📅 On This Day in History

What Happened on September 26th in History

30 historical events on this date

1914

The United States Federal Trade Commission is established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of...

1917

World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood begins.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the...

1918

World War I: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive began which would last until the total surrender of German forces.

The Meuse–Argonne offensive was a major part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire Western Front. It was fought from September 26, 1918, until the Armistice of...

1919

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine defeats the White Russian Volunteer Army at the Battle of Peregonovka.

The Ukrainian War of Independence, also referred to as the Ukrainian–Soviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the wider Russian Civil War. It saw the...

1923

The German government calls off the passive resistance to the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr.

The occupation of the Ruhr was the period from 11 January 1923 to 25 August 1925 when French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr region of Germany.

1933

As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrenders to the FBI, he shouts out, "Don't shoot, G-Men!", which becomes a nickname for FBI agents.

George Kelly Barnes, better known by his nickname Machine Gun Kelly, was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon,...

1936

Spanish Civil War: Lluis Companys reshuffles the Generalitat de Catalunya, with the marxist POUM and anarcho-syndicalist CNT joining the government.

The Spanish Civil War was fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalist rebels. Republicans loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic...

1942

Holocaust: Senior SS official August Frank issues a memorandum detailing how Jews should be "evacuated".

The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered around six million...

1950

Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul from North Korean forces.

The Korean War was an armed conflict fought on the Korean Peninsula between North Korea and South Korea and their allies. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union, while South Korea...

1953

Rationing of sugar in the United Kingdom ends.

Rationing was introduced temporarily by the British government several times during the 20th century, during and immediately after a war.

1954

The Japanese rail ferry Tōya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan, killing 1,172.

Tōya Maru (洞爺丸) was a Japanese train ferry constructed by Japanese National Railways (JNR) which sank during Typhoon Marie, known locally as the Tōya Maru Typhoon, in the Tsugaru Strait between the...

1959

Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless.

Typhoon Vera, also known as the Isewan Typhoon , was an exceptionally intense tropical cyclone that struck Japan in September 1959, becoming the strongest and deadliest typhoon on record to make...

1960

In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.

During presidential election campaigns in the United States, it has become customary for the candidates to engage in one or more debates. The topics discussed in the debate are often the most...

1978

Air Caribbean Flight 309 crashes in Residencial Las Casas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing six.

Air Caribbean Flight 309 was a domestic, non-scheduled airline flight by Puerto Rican airline Air Caribbean, which on Tuesday, September 26th, 1978, crashed as it was preparing to land at Luis MuĂąoz...

1980

A terrorist bombing at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, kills 13 people and injures 213 others.

The Oktoberfest bombing was a far-right terrorist attack. On 26 September 1980, 13 people were killed and more than 200 injured by the explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED) at the main...

1983

Soviet Air Force officer Stanislav Petrov identifies a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike, thus preventing nuclear war.

Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov was a Russian lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident. On 26 September 1983, three...

1983

Soyuz 7K-ST No. 16L, intended to launch a crew to the Salyut 7 space station, explodes on the launch pad. The launch escape system is activated before the Soyuz-U rocket explodes, saving the crew.

Soyuz 7K-ST No.16L, sometimes known as Soyuz T-10a or Soyuz T-10-1, was an unsuccessful Soyuz mission intended to visit the Salyut 7 space station, which was occupied by the Soyuz T-9 crew. However,...

1984

The United Kingdom and China agree to a transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, to take place in 1997.

The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the People's Republic of China occurred at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British...

1992

A Nigerian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashes in Ejigbo, Lagos, killing 159.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is the air branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is the youngest branch of the Nigerian military, established four years after the nation became independent. As at...

1994

A Yakovlev Yak-40 crashes into a river near Vanavara, Russia, killing 24.

The Yakovlev Yak-40 is a regional jet designed in Soviet Union by Yakovlev. The trijet's maiden flight was in 1966, and it was in production from 1967 to 1981. It was introduced to service in 1968,...

1997

A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 crashes near Medan airport, killing 234.

Garuda Indonesia is the flag carrier of Indonesia, headquartered at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport near Jakarta. A successor of KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf, it is a member of SkyTeam airline...

1997

An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse.

The 1997 Umbria and Marche earthquakes occurred in the regions of Umbria and Marche, central Italy over a period of several months from September 1997 to April 1998. It consisted of eight...

2000

Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 20,000 protesters) turn violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.

Anti-capitalist Protests in Prague took place during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank summit on September 27, 2000, in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.

2000

The MS Express Samina sinks off Paros in the Aegean Sea killing 80 passengers.

MS Express Samina was a French-built RoPax ferry that struck the charted Portes Islets rocks in the Bay of Parikia off the coast of Paros island in the central Aegean Sea on 26 September 2000. The...

2002

The overcrowded Senegalese ferry, MV Le Joola, capsizes off the coast of the Gambia killing more than 1,000.

MV Le Joola was a Senegalese government-owned roll-on/roll-off ferry that capsized off the coast of The Gambia on 26 September 2002, with 1,863 deaths and 64 survivors. The majority of passengers...

2009

Typhoon Ketsana hits the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, causing 700 fatalities.

Typhoon Ketsana, named Ondoy by PAGASA was a catastrophic tropical cyclone that caused extensive damages across Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines and Vietnam. It is both the second...

2010

The Philippine Bar exam bombing occurs near the De La Salle University in Taft Avenue, Manila injuring 47 people.

The 2010 Philippine Bar exam bombing occurred on Taft Avenue near De La Salle University (DLSU), located in Malate, Manila, Philippines, on September 26, 2010, at 5:05 pm PST, a few minutes after...

2014

A mass kidnapping of 43 students from a teaching college occurs in Iguala, Mexico.

On September 26, 2014, forty-three male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College disappeared after being forcibly abducted in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico, in what has been called one of...

2022

A mass shooting occurs at a school in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia, resulting in the deaths of 18 people, including 11 children.

On 26 September 2022, a mass shooting occurred at a school in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia. Eighteen people were killed and twenty-three others were wounded before the gunman, identified as Artyom...

2024

Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Perry, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, killing over 250 people, causing US$78.7 billion in damage and becoming the deadliest hurricane in the mainland United States since Katrina.

Hurricane Helene was a powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that caused widespread catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across the Southeastern United States in late September 2024. It...