26 Mehr 1421

Events

• 1009 (1017 years ago) The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
• 1016 (1010 years ago) The Danes defeat the English in the Battle of Assandun.
• 1561 (465 years ago) In Japan the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima is fought between the forces of Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, resulting in a draw.
• 1944 (82 years ago) World War II: Soviet Union begins the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany.
• 1945 (81 years ago) Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva Duarte.
• 1945 (81 years ago) A group of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, led by Mario Vargas, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, stages a coup d'état against president Isaías Medina Angarita, who is overthrown by the end of the day.
• 1991 (35 years ago) The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
• 2003 (23 years ago) Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.

Births

• 1130 (896 years ago) Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher (died 1200)
• 1405 (621 years ago) Pope Pius II,
• 1859 (167 years ago) Henri Bergson, French philosopher and theologian, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1941)
• 1919 (107 years ago) Pierre Trudeau, Canadian lawyer, academic, and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (died 2000)
• 1926 (100 years ago) Chuck Berry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2017)
• 1956 (70 years ago) Martina Navratilova, Czech-American tennis player and coach
• 1960 (66 years ago) Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian martial artist, actor, and producer, and screenwriter
• 1987 (39 years ago) Zac Efron, American actor and singer

Deaths

• 707 (1319 years ago) Pope John VII,
• 1503 (523 years ago) Pope Pius III,
• 1871 (155 years ago) Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the mechanical computer (born 1791)
• 1893 (133 years ago) Charles Gounod, French composer and educator (born 1818)
• 1931 (95 years ago) Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, invented the phonograph (born 1847)
• 1934 (92 years ago) Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish pathologist, histologist, and neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1852)
• 2021 (5 years ago) Colin Powell, American military leader and statesman, 65th Secretary of State (born 1937)
• 2025 (a year ago) Yang Chen-Ning, Chinese theoretical physicist (born 1922)

All 431 events, births and deaths of October 18