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).
Up to 1900
- 364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
- 1266 – 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 makes Charles the King of Sicily and Naples.
- 1548 – Admiral Piri Reis conquers Portuguese–occupied Aden in Yemen for the Ottoman Empire.
- 1658 – Treaty of Roskilde: After defeat in the Northern Wars, King Frederick III of Denmark–Norway is forced to give up nearly a third of territory to Sweden.
- 1794 – Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
- 1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba.
- 1848 – The Second French Republic is proclaimed.
- 1852 – The troop transporter Birkenhead of the Royal Navy sinks off South Africa, killing 450 of the 643 people on board. The call Women and children first is believed to have been used for the first time.
- 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 to Qing Dynasty China.
- 1885 – The Berlin Africa Conference takes place, deciding the colonial boundaries in Africa, between different European colonial powers.
1901 – 2000
- 1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color movie process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
- 1914 – The ship HMHS Britannic is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
- 1917 – Denali National Park is founded in Alaska, originally named Mt. McKinley National Park. The mountain's English–language name comes from US President William McKinley.
- 1918 – A German U–boat sinks the British hospital ship HMHS Glenart Castle, killing 153 people.
- 1919 – The Grand Canyon becomes part of the Grand Canyon National Park.
- 1929 – The Grand Teton National Park is founded in Wyoming.
- 1935 – Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates the radar near Daventry.
- 1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the re–formation of the Luftwaffe.
- 1936 – February 26 Incident: Japanese military officers stage a military coup against the government.
- 1952 – Vincent Massey becomes the first Canadian–born Governor–General of Canada.
- 1960 – A New York–bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after take–off, killing 34 of the 52 people on board.
- 1961 – Hassan II becomes King of Morocco.
- 1966 – Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of a Saturn IB rocket.
- 1966 – Vietnam War; The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians.
- 1971 – U Thant signs the United Nations proclamation of the spring equinox (March 20/21) as Earth Day. It is later celebrated on April 22.
- 1972 – The Buffalo Creek Flood is caused when a dam bursts, in West Virginia, killing 125 people.
- 1974 – Norway announces the discovery of the Statfjord oil field in the North Sea.
- 1980 – Egypt and Israel create full diplomatic relations.
- 1984 – US troops withdraw from Lebanon.
- 1990 – The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections, also meaning that Violeta Chamorro becomes Nicaragua's first female President.
- 1991 – The Gulf War ends when Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of all Iraqi troops in Kuwait.
- 1991 – Tim Berners-Lee introduces WorldWideWeb. As it is confused with the World Wide Web, it is later renamed Nexus.
- 1992 – Khojaly Massacre: Armenian forces kill 613 Azerbaijani civilians in Nagorno Karabakh.
- 1993 – World Trade Center bombing: A bomb explodes in a car park under the North Tower of New York City's World Trade Center, killing 6 people, and injuring over 1,000.
- 1995 – Barings Bank, the United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, collapses.
- 1997 – The funeral of Deng Xiaoping is broadcast across the People's Republic of China.
- 2000 – The Hekla volcano in Iceland erupts.
From 2001
- 2004 – Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski dies in a plane crash near Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2006 – End of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
- 2012 – Shooting of Trayvon Martin: African American teenager Trayvon Martin is shot dead by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in Florida. The exact circumstances of his death become subject of debate and controversy.
- 2012 – Silent movie The Artist wins the most awards in the Academy Awards ceremony.
- 2013 – A hot–air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
- 2016 – Gianni Infantino is elected President of FIFA, the governing body of world football.
Up to 1800
- 1361 – Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (d. 1419)
- 1416 – Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark (d. 1448)
- 1564 – Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
- 1584 – Albert VI of Bavaria (d. 1666)
- 1587 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
- 1671 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (d. 1713)
- 1672 – Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)
- 1677 – Nicolas Fago, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1745)
- 1718 – Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop, botanist and zoologist (d. 1773)
- 1720 – Gian Francesco Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1803)
- 1724 – Gottfried Heinrich Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1763)
- 1732 – Francis Marion, American Revolutionary officer (d. 1795)
- 1746 – Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (d. 1806)
- 1770 – Anton Reicha, Bohemian composer and flautist (d. 1836)
- 1777 – Matija Nenadovic, Serbian uprising leader (d. 1854)
- 1786 – François Arago, Catalan–French physicist and politician (d. 1853)
1801 – 1900
- 1802 – Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)
- 1808 – Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator and sculptor (d. 1879)
- 1814 – Charles-Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (d. 1876)
- 1829 – Levi Strauss, German–born clothing designer (d. 1902)
- 1838 – Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Romanian writer and philologist (d. 1907)
- 1842 – Camille Flammarion, French astronomer and writer (d. 1952)
- 1846 – Buffalo Bill, American bison hunter and showman (d. 1917)
- 1852 – John Harvey Kellogg, American physician (d. 1943)
- 1861 – King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1939)
- 1866 – Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (d. 1930)
- 1869 – Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary, wife of Vladimir Lenin (d. 1939)
- 1875 – Richard Wetz, German composer and conductor (d. 1935)
- 1877 – Henry Barwell, Australian politician, 28th Premier of South Australia (d. 1959)
- 1877 – Rudolph Dirks, German–American illustrator (d. 1968)
- 1879 – Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)
- 1880 – Kenneth Edgeworth, Irish astronomer (d. 1972)
- 1881 – Janus Djurhuus, Faroese poet (d. 1948)
- 1882 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
- 1884 – Francesco Borgongini Duca, Italian cardinal (d. 1954)
- 1885 – Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
- 1887 – Stefan Grabinski, Polish writer (d. 1936)
- 1887 – Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player (d. 1950)
- 1891 – Carlo Carcano, Italian footballer and coach (d. 1965)
- 1893 – Wallace Fard Muhammad, American religious leader (d. 1934)
- 1896 – Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov, Soviet politician and ideologist (d. 1948)
- 1899 – Max Petitpierre, Swiss politician (d. 1994)
- 1900 – Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)
1901 – 1925
- 1902 – Jean Bruller, French writer, caricaturist and resistance activist (d. 1991)
- 1903 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist (d. 1979)
- 1906 – Madeleine Carroll, English actress (d. 1987)
- 1906 – Egidio Vagnozzi, Italian cardinal (d. 1980)
- 1908 – Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
- 1909 – Gunnar Andersen, Norwegian ski jumper (d. 1988)
- 1909 – King Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
- 1909 – Fanny Cradock, British cookery writer and television presenter (d. 1994)
- 1911 – Taro Okamoto, Japanese avant–garde artist (d. 1996)
- 1912 – Dane Clark, American actor and director (d. 1998)
- 1914 – Robert Alda, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1916 – Jackie Gleason, American actor and producer (d. 1987)
- 1917 – Robert Taft, Jr., American politician (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Pyotr Masherov, Soviet–Belarussian politician (d. 1980)
- 1918 – Otis R. Bowen, 44th Governor of Indiana and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)
- 1920 – Lucjan Woldanowski, Polish journalist, writer and traveler (d. 2006)
- 1920 – Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
- 1921 – Betty Hutton, American actress (d. 2007)
- 1922 – Karl Aage Praest, Danish footballer (d. 2011)
- 1922 – William Baumol, American economist (d. 2017)
- 1924 – Noboru Takeshita, Japanese politician (d. 2000)
- 1924 – Marc Bucci, American composer, lyricist and dramatist (d. 2002)
- 1925 – Everton Weekes, Barbadian cricketer
1926 – 1950
- 1926 – Verne Gagne, American wrestler and football player (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Henry Molaison, American memory disorder patient (d. 2008)
- 1928 – Anatoly Filipchenko, Soviet cosmonaut
- 1928 – Fats Domino, American musician (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Odo Marquard, German philosopher (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Algerian movie director and screenwriter
- 1931 – Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer (d. 2004)
- 1931 – Robert Novak, American journalist and writer (d. 2009)
- 1932 – Johnny Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1934 – Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Algerian director, producer and screenwriter
- 1936 – José Policarpo, Roman Catholic Patriarch of Lisbon (d. 2014)
- 1937 – Cliff Osmond, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1939 – Josephine Tewson, English actress
- 1940 – Whitney Smith, American vexillologist (someone who studies flags) (d. 2016)
- 1942 – Jozef Adamec, Slovakian footballer
- 1943 – Bill Duke, American actor and director
- 1943 – Darcus Howe, Trinidad–born British broadcaster, writer and activist (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Charles P. Thacker, American computer designer (d. 2017)
- 1944 – Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress
- 1945 – Tony deBrum, Marshallese politician (d. 2017)
- 1945 – Mitch Ryder, American rock musician
- 1946 – Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian chemist (d. 2016)
- 1946 – Bobby "Bingo" Smith, American basketball player
- 1947 – Sandie Shaw, British singer
- 1948 – David Edgar, British playwright
- 1949 – Elizabeth George, American writer
- 1949 – Emma Kirkby, British singer
- 1949 – Lynda Clark, Baroness Clark of Calton, British politician
- 1950 – Helen Clark, 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1950 – Jonathan Cain, American musician
- 1950 – Don Shanks, American actor and stuntman
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Steve Bell, English cartoonist
- 1951 – Wayne Goss, Australian politician, 34th Premier of Queensland (d. 2014)
- 1952 – Jaan Arder, Estonian singer (d. 2014)
- 1953 – Michael Bolton, American singer
- 1954 – Leon de Winter, Dutch writer
- 1954 – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey
- 1954 – Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, German aristocrat, married into the Monegasque royal family
- 1955 – Andreas Maislinger, Austrian historian
- 1956 – Kevin Dunn, American actor
- 1956 – Michel Houellebecq, French writer
- 1957 – Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player
- 1957 – David Muldrow, American politician, 113th Governor of South Carolina
- 1958 – Tim Kaine, American politician, former Governor of Virginia
- 1958 – Susan Helms, American astronaut
- 1958 – Greg Germann, American actor
- 1959 – Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player
- 1959 – Ahmet Davutoglu, former Prime Minister of Turkey
- 1962 – Ahn Cheol-soo, South Korean politician, businessman and software entrepreneur
- 1963 – Chase Masterson, American actress and singer
- 1964 – Mark Dacascos, American actor and martial artist
- 1966 – Marc Fortier, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1966 – Garry Conille, 14th Prime Minister of Haiti
- 1966 – Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer-songwriter and producer
- 1967 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese footballer
- 1968 – Robin Ammerlaan, Dutch wheelchair tennis player
- 1969 – Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer
- 1969 – Steve Agee, American actor and comedian
- 1970 – Mark Harper, English politician
- 1971 – Erykah Badu, American singer
- 1972 – Jonny Quinn, Northern Irish musician (Snow Patrol)
- 1973 – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Norwegian footballer and coach
- 1973 – Marshall Faulk, American football player
- 1973 – Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
- 1974 – Sébastien Loeb, French World–Champion rally driver
From 1976
- 1977 – Shane Williams, Welsh rugby player
- 1977 – Tim Thomas, American basketball player
- 1978 – Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Senegalese footballer
- 1979 – Corinne Bailey Rae, British singer
- 1979 – Pedro Mendes, Portuguese footballer
- 1980 – Steve Blake, American basketball player
- 1981 – Chris Thile, American musician
- 1982 – Li Na, Chinese tennis player
- 1982 – Matt Prior, English cricketer
- 1983 – Pepe, Brazilian–Portuguese footballer
- 1984 – Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer
- 1984 – Alex de Angelis, Sammarinese motorcycle racer
- 1984 – Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Gee Atherton, English mountain biker
- 1985 – Miki Fujimoto, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
- 1985 – Fernando Llorente, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Hannah Kearney, American skier
- 1986 – Leila Lopes, Angolan model
- 1986 – Teresa Palmer, Australian model and actress
- 1989 – Gabriel Obertan, French footballer
- 1991 – CL, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1991 – Kevin Plawecki, American baseball player
- 1992 – Mikael Granlund, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1993 – Taylor Dooley, American actress
Up to 1900
- 420 – Porphyry of Gaza, Greek bishop and saint (b. 347)
- 1154 – King Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)
- 1266 – King Manfred of Sicily (b. 1232)
- 1360 – Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English military leader (b. 1328)
- 1577 – King Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)
- 1611 – Antonio Possevino, Italian Jesuit humanist, diplomat and bibliographer
- 1726 – Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
- 1770 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (b. 1692)
- 1813 – Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
- 1815 – Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg Saalfeld (b. 1737)
- 1864 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Canadian politician (b. 1807)
- 1883 – Alexandros Koumoundouros, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1817)
- 1889 – Karl Davydov, Russian cellist and composer (b. 1838)
1901 – 2000
- 1903 – Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
- 1909 – Hermann Ebbinghaus, German philosopher (b. 1850)
- 1931 – Otto Wallach, German chemist (b. 1847)
- 1933 – Princess Thyra of Denmark (b. 1853)
- 1936 – Saito Makoto, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1858)
- 1936 – Takahashi Korekiyo, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1854)
- 1942 – Tommaso Pio Boggiani, Italian cardinal (b. 1863)
- 1950 – Harry Lauder, Scottish entertainer (b. 1870)
- 1952 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek interim leader (b. 1878)
- 1961 – King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
- 1964 – Homer Martin Atkins, American politician, 32nd Governor of Arkansas (b. 1890)
- 1966 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter and writer (b. 1883)
- 1969 – Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist (b. 1883)
- 1969 – Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
- 1971 – Fernandel, French actor (b. 1903)
- 1981 – Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
- 1985 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist (b. 1910)
- 1989 – Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
- 1994 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
- 1995 – Jack Clayton, British movie director (b. 1921)
- 1998 – Theodore Schultz, American economist (b. 1902)
- 1998 – James Algar, American director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1912)
From 2001
- 2001 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (b. 1906)
- 2002 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
- 2004 – Boris Trajkovski, President of Macedonia (b. 1956)
- 2004 – Shankarrao Chavan, Indian politician (b. 1929)
- 2009 – Ruth Drexel, German actress (b. 1930)
- 2009 – Wendy Richard, British actress (b. 1943)
- 2009 – Norm Van Lier, American basketball player (b. 1947)
- 2011 – Arnost Lustig, Czech writer (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Trayvon Martin, American teenager (shot) (b. 1995)
- 2013 – Marie-Claire Alain, French organist and teacher (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Stéphane Hessel, German–born French writer, diplomat and Resistance activist (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Sorel Etrog, Romanian–Canadian sculptor, painter and illustrator (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Gordon Nutt, English footballer (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Tim Wilson, American comedian and country music singer (b. 1961)
- 2015 – Theodore Hesburgh, American professor and Roman Catholic priest (b. 1917)
- 2015 – Martha Cohen, Canadian philanthropist (b. 1920)
- 2015 – Fritz J. Raddatz, German writer (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Avijit Roy, Bangladeshi/American blogger
- 2015 – Tom Schweich, American politician (b. 1961)
- 2015 – Earl Lloyd, American basketball player (b. 1925)
- 2016 – Andy Bathgate, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1932)
- 2016 – Don Getty, Canadian politician, Premier of Alberta (b. 1933)
- 2016 – Eri Klas, Estonian conductor (b. 1939)
- 2016 – Karl Dedecius, Polish–German translator (b. 1921)
- 2017 – Ludvig Faddeev, Russian physicist and mathematician (b. 1934)
- 2017 – Gerald Kaufman, English politician (b. 1930)
- 2017 – Joseph Wapner, American judge and television personality (b. 1913)
- 2017 – Eugene Garfield, American linguist (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Ned Garver, American baseball player (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Preben Hertoft, Danish sexologist (b. 1928)
- 2018 – Mies Bouwman, Dutch television presenter (b. 1929)
- 2018 – Giorgi Maisashvili, Georgian economist and politician (b. 1962)
- Liberation Day in Kuwait
- Savior's Day (Nation of Islam)
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