| 26 August 1346 | France, England [Hundred Years War (1337–1453)] | King Edward III of England defeats a French force at Crécy, France. Among those killed on the French side are King John I of Bohemia who is succeeded by Charles, and Louis of Nevers, Count of Flanders, who is succeeded by his son Louis de Maële. King Philip VI of France escapes to Amiens, France. |
| 26 August 1382 | Russia, Khanate of the Golden Horde [Mongol conquests (1206–1405)] | Tokhtamysh, Khan of the ‘Golden Horde’, sacks Moscow, Russia, and then withdraws after having restored his suzerainty over Russia. |
| 26 August 1395 | Mongol Empire, Russia, Khanate of the Golden Horde [Mongol conquests (1206–1405)] | Timur Leng (Tamerlane), Grand Amir of the Mongols, abandons his campaign against Moscow, Russia, having destroyed the economy of the ‘Golden Horde’. |
| 26 August 1541 | Ottoman Empire, Hungary [Habsburg–Ottoman Wars (1525–1718)] | The Ottoman sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent, having invaded Hungary to prevent a Habsburg conquest through Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria's claim to that kingdom, takes the capital Buda (now Budapest) and annexes Hungary. |
| 26 August 1619 | Bohemia, Habsburg Monarchy, Holy Roman Empire, Palatinate, Germany [political events] | The Bohemian diet (legislative assembly) elects Frederick V, the Elector Palatine, as king of Bohemia. |
| 26 August 1676 | England [births and deaths] | Robert Walpole, prime minister of Britain 1721–42, a Whig, born in Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England (–1745). |
| 26 August 1740 | France [births and deaths] | Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, French aeronaut who, with his brother Jacques-Etienne, developed the hot-air balloon, born in Annonay, France (–1810). |
| 26 August 1789 | France [French Revolution] | The French National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man. |
| 26 August 1847 | Liberia [colonization] | Liberia, the colony established in west Africa for freed US slaves, is proclaimed an independent republic under the presidency of Joseph Roberts. |
| 26 August 1848 | Denmark, Prussia, Germany [treaties] | The Truce of Malmö is made between Denmark and Prussia ending the war over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The truce establishes an armistice that lasts for 17 months, during which Schleswig–Holstein is jointly administered by Austria and Prussia. |
| 26–28 August 1883 | Indonesia [natural disasters] | Krakatoa volcano, Indonesia, erupts in one of the most catastrophic volcanic events in human history. The climactic explosion on the second day is heard nearly 3,000 miles away. Over 36,000 people in Sumatra and Java are drowned by an ensuing tsunami (tidal wave) 35 m/115 ft high, and dust, which is thrown 80 km/50 mi into the air, drifts around the world, causing spectacular sunsets for over a year. |
| 26–30 August 1914 | Germany [World War I (1914–18)] | German forces defeat the Russian armies at the Battle of Tannenberg in East Prussia, and halt the Russian advance in the region. |
| 26 August 1936 | Egypt, UK [treaties] | A treaty of alliance is signed between Britain and Egypt. To last for 20 years, it gives Britain the right to station troops in the Suez Canal region and use Alexandria as a naval base. |
| 26 August 1936 | UK, Egypt [diplomacy] | Britain signs a treaty with Egypt recognizing the latter's sovereignty and independence and pledging mutual defence and a 20-year alliance. |
| 26 August 1939 | USA [television] | The world's first regular advertisements on television are read live by the commentator in the interval of a baseball game in the USA. |
| 26 August 1974 | USA [births and deaths] | Charles Lindbergh, US aviator, the first person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, dies in Maui, Hawaii (72). |
| 26 August 1978 | Vatican, Italy [Catholicism] | Albino Luciani, Patriarch of Venice, is elected pope. He takes the name John Paul I. |
| 26 August 1993 | USA [popular music] | The US pop singer Michael Jackson, in the face of allegations of child abuse made on 17 August, withdraws from part of his world tour, and loses his sponsorship from Pepsi on 13 November. He later makes an out-of-court settlement with the boy involved, Jordy Chandler. |
