| 1917-02-26
The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.
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| 1929-02-26
The Grand Teton National Park is created.
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| 1815-02-26
Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
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| 2004-02-26
Republic of Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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| 1970-02-26
National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation.
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| 1984-02-26
US troops withdraw from Beirut. President Ronald Reagan had sent the troops as a peacekeeping force in August 1982.
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| 2004-02-26
The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
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| 2005-02-26
Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt, orders the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking Egyptian parliament to amend Article 76.
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| 1993-02-26
World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand.
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| 1936-02-26
In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
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| 1987-02-26
Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
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| 1966-02-26
Apollo Program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
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| 1870-02-26
In New York City, a demonstration of the first pneumatic subway opens to the public.
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| 1794-02-26
Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen burns down.
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| 1952-02-26
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.
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| 1919-02-26
An act of the U.S. Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park (see Grand Canyon National Park).
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| 1848-02-26
The Second French Republic is proclaimed.
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| 2001-02-26
The Taliban destroys two giant statues of Buddha in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
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| 0364-02-26
Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
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| 1995-02-26
The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a securities broker, Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
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| 1990-02-26
The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections.
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| 1658-02-26
Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), the King of Denmark-Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden to save the rest.
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| 1935-02-26
The Daventry Experiment, Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom.
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| 1991-02-26
Gulf War: On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
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| 1885-02-26
The Berlin Act, which resulted from the Berlin Conference regulating European colonization and trade in Africa, is signed
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| 2000-02-26
Mount Hekla in Iceland erupts.
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| 1266-02-26
Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
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| 1897-02-26
Sigma Pi Fraternity is founded at Vincennes University in Vincennes, IN.
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| 1992-02-26
Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
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| 0747-02-26
– Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.
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| 1971-02-26
U.N. Secretary General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
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| 2003-02-26
Generally said to be the starting date of the War in Darfur.
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| 1914-02-26
HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
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| 1863-02-26
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the National Currency Act into law.
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| 1935-02-26
The Luftwaffe is re-formed.
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| 1986-02-26
People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
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| 1972-02-26
The Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
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