • Blessed Maria Pierina
  • Joachim (Western Christianity)
  • Paraskevi of Rome (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • Venera
  • July 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Emancipation Day (Barbados)
• Day of the National Rebellion (Cuba)
• Esperanto Day
• Independence Day (Liberia), celebrates the independence of Liberia from the American Colonization Society in 1847.
• Independence Day (Maldives), celebrates the independence of Maldives from the United Kingdom in 1965.
• Kargil Victory Day or Kargil Vijay Diwas (India)

See also

In Spanish: 26 de julio para niños