May 26
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Featured Event
© Puttnam and Malindine—Imperial War Museums/Getty Images; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
On this day in 1940, during World War II, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) began its evacuation of British and Allied troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk. Adolf Hitler’s baffling order to halt forces near a line of canals some 15 miles from the city provided a window of opportunity for Allied troops to escape via the English Channel. Nearly 8,000 troops were evacuated in the first 24 hours, and the tempo increased dramatically over subsequent days. While the Royal Air Force patrolled the skies, some 700 civilian craft—the “little ships” of Dunkirk—joined the rescue effort. In the end, 338,226 Allied troops were ferried to safety in England. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
NASA
In June 1983 astronaut Sally Ride, born this day in 1951, became the first American woman to travel into outer space, 20 years after Valentina Tereshkova of Russia had made history as the first woman to do so.
Famous Birthdays
More on May 26
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2014
Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister of India. He won a second term in 2019 and was sworn in for a third term on June 9, 2024. Prior to becoming prime minister, Modi served (2001–14) as chief minister (head of government) of Gujarat state in western India. [Test your knowledge of world governments and their leaders.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2008
American director, producer, and actor Sydney Pollack—who helmed a number of popular films, including The Way We Were (1973), Tootsie (1982), and Out of Africa (1985)—died at age 73. [Sort fact from fiction in our film school quiz.]
© UPI—Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
1978
The first legal gambling casino in the United States located outside the state of Nevada opened on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. [Do you know the difference between investing, trading, and gambling?]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1966
Formerly a colony of the Dutch and later the British, Guyana gained its independence. [Test your knowledge of South America.]
Harris & Ewing Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-hec-22504)
1938
The House Un-American Activities Committee was created, with Martin Dies, Jr., as its chairman; it investigated alleged communist activities, and perhaps its most celebrated case was that of Alger Hiss. [Take our quiz about American history and politics.]
Courtesy of the Ford Motor Company
1927
The Ford Motor Company ended production of its famed Model T, which had helped “democratize the automobile.” [Test your knowledge of American industry and innovation.]
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1926
Jazz musician Miles Davis, a trumpeter who was one of the major influences on jazz from the late 1940s, was born in Alton, Illinois. [Take our music quiz.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1913
Actors’ Equity Association, the trade union for American performing artists, was founded.
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
1907
Motion-picture actor John Wayne, who embodied the image of the strong, taciturn cowboy or soldier, was born in Winterset, Iowa. [Test your knowledge of actors and acting.]
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1897
Irish writer Bram Stoker published the Gothic horror classic Dracula, which became the basis for an entire genre of literature and films about vampires. [Was Dracula a real person?]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-DIG-fsa-8b29516)
1895
American photographer Dorothea Lange, whose portraits of displaced farmers during the Great Depression greatly influenced later documentary and journalistic photography, was born. [How many famous photographers can you name?]
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1876
The Challenger Expedition, a groundbreaking oceanographic exploration cruise carried out by the British Admiralty and the Royal Society, concluded successfully. [Test your knowledge of exploration and discovery.]
Library of Congress—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1868
The impeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson—who had been accused of, among other things, bringing “into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt, and reproach the Congress of the United States”—ended with his acquittal in the Senate. [Read about nine American political scandals.]
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London
1703
English diarist and naval administrator Samuel Pepys, celebrated for his Diary, died at age 70. [Take our quiz about the lives and works of English authors.]
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1521
Passed this day in 1521, the Edict of Worms banned the writings of Martin Luther—a German cleric whose efforts to change the church led to the Reformation—and declared him an outlaw and a heretic who was to be captured. [Take our quiz about the history of Christianity.]