# What happened on April 26 in history?

**Date:** April 26  
**Events recorded:** 54  
**Years spanned:** 1289 – 2025  
**Full page:** https://thisday.info/events/april/26/

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## Featured Event

**2002** — Robert Steinhäuser kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany, before committing suicide.

[Read more on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_school_massacre)

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## Events on this date

- **1289** — Following weeks of bombardment, the city of Tripoli falls to the Mamluks under Qalawun. The Mamluks massacre all men they find and enslave the women and children. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Tripoli_(1289)))
- **1326** — The kingdom of France and the kingdom of Scotland agree on a treaty of mutual aid at Corbeil. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_France))
- **1336** — Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch))
- **1478** — The Pazzi family attack on Lorenzo de' Medici in order to displace the ruling Medici family kills his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazzi))
- **1564** — Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of birth is unknown). ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare))
- **1607** — The Virginia Company colonists make landfall at Cape Henry. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Company))
- **1721** — A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1721_Tabriz_earthquake))
- **1777** — Sybil Ludington, aged 16, allegedly rides 40 miles (64 km) to alert American colonial forces to the approach of British regular forces. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_Ludington))
- **1794** — Battle of Beaumont during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Beaumont_(1794)))
- **1802** — Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon))
- **1803** — Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Aigle_(meteorite)))
- **1805** — First Barbary War: United States Marines capture Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War))
- **1865** — Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_(American_Civil_War)))
- **1900** — Fires destroy Canadian cities Ottawa and Hull, reducing them to ashes in 12 hours. Twelve thousand people are left without a home. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Hull%E2%80%93Ottawa_fire))
- **1903** — Atlético Madrid Association football club is founded. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atl%C3%A9tico_Madrid))
- **1915** — World War I: Italy secretly signs the Treaty of London pledging to join the Allied Powers. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I))
- **1916** — Easter Rising: Battle of Mount Street Bridge. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising))
- **1920** — Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring seven goals in Canada's 12–1 drubbing of Sweden in the gold medal match. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey))
- **1923** — The Duke of York (the future King George VI) weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_VI))
- **1925** — Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_von_Hindenburg))
- **1933** — The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established by Hermann Göring. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestapo))
- **1937** — Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain, is bombed by the German Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War))
- **1942** — Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1,549 Chinese miners dead. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benxihu_Colliery))
- **1943** — The Easter Riots break out in Uppsala, Sweden. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Riots))
- **1944** — Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgios_Papandreou))
- **1944** — World War II:  Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II))
- **1945** — World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bautzen_(1945)))
- **1945** — World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army liberate Baguio as they fight against the Japanese forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baguio))
- **1954** — The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Geneva_Conference))
- **1954** — The first clinical trials of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine begin in Fairfax County, Virginia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Salk))
- **1956** — SS Ideal X, the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey, for Houston, Texas. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ideal_X))
- **1958** — Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad))
- **1960** — Forced out by the April Revolution, President of South Korea Syngman Rhee resigns after 12 years of dictatorial rule. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Revolution))
- **1962** — NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA))
- **1962** — The British space programme launches its first satellite, the Ariel 1. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_space_programme))
- **1963** — In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allow for female participation in elections. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya))
- **1964** — Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form the United Republic of Tanzania. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_(1961%E2%80%931964)))
- **1966** — The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Tashkent_earthquake))
- **1966** — A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_the_Congo))
- **1970** — The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIPO_Convention))
- **1981** — Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._Harrison))
- **1986** — The Chernobyl disaster occurs in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster))
- **1989** — The deadliest known tornado strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daulatpur%E2%80%93Saturia_tornado))
- **1989** — People's Daily publishes the April 26 Editorial which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Daily))
- **1991** — Fifty-five tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak's end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year's only F5 tornado. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Great_Plains_tornado_outbreak))
- **1993** — The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on mission STS-55 to conduct experiments aboard the Spacelab module. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia))
- **1994** — China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_140))
- **1994** — South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa))
- **1999** — Outbreak of CIH computer virus. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIH_(computer_virus)))
- **2002** — Robert Steinhäuser kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany, before committing suicide. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_school_massacre))
- **2005** — Cedar Revolution: Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon). ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Revolution))
- **2015** — Nursultan Nazarbayev is re-elected President of Kazakhstan with 97.7% of the vote, one of the biggest vote shares in Kazakhstan's history. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursultan_Nazarbayev))
- **2015** — Peaceful protesters install the first anti-monument in Mexico, Antimonumento +43, as a call for justice and remembrance to commemorate the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping, later inspiring similar memorials elsewhere in the country and Latin America. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-monuments_in_Mexico))
- **2025** — A car ramming attack at a Lapu-Lapu Day festival kills 11 people and injures at least 30 in Vancouver, Canada. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Vancouver_car_attack))

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## Notable births on April 26

- **2005** — **Alex Sarr** — French basketball player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Sarr))
- **2001** — **Thiago Almada** — Argentine footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiago_Almada))
- **1997** — **Kirill Kaprizov** — Russian ice hockey player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirill_Kaprizov))
- **1997** — **Amber Midthunder** — American actress ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Midthunder))
- **1997** — **Calvin Verdonk** — Indonesian footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Verdonk))
- **1996** — **Jordan Pefok** — American footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Pefok))
- **1994** — **Daniil Kvyat** — Russian racing driver ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniil_Kvyat))
- **1994** — **Odysseas Vlachodimos** — Greek international footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseas_Vlachodimos))
- **1992** — **Aaron Judge** — American baseball player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Judge))
- **1992** — **Delon Wright** — American basketball player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delon_Wright))

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## Notable deaths on April 26

- **2023** — **Jerry Apodaca** — American politician, 24th Governor of New Mexico (born 1934) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Apodaca))
- **2022** — **Klaus Schulze** — German composer and musician (born 1947) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Schulze))
- **2017** — **Jonathan Demme** — American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter (born 1944) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Demme))
- **2016** — **Harry Wu** — Chinese human rights activist (born 1937) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Wu))
- **2015** — **Jayne Meadows** — American actress (born 1919) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Meadows))
- **2015** — **Marcel Pronovost** — Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1930) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Pronovost))
- **2014** — **Gerald Guralnik** — American physicist and academic (born 1936) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Guralnik))
- **2014** — **Paul Robeson** — Jr., American historian and author (born 1927) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson_Jr.))
- **2014** — **DJ Rashad** — American electronic musician, producer and DJ  (born 1979) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Rashad))
- **2013** — **Jacqueline Brookes** — American actress and educator (born 1930) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Brookes))

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## About this page

This is a machine-readable Markdown summary of [thisday.info/events/april/26/](https://thisday.info/events/april/26/).  
Historical data is sourced from [Wikipedia/Wikimedia](https://www.wikipedia.org) under [CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).  
Editorial framing and site content © thisday.info.