26 October in history

5 events that happened on 26 October, from 899 to 2002.

  1. ✦ Anniversary of the day

    899 CE 1,127 years ago

    Alfred the Great dies

    Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, died after a reign spent defending Wessex against the Vikings. His fortified burhs, navy and promotion of learning in English laid foundations for a unified England.

    VikingsEnglandSaxons

  2. 1825 CE 201 years ago

    The Erie Canal opens

    Governor DeWitt Clinton set off from Buffalo on the newly completed Erie Canal, which linked Lake Erie to the Hudson River over 363 miles. Cheap transport to the Midwest made New York City the nation's leading port.

    New York

  3. 1881 CE 145 years ago

    The gunfight near the O.K. Corral erupts in Tombstone

    Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday shot dead Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury in about 30 seconds in Tombstone, Arizona. The fight became the Wild West's most famous legend.

  4. 1955 CE 71 years ago

    Ngô Đình Diệm proclaims the Republic of Vietnam

    After a heavily rigged referendum deposed the former emperor Bảo Đại, Ngô Đình Diệm proclaimed the Republic of Vietnam in the south. US support for the regime drew America into the Vietnam War.

  5. 2002 CE 24 years ago

    Russian forces end the Moscow theatre siege with gas

    Special forces pumped an incapacitating chemical into a Moscow theatre where Chechen militants held some 850 hostages. The attackers were killed, but about 130 hostages died, mostly from the gas's effects.

    Moscow

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