February 26

### Up to 1900

- 364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
- 1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV makes Charles the King of Sicily and Naples.
- 1548 – Admiral Piri Reis conquers Portuguese–occupied Aden in Yemen for the Ottoman Empire.
- 1658 – Treaty of Roskilde: After defeat in the Northern Wars, King Frederick III of Denmark–Norway is forced to give up nearly a third of territory to Sweden.
- 1794 – Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
- 1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba.
- 1848 – The Second French Republic is proclaimed.
- 1852 – The troop transporter _Birkenhead_ of the Royal Navy sinks off South Africa, killing 450 of the 643 people on board. The call _Women and children first_ is believed to have been used for the first time.
- 1876 – Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea's status as a tributary state to Qing Dynasty China.
- 1885 – The Berlin Africa Conference takes place, deciding the colonial boundaries in Africa, between different European colonial powers.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color movie process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
- 1914 – The ship HMHS _Britannic_ is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
- 1917 – Denali National Park is founded in Alaska, originally named Mt. McKinley National Park. The mountain's English–language name comes from US President William McKinley.
- 1918 – A German U–boat sinks the British hospital ship HMHS _Glenart Castle_, killing 153 people.
- 1919 – The Grand Canyon becomes part of the Grand Canyon National Park.
- 1929 – The Grand Teton National Park is founded in Wyoming.
- 1935 – Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates the radar near Daventry.
- 1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the re–formation of the Luftwaffe.
- 1936 – February 26 Incident: Japanese military officers stage a military coup against the government.
- 1952 – Vincent Massey becomes the first Canadian–born Governor–General of Canada.
- 1960 – A New York–bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after take–off, killing 34 of the 52 people on board.
- 1961 – Hassan II becomes King of Morocco.
- 1966 – Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of a Saturn IB rocket.
- 1966 – Vietnam War; The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians.
- 1971 – U Thant signs the United Nations proclamation of the spring equinox (March 20/21) as Earth Day. It is later celebrated on April 22.
- 1972 – The Buffalo Creek Flood is caused when a dam bursts, in West Virginia, killing 125 people.
- 1974 – Norway announces the discovery of the Statfjord oil field in the North Sea.
- 1980 – Egypt and Israel create full diplomatic relations.
- 1984 – US troops withdraw from Lebanon.
- 1990 – The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections, also meaning that Violeta Chamorro becomes Nicaragua's first female President.
- 1991 – The Gulf War ends when Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of all Iraqi troops in Kuwait.
- 1991 – Tim Berners-Lee introduces WorldWideWeb. As it is confused with the World Wide Web, it is later renamed Nexus.
- 1992 – Khojaly Massacre: Armenian forces kill 613 Azerbaijani civilians in Nagorno Karabakh.
- 1993 – World Trade Center bombing: A bomb explodes in a car park under the North Tower of New York City's World Trade Center, killing 6 people, and injuring over 1,000.
- 1995 – Barings Bank, the United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, collapses.
- 1997 – The funeral of Deng Xiaoping is broadcast across the People's Republic of China.
- 2000 – The Hekla volcano in Iceland erupts.

### From 2001

- 2004 – Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski dies in a plane crash near Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2006 – End of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
- 2012 – Shooting of Trayvon Martin: African American teenager Trayvon Martin is shot dead by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in Florida. The exact circumstances of his death become subject of debate and controversy.
- 2012 – Silent movie _The Artist_ wins the most awards in the Academy Awards ceremony.
- 2013 – A hot–air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
- 2016 – Gianni Infantino is elected President of FIFA, the governing body of world football.

### Up to 1800

- 1361 – Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (d. 1419)
- 1416 – Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark (d. 1448)
- 1564 – Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
- 1584 – Albert VI of Bavaria (d. 1666)
- 1587 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
- 1671 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (d. 1713)
- 1672 – Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)
- 1677 – Nicolas Fago, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1745)
- 1718 – Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop, botanist and zoologist (d. 1773)
- 1720 – Gian Francesco Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1803)
- 1724 – Gottfried Heinrich Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1763)
- 1732 – Francis Marion, American Revolutionary officer (d. 1795)
- 1746 – Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (d. 1806)
- 1770 – Anton Reicha, Bohemian composer and flautist (d. 1836)
- 1777 – Matija Nenadovic, Serbian uprising leader (d. 1854)
- 1786 – François Arago, Catalan–French physicist and politician (d. 1853)

### 1801 – 1900

- 1802 – Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)
- 1808 – Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator and sculptor (d. 1879)
- 1814 – Charles-Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (d. 1876)
- 1829 – Levi Strauss, German–born clothing designer (d. 1902)
- 1838 – Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Romanian writer and philologist (d. 1907)
- 1842 – Camille Flammarion, French astronomer and writer (d. 1952)
- 1846 – Buffalo Bill, American bison hunter and showman (d. 1917)
- 1852 – John Harvey Kellogg, American physician (d. 1943)
- 1861 – King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1939)
- 1866 – Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (d. 1930)
- 1869 – Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary, wife of Vladimir Lenin (d. 1939)
- 1875 – Richard Wetz, German composer and conductor (d. 1935)
- 1877 – Henry Barwell, Australian politician, 28th Premier of South Australia (d. 1959)
- 1877 – Rudolph Dirks, German–American illustrator (d. 1968)
- 1879 – Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)
- 1880 – Kenneth Edgeworth, Irish astronomer (d. 1972)
- 1881 – Janus Djurhuus, Faroese poet (d. 1948)
- 1882 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
- 1884 – Francesco Borgongini Duca, Italian cardinal (d. 1954)
- 1885 – Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
- 1887 – Stefan Grabinski, Polish writer (d. 1936)
- 1887 – Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player (d. 1950)
- 1891 – Carlo Carcano, Italian footballer and coach (d. 1965)
- 1893 – Wallace Fard Muhammad, American religious leader (d. 1934)
- 1896 – Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov, Soviet politician and ideologist (d. 1948)
- 1899 – Max Petitpierre, Swiss politician (d. 1994)
- 1900 – Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)

### 1901 – 1925

- 1902 – Jean Bruller, French writer, caricaturist and resistance activist (d. 1991)
- 1903 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist (d. 1979)
- 1906 – Madeleine Carroll, English actress (d. 1987)
- 1906 – Egidio Vagnozzi, Italian cardinal (d. 1980)
- 1908 – Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
- 1909 – Gunnar Andersen, Norwegian ski jumper (d. 1988)
- 1909 – King Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
- 1909 – Fanny Cradock, British cookery writer and television presenter (d. 1994)
- 1911 – Taro Okamoto, Japanese avant–garde artist (d. 1996)
- 1912 – Dane Clark, American actor and director (d. 1998)
- 1914 – Robert Alda, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1916 – Jackie Gleason, American actor and producer (d. 1987)
- 1917 – Robert Taft, Jr., American politician (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Pyotr Masherov, Soviet–Belarussian politician (d. 1980)
- 1918 – Otis R. Bowen, 44th Governor of Indiana and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)
- 1920 – Lucjan Woldanowski, Polish journalist, writer and traveler (d. 2006)
- 1920 – Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
- 1921 – Betty Hutton, American actress (d. 2007)
- 1922 – Karl Aage Praest, Danish footballer (d. 2011)
- 1922 – William Baumol, American economist (d. 2017)
- 1924 – Noboru Takeshita, Japanese politician (d. 2000)
- 1924 – Marc Bucci, American composer, lyricist and dramatist (d. 2002)
- 1925 – Everton Weekes, Barbadian cricketer

### 1926 – 1950

- 1926 – Verne Gagne, American wrestler and football player (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Henry Molaison, American memory disorder patient (d. 2008)
- 1928 – Anatoly Filipchenko, Soviet cosmonaut
- 1928 – Fats Domino, American musician (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Odo Marquard, German philosopher (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Algerian movie director and screenwriter
- 1931 – Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer (d. 2004)
- 1931 – Robert Novak, American journalist and writer (d. 2009)
- 1932 – Johnny Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1934 – Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Algerian director, producer and screenwriter
- 1936 – José Policarpo, Roman Catholic Patriarch of Lisbon (d. 2014)
- 1937 – Cliff Osmond, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1939 – Josephine Tewson, English actress
- 1940 – Whitney Smith, American vexillologist (someone who studies flags) (d. 2016)
- 1942 – Jozef Adamec, Slovakian footballer
- 1943 – Bill Duke, American actor and director
- 1943 – Darcus Howe, Trinidad–born British broadcaster, writer and activist (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Charles P. Thacker, American computer designer (d. 2017)
- 1944 – Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress
- 1945 – Tony deBrum, Marshallese politician (d. 2017)
- 1945 – Mitch Ryder, American rock musician
- 1946 – Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian chemist (d. 2016)
- 1946 – Bobby "Bingo" Smith, American basketball player
- 1947 – Sandie Shaw, British singer
- 1948 – David Edgar, British playwright
- 1949 – Elizabeth George, American writer
- 1949 – Emma Kirkby, British singer
- 1949 – Lynda Clark, Baroness Clark of Calton, British politician
- 1950 – Helen Clark, 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1950 – Jonathan Cain, American musician
- 1950 – Don Shanks, American actor and stuntman

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Steve Bell, English cartoonist
- 1951 – Wayne Goss, Australian politician, 34th Premier of Queensland (d. 2014)
- 1952 – Jaan Arder, Estonian singer (d. 2014)
- 1953 – Michael Bolton, American singer
- 1954 – Leon de Winter, Dutch writer
- 1954 – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey
- 1954 – Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, German aristocrat, married into the Monegasque royal family
- 1955 – Andreas Maislinger, Austrian historian
- 1956 – Kevin Dunn, American actor
- 1956 – Michel Houellebecq, French writer
- 1957 – Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player
- 1957 – David Muldrow, American politician, 113th Governor of South Carolina
- 1958 – Tim Kaine, American politician, former Governor of Virginia
- 1958 – Susan Helms, American astronaut
- 1958 – Greg Germann, American actor
- 1959 – Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player
- 1959 – Ahmet Davutoglu, former Prime Minister of Turkey
- 1962 – Ahn Cheol-soo, South Korean politician, businessman and software entrepreneur
- 1963 – Chase Masterson, American actress and singer
- 1964 – Mark Dacascos, American actor and martial artist
- 1966 – Marc Fortier, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1966 – Garry Conille, 14th Prime Minister of Haiti
- 1966 – Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer-songwriter and producer
- 1967 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese footballer
- 1968 – Robin Ammerlaan, Dutch wheelchair tennis player
- 1969 – Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer
- 1969 – Steve Agee, American actor and comedian
- 1970 – Mark Harper, English politician
- 1971 – Erykah Badu, American singer
- 1972 – Jonny Quinn, Northern Irish musician (Snow Patrol)
- 1973 – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Norwegian footballer and coach
- 1973 – Marshall Faulk, American football player
- 1973 – Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
- 1974 – Sébastien Loeb, French World–Champion rally driver

### From 1976

- 1977 – Shane Williams, Welsh rugby player
- 1977 – Tim Thomas, American basketball player
- 1978 – Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Senegalese footballer
- 1979 – Corinne Bailey Rae, British singer
- 1979 – Pedro Mendes, Portuguese footballer
- 1980 – Steve Blake, American basketball player
- 1981 – Chris Thile, American musician
- 1982 – Li Na, Chinese tennis player
- 1982 – Matt Prior, English cricketer
- 1983 – Pepe, Brazilian–Portuguese footballer
- 1984 – Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer
- 1984 – Alex de Angelis, Sammarinese motorcycle racer
- 1984 – Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Gee Atherton, English mountain biker
- 1985 – Miki Fujimoto, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
- 1985 – Fernando Llorente, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Hannah Kearney, American skier
- 1986 – Leila Lopes, Angolan model
- 1986 – Teresa Palmer, Australian model and actress
- 1989 – Gabriel Obertan, French footballer
- 1991 – CL, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1991 – Kevin Plawecki, American baseball player
- 1992 – Mikael Granlund, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1993 – Taylor Dooley, American actress

### Up to 1900

- 420 – Porphyry of Gaza, Greek bishop and saint (b. 347)
- 1154 – King Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)
- 1266 – King Manfred of Sicily (b. 1232)
- 1360 – Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English military leader (b. 1328)
- 1577 – King Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)
- 1611 – Antonio Possevino, Italian Jesuit humanist, diplomat and bibliographer
- 1726 – Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
- 1770 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (b. 1692)
- 1813 – Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
- 1815 – Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg Saalfeld (b. 1737)
- 1864 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Canadian politician (b. 1807)
- 1883 – Alexandros Koumoundouros, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1817)
- 1889 – Karl Davydov, Russian cellist and composer (b. 1838)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1903 – Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
- 1909 – Hermann Ebbinghaus, German philosopher (b. 1850)
- 1931 – Otto Wallach, German chemist (b. 1847)
- 1933 – Princess Thyra of Denmark (b. 1853)
- 1936 – Saito Makoto, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1858)
- 1936 – Takahashi Korekiyo, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1854)
- 1942 – Tommaso Pio Boggiani, Italian cardinal (b. 1863)
- 1950 – Harry Lauder, Scottish entertainer (b. 1870)
- 1952 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek interim leader (b. 1878)
- 1961 – King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
- 1964 – Homer Martin Atkins, American politician, 32nd Governor of Arkansas (b. 1890)
- 1966 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter and writer (b. 1883)
- 1969 – Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist (b. 1883)
- 1969 – Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
- 1971 – Fernandel, French actor (b. 1903)
- 1981 – Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
- 1985 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist (b. 1910)
- 1989 – Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
- 1994 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
- 1995 – Jack Clayton, British movie director (b. 1921)
- 1998 – Theodore Schultz, American economist (b. 1902)
- 1998 – James Algar, American director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1912)

### From 2001

- 2001 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (b. 1906)
- 2002 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
- 2004 – Boris Trajkovski, President of Macedonia (b. 1956)
- 2004 – Shankarrao Chavan, Indian politician (b. 1929)
- 2009 – Ruth Drexel, German actress (b. 1930)
- 2009 – Wendy Richard, British actress (b. 1943)
- 2009 – Norm Van Lier, American basketball player (b. 1947)
- 2011 – Arnost Lustig, Czech writer (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Trayvon Martin, American teenager (shot) (b. 1995)
- 2013 – Marie-Claire Alain, French organist and teacher (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Stéphane Hessel, German–born French writer, diplomat and Resistance activist (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Sorel Etrog, Romanian–Canadian sculptor, painter and illustrator (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Gordon Nutt, English footballer (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Tim Wilson, American comedian and country music singer (b. 1961)
- 2015 – Theodore Hesburgh, American professor and Roman Catholic priest (b. 1917)
- 2015 – Martha Cohen, Canadian philanthropist (b. 1920)
- 2015 – Fritz J. Raddatz, German writer (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Avijit Roy, Bangladeshi/American blogger
- 2015 – Tom Schweich, American politician (b. 1961)
- 2015 – Earl Lloyd, American basketball player (b. 1925)
- 2016 – Andy Bathgate, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1932)
- 2016 – Don Getty, Canadian politician, Premier of Alberta (b. 1933)
- 2016 – Eri Klas, Estonian conductor (b. 1939)
- 2016 – Karl Dedecius, Polish–German translator (b. 1921)
- 2017 – Ludvig Faddeev, Russian physicist and mathematician (b. 1934)
- 2017 – Gerald Kaufman, English politician (b. 1930)
- 2017 – Joseph Wapner, American judge and television personality (b. 1913)
- 2017 – Eugene Garfield, American linguist (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Ned Garver, American baseball player (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Preben Hertoft, Danish sexologist (b. 1928)
- 2018 – Mies Bouwman, Dutch television presenter (b. 1929)
- 2018 – Giorgi Maisashvili, Georgian economist and politician (b. 1962)

## Observances

- Liberation Day in Kuwait
- Savior's Day (Nation of Islam)