September 26
Events
Pre-1600
- 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to Venus Genetrix, fulfilling a vow he made at the Battle of Pharsalus.
- 715 - Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne.
- 1087 - William II is crowned King of England, and reigns until 1100.
- 1142 – Stephen of Blois's army approached Oxford, beginning the siege of Oxford.
- 1212 - The Golden Bull of Sicily is issued to confirm the hereditary royal title in Bohemia for the Přemyslid dynasty.
- 1345 - Friso-Hollandic Wars: Frisians defeat Holland in the Battle of Warns.
- 1371 - Serbian–Turkish wars: Ottoman Turks fought against a Serbian army at the Battle of Maritsa.
- 1423 - Hundred Years' War: A French army defeats the English at the Battle of La Brossinière.
- 1493 - Pope Alexander VI issues the papal bull Dudum siquidem to the Spanish, extending the grant of new lands he made them in Inter caetera.
- 1580 - Francis Drake finishes his circumnavigation of the Earth in Plymouth, England.
1601–1900
- 1687 - Morean War: The Parthenon in Athens, used as a gunpowder depot by the Ottoman garrison, is partially destroyed after being bombarded during the Siege of the Acropolis by Venetian forces.
- 1688 - The city council of Amsterdam votes to support William of Orange's invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution.
- 1777 - American Revolutionary War: British troops capture and begin the occupation of Philadelphia, which had been serving as the American capital city, during the Philadelphia campaign.
- 1789 - George Washington appoints Thomas Jefferson the first United States Secretary of State.
- 1799 - War of the 2nd Coalition: French troops defeat Austro-Russian forces, leading to the collapse of Suvorov's campaign.
- 1810 - A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates, and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.
1901–present
- 1905 - Albert Einstein publishes the third of his Annus Mirabilis papers, introducing the special theory of relativity.
- 1907 - Four months after the 1907 Imperial Conference, New Zealand and Newfoundland are promoted from colonies to dominions within the British Empire.
- 1914 - The United States Federal Trade Commission is established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
- 1917 - World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood begins.
- 1918 - World War I: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive began which would last until the total surrender of German forces.
- 1919 - Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine defeats the White Russian Volunteer Army at the Battle of Peregonovka.
- 1923 - The German government calls off the passive resistance to the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr.
- 1933 - As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrenders to the FBI, he shouts out, "Don't shoot, G-Men!", which becomes a nickname for FBI agents.
- 1936 - Spanish Civil War: Lluis Companys reshuffles the Generalitat de Catalunya, with the marxist POUM and anarcho-syndicalist CNT joining the government.
- 1942 - Holocaust: Senior SS official August Frank issues a memorandum detailing how Jews should be "evacuated".
- 1950 - Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul from North Korean forces.
- 1953 - Rationing of sugar in the United Kingdom ends.
- 1954 - The Japanese rail ferry Tōya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan, killing 1,172.
- 1959 - Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless.
- 1960 - In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
- 1978 - Air Caribbean Flight 309 crashes in Residencial Las Casas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing six.
- 1980 - A terrorist bombing at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, kills 13 people and injures 213 others.
- 1983 - Soviet Air Force officer Stanislav Petrov identifies a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike, thus preventing nuclear war.
- 1983 - Soyuz 7K-ST No. 16L, intended to launch a crew to the Salyut 7 space station, explodes on the launch pad. The launch escape system is activated before the Soyuz-U rocket explodes, saving the crew.
- 1984 - The United Kingdom and China agree to a transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, to take place in 1997.
- 1992 - A Nigerian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashes in Ejigbo, Lagos, killing 159.
- 1994 - A Yakovlev Yak-40 crashes into a river near Vanavara, Russia, killing 24.
- 1997 - A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 crashes near Medan airport, killing 234.
- 1997 - An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse.
- 2000 - Anti-globalization protests in Prague turn violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.
- 2000 - The sinks off Paros in the Aegean Sea killing 80 passengers.
- 2002 - The overcrowded Senegalese ferry,, capsizes off the coast of the Gambia killing more than 1,000.
- 2009 - Typhoon Ketsana hits the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, causing 700 fatalities.
- 2010 - The Philippine Bar exam bombing occurs near the De La Salle University in Taft Avenue, Manila injuring 47 people.
- 2014 - A mass kidnapping of 43 students from a teaching college occurs in Iguala, Mexico.
- 2022 - A mass shooting occurs at a school in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia, resulting in the deaths of 18 people, including 11 children.
- 2024 - Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Perry, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, killing over 250 people, causing US$78.7 billion in damage and becoming the deadliest hurricane in the mainland United States since Katrina.
Births
Pre-1600
- 932 - Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, Arab caliph
- 1329 - Anne of Bavaria, German queen consort
- 1406 - Thomas de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros, English soldier and politician
- 1462 - Engelbert, Count of Nevers, younger son of John I, Duke of Cleves
- 1526 - Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken
1601–1900
- 1637 - Sébastien Leclerc, French painter
- 1641 - Nehemiah Grew, English plant anatomist and physiologist
- 1651 - Francis Daniel Pastorius, founder of Germantown, Philadelphia
- 1660 - George William, Duke of Liegnitz
- 1698 - William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire
- 1711 - Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, English politician, First Lord of the Admiralty
- 1750 - Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood, English admiral
- 1758 - Cosme Argerich, Argentinian physician
- 1767 - Wenzel Müller, Austrian composer and conductor
- 1774 - Johnny Appleseed, American gardener and environmentalist
- 1783 - Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke, English politician and literary figure
- 1791 - Théodore Géricault, French painter and lithographer
- 1792 - William Hobson, Irish-New Zealand explorer and politician, 1st Governor of New Zealand
- 1820 - Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Indian philosopher, painter, and academic
- 1840 - Louis-Olivier Taillon, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Premier of Quebec
- 1843 - Joseph Furphy, Australian author and poet
- 1848 - Henry Walters, American art collector and philanthropist
- 1849 - Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1856 - Anna Paaske, Norwegian opera singer and music teacher
- 1865 - Archibald Butt, United States Army Officer
- 1865 - Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford
- 1869 - Komitas, Armenian-French priest and composer
- 1870 - Christian X of Denmark
- 1872 - Max Ehrmann, American poet and lawyer
- 1873 - Wacław Berent, Polish author and translator
- 1874 - Lewis Hine, American photographer and activist
- 1874 - Charles Vyner Brooke, 3rd Raj of Sarawak
- 1875 - Edmund Gwenn, English-American actor
- 1876 - Edith Abbott, American economist, social worker, and author
- 1876 - Ghulam Bhik Nairang, Indian poet, lawyer, and politician
- 1877 - Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist and academic
- 1877 - Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist and conductor
- 1877 - Bertha De Vriese, Belgian physician
- 1878 - Walter Steinbeck, German actor
- 1884 - Jack Bickell, Canadian businessman and philanthropist
- 1886 - Archibald Hill, English physiologist, academic, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1887 - Edwin Keppel Bennett, English author and poet
- 1887 - Antonio Moreno, Spanish-American actor and director
- 1887 - Barnes Wallis, English scientist and engineer, invented the Bouncing bomb
- 1888 - J. Frank Dobie, American journalist and author
- 1888 - T. S. Eliot, English poet, playwright, critic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1889 - Gordon Brewster, Irish cartoonist
- 1889 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher and academic
- 1890 - Jack Tresadern, English footballer and manager
- 1891 - William McKell, Australian politician, 12th Governor General of Australia
- 1891 - Charles Münch, French violinist and conductor
- 1891 - Hans Reichenbach, German philosopher from the Vienna Circle
- 1892 - Robert Staughton Lynd, American sociologist and academic
- 1894 - Gladys Brockwell, American actress
- 1895 - Jürgen Stroop, German general
- 1897 - Pope Paul VI
- 1897 - Arthur Rhys-Davids, English lieutenant and pilot
- 1898 - George Gershwin, American pianist and composer
- 1900 - Suzanne Belperron, French jewelry designer