What are the important events that happened on August 26? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

August 26: Facts & Myths About This Day

August 26 is the 239^th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 127 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is August 13, 2024 – a Monday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,724,630,400 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectatriacontaenneagon’ day.

Virgo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 156 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,266 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

August 26 Historical Events

• 1444 –
  Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs: A vastly outnumbered force of Swiss Confederates is defeated by the Dauphin Louis (future Louis XI of France) and his army of ‘Armagnacs’near Basel.
• 1466 –
  A conspiracy against Piero di Cosimo de' Medici in Florence, led by Luca Pitti, is discovered.
• 1791 –
  John Fitch is granted a United States patent for the steamboat.
• 1810 –
  The former viceroy Santiago de Liniers is executed after the defeat of his counter-revolution.
• 1818 –
  Illinois becomes the 21st state in the union of the United States.
• 1914 –
  World War I: the German colony of Togoland is invaded by French and British forces, who take it after 5 days.
• 1957 –
  The USSR announces the successful test of an ICBM – a “super long distance intercontinental multistage ballistic rocket . . . a few days ago,” according to the Soviet news agency, ITAR-TASS.
• 1977 –
  The Charter of the French Language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec
• 1978 –
  Sigmund Jähn becomes first German cosmonaut, on board Soyuz 31.
• 1999 –
  Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade.

Who were born on August 26?

• 1864 –
  Anna Ulyanova, older sister of Vladimir Lenin (d. 1935)
• 1865 –
  Arthur James Arnot, Scottish inventor (d. 1946)
• 1901 –
  Maxwell Taylor, American general (d. 1987)
• 1922 –
  Irving R. Levine, American journalist (d. 2009)
• 1928 –
  Naïm Kattan, Canadian novelist and essayist
• 1944 –
  Maureen Tucker, American musician
• 1946 –
  Chantal Renaud, Quebec singer and actress
• 1947 –
  Nicolae Dobrin, Romanian footballer (d. 2007)
• 1959 –
  Stan Van Gundy, American basketball coach
• 1979 –
  Rubén Pazos, Spanish footballer

Who died on August 26?

• 1346 –
  Killed in the Battle of Crécy: Louis I of Flanders (b. 1304)
• 1349 –
  Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1908 –
  Tony Pastor, American vaudeville performer (b. 1837)
• 1958 –
  Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (b. 1872)
• 1988 –
  Carlos Paião, Portuguese singer (b. 1957)
• 2003 –
  Jim Wacker, American football coach (b. 1937)
• 2004 –
  Laura Branigan, American singer (b. 1957)
• 2005 –
  Denis D'Amour, Canadian guitarist (Voivod) (b. 1960)
• 2005 –
  Ed White, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1949)
• 2005 –
  Robert Denning, American interior designer (b. 1927)