February 26

## Events
### Up to 1900 
* 364 &ndash; Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
* 1266 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Admiral Piri Reis conquers Portuguese–occupied Aden in Yemen for the Ottoman Empire.
* 1658 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
* 1815 &ndash; Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba.
* 1848 &ndash; The Second French Republic is proclaimed.
* 1852 &ndash; 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 &ndash; 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 &ndash; The Berlin Africa Conference takes place, deciding the colonial boundaries in Africa, between different European colonial powers.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1909 &ndash; Kinemacolor, the first successful color movie process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
* 1914 &ndash; The ship HMHS *Britannic* is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
* 1917 &ndash; 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 &ndash; A German U–boat sinks the British hospital ship HMHS *Glenart Castle*, killing 153 people.
* 1919 &ndash; The Grand Canyon becomes part of the Grand Canyon National Park.
* 1929 &ndash; The Grand Teton National Park is founded in Wyoming.
* 1935 &ndash; Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates the radar near Daventry.
* 1935 &ndash; Adolf Hitler orders the re–formation of the Luftwaffe.
* 1936 &ndash; February 26 Incident: Japanese military officers stage a military coup against the government.
* 1952 &ndash; Vincent Massey becomes the first Canadian–born Governor–General of Canada.
* 1960 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Hassan II becomes King of Morocco.
* 1966 &ndash; Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of a Saturn IB rocket.
* 1966 &ndash; Vietnam War; The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians.
* 1971 &ndash; 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 &ndash; The Buffalo Creek Flood is caused when a dam bursts, in West Virginia, killing 125 people.
* 1974 &ndash; Norway announces the discovery of the Statfjord oil field in the North Sea.
* 1980 &ndash; Egypt and Israel create full diplomatic relations.
* 1984 &ndash; US troops withdraw from Lebanon.
* 1990 &ndash; The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections, also meaning that Violeta Chamorro becomes Nicaragua's first female President.
* 1991 &ndash; The Gulf War ends when Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of all Iraqi troops in Kuwait.
* 1991 &ndash; Tim Berners-Lee introduces WorldWideWeb. As it is confused with the World Wide Web, it is later renamed Nexus.
* 1992 &ndash; Khojaly Massacre: Armenian forces kill 613 Azerbaijani civilians in Nagorno Karabakh.
* 1993 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Barings Bank, the United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, collapses.
* 1997 &ndash; The funeral of Deng Xiaoping is broadcast across the People's Republic of China.
* 2000 &ndash; The Hekla volcano in Iceland erupts.

### From 2001 
* 2004 &ndash; Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski dies in a plane crash near Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
* 2006 &ndash; End of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
* 2012 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Silent movie *The Artist* wins the most awards in the Academy Awards ceremony.
* 2013 &ndash; A hot–air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
* 2016 &ndash; Gianni Infantino is elected President of FIFA, the governing body of world football.

## Births
### Up to 1800 
* 1361 &ndash; Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (d. 1419)
* 1416 &ndash; Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark (d. 1448)
* 1564 &ndash; Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
* 1584 &ndash; Albert VI of Bavaria (d. 1666)
* 1587 &ndash; Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
* 1671 &ndash; Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (d. 1713)
* 1672 &ndash; Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)
* 1677 &ndash; Nicolas Fago, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1745)
* 1718 &ndash; Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop, botanist and zoologist (d. 1773)
* 1720 &ndash; Gian Francesco Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1803)
* 1724 &ndash; Gottfried Heinrich Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1763)
* 1732 &ndash; Francis Marion, American Revolutionary officer (d. 1795)
* 1746 &ndash; Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (d. 1806)
* 1770 &ndash; Anton Reicha, Bohemian composer and flautist (d. 1836)
* 1777 &ndash; Matija Nenadovic, Serbian uprising leader (d. 1854)
* 1786 &ndash; François Arago, Catalan–French physicist and politician (d. 1853)

### 1801 &ndash; 1900 
* 1802 &ndash; Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)
* 1808 &ndash; Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator and sculptor (d. 1879)
* 1814 &ndash; Charles-Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (d. 1876)
* 1829 &ndash; Levi Strauss, German–born clothing designer (d. 1902)
* 1838 &ndash; Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Romanian writer and philologist (d. 1907)
* 1842 &ndash; Camille Flammarion, French astronomer and writer (d. 1952)
* 1846 &ndash; Buffalo Bill, American bison hunter and showman (d. 1917)
* 1852 &ndash; John Harvey Kellogg, American physician (d. 1943)
* 1861 &ndash; King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1939)
* 1866 &ndash; Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (d. 1930)
* 1869 &ndash; Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary, wife of Vladimir Lenin (d. 1939)
* 1875 &ndash; Richard Wetz, German composer and conductor (d. 1935)
* 1877 &ndash; Henry Barwell, Australian politician, 28th Premier of South Australia (d. 1959)
* 1877 &ndash; Rudolph Dirks, German–American illustrator (d. 1968)
* 1879 &ndash; Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)
* 1880 &ndash; Kenneth Edgeworth, Irish astronomer (d. 1972)
* 1881 &ndash; Janus Djurhuus, Faroese poet (d. 1948)
* 1882 &ndash; Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
* 1884 &ndash; Francesco Borgongini Duca, Italian cardinal (d. 1954)
* 1885 &ndash; Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
* 1887 &ndash; Stefan Grabinski, Polish writer (d. 1936)
* 1887 &ndash; Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player (d. 1950)
* 1891 &ndash; Carlo Carcano, Italian footballer and coach (d. 1965)
* 1893 &ndash; Wallace Fard Muhammad, American religious leader (d. 1934)
* 1896 &ndash; Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov, Soviet politician and ideologist (d. 1948)
* 1899 &ndash; Max Petitpierre, Swiss politician (d. 1994)
* 1900 &ndash; Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)

### 1901 &ndash; 1925 
* 1902 &ndash; Jean Bruller, French writer, caricaturist and resistance activist (d. 1991)
* 1903 &ndash; Giulio Natta, Italian chemist (d. 1979)
* 1906 &ndash; Madeleine Carroll, English actress (d. 1987)
* 1906 &ndash; Egidio Vagnozzi, Italian cardinal (d. 1980)
* 1908 &ndash; Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
* 1909 &ndash; Gunnar Andersen, Norwegian ski jumper (d. 1988)
* 1909 &ndash; King Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
* 1909 &ndash; Fanny Cradock, British cookery writer and television presenter (d. 1994)
* 1911 &ndash; Taro Okamoto, Japanese avant–garde artist (d. 1996)
* 1912 &ndash; Dane Clark, American actor and director (d. 1998)
* 1914 &ndash; Robert Alda, American actor (d. 1986)
* 1916 &ndash; Jackie Gleason, American actor and producer (d. 1987)
* 1917 &ndash; Robert Taft, Jr., American politician (d. 1993)
* 1918 &ndash; Pyotr Masherov, Soviet–Belarussian politician (d. 1980)
* 1918 &ndash; Otis R. Bowen, 44th Governor of Indiana and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 2013)
* 1918 &ndash; Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)
* 1920 &ndash; Lucjan Woldanowski, Polish journalist, writer and traveler (d. 2006)
* 1920 &ndash; Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
* 1921 &ndash; Betty Hutton, American actress (d. 2007)
* 1922 &ndash; Karl Aage Praest, Danish footballer (d. 2011)
* 1922 &ndash; William Baumol, American economist (d. 2017)
* 1924 &ndash; Noboru Takeshita, Japanese politician (d. 2000)
* 1924 &ndash; Marc Bucci, American composer, lyricist and dramatist (d. 2002)
* 1925 &ndash; Everton Weekes, Barbadian cricketer

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

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Steve Bell, English cartoonist
* 1951 &ndash; Wayne Goss, Australian politician, 34th Premier of Queensland (d. 2014)
* 1952 &ndash; Jaan Arder, Estonian singer (d. 2014)
* 1953 &ndash; Michael Bolton, American singer
* 1954 &ndash; Leon de Winter, Dutch writer
* 1954 &ndash; Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey
* 1954 &ndash; Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, German aristocrat, married into the Monegasque royal family
* 1955 &ndash; Andreas Maislinger, Austrian historian
* 1956 &ndash; Kevin Dunn, American actor
* 1956 &ndash; Michel Houellebecq, French writer
* 1957 &ndash; Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player
* 1957 &ndash; David Muldrow, American politician, 113th Governor of South Carolina
* 1958 &ndash; Tim Kaine, American politician, former Governor of Virginia
* 1958 &ndash; Susan Helms, American astronaut
* 1958 &ndash; Greg Germann, American actor
* 1959 &ndash; Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player
* 1959 &ndash; Ahmet Davutoglu, former Prime Minister of Turkey
* 1962 &ndash; Ahn Cheol-soo, South Korean politician, businessman and software entrepreneur
* 1963 &ndash; Chase Masterson, American actress and singer
* 1964 &ndash; Mark Dacascos, American actor and martial artist
* 1966 &ndash; Marc Fortier, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1966 &ndash; Garry Conille, 14th Prime Minister of Haiti
* 1966 &ndash; Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer-songwriter and producer
* 1967 &ndash; Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese footballer
* 1968 &ndash; Robin Ammerlaan, Dutch wheelchair tennis player
* 1969 &ndash; Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer
* 1969 &ndash; Steve Agee, American actor and comedian
* 1970 &ndash; Mark Harper, English politician
* 1971 &ndash; Erykah Badu, American singer
* 1972 &ndash; Jonny Quinn, Northern Irish musician (Snow Patrol)
* 1973 &ndash; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Norwegian footballer and coach
* 1973 &ndash; Marshall Faulk, American football player
* 1973 &ndash; Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
* 1974 &ndash; Sébastien Loeb, French World–Champion rally driver

### From 1976 
* 1977 &ndash; Shane Williams, Welsh rugby player
* 1977 &ndash; Tim Thomas, American basketball player
* 1978 &ndash; Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Senegalese footballer
* 1979 &ndash; Corinne Bailey Rae, British singer
* 1979 &ndash; Pedro Mendes, Portuguese footballer
* 1980 &ndash; Steve Blake, American basketball player
* 1981 &ndash; Chris Thile, American musician
* 1982 &ndash; Li Na, Chinese tennis player
* 1982 &ndash; Matt Prior, English cricketer
* 1983 &ndash; Pepe, Brazilian–Portuguese footballer
* 1984 &ndash; Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer
* 1984 &ndash; Alex de Angelis, Sammarinese motorcycle racer
* 1984 &ndash; Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer-songwriter
* 1985 &ndash; Gee Atherton, English mountain biker 
* 1985 &ndash; Miki Fujimoto, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
* 1985 &ndash; Fernando Llorente, Spanish footballer
* 1986 &ndash; Hannah Kearney, American skier
* 1986 &ndash; Leila Lopes, Angolan model
* 1986 &ndash; Teresa Palmer, Australian model and actress
* 1989 &ndash; Gabriel Obertan, French footballer
* 1991 &ndash; CL, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
* 1991 &ndash; Kevin Plawecki, American baseball player
* 1992 &ndash; Mikael Granlund, Finnish ice hockey player
* 1993 &ndash; Taylor Dooley, American actress

## Deaths
### Up to 1900 
* 420 &ndash; Porphyry of Gaza, Greek bishop and saint (b. 347)
* 1154 &ndash; King Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)
* 1266 &ndash; King Manfred of Sicily (b. 1232)
* 1360 &ndash; Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English military leader (b. 1328)
* 1577 &ndash; King Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)
* 1611 &ndash; Antonio Possevino, Italian Jesuit humanist, diplomat and bibliographer
* 1726 &ndash; Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
* 1770 &ndash; Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (b. 1692)
* 1813 &ndash; Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
* 1815 &ndash; Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg Saalfeld (b. 1737)
* 1864 &ndash; Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Canadian politician (b. 1807)
* 1883 &ndash; Alexandros Koumoundouros, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1817)
* 1889 &ndash; Karl Davydov, Russian cellist and composer (b. 1838)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1903 &ndash; Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
* 1909 &ndash; Hermann Ebbinghaus, German philosopher (b. 1850)
* 1931 &ndash; Otto Wallach, German chemist (b. 1847)
* 1933 &ndash; Princess Thyra of Denmark (b. 1853)
* 1936 &ndash; Saito Makoto, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1858)
* 1936 &ndash; Takahashi Korekiyo, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1854)
* 1942 &ndash; Tommaso Pio Boggiani, Italian cardinal (b. 1863)
* 1950 &ndash; Harry Lauder, Scottish entertainer (b. 1870)
* 1952 &ndash; Theodoros Pangalos, Greek interim leader (b. 1878)
* 1961 &ndash; King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
* 1964 &ndash; Homer Martin Atkins, American politician, 32nd Governor of Arkansas (b. 1890)
* 1966 &ndash; Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter and writer (b. 1883)
* 1969 &ndash; Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist (b. 1883)
* 1969 &ndash; Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
* 1971 &ndash; Fernandel, French actor (b. 1903)
* 1981 &ndash; Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
* 1985 &ndash; Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist (b. 1910)
* 1989 &ndash; Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
* 1994 &ndash; Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
* 1995 &ndash; Jack Clayton, British movie director (b. 1921)
* 1998 &ndash; Theodore Schultz, American economist (b. 1902)
* 1998 &ndash; James Algar, American director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1912)

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

## Observances
* Liberation Day in Kuwait
* Savior's Day (Nation of Islam)