Historical Events on Thursday, 26th June

70 significant events took place on Thursday, 26th June — stretching from 4 to 2024. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

On Thursday, 26th June 2025, the world marks a date of considerable historical significance across multiple decades. The year 2024 saw Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, return to Australia after pleading guilty to one charge of espionage in a Saipan court and subsequently being released by the United States Department of Justice, concluding a lengthy legal battle that had captured international attention. Over a decade earlier, on this same date in 2015, five coordinated terrorist attacks erupted across France, Tunisia, Somalia, Kuwait and Syria, leaving upwards of 750 people either killed or injured in what international media dubbed Bloody Friday. The same year witnessed the United States Supreme Court delivering a landmark ruling that same-sex couples possess a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment.

Beyond these pivotal modern events, the date encompasses centuries of historical moments. Pope Benedict XVI reinstated the traditional laws of papal election in 2007, requiring successful candidates to receive two-thirds of the votes. The first crash of an Airbus A320 occurred in 1988 when Air France Flight 296Q went down at Mulhouse–Habsheim Airfield in eastern France during an air show, resulting in three fatalities among the 136 people on board. This region of France, located in the Grand Est, remains one of Europe’s most historically significant industrial and cultural areas.

DayAtlas provides users with comprehensive historical data for any chosen date and location, including documented weather conditions, significant events, famous births and notable deaths. The platform offers a systematic way to explore the layered history contained within individual calendar dates, revealing how particular days have shaped global events across centuries.

Explore all events today 12th April.

26/06/2024

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, returns to Australia after pleading guilty to one charge of espionage in a Saipan court and subsequently being released by the United States Department of Justice.

Julian Paul Assange is an Australian editor, programmer, and publisher who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of leaks from Chelsea Manning, a United States Army intelligence analyst: footage of a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad showing war crimes committed by the U.S. Army, U.S. military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and U.S. diplomatic cables. Assange has won over two dozen awards for publishing and journalism.

26/06/2015

Five different terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia, Somalia, Kuwait, and Syria occurred on what was dubbed Bloody Friday by international media. Upwards of 750 people were either killed or injured in these uncoordinated attacks.

On 26 June 2015, attacks occurred in France, Kuwait, and Tunisia, one day following a deadly massacre in Syria. The day of the attacks was dubbed "Bloody Friday" by Anglophone media and "Black Friday" among Francophone media in Europe and North Africa.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party". In 1803, the court asserted itself the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law.

26/06/2013

Riots in China's Xinjiang region kill at least 36 people and injure 21 others.

On 26 June 2013, rioting broke out in Shanshan County, in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. 35 people died in the riots, including 22 civilians, two police officers and eleven attackers.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules, 5–4, that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

26/06/2012

The Waldo Canyon fire descends into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood in Colorado Springs burning 347 homes in a matter of hours and killing two people.

The Waldo Canyon fire was a forest fire that started approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Colorado Springs, Colorado on June 23, 2012, and was declared 100 percent contained on July 10, 2012, after no smoke plumes were visible on a small portion of the containment line on Blodgett Peak. The fire was active in the Pike National Forest and adjoining areas, covering a total of 18,247 acres. The fire had caused the evacuation of over 32,000 residents of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Woodland Park, several small mountain communities along the southwestern side of U.S. Highway 24, and partial evacuation of the United States Air Force Academy. There were 346 homes destroyed by the fire. U.S. Highway 24, a major east–west road, was closed in both directions. The Waldo Canyon Fire resulted in insurance claims totaling more than US $453.7 million. It was the most destructive fire in Colorado state history, as measured by the number of homes destroyed, until the Black Forest Fire surpassed it almost a year later when it consumed 486 homes and damaged 28 others.

26/06/2008

A suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonates an explosive vest, killing 25 people.

The 26 June 2008 Karmah bombing was a suicide attack on a meeting of tribal sheiks in the town of Al-Karmah. Three Marines from 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines, as well as twenty Iraqi sheiks and the mayor of Karmah, were killed when a suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi Policeman detonated an explosive vest. Two interpreters were also killed in the blast(Ray and David). The aftermath of the attack was captured on film by photojournalist Zoriah Miller. The commanding officer of 2/3, LtCol Max Galeai and two other Marines from the battalion were killed. In June 2008, it was announced that Anbar would be the tenth province to transfer to Provincial Iraqi Control, the first Sunni Arab region to be handed back. This handover was delayed due to the attack. The handover did occur on September 1, 2008. Two insurgents linked to the bombing were later caught in Tamariya.

26/06/2007

Pope Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes.

Pope Benedict XVI was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Following his resignation, he chose to be known as "pope emeritus", a title he held until his death on 31 December 2022.

26/06/2006

Mari Alkatiri, the first Prime Minister of East Timor, resigns after weeks of political unrest.

Mari bin Amude Alkatiri is a Timorese politician. He was Prime Minister of East Timor from May 2002 until his resignation on 26 June 2006 following weeks of political unrest in the country, and again from September 2017 until May 2018. He is the Secretary-General of the Fretilin party and was the former President of the Special Administrative Region of Oecusse.

26/06/2003

The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that sex-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.

26/06/2000

The Human Genome Project announces the completion of a "rough draft" sequence.

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a physical and a functional standpoint. It started in 1990 and was completed in 2003. It was the world's largest collaborative biological project. Planning for the project began in 1984 by the US government, and it officially launched in 1990. It was declared complete on 14 April 2003, and included about 92% of the genome. Level "complete genome" was achieved in May 2021, with only 0.3% of the bases covered by potential issues. The full gapless sequence containing 22 autosomes and the X chromosome was published in January 2022, making it the first fully sequenced human genome. The full sequence of the Y chromosome was only published in August 2023 due to challenges with sequencing and assembling, caused by its highly repetitive nature.

26/06/1997

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Communications Decency Act violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

J. K. Rowling publishes the first of her Harry Potter novel series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in United Kingdom.

Joanne Rowling, better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author, philanthropist, producer, and screenwriter. She is best known for writing Harry Potter, a seven-volume series about a young wizard. Published from 1997 to 2007, the fantasy novels are the best-selling book series in history, with over 600 million copies sold. They have been translated into 84 languages and have spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith.

26/06/1995

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani deposes his father Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a bloodless coup d'état.

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani is a member of Qatar's royal family, the House of Thani. He was the ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995 until 2013 when he abdicated the throne, handing power to his fourth son Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who was born to his second wife, Moza bint Nassir. The Qatari government refers to him as the Father Emir.

26/06/1991

Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav People's Army begins the Ten-Day War in Slovenia.

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia, which began in mid-1991, into six independent countries matching the six republics that had previously constituted Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia, which was later renamed to North Macedonia. The breakup of Yugoslavia and the accompanying Yugoslav Wars are commonly attributed to increasing nationalism and unresolved ethnic tensions in Yugoslavia. While most of the conflicts ended through peace accords that involved full international recognition of the new states, they resulted in the deaths of many as well as severe economic damage to the region.

26/06/1988

The first crash of an Airbus A320 occurs when Air France Flight 296Q crashes at Mulhouse–Habsheim Airfield in Habsheim, France, during an air show, killing three of the 136 people on board.

The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus, and is the best-selling airliner ever built. The A320 aircraft programme was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the family was followed by the stretched A321, the shorter A319, and the shortest variant, the A318 . Final assembly takes place in Toulouse in France; Hamburg in Germany; Tianjin in China since 2009; and Mobile, Alabama, in the United States since April 2016.

26/06/1981

Dan-Air Flight 240, flying to East Midlands Airport, crashes in Nailstone, Leicestershire. All three crew members perish.

Dan-Air Flight 240 was a fatal accident involving a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 series 2A turboprop aircraft operated by Dan Air Services Limited on the first stage of a night mail flight from London Gatwick Airport to East Midlands Airport. The crash, which occurred on 26 June 1981 near the village of Nailstone, Leicestershire, following major structural failure caused by the failure of a cabin door, resulted in the aircraft's destruction and the deaths of all three on board.

26/06/1978

Air Canada Flight 189, flying to Toronto, overruns the runway and crashes into the Etobicoke Creek ravine. Two of the 107 passengers on board perish.

Air Canada Flight 189 was a scheduled flight from Ottawa to Vancouver via Toronto and Winnipeg. On June 26, 1978, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the flight crashed on takeoff in Toronto, killing two passengers; 105 people survived.

26/06/1977

Elvis Presley holds what will prove to be his final concert at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Presley's energetic and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and initial controversy.

26/06/1975

Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. An agency of the United States Department of Justice, the FBI is a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the attorney general and the director of national intelligence. A leading American counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, the FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes. The FBI maintains a list of its top 10 most wanted fugitives.

26/06/1974

The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.

The Universal Product Code is a barcode symbology that is used worldwide for tracking trade items in stores.

26/06/1967

Karol Wojtyła (later John Paul II) is made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.

Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history, after St. Peter and Pius IX.

26/06/1963

Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president, at 43 years, and the first Catholic president. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress before his presidency.

26/06/1960

The former British Protectorate of British Somaliland gains its independence as Somaliland.

British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate, was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in the territory of modern Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast, and the Ethiopian Empire.

Madagascar gains its independence from France.

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country in the Indian Ocean that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's fourth-largest island, the second-largest island country, and the 46th-largest country overall. Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo.

26/06/1959

Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson becomes world champion of heavy weight boxing, by defeating American Floyd Patterson on technical knockout after two minutes and three seconds in the third round at Yankee Stadium.

Jens Ingemar "Ingo" Johansson was a Swedish professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1963. He held the world heavyweight title from 1959 to 1960 and was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside the United States. Johansson won the title by defeating Floyd Patterson via third-round stoppage, after flooring him seven times in that round. For this achievement, Johansson was awarded the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year—the only non-American in its entire 27-year first run—and was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.

26/06/1955

The South African Congress Alliance adopts the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in Kliptown.

The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress. It is characterised by its opening demand, "The People Shall Govern!"

26/06/1953

Lavrentiy Beria, head of MVD, is arrested by Nikita Khrushchev and other members of the Politburo.

Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph Stalin's secret police chiefs, serving as head of the NKVD from 1938 to 1945 during the country's involvement in the Second World War. He was also a serial rapist and had killed some of his victims. His victims were primarily young women and girls.

26/06/1952

The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewide labour parties.

The Labour Party of Malaya was a left-wing political party in the Federation of Malaya and later Malaysia, active from 1952 to 1972. It originated as a confederation of state-based labour parties under the name Pan-Malayan Labour Party (PMLP). As a component of the Malayan Peoples' Socialist Front, the party reached its electoral peak in 1959, but its influence rapidly declined after most of its leadership was detained for political reasons.

26/06/1948

Cold War: The first supply flights are made in response to the Berlin Blockade.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.

William Shockley files the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.

William Bradford Shockley was an American physicist. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The three scientists were jointly awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect."

Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" is published in The New Yorker magazine.

Shirley Hardie Jackson was an American writer known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Her writing career spanned over two decades, during which she composed six novels, two memoirs, and more than 200 short stories.

26/06/1945

The United Nations Charter is signed by 50 Allied nations in San Francisco, California.

The Charter of the United Nations, also referred to as the UN Charter, is the foundational treaty of the United Nations. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, including its principal organs: the Secretariat, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Trusteeship Council. The UN Charter is an important part of public international law, and is the foundation for much of international law governing the use of force, pacific settlement of disputes, arms control, and other important functions of the maintenance of international peace and security.

26/06/1944

World War II: San Marino, a neutral state, is mistakenly bombed by the RAF based on faulty information, leading to 35 civilian deaths.

San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino (RSM), is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two microstates within Italy, the other being Vatican City. San Marino is the fifth-smallest country in the world, with a land area of just over 61 km2 and a population of 34,042 as of 2025. Its capital, the City of San Marino, sits atop Monte Titano, while its largest settlement is Dogana, in the municipality of Serravalle.

World War II: The Battle of Osuchy in Osuchy, Poland, one of the largest battles between Nazi Germany and Polish resistance forces, ends with the defeat of the latter.

The Battle of Osuchy was one of the largest battles between the Polish resistance and Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II, a part of the Zamość Uprising. It took place near the village of Osuchy in the Solska Forest on 25–26 June 1944 during the German anti-partisan Operation Sturmwind II. The battle ended with the defeat of the local resistance forces that suffered heavy casualties.

26/06/1942

The first flight of the Grumman F6F Hellcat.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second half of the Pacific War. In gaining that role, it prevailed over its faster competitor, the Vought F4U Corsair, which initially had problems with visibility and carrier landings.

26/06/1941

World War II: Soviet planes bomb Kassa, Hungary (now Košice, Slovakia), giving Hungary the impetus to declare war the next day.

The bombing of Kassa took place on 26 June 1941, when still unidentified aircraft conducted an airstrike on the city of Kassa, then part of Hungary, today Košice in Slovakia. This attack became the pretext for the government of Hungary to declare war on the Soviet Union the next day, 27 June.

26/06/1940

World War II: Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Romania requiring it to cede Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

26/06/1936

Initial flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter.

The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 was the first successful, practical, and fully controllable helicopter, first flown in 1936. It was also known as the Fa 61, as Focke began a new company—Focke-Achgelis—in 1937.

26/06/1934

United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Federal Credit Union Act, which establishes credit unions.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president and the only one to have served more than two terms. His first two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression, while his third and fourth focused on US involvement in World War II. A member of the Democratic Party, Roosevelt served in the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913 and as the 44th governor of New York from 1929 to 1932.

26/06/1927

The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island.

The Cyclone, also called the Coney Island Cyclone, is a wooden roller coaster at Luna Park in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. Designed by Vernon Keenan, it opened to the public on June 26, 1927. The roller coaster is on a plot of land at the intersection of Surf Avenue and West 10th Street. The Cyclone reaches a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) and has a total track length of 2,640 feet (800 m), with a maximum height of 75 feet (23 m).

26/06/1924

The American occupation of the Dominican Republic ends after eight years.

The Military Government of Santo Domingo was a provisional military government established during the American occupation of the Dominican Republic that lasted from May 15, 1916 to September 18, 1924. The United States aimed to force the Dominicans to repay their large debts to European creditors, whose governments threatened military intervention. On May 13, 1916, Rear Admiral William B. Caperton forced the Dominican Republic's Secretary of War Desiderio Arias, who had seized power from President Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra, to leave Santo Domingo by threatening the city with naval bombardment.

26/06/1918

World War I: Allied forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord defeat Imperial German forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince in the Battle of Belleau Wood.

The Allies or the Entente was an international military coalition of countries led by the French Republic, the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire, the United States, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan against the Central Powers of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Bulgaria in World War I (1914–1918).

26/06/1917

World War I: The American Expeditionary Forces begin to arrive in France. They will first enter combat in the Battle of Hamel on July 4.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as The Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

26/06/1909

The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity.

The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 2,817,852 visitors annually in 2025.

26/06/1906

The first Grand Prix motor race is held at Le Mans.

The 1906 Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France, commonly known as the 1906 French Grand Prix, was a motor race held on 26 and 27 June 1906, on closed public roads outside the city of Le Mans. The Grand Prix was organised by the Automobile Club de France (ACF) at the prompting of the French automobile industry as an alternative to the Gordon Bennett races, which limited each competing country's number of entries regardless of the size of its industry. France had the largest automobile industry in Europe at the time, and in an attempt to better reflect this the Grand Prix had no limit to the number of entries by any particular country. The ACF chose a 103.18-kilometre (64.11 mi) circuit, composed primarily of dust roads sealed with tar, which would be lapped six times on both days by each competitor, a combined race distance of 1,238.16 kilometres (769.36 mi). Lasting for more than 12 hours overall, the race was won by Ferenc Szisz driving for the Renault team. FIAT driver Felice Nazzaro finished second, and Albert Clément was third in a Clément-Bayard.

26/06/1889

Bangui is founded by Albert Dolisie and Alfred Uzac in what was then the upper reaches of the French Congo.

Bangui is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi River ; the Ubangi itself was named from the Bobangi word for the "rapids" located beside the settlement, which marked the end of navigable water north from Brazzaville. The majority of the population of the Central African Republic lives in the western parts of the country, in Bangui and the surrounding area.

26/06/1886

Henri Moissan isolated elemental Fluorine for the first time.

Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan was a French chemist and pharmacist who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds. Among his other contributions, Moissan discovered moissanite and contributed to the development of the electric arc furnace. Moissan was one of the original members of the International Atomic Weights Committee.

26/06/1857

The first investiture of the Victoria Cross in Hyde Park, London.

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously awarded to service personnel in the broader British Empire, with most successor independent nations now having established their own honours systems and no longer recommending British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians under military command. No civilian has received the award since James Adams in 1879. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857, two thirds of all awards have been personally presented by the British monarch. The investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace.

26/06/1848

End of the June Days Uprising in Paris.

The June Days were an uprising staged by French workers from 22 to 26 June 1848. It was in response to plans to close the National Workshops, created by the Second Republic in order to provide work and a minimal source of income for the unemployed. The National Guard, led by General Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, was called out to quell the rebellion. Over 1,500 people were either killed or injured, while 4,000 insurgents were deported to French Algeria. The uprising marked the end of the hopes of a "democratic and social republic" and the victory of the liberals over the Radical Republicans.

26/06/1843

Treaty of Nanking comes into effect, Hong Kong Island is ceded to the British "in perpetuity".

The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the second of what the Chinese later termed the unequal treaties, after the rejected 1841 Convention of Chuenpi, signed by British Superintendent of trade in China, Charles Elliot, and Qing Imperial Commissioner, Qishan, which the treaty was largely based on.

26/06/1830

William IV becomes king of Britain and Hanover following the death without surviving legitimate issue of his older brother George IV.

William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of the United Kingdom's House of Hanover.

26/06/1794

French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Fleurus marks the first successful military use of aircraft and turns the tide of the War of the First Coalition.

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other countries. The wars are divided into two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in the Italian peninsula, the Low Countries, and the Rhineland with its very large and powerful military which had been totally mobilized for war against most of Europe with mass conscription of the vast French population. French success in these conflicts ensured military occupation and the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.

26/06/1740

A combined force of Spanish, free blacks and allied Indians defeat a British garrison at the Siege of Fort Mose near St. Augustine during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

The Battle of Bloody Mose was a significant action of the War of Jenkins' Ear that took place on June 14, 1740, in Spanish Florida. Captain Antonio Salgado commanded a Spanish column of 300 regular troops, backed by the free black militia under Francisco Menéndez and allied Seminole warriors consisting of Indian auxiliaries. They stormed Fort Mose, a strategically crucial position newly held by 170 British soldiers under Colonel John Palmer. Palmer and his garrison had taken the fort from the Spanish as part of James Oglethorpe's offensive to capture St. Augustine.

26/06/1723

After a siege and bombardment by cannon, Baku surrenders to the Russians.

The Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723, known in Russian historiography as the Persian campaign of Peter the Great, was a war between the Russian Empire and Safavid Iran, triggered by the tsar's attempt to expand Russian influence in the Caspian and Caucasus regions and to prevent its rival, the Ottoman Empire, from territorial gains in the region at the expense of declining Safavid Iran.

26/06/1718

Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, Peter the Great's son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him.

Alexei Petrovich Romanov, was the Tsarevich of Russia, the eldest son of Tsar Peter I and his first wife, Eudoxia Lopukhina.

26/06/1579

Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory begins.

The Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory took place in the final stage of the Livonian War, between 1577 and 1582. Polish–Lithuanian forces led by Stephen Báthory successfully fought against the army of Russian tsar Ivan IV over the Duchy of Livonia and Polotsk. Russian forces were expelled from Livonia before the campaign was concluded by the Truce of Jam Zapolski.

26/06/1541

Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego de Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed.

Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador, best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.

26/06/1522

Ottomans begin the second Siege of Rhodes.

The siege of Rhodes of 1522 was the second and ultimately successful attempt by the Ottoman Empire to expel the Knights of Rhodes from their island stronghold and thereby secure Ottoman control of the Eastern Mediterranean. The first siege in 1480 had been unsuccessful. Despite very strong defenses, the walls were demolished over the course of six months by Turkish artillery and mines.

26/06/1483

Richard III becomes King of England.

Richard III was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field marked the end of the Middle Ages in England.

26/06/1460

War of the Roses: Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and Edward, Earl of March, land in England with a rebel army and march on London.

The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, and also the Cousins' War, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought for control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fought between supporters of the House of Lancaster and House of York, two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet. The conflict resulted in the end of Lancaster's male line in 1471, leaving the Tudor family to inherit, through the female line, the Lancaster claim to the throne. Conflict was largely brought to an end upon the union of the two houses through marriage, creating the Tudor dynasty that would subsequently rule England.

26/06/1409

Western Schism: The Roman Catholic Church is led into a double schism as Petros Philargos is crowned Pope Alexander V after the Council of Pisa, joining Pope Gregory XII in Rome and Pope Benedict XIII in Avignon.

The Western Schism, also known as the Great Divide, the Great Occidental Schism, the Schism of 1378, or the Great Western Schism, was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 20 September 1378 to 11 November 1417, in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon simultaneously claimed to be the true pope, and were eventually joined by a line of Pisan claimants in 1409. The event was driven by international rivalries, personalities and political allegiances, with the Avignon Papacy in particular being closely tied to the French monarchy.

26/06/1407

Ulrich von Jungingen becomes Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.

Ulrich von Jungingen was the 26th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1407 to 1410. His policy of confrontation with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland would spark the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War and lead to disaster for his Order, and his own death, at the Battle of Grunwald.

26/06/1295

Przemysł II crowned king of Poland, following Ducal period. The white eagle is added to the Polish coat of arms.

Przemysł II was the Duke of Poznań from 1257–1279, of Greater Poland from 1279 to 1296, of Kraków from 1290 to 1291, and Gdańsk Pomerania (Pomerelia) from 1294 to 1296, and then King of Poland from 1295 until his death. After a long period of Polish high dukes and two nominal kings, he was the first to obtain the hereditary title of king, and thus to return Poland to the rank of kingdom. A member of the Greater Poland branch of the House of Piast as the only son of Duke Przemysł I and the Silesian Princess Elisabeth, he was born posthumously; for this reason he was brought up at the court of his uncle Bolesław the Pious and received his own district to rule, the Duchy of Poznań in 1273. Six years later, after the death of his uncle, he also obtained the Duchy of Kalisz.

26/06/1243

Mongols defeat the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Köse Dağ.

The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that culturally became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture.

26/06/0699

En no Ozuno, a Japanese mystic and apothecary who will later be regarded as the founder of a folk religion Shugendō, is banished to Izu Ōshima.

En no Ozunu/Ozuno/Otsuno was a Japanese ascetic and mystic, traditionally held to be the founder of Shugendō, the path of ascetic training practiced by the gyōja or yamabushi.

26/06/0684

Pope Benedict II is the last pope to require confirmation by the Byzantine emperor before taking office.

Pope Benedict II was the bishop of Rome from 26 June 684 to his death on 8 May 685. Pope Benedict II's feast day is 7 May.

26/06/0363

Roman emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sasanian Empire.

Julian was the Caesar of the West from 355 to 360 and Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate in the Christian tradition.

26/06/0221

Roman emperor Elagabalus adopts his cousin Alexander Severus as his heir and grants him the title of Caesar.

The Roman emperor was the ruler and monarchical head of state of the Roman Empire, starting with the granting of the title augustus to Octavian in 27 BC. The title of imperator, originally a military honorific, was usually used alongside caesar, originally a cognomen. When a given Roman is described as becoming emperor in English, it generally reflects his accession as augustus, and later as basileus. Early emperors also used the title princeps alongside other Republican titles, notably consul and pontifex maximus.

26/06/0004

Augustus adopts Tiberius.

The 0s began on January 1, AD 1 and ended on December 31, AD 9, covering the first nine years of the Common Era.