Historical events on March 26
MARCH 26, 2010
An explosion, allegedly caused by a North Korean torpedo, sank the South Korean warship ROKS Cheonan near Baengnyeongdo in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 sailors.
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive
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MARCH 26, 1953
Jonas Salk announced the successful test of his polio vaccine on a small group of adults and children.
Jonas Edward Salk was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. He was born
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MARCH 26, 1344
Reconquista: The Muslim city of Algeciras surrendered after a 21-month siege and was incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile.
The Reconquista or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian kingdoms waged against the
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MARCH 26, 1975
The Biological Weapons Convention, the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons, entered into force.
The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin
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MARCH 26, 1999
A jury began deliberations in the trial of Jack Kevorkian, an American practitioner of physician-assisted suicide who was charged with murder in the death of a terminally ill patient.
Murad Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian was an American pathologist and euthanasia proponent. He publicly championed a terminal patient's right to die by physician-assisted
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MARCH 26, 1484
William Caxton (pictured) printed the first English translation of Aesop's Fables.
William Caxton was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press
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MARCH 26, 1812
The Boston Gazette printed a cartoon coining the term "gerrymander", named after Governor Elbridge Gerry (pictured), who approved the legislation that created oddly shaped electoral districts.
Gerrymandering, defined in the contexts of representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a party, group,
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MARCH 26, 1913
First Balkan War: After a five-month siege, Bulgarian and Serbian forces (artillery pictured) captured the Ottoman city of Adrianople.
The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire.
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MARCH 26, 1896
An explosion at the Brunner Mine in New Zealand killed 65 coal miners in the country's deadliest mining accident.
The Brunner Mine disaster happened at 9:30 am on Thursday 26 March 1896, when an explosion deep in the Brunner Mine, in the
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MARCH 26, 1873
A Dutch military expedition was launched to bombard Banda Aceh, the capital of the Aceh Sultanate in present-day Indonesia, beginning the Aceh War.
The First Aceh Expedition, was a military campaign undertaken by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) against the sultanate of Aceh
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MARCH 26, 2009
A prototype of the Tesla Model S, one of the most influential electric cars in history, was unveiled.
The Tesla Model S is a battery-electric, four-door full-size car produced by the American automaker Tesla since 2012. The automaker's second vehicle
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MARCH 26, 1942
The American tanker Dixie Arrow is torpedoed and sunk off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, by the German U-boat U-71.
SS Dixie Arrow was an American steam oil tanker built in Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was
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MARCH 26, 1885
Perceiving that the Canadian government was failing to protect their rights, the Métis people led by Louis Riel began the North-West Rebellion.
The Métis are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia,
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MARCH 26, 1939
Nationalist forces began their final offensive of the Spanish Civil War, at the end of which they controlled almost the entire country.
Francoist Spain, also known as the Francoist dictatorship, or Nationalist Spain was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when
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MARCH 26, 1997
Police in Rancho Santa Fe, California, discovered the bodies of 39 members of the religious group Heaven's Gate who had died in an apparent cult suicide.
Rancho Santa Fe is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California, United States, within the San Diego metropolitan area. The
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MARCH 26, 1697
The Safavid Empire began a four-year occupation of the Ottoman city of Basra on the Persian Gulf.
The Safavid dynasty was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the
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MARCH 26, 1917
First World War: Attempting to advance into Palestine, the British were defeated by Ottoman troops at the First Battle of Gaza.
World War I or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the
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MARCH 26, 590
Byzantine emperor Maurice proclaimed his son Theodosius as his co-emperor.
Maurice was Byzantine emperor from 582 to 602 and the last member of the Justinian dynasty. A successful general, Maurice was chosen
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