12 History Lessons + 3 Births & 7 Deaths for August 26, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1071 – Battle of Manzikert: Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire, beginning the decline of Byzantine control in Anatolia.
- 1498 – Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
- 1791 – John Fitch is granted a U.S. patent for the steamboat, ahead of Robert Fulton.
- 1883 – The eruption of Krakatoa begins; it becomes one of the most violent volcanic events in recorded history.
- 1920 – The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is certified, granting American women the right to vote.
- 1957 – The Soviet Union announces it has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
- 1978 – Cardinal Albino Luciani is elected Pope John Paul I.
- 1978 – Sigmund Jähn becomes the first German to fly in space (East Germany, aboard Soyuz 31).
- 1980 – Women in Iceland stage a nationwide strike to protest gender inequality.
- 2002 – Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.
- 2008 – Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for president at the DNC, becoming the first Black nominee of a major U.S. party.
- 2015 – Alison Parker and Adam Ward, journalists for WDBJ7 in Virginia, are shot and killed during a live broadcast.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1950 – Benjamin Bradlee Jr., journalist and editor (75)
- 1966 – Shirley Manson, Scottish singer (Garbage) and actress (59)
- 1980 – Macaulay Culkin, actor best known for Home Alone (45)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1278 – Pope Nicholas III, head of the Catholic Church (55)
- 1723 – Antoine Arnauld, French philosopher and theologian (91)
- 1958 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, British composer (The Lark Ascending) (85)
- 1974 – Charles Lindbergh, American aviator and first to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic (72)
- 1980 – Tex Avery, animator and creator of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck (72)
- 2004 – Laura Branigan, pop singer (Gloria) (52)
- 2012 – Neil Armstrong, first human to walk on the Moon (82)
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