On This Day in History for August 26
Events in History
- 1071 Battle of Manzikert: Seljuq Turks led by sultan Alp Arslan beat and capture Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes
- 1278 Battle of Marchfeld: Rudolf of Habsburg defeats Ottokar II
- 1303 Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji captures Chittorgarh, capital of the Guhila Kingdom
- 1346 Battle of Crécy, south of Calais in northern France; Edward III's English longbows defeat Philip VI's army, cannons used for first time in battle
- 1466 A conspiracy against Piero di Cosimo de Medici in Florence, led by Luca Pitti, is discovered
- 1498 Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà sculpture by French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères
- 1545 Pope Paul III names his son Pierluigi Farnese as Duke of Parma
- 1629 Cambridge Agreement, Massachusetts Bay Company stockholders agree to emigrate
- More Events in History
Robert Walpole
Mary Ann Nichols
Albert Sabin
Mother Teresa
Ben Bradlee
Geraldine FerraroWeddings in History
- 1926 Poet Arna Bontemps (24) weds fellow Seventh-Day Adventist Alberta Johnson
- 1965 Mobster and FBI informant Henry Hill (22) weds Karen Friedman in North Carolina; separate in 1989; divorce in 2002
Divorces in History
- 1927 Architect Frank Lloyd Wright (60) divorces artist Maude Noel after almost 4 years of marriage
More Weddings & Divorces in History
William James
Andrew Mellon
Charles LindberghAugust in History
Captain Webb Conquers the English Channel
After 22 hours in the water Captain Matthew Webb stepped ashore at Calais on this day – the first person ever to swim across the Channel from England to France.
August 25, 1875
Instant Ramen
The packaging of the first chicken instant ramen in 1958
August 25, 1958
Morris Mini-Minor
The 1959 Mini
August 26, 1959
Krakatoa: The World’s Mightiest Explosion
The world’s biggest-ever explosion – 13,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb – happened on this day as eruptions of the Krakatoa volcano reached a climax
August 27, 1883