What happened in 1926

World2

• Mar 23Éamon de Valera organises the political party Fianna Fáil in Ireland.
• Oct 31Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that has developed after his appendix ruptured.

Japan2

• Dec 26In the history of Japan, the Shōwa period begins from this day, due to the death of Emperor Taishō on the day before. His son Hirohito will reign as Emperor of Japan until 1989.
• DecThe character イ appears on a TV screenTakayanagi Kenjiro in Hamamatsu displayed the katakana character イ on a cathode-ray tube. It is considered the world's first electronic television image on a cathode-ray tube, and Takayanagi is called the father of Japanese television.

North America4

• MarFirst flight of a liquid-fuel rocketGoddard in the United States launched a rocket fueled by gasoline and liquid oxygen. It flew for 2.5 seconds and rose about 12 meters. In 1920 a newspaper editorial had mocked him, saying rockets could not work in a vacuum.
• Aug 5In New York, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system is experienced by audiences for the first time, in the movie Don Juan, starring John Barrymore.
• Nov 11The United States Numbered Highway System, including U.S. Route 66, is established.
• Nov 15The NBC Radio Network opens in the United States with 24 stations (formed by Westinghouse, General Electric and RCA).

Europe20

• Jan 21The Belgian Parliament accepts the Locarno Treaties.
• Apr 4Greek dictator Theodoros Pangalos wins the presidential election, with 93.3% of the vote; turnout is light, as the result is considered a foregone conclusion.
• Apr 24Treaty of Berlin: Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party, for the next five years.
• May 4The United Kingdom general strike begins at midnight, in support of a strike by coal miners.
• May 12May Coup: Józef Piłsudski takes over in Poland.
• May 12The United Kingdom general strike is called off by the trade unions, although miners remain on strike.
• May 28The 1926 coup d'état, commanded by Manuel Gomes da Costa in Portugal, installs the Ditadura Nacional (National Dictatorship), followed by António de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo.
• Sep 9Yleisradio (YLE), the Finnish national public broadcasting company, begins its broadcasts.
• Sep 14The Locarno Treaties of 1925 are ratified in Geneva, and come into effect.
• Sep 19Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro) Stadium, well known among sports venues in Italy, officially opens in Milan.
• Sep 25The League of Nations Slavery Convention abolishes all types of slavery.
• Oct 14A. A. Milne's children's book Winnie-the-Pooh is published in London, featuring the eponymous bear.
• Oct 23The Fazal Mosque, the first purpose-built in London and the first Ahmadiyya mosque in Britain, is completed.
• Nov 15The Balfour Declaration is approved by the 1926 Imperial Conference, making the Commonwealth dominions equal and independent.
• Dec 171926 Lithuanian coup d'état: A democratically elected government is overthrown in Lithuania; Antanas Smetona assumes power.

5 more in the app

Asia1

• Jul 1The Kuomintang begins the Northern Expedition, a military unification campaign in northern China.

Latin America4

• Mar 14El Virilla train accident in Costa Rica: 385 people are killed and 93 injured when an overloaded pilgrim special derails on a bridge. The SS Ile de france Was Launched at Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyards in Saint Nazaire, France As one of the first ships to embrace the Art Deco style
• Apr 6Aarón Joaquín has a vision in the Nuevo León state of Mexico, origin of La Luz del Mundo, a nontrinitarian charismatic restorationist Christian church.
• Aug 1In Mexico, the entry into force of anticlerical measures stipulated in the Constitution of 1917 causes the Cristero War from August 3.
• Dec 23Nicaraguan President Adolfo Díaz requests U.S. military assistance in the ongoing civil war. American peacekeeping troops immediately set up neutral zones in Puerto Cabezas and at the mouth of the Rio Grande to protect American and foreign lives and property.