26 February Events

February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 308 days remaining until the end of the year (309 in leap years). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Wednesday or Thursday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Saturday (56).

Events

747 BC – Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.
364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman emperor.
1233 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols capture Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty, after besieging it for months.
1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
1616 – Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.
1794 – The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
1876 – Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China.
1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
1914 – HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
1919 – President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park.
1929 – President Calvin Coolidge signs an executive order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
1935 – Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.
1936 – In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
1952 – Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.
1960 – A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
1966 – Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
1971 – U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
1979 – The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.
1980 – Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.
1987 – Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
1992 – Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
1993 – 1993 World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand.
1995 – The UK's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a rogue securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
1996 – Keddies, the Southend-on-Sea department store closes it doors after 104 years of trading.
2008 – The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this is the first event of its kind to take place in North Korea.
2012 – A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.
2013 – A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day:
Alexander of Alexandria
Emily Malbone Morgan (Episcopal Church (USA))
Isabelle of France
Li Tim-Oi (Anglican Church of Canada)
Porphyry of Gaza
February 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
The first day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá'í Faith) (Please note that this observance is only locked into this date the Gregorian calendar on this date if Bahá'í Naw-Rúz takes place on March 21, which it doesn't in all years)
Day of Remembrance for Victims of Khojaly Massacre (Azerbaijan)
Liberation Day (Kuwait)
National Wear Red Day (United Kingdom, until 2016)
Saviours' Day (Nation of Islam)

Source: wikipedia