{"id":17518,"date":"2022-08-26T07:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T05:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=214281"},"modified":"2022-08-26T07:34:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T05:34:08","slug":"26-august-on-this-day-in-history","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/26-august-on-this-day-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"26 August: On this day in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Elinor Evans\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 26 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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26 August 1071<\/h3>\n

The Seljuk Turks fought the Byzantines at Manzikert on the borders of Armenia. The Byzantines were defeated and their emperor, Romanus IV, was taken prisoner.<\/p>\n

26 August 1346:\u00a0English longbows humble the French at Cr\u00e9cy <\/a><\/h3>\n

The decisive victory is a landmark moment in the Hundred Years\u2019 War<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On 26 August 1346, thousands of English and French troops lined up against one another near the town of Cr\u00e9cy-en-Ponthieu in the north-eastern corner of France. Ahead of them lay one of the most famous battles of the Hundred Years\u2019 War \u2013 that protracted contest for the throne of France \u2013 and, on the face of it, there could only be one winner. The French king Philip VI was feeling mightily confident that morning as his troops readied themselves for battle. And with good reason. Philip boasted the larger army and had at his disposal thousands of mounted knights that had dominated European war for centuries.<\/p>\n

The English army consisted mainly of footsoldiers. Led by Edward III, they had landed in Normandy in July and plundered and razed every town in their way. Now, with the French in hot pursuit, they set up a defensive position and waited.<\/p>\n

According to contemporary chronicler Jean le Bel, Philip VI was seen in the vicinity around noon and immediately ordered an attack of mercenary crossbowmen hired from Genoa. But the English and Welsh troops had the superior technology, the longbow, which allowed them to shoot at a much higher rate than crossbows and over a longer distance. The Genoese, who had left their shields behind, were routed.<\/p>\n

French warhorses now hurled towards the English line, but many were felled by further volleys of arrows. The knights who got through were cut down in a melee. By the time the sun was setting there had been more than a dozen French waves, and their forces had been almost entirely annihilated.<\/p>\n

It was not until the following morning that the English army knew they had won the battle of Cr\u00e9cy: a clash that, for a short while at least, left the French at Edward\u2019s mercy.<\/p>\n

26 August 1882<\/h3>\n

Birth in Hamburg of German physicist James Franck. In 1925 he and Gustav Hertz were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom.<\/p>\n

26 August 1910\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace\u00a0Prize for her humanitarian work with the Missionaries of Charity.<\/p>\n

26 August 1929<\/h3>\n

Historian and lexicographer Edith Thompson died in Bath, aged 81. She had been one of the principal contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary.<\/p>\n

26 August 1970:\u00a0Women\u2019s Strike for Equality unites activists across US<\/h3>\n

Senator blasts \u2018bubbleheads\u2019 as marches paralyse cities<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

It was five o\u2019clock on the afternoon of 26 August 1970: rush hour in New York City. But on Fifth Avenue, nothing was moving. The street was impassable, blocked by thousands \u2013 tens of thousands, some said \u2013 of women. On the news, there were already reports of similar demonstrations elsewhere. In Boston, thousands of women had gathered on the common. In Washington, they marched down Connecticut Avenue, holding a banner reading: \u201cWe Demand Equal Rights Now.\u201d mAnd in Detroit they even invaded a men\u2019s toilet, staging a sit-in to demand equal facilities.<\/p>\n

Organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which had given women the right to vote, the Women\u2019s Strike for Equality was a landmark in feminist history. Its prime mover was the writer Betty Friedan, the co-founder of the National Organization for Women, who argued that they should draw Americans\u2019 attention to the fact that millions of women were still denied equal legal rights, financial rights and access to education. The build-up was chaotic, and many people expected it to be a disaster. In fact, even Friedan herself was astonished by its success.<\/p>\n

The placards that afternoon in New York captured the tone. \u201cI Am Not a Barbie Doll\u201d, \u201cWe are the 51% Minority\u201d, \u201cDon\u2019t Iron While the Strike is Hot\u201d. Yet not everybody applauded the protests. Senator Jennings Randolph dismissed the strikers as a \u201cband of braless bubbleheads\u201d, while one baffled onlooker in LA told reporters: \u201cI don\u2019t know what these women are thinking of. I love the idea of looking delectable and having men whistle at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

On TV, the reaction of most male presenters was utter scorn. ABC\u2019s Howard K Smith judged the action \u201cabhorrent\u201d. Women were equal already, he said \u2013 if anybody needed liberating, it was American men: \u201cWomen dominate our elections; they probably own most of the nation\u2019s capital wealth; any man who thinks he, and not his wife, runs his family is dreaming.\u201d | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

Browse more On this day in history<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n