1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, European farce
Divo, Segrave and Benoist were lapping the tail-enders on only the fifth lap although Divo was stopped soon after. Segrave lost a tyre on lap 15, putting Benoist in the lead. The Delages were improved, but the exhaust-pipes were still causing immense discomfort to the drivers. All their drivers were soaking their smouldering boots in buckets of water at each stop. Benoist continued to build his lead over Segrave and Sénéchal. Just at the halfway point Segrave pitted to fix an ongoing engine issues when the car caught fire forcing his retirement. Privateers Halford and Campbell kept circulating reliably six laps down, along with Divo trying to make up his lost time.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, European farce
Benoist's smooth run ended on lap 63 when he pitted to change all four wheels. His overheated exhaust then stopped his engine restarting and he lost six laps, evaporating his lead. Once back in the race he started rebuilding his lead over Sénéchal, whose own exhaust broke. Wagner (already scalded from his own car that had retired early) relieved him. The heat finally overcame Benoist on lap 81. Once again, the car would not restart, and when Dubonnet took the car out as the relief-driver, he had lost the lead.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, European farce
Not expecting to drive, he raced in his suit without a helmet. About the same time, Halford parked his Special with a broken drive shaft. Divo had driven back to third when his supercharger packed up. This just left three cars running for the last dozen laps. Despite stopping every other lap to cool his feet, Wagner had enough of a lead to win. Campbell had overtaken Dubonnet near the end and bought his Bugatti in second ten minutes later. Segrave, in his Talbot, had put in the fastest lap on lap 2.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, European farce
For the final race - the Italian Grand Prix - the only two manufacturers eligible for the title were Bugatti and Delage, as no others had competed in at least two of the earlier rounds. But with a 6-point difference, Delage could not win so chose not to attend, and neither did Talbot. Despite several days of practice, the OM team could not get any engine reliability and chose not to start. The three works Bugattis were driven by Costantini, Goux and Louis Charavel (who raced under the pseudonym “Sabipa”).


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, European farce
Their competition then, were two cars from Maserati (driven by Ernesto Maserati and Emilio Materassi) and Roberto Serboli's Chiribiri. So, to avoid another farcical championship race, the officials opened the grid up to 1100cc voiturettes. This added a further seven cars (Amilcar, BNC and Marino but not Salmson. Costantini took the lead at the start, and while the Maseratis were initially competitive, both cars retired on only the fifth lap.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, European farce
Serboli's Chiribiri burst into flames when it pitted on the 24th lap, though the driver got out uninjured, and when Goux retired on lap 42, it left the two remaining Bugattis to cruise round for a simple 1–2 victory. Although Costantini had dominated the race, his engine started badly misfiring. Losing twelve minutes in the pits, allowed “Sabipa” to pass and eventually win by seven minutes (two laps). In the 400 km voiturette race, run simultaneously, the winner was André Morel in the works Amilcar (being only four laps behind the Bugattis at the time).


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
Outside of the championship and its 1.5-litre restrictions, motor-racing was popular, attracting big crowds and large fields. The season had started in March in Italy with the first Circuito del Pozzo at Verona and the second Grand Prix of Rome. The field included a number of 2-litre cars raced in the championship from the year before. Emilio Materassi led initially in his Itala. Conte Brilli-Peri took over in his ex-works Alfa Romeo P2 and held the lead to the penultimate lap. But his three stops for fuel and tyres allowed Conte Aymo Maggi's Bugatti, which did not need to stop, to close the gap. Maggi caught up and passed him on the last lap to win by eight seconds.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
The second Provence GP, at Miramas, was run across five heats to qualify for a final. Segrave won from his teammate Moriceau in their Talbot 700s, beating the Bugattis of William Grover-Williams and Louis Chiron. The second Marne GP was held on a new road course near Reims, a very fast triangular track of long straights joined by sharp hairpins. The Reims track would become a centre for French motor-racing over the next four decades.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
The Spanish Grand Prix, run a fortnight after the World Championship San Sebastián Grand Prix, instead run to Formula Libre regulations, allowed the teams to run their 1925 2-litre Grand Prix cars. The three regular Delage drivers had recovered from their earlier ordeal and faced the three unsupercharged Bugatti T35s of the works team, and two 2.3-litre Targa-spec privateers. Also starting was Henry Segrave in a 4.5-litre Sunbeam – the car that held the flying kilometre speed record. Once again, the King and Queen were in attendance, on a cooler day than the previous round.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
From the start, Segrave bolted into the lead, but when rain started on the 4th lap, his bigger car became more unwieldy and he soon retired with a broken front axle – an ailment apparently not exclusive to the smaller Talbot sister-cars. Morel took the lead briefly until he, and teammate Benoist, were both put out with spark-plug issues. At the halfway point, the rain had eased and Costantini had a 6-minute lead over Wagner's remaining Delage, with Goux, privateer “Williams” and Minoia a lap behind. Maintaining his fast pace, Costantini won with a 2-lap lead over Goux who finished second after Wagner, relieved by Benoist, had their issues. Minoia's Bugatti was the only other car to go the distance.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
The Italian races were characterised by sizeable fields in 1100, 1500, 2-litre, and larger classes. The contrast between the poorly supported Italian Grand Prix and Milan Grand Prix, held just a week later also at Monza was stark, where the latter had 20 starters across the four classes. Bugatti and Maserati both arrived with two cars (for Costantini, Goux, Ernesto Maserati and Materassi respectively). Henry Segrave bought his 4.5-litre Sunbeam (now with a reinforced front axle) while Brilli-Peri raced Materassi's Itala Special. It was these cars that formed the leading pack at the start. Segrave's gearbox gave up after twelve laps, leaving Costantini and Goux leading by two laps. Despite a puncture for Goux, they held on for a dominant 1–2 victory.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
Although now in the AIACR, the German Automobile Club had declared that they did not want their drivers competing. The German races were run with a combination of racing and sports cars, and hill-climbs carried an equal weighting in prestige. The circuits used (aside from AVUS) also reflected this with long, difficult tracks with many elevation changes. A German Grand Prix was officially held for the first time at AVUS in July. It was the first international race held in Germany since the war.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
A national race for sports-cars the previous year on the Kaiserpreis circuit in the Taunus mountains had been won by August Momberger in a supercharged NSU 1.3-litre. However, it is not recognised as the inaugural German Grand Prix. With no strong local Grand Prix cars, and hoping for a German victory, the organisers opened the event up to a mixture of sports, touring and grand prix cars. A big field of 38 cars, including sports and modified racing cars started this year's event.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
As well as works cars from OM, NSU, Brennabor and NAG, there were a raft of privateers and gentlemen-drivers, including Jean Chassagne and Hugo Urban-Emmerich running British Talbots. Favourites were the two factory-supported Mercedes cars of Adolf Rosenberger and a young, up-and-coming Rudolf Caracciola. They ran 1924 2-litre Grand Prix cars, modified to carry a second seat and unofficially assisted by Alfred Neubauer and his team.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
Several weeks before the race, Kurt Neugebauer had almost had a major accident when his NAG got into a slide at 150k/h on a wet AVUS track. During practice, Luigi Platé's Chiribiri collided with Wilhelm Heine's NAG and crashed, killing Platé's mechanic and severely injuring both drivers. On race day, an immense ground of 230000 people arrived. In a staggered start, with the bigger cars flagged off first, Caracciola stalled his car and lost a minute. At the end of the first lap, Rosenberger was leading on elapsed time.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
Ferdinando Minoia, in the OM, put in the fastest lap of the race on lap two to get up to second, but soon had engine trouble and had to pit. Then after four laps it began to rain, making the track slippery and treacherous. It negated the power of the bigger cars, allowing the smaller Talbots to stay close. Rosenberger led from Urban-Emmerich and Chassagne. Caracciola pitted, losing seven minutes to change spark plugs. Then at the end of the 6th lap Rosenberger crashed coming out of the North Curve, overcome by leaking fuel fumes.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
Skidding on the slippery track at over 150kph the car piled into the scoreboard and timekeepers' hut, killing two of the officials and seriously injuring the other while Rosenberger and his mechanic were slightly injured. Three laps later, Urban-Emmerich also crashed at the North Curve. He went wide, breaking through the border fence and injuring several spectators, though the driver got the car back to the pits. Then just half a lap later, Chassagne crashed and rolled the other Talbot at the South Curve.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
Through all this mayhem, Caracciola raced on in fifth, five minutes behind the leader, lapping the fastest in the field. The rain stopped by the 13th lap. A lap later, the Mercedes was in the lead and pulling away. After the 20 laps Caracciola won by over three minutes from the 2.6-litre NAG of Christian Riecken (who was also the technical director of that company). Caracciola's skill in the difficult conditions earned him the nickname Regenmeister (“rain-master”).


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
Mercedes arrived as a works team at Solitude in September, running their 2-litre 1924 cars again, this time for Otto Merz and Christian Werner. It was the first race for Alfred Neubauer as the team manager, a role he would fill for another thirty years. A small field also included the NSU works team with their supercharged 1.5-litre cars. Merz won comfortably in a race that ended in heavy rain.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
In Britain, racing at Brooklands still was immensely popular. Outside the Grand Prix the premier event was the Junior Car Club 200. A huge field of 38 cars took the start, all labelled as “Specials” by the organisers so that the public would not be confused between the cars racing on the track and those on public sale. Although no works teams were officially entered, there were team-entries running the latest Talbot, Alvis, Aston Martin, Salmson and Amilcar models, along with the previously seen Halford and Eldridge specials. On a sunny but cold day, Henry Segrave and Albert Divo finally got the reliability to get a 1–2 victory.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
Jules Goux, now 42, retired at the end of the season. A veteran who had been racing since 1906 with teams including Peugeot and Ballot, he had victories in the Targa Florio (1908), Indianapolis 500 (1913) and the first Italian GP (1921) as well as this year's victories. Meo Costantini also retired at the end of the season but would stay with Bugatti as their team manager.


1926 Grand Prix season, Season review, Formula Libre
During the year, Bugatti put out a brochure advertising that its cars had won 503 victories from January to September – almost two a day somehow, which must have included many class victories as well as outright ones. Despite the advances in engine power and technology, it was clear that the new regulations were not inspiring manufacturer support, and therefore not exciting the populace.


1926 Grand Prix season, Championship final standings
Table lists the  highest race position for each manufacturer. Note: To be eligible for the championship, manufacturers had to take part in three of the Grand Prix including the Italian GP. * non-participation disqualified the manufacturer from the championship


1926 Grand Prix season, Results of the season's major races
italics show the driver of the race's fastest lap. Only those drivers with a best finish of 6th or better are shown. Sources:


1926 Greek legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 7 November 1926. The Liberal Union emerged as the largest faction in Parliament with 108 of the 286 seats. The composition of the new parliament meant that the parties and factions had to work together to form a viable parliamentary government. On Kafandaris' initiative, negotiations began among the main parties, leading to the swearing-in on the 4 December of a government under the premiership of Alexandros Zaimis who was not a member of parliament. The coalition consisted of the Liberal Union, the Democratic Union, the People's Party and the Freethinkers' Party. This government came to be known as the "Ecumenical government".


1926 Greek legislative election, Results
The Electoral Committees reported a total votes figure of 962,304. However, this was due to a flaw in their minutes.


1926 Greek presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Greece between 4 and 11 April 1926. At the time the country was a dictatorship under Theodoros Pangalos, who was one of the two candidates. The other, Konstantinos Demertzis, withdrew from the contest before election day, but remained on the ballot paper. Pangalos received 93.3% of the vote. However, he was removed from  office on 22 August following a counter-coup and was replaced by Pavlos Kountouriotis. It remains the only occasion on which the President of Greece was elected by the public.


1926 Green Bay Packers season
The 1926 Green Bay Packers season was their eighth season overall and their sixth season in the National Football League. The team finished with a 7–3–3 record under player/coach Curly Lambeau earning them a fifth-place finish. The season marked the second year the Packers played at City Stadium.


1926 Green Bay Packers season, Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.


1926 Guatemalan general election
General elections were held in Guatemala on 5 December 1926. The presidential election resulted in a victory for Lázaro Chacón González, who received 88.6% of the vote. Whilst the elections were rigged, the Progressive Liberal Party did manage to win some seats in the Congress.


1926 Hammersmith North by-election
The Hammersmith North by-election of 1926 was held on 20 May 1926. The by-election was held due to the resignation of the incumbent Conservative MP, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett. It was won by the Labour candidate James Patrick Gardner.


1926 Hammersmith North by-election, Background
James Patrick Gardner had first contested the seat in 1922, and while he had failed to win he had come second in a seat Labour had finished in fourth place in 1918. He had then been elected as the MP for Hammersmith North at the 1923 general election, gaining the seat from the Conservatives by a majority of 845 votes in a three-way contest. He actually increased his vote share at the 1924 election, but with the Liberals not fielding a candidate, he lost to Ashmead-Bartlett by just under 2,000 votes in a two-way context.


1926 Hammersmith North by-election, Background
Samuel Gluckstein had been the Conservative's candidate at Plymouth Devonport at the previous general election, but had failed to win the seat.


1926 Hammond Pros season
The 1926 Hammond Pros season was their seventh and final season in the league. The team failed to improve on their previous output of 1–4, losing all their games. They finished twenty-first in the league.


1926 Hammond Pros season, Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.


1926 Hampden–Sydney Tigers football team
The 1926 Hampden–Sydney football team represented Hampden–Sydney College during the 1926 college football season. The 1926 team was coached by Yank Bernier in his ninth season (third consecutive) as the head coach of the Tigers. The squad finished the season with a final record of 5–2–3.


1926 Hampden–Sydney Tigers football team, Season summary, Richmond
The Tigers trounced the Spiders in Richmond to a final score of 20–7.


1926 Hampden–Sydney Tigers football team, Season summary, Florida
The Gators and the Tigers fought to a scoreless tie. Tommy Owens suffered a broken collarbone.


1926 Hartford Blues season
The 1926 Hartford Blues season was their only season in the league. The team finished 3–7, finishing thirteenth in the league.


1926 Hartford Blues season, Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.


1926 Harvard Crimson football team
The 1926 Harvard Crimson football team represented Harvard University in the 1926 college football season. In its first season under head coach Arnold Horween, Harvard compiled a 3–5 record and outscored opponents by a total of 140 to 105. Clement D. Coady was the team captain. The team played its home games at Harvard Stadium in Boston.


1926 Haskell Indians football team
The 1926 Haskell Indians football team was an American football that represented the Haskell Institute (now known as Haskell Indian Nations University) as an independent during the 1926 college football season. With players from 18 different tribes, the team compiled a 12–0–1 record and outscored opponents by a total of 558 to 64. The team's 558 points was the most scored by any college football team in many years.


1926 Haskell Indians football team
Despite missing two games, fullback Mayes McLain, an Irish-Cherokee youth, set all-time single-season records that have never been broken. These records include 38 rushing touchdowns, 253 points scored (38 touchdowns, 19 extra points, and two field goals), and a scoring average of 23 points per game. He also set a single-game scoring record with 55 points (eight touchdowns and seven extra points) against Wichita.


1926 Haskell Indians football team
Other key players included tackle and team captain Tom Stidham, tackle Theodore "Tiny" Roebuck, center Albert Hawley, quarterback Egbert Ward, and halfbacks George Levi and Elijah Smith.


1926 Haskell Indians football team
Prior to the 1926 season, Haskell built its own football stadium, Haskell Memorial Stadium, at a cost of approximately $200,000. On October 30, the stadium was formally dedicated with a 36–0 victory over Bucknell.


1926 Haskell Indians football team
On December 15, prior to the Rose Bowl, Haskell had a scrimmage with Stanford's second team and won, scoring four touchdowns to Stanford's three.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane
The 1926 Havana hurricane devastated large areas of Cuba and Bermuda in October 1926. The tenth tropical cyclone, eighth hurricane, and sixth major hurricane of the annual hurricane season, the storm formed from a low-pressure area in the southern Caribbean Sea on October 14. Moving slowly to the north, it steadily intensified, attaining hurricane intensity on October 18 near the Swan Islands. After passing the islands, the hurricane began to rapidly intensify as it accelerated to the north, attaining major hurricane intensity the following day.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane
The storm later made two landfalls on Cuba as it reached peak intensity with winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 934 mbar (hPa; 27.58 inHg). The hurricane slightly weakened as it passed over the island, and after entering the Straits of Florida, made a close pass of southern Florida and The Bahamas. Afterwards, the storm gradually weakened, passing over Bermuda on October 22, before executing a clockwise loop and dissipating on October 28, after becoming absorbed by an extratropical cyclone.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Meteorological history
An open trough of low pressure was first observed off the eastern coast of Costa Rica in the southern Caribbean Sea on October 14. In HURDAT—the database listing all tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin since 1851—the disturbance was listed to have attained tropical depression strength by 0600 UTC later that day. Ships in the vicinity of the storm reported low barometric pressures. Moving slowly towards the north, the depression slowly intensified, and was estimated to have reached tropical storm early the following day, based on a drop in pressures in the region. The tropical storm continued to steadily intensify, with more ship reports indicating a cyclonic circulation in the area. By 2000 UTC on October 17, the disturbance attained a minimum central pressure of 993 mbar (hPa; 29.33 inHg), with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 km/h).


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Meteorological history
At 0000 UTC on October 18, the tropical storm was analyzed to have attained hurricane strength in the vicinity of the Swan Islands as it began to move towards the north-northwest. The ship S.S. Atenas observed the hurricane at 1700 UTC later that day, reporting an eye associated with the storm and a minimum pressure of 974 mbar (hPa; 28.77 inHg). After passing the Swan Islands, the system began to rapidly intensify as it accelerated towards the north.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Meteorological history
At the time, the storm was located in a region of relatively low barometric pressures, with an outermost closed isobar of 1009 mbar (hPa; 29.80 inHg). By 0600 UTC on October 19, the hurricane had already intensified to an equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale with winds of 135 mph (215 km/h). The S.S. Mojave reported a barometric pressure of 950 mbar (hPa; 28.06 inHg) associated with hurricane force winds.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Meteorological history
The major hurricane later made landfall on the Isla de la Juventud at 0800 UTC on October 20, with a minimum pressure of 939 mbar (hPa; 27.73 inHg) based on a report from Nueva Gerona. The hurricane continued to intensify after crossing the island, reaching peak intensity at 1200 UTC later that day with maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 934 mbar (hPa; 27.58 inHg) prior to making landfall in western Cuba.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Meteorological history
Over Cuba, the storm slightly weakened prior to entering the Straits of Florida by October 21 with winds equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane. A ship offshore the northern Cuban coast reported a minimum barometric pressure of 949 mbar (hPa; 28.03 inHg). While in the straits, the hurricane began to accelerate to the northeast, passing 20–30 mi (30–50 km) in the vicinity of the Florida Keys and Biscayne Bay.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Meteorological history
The storm later passed through The Bahamas before entering the open Atlantic Ocean while maintaining Category 3 hurricane intensity, prior to passing directly over Bermuda on October 22 with an estimated minimum pressure of 962 mbar (hPa; 28.41 inHg) based on a report from Hamilton. After passing Bermuda, the storm gradually weakened, and had degenerated to a Category 1 hurricane by 1200 UTC on October 23. The hurricane later weakened further to tropical storm strength as it recurved to the southwest. The original HURDAT listed the storm as having undergone extratropical transition late on October 23, but the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project analyzed the storm to have lasted until October 28, prior to being absorbed by a larger extratropical cyclone.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Cuba
The hurricane made two separate landfalls on Cuba as a Category 4 hurricane on October 20. As it made landfall, numerous weather stations reported low barometric pressures. Barometers in Güira de Melena and Cojímar both recorded a barometric pressure of 939 mbar (hPa; 27.73 inHg) while located in the hurricane's eyewall. In Havana, a barometer registered a pressure of 951 mbar (hPa; 28.09 inHg) after recording a 34 mbar (hPa; 1.00 inHg) drop in pressure in 30 minutes. Offshore, strong waves damaged or sunk a large number of ships, including 40 fishing vessels.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Cuba
Small craft in harbors were also swept out to sea. Some ships part of the Cuban Navy were damaged, including the light cruiser Patria. The steamer Maximo Gomez broke from its harbor mooringss, causing it to collide and damage other ships before it was beached. Other foreign vessels, including one from the French West India Company were sunk.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Cuba
On Isla de la Juventud, a majority of homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed, including an 80-year-old church that withstood many hurricanes. In Nueva Gerona, many buildings were destroyed. Only two dwellings remained standing in Santa Fe. Throughout the island, at least 38 deaths occurred and more than 200 other people were injured.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Cuba
In Havana, 20.08 in (510 mm) of rain fell on October 20. A tidal wave overtopped the Malecón – a seawall built in 1900 by Leonard Wood to project the city – causing much of the damage. The seawall instead prevented water from flowing back into the Straits of Florida. Densely-population low-lying sections of the city were inundated, with water reaching several meters high up to three to four streets inland. People in inundated areas were forced to evacuate to emergency shelters. The hurricane's effects destroyed at least 325 buildings and homes in the city.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Cuba
Some gas and oil tanks were destroyed, while the Havana Oil Company elevator was reduced to a mass of twisted steel. The Havana Automobile Company's headquarters suffered severe window damage due to the strong winds. An antenna tower was also blown down by strong winds. Power outages were widespread across other affected regions. At least 58 fatalities occurred in Havana, many of which were caused by people being struck by collapsing walls or flying debris.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Cuba
Water and electric supply to the suburb of Marianao was cut off by the hurricane. Trees along a road from Marianao to Havana were uprooted. In the tourist section, the casino, jai alai buildings, and race track suffered only minor damage, though the bathing pavilion was demolished. At the Oriental Park Racetrack, numerous homes were destroyed. Thirteen people died in Mariano, with five by drowning after local rivers rose and eight from collapsing buildings. About 25 percent of barracks in Camp Columbia were damaged.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Cuba
A monument in the suburbs of Havana dedicated to victims of an explosion on USS Maine was destroyed by high floodwaters. Hundreds of dwellings were destroyed in several other suburbs of Havana, including 175 homes in Bauta and 148 homes in Cojímar, while only seven homes remained standing in Bainoa. A total of 207 homes were also flattened in San José de las Lajas, where 13 fatalities were reported. Extensive damage to waterfront properties occurred in Matanzas. Five people were killed and 154 others were injured in the city. In Quinta de Los Molinos, the National Horticultural Garden, which was said to have the largest variety of tropical plants in the world – was completely destroyed.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Cuba
Police were later ordered by President of Cuba Gerardo Machado to shoot people attempting to loot without warning. Two relief committees were formed, quickly collecting nearly $100 million. Private and government trucks were used to reach isolated, inland communities. The people in Havana rendered homeless by the hurricane were provided with food and water.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Florida and The Bahamas
While the storm was just offshore Cuba on early October 20, the Weather Bureau issued warnings in Florida for the approaching system. A hurricane warning was hoisted from Punta Gorda to West Palm Beach. Additionally, northeast storm warnings were issued north of Punta Gorda to Boca Grande along the west coast and north of West Palm Beach to Titusville on the east coast. In Miami, policemen and legionnaires board up their homes and then report for duty. At the city jail, prisoners were released and were required to return on their own honor.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Florida and The Bahamas
Courthouses and schools were also closed and boarded up. A few hospitals, such as Jackson Memorial, were filled with nurses and physicians and left ambulances on standby. The Miami YMCA housed about 100 people in the gymnasium. Some people sought refuge at hotels in Coral Gables. The storm caused generally minor damage in South Florida. Strong winds were reported for four hours in Key West, with sustained winds reaching as high as 90 mph (140 km/h). However, there was little impact other than broken windows and downed street signs.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Florida and The Bahamas
In Key Largo, several dwellings were declared "total wrecks", while houses along the waterfront had several feet of standing water. The city suffered "greater than [during] the previous hurricane." Four barges were beached at Biscayne Bay. In Miami, a trolley wire and a few feeder wires fell. About 2,500 Florida Power & Light crewmen shutoff the electricity and promptly repaired the wires. Some streets in Miami Shores were covered with a small amount of debris. A canal rose 1 ft (0.30 m) in Hialeah, causing flooding on the south side.


1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath, Bermuda
In Bermuda, 40% of the structures were damaged and two homes destroyed, but otherwise damage was light in the harbor. While weather forecasters knew of the storm's approach on Bermuda, it covered the thousand miles from the Bahamas to Bermuda so rapidly it apparently struck with few warning signs aside from heavy swells. On October 21, with the eye of the storm still 700 mi (1,130 km) from Bermuda, weather forecasts from the United States called for the hurricane to strike the island on the following morning with gale force.


1926 Hawthorn Football Club season
The 1926 season was the Hawthorn Football Club's second season in the Victorian Football League and 25th overall since its creation in 1904.


1926 Holy Cross Crusaders football team
The 1926 Holy Cross Crusaders football team was an American football team that represented the College of the Holy Cross as an independent during the 1926 college football season. In its eighth season under head coach Cleo A. O'Donnell, the team compiled a 7–1–2 record. The team played its home games at Fitton Field in Worcester, Massachusetts.


1926 Hong Kong sanitary board election
The 1926 Sanitary Board Election was held on 12 April 1926 for replacing the retiring C. Grenville Alabaster in the Sanitary Board of Hong Kong. It was one of the few contests in the Sanitary Board elections.


1926 Hong Kong sanitary board election
Only ratepayers who were included in the Special and Common Jury Lists of the years or ratepayers who are exempted from serving on Juries on account of their professional avocations, unofficial members of the Executive or Legislative Council, or categories of profession were entitled to vote at the election.


1926 Hong Kong sanitary board election
Two nominations were received from former Board member Dr. F. M. G. Ozorio and Dr. Ho Sai-chuen. Dr. Ozorio was once the member of the Board for nine years until he resigned in 1925. He was nominated by Mr. C. A. da Roza and seconded by mr. J. M. d'Almada Remedios. Dr. Ho was nominated by Dr. S. F. Lee and seconded by Dr. Robert Kotewall.


1926 Horta earthquake
The 1926 Horta earthquake (Portuguese: Sismo da Horta de 1926/Terramoto da Horta), occurred at 8:42 a.m. (local time) on 31 August. It caused the destruction of many of the buildings located in the city of Horta, the central group of the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores, resulting in the death of nine and the partial or complete destruction of 4,138 buildings.


1926 Horta earthquake, Earthquake
From April 1926 onwards, the island of Faial was rocked by a series of tremors that increased in intensity, until 5 April. On this date, a singular event resulted in destruction or damage to buildings in the civil parishes of Flamengos, Ribeirinha and Conceição, in particular in the localitiesof Farrobo, Lomba and Espalhafatos.


1926 Horta earthquake, Earthquake
On 31 August, at about 8:40 in the morning, the islands were raised by a violent earthquake with its epicentre centralized in the Faial-Pico Channel, at a depth of 1.6–4 kilometres (0.99–2.49 mi) and with a body wave magnitude of 5.3–5.9. The earthquake progressed to a Mercalli Intensity of X (Extreme) in the northern part of Horta (around Conceição). The shock resulted in the death of nine people, with 200 injured, and the general destruction of many of the heritage buildings located in that region of the city.


1926 Horta earthquake, Earthquake
The greatest damage occurred in the urban parish of Conceição and rural parishes of Praia do Almoxarife (where of the 220 homes, only 16 continued to be habitable), Flamengos, Feteira and Castelo Branco, in addition to the areas between Lomba do Pilar and Salão. In all, approximately 4,138 homes were partially or totally destroyed.


1926 Howard Bison football team
The 1926 Howard Bison football team was an American football team that represented Howard University during the 1926 college football season. In their second year under head coach Louis L. Watson, the Bison compiled a 7–0 record, shut out six of seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 199 to 6. The team was recognized as the 1926 black college football national champion. The school dedicated its new Howard Stadium at the Thanksgiving Day football game against the Lincoln Lions.


1926 Howard Bison football team
Key players included quarterback Jack Coles, captain and tackle H. Vernon Smith, halfback Edgar Ross, halfback Clarence "Tick" Smith, center Milton "Biff" Martin, and fullback Jack Young.


1926 Howdenshire by-election
The Howdenshire by-election, 1926 was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Howdenshire in Yorkshire on 25 November 1926.


1926 Howdenshire by-election, Vacancy
The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Conservative MP,  Hon. F.S. Jackson on 3 November 1926. He had been MP here since winning the seat in the 1915 Howdenshire by-election.


1926 Howdenshire by-election, Election history
The constituency was created in 1885 and had been won by the Unionist candidate at every election to date. The result at the last General election was


1926 Howdenshire by-election, Election history
Previously, the only recent contested elections had seen an Agriculture candidate easily beaten in 1922 and a Liberal beaten with the help of the Coalition coupon in 1918.


1926 Howdenshire by-election, Candidates
58-year-old William Carver had been the prearranged candidate of the Howdenshire Unionist Association. He had been in business in Hull since 1890 and had been President of the Hull Chamber of Commerce since 1925. He had been a member of the East Riding County Council since 1915. He was standing for parliament for the first time.


1926 Howdenshire by-election, Candidates
65-year-old Frederick Linfield was hurriedly chosen by the Liberals to fight the seat. He had sat as Liberal MP for Mid Bedfordshire from 1922 to 1923 when he was defeated. He had stood there again at the last General Election. In 1924 he was appointed as a Member of the East African Parliamentary Commission. The report of the Parliamentary Commission was published in May 1925 and various proposals for development and reform were put forward. Linfield also wrote a 13-page supplementary memorandum to the report in which he proposed the setting up of an Imperial Development Board. He followed this up with an article in the Contemporary Review of March 1926 on ‘Empire Development’.


1926 Howdenshire by-election, Candidates
A Labour candidate, John Kneeshaw also emerged. He had been the Labour candidate for Birmingham Ladywood in 1918, finishing second.


1926 Howdenshire by-election, Campaign
The resigning MP, F.S. Jackson was Chairman of the Conservative Party which meant that the party both locally and nationally were not caught unprepared about the vacancy and they were able to move swiftly to announce a polling day of 26 November, just 22 days after his resignation. Thus the campaign was very short, leaving little time for the opposition parties to respond. A keen fight was anticipated, especially on land and agricultural issues in what was to be a three-cornered contest.


1926 Howdenshire by-election, Result
On polling day it was reported that voting was interfered with by fog and early polling was very light. Carver held the seat for the Unionists, while the Labour candidate losing his deposit.


1926 Howdenshire by-election, Aftermath
Established as the main challengers, the Liberals, with a new candidate, at the 1929 general election just failed to unseat Carver. Linfield stood at Horncastle and came second. Kneeshaw did not stand for parliament again and the Labour party did not field a candidate at Howdenshire again until 1935. The result at the following General election;


1926 Hungarian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary between 8 and 15 December 1926. The result was a victory for the Unity Party, which won 161 of the 245 seats in Parliament. István Bethlen remained Prime Minister.


1926 Hungarian parliamentary election, Electoral system
Prior to the election the electoral system was changed again. In the previous elections there had been 219 constituencies, of which 195 were openly elected single-member constituencies, 20 of which were secretly elected single-member constituencies, and four of which were secretly elected multi-member constituencies. For this election there were 199 openly elected single-member constituencies and 11 secretly elected multi-member constituencies electing a total of 46 seats.


1926 Hungarian parliamentary election, Results
The number of votes refers to only 109 of the 199 single-member constituencies as 90 seats were uncontested.


1926 Hungarian parliamentary election, Results
The number of votes refers to ten of the eleven MMCs as one constituency was uncontested.


1926 Hungarian parliamentary election, Results
The total number of registered voters was 2,231,972; the figure in the table refers to the number of registered voters in the contested seats.


1926 Ice Hockey European Championship
The 1926 Ice Hockey European Championship was the 11th edition of the ice hockey tournament for European countries associated to the International Ice Hockey Federation .


1926 Ice Hockey European Championship
The tournament was played between January 11, and January 19, 1926, in Davos, Switzerland, and it was won by Switzerland.


1926 Ice Hockey European Championship
Nine teams entered the competition and were divided into three groups of three for the preliminary round. The preliminary round was scheduled over the first three days, the “qualification for the final round” was contested in one day, and the “final” round was scheduled over the last three days. The tournament was however extended by an additional two days to accommodate a three-way tie-break round, which became necessary due to the three-way tie on points for the gold medal.


1926 Ice Hockey European Championship, Preliminary Round, Group B
The game between Austria and France was delayed by one day due to the late arrival of the French team.


1926 Ice Hockey European Championship, Final Round
Although goal ratio was first tie-break criterion, a special three-team tie-break round was held instead, because the tie was for the gold medal.


1926 Ice Hockey European Championship, Tie-break Round, Top goalscorers
Heinrich Meng (Switzerland), 13 goalsC. Ross Cuthbert (Great Britain), 13 goals


1926 Icelandic parliamentary election
Elections to the Upper House of the Althing were held in Iceland on 1 July 1926. Six seats were elected by proportional representation at the national level, using the D'Hondt method. The remaining eight seats were elected along with the Lower House.


1926 Idaho Vandals football team
The 1926 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1926 college football season. The Vandals were led by first-year head coach Charles Erb and were in their fifth season in the Pacific Coast Conference. Home games were played on campus in Moscow at MacLean Field.


1926 Idaho Vandals football team
Idaho compiled a 3–4–1 overall record and went 1–4 in conference games.


1926 Idaho Vandals football team
In the Battle of the Palouse with neighbor Washington State, the Vandals' three-game winning streak in the series ended with a 6–0 homecoming loss in the mud on November 6.


1926 Idaho Vandals football team
Following the departure of Matty Mathews in April for St. Louis, Erb was hired as the Vandals' head coach in May. Earlier in the decade, he was an all-PCC quarterback at the University of California, leading the Wonder Teams of hall of fame head coach Andy Smith. The 23-year-old Erb was previously the head coach at the University of Nevada in Reno.


1926 Idaho gubernatorial election
The 1926 Idaho gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1926. Republican nominee H. C. Baldridge defeated Progressive nominee W. Scott Hall with 51.05% of the vote.


1926 Illinois Fighting Illini football team
The 1926 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1926 Big Ten Conference football season. In their 14th season under head coach Robert Zuppke, the Illini compiled a 6–2 record and finished in a tie for sixth place in the Big Ten Conference. Charles E. Kassel was the team captain.


1926 Imperial Conference
The 1926 Imperial Conference was the fifth Imperial Conference bringing together the prime ministers of the Dominions of the British Empire. It was held in London from 19 October to 22 November 1926. The conference was notable for producing the Balfour Declaration, which established the principle that the dominions are all equal in status, and "autonomous communities within the British Empire" not subordinate to the United Kingdom. The term "Commonwealth" was officially adopted to describe the community.


1926 Imperial Conference
The conference was arranged to follow directly after the 1926 Assembly of the League of Nations (in Geneva, Switzerland), to reduce the amount of travelling required for the dominions' representatives.


1926 Imperial Conference
The conference created the Inter-Imperial Relations Committee, chaired by Arthur Balfour, to look into future constitutional arrangements for the Commonwealth. In the end, the committee rejected the idea of a codified constitution, as espoused by South Africa's former Prime Minister Jan Smuts, but also fell short of endorsing the "end of empire" espoused by Smuts's arch-rival, Barry Hertzog. The recommendations were adopted unanimously by the conference on 15 November, followed by an equally warm reception in the newspapers.


1926 Imperial Conference, Participants
The conference was hosted by King-Emperor George V, with his Prime Ministers and members of their respective cabinets:


1926 Imperial Conference, References, Sources
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1926 Indian general election
General elections were held in British India between 28 October and late November 1926 to elect members of the Imperial Legislative Council and the Provincial Legislative Councils.


1926 Indian general election
The Swaraj Party were victorious in Provincial Council elections in Bengal and Madras, and also made gains in Bihar and Orissa. However, at the national level the party saw their number of seats reduced.


1926 Indiana Hoosiers football team
The 1926 Indiana Hoosiers football team represented the Indiana Hoosiers in the 1926 Big Ten Conference football season as members of the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana. The team was coached by Harlan Page, in his first year as head coach.


1926 Indianapolis 500
The 14th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 31, 1926. Louis Chevrolet drove the Chrysler pace car for the start.


1926 Indianapolis 500
Rain halted the race at lap 72, and officials waited for the track to dry out. The race was resumed over an hour later. Rain fell again, and the race was called at the 400 mile mark (160 laps).


1926 Indianapolis 500
Rookie Frank Lockhart moved up from 20th to fifth by lap 5, having had passed 14 cars on that lap alone. He moved up to second on Lap 16. After the rain delay, Lockhart and Dave Lewis battled for the lead for about 20 laps, until Lewis dropped out. Lockhart stretched out a two-lap lead when the race was called, and he was declared the winner. It was the first rain-shortened race in "500" history, and Lockhart was the fourth rookie to win the race. Lockhart may have actually completed as many as 163 laps (407.5 miles), but official scoring results reverted to the completion of lap 160.


1926 Indianapolis 500, Time trials
Four-lap (10 mile) qualifying runs were utilized. Earl Cooper won the pole position. Frank Lockhart set a new 1-lap track record during his first attempt at 115.488 mph, but the run was aborted after a tire failure on the second lap. He later blew an engine during another attempt, and finally put a car in the field 20th on the grid.


1926 International Cross Country Championships
The 1926 International Cross Country Championships was held in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Brussels, Belgium, at the Hippodrome de Stockel on March 28, 1926. A report on the event was given in the Glasgow Herald.


1926 International Cross Country Championships
Complete results, medallists,  and the results of British athletes were published.


1926 International Cross Country Championships, Participation
An unofficial count yields the participation of 53 athletes from 6 countries.


1926 International Lawn Tennis Challenge
The 1926 International Lawn Tennis Challenge was the 21st edition of what is now known as the Davis Cup. 19 teams would enter the Europe Zone, while 5 would enter the America Zone.


1926 International Lawn Tennis Challenge
France defeated Japan in the Inter-Zonal play-off, but would fall to the United States in a rematch of 1925's Challenge Round. The final was played at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States on 9–11 September.


1926 International Lawn Tennis Challenge America Zone
The America Zone was one of the two regional zones of the 1926 International Lawn Tennis Challenge.


1926 International Lawn Tennis Challenge America Zone
5 teams entered the America Zone, with the winner going on to compete in the Inter-Zonal Final against the winner of the Europe Zone. Japan defeated Cuba in the final, and went on to face France in the Inter-Zonal Final.


1926 International Lawn Tennis Challenge Europe Zone
The Europe Zone was one of the two regional zones of the 1926 International Lawn Tennis Challenge.


1926 International Lawn Tennis Challenge Europe Zone
19 teams entered the Europe Zone, with the winner going on to compete in the Inter-Zonal Final against the winner of the America Zone. France defeated Great Britain in the final, and went on to face Japan in the Inter-Zonal Final.


1926 International Pageant of Pulchritude
The First International Pageant of Pulchritude and Seventh Annual Bathing Girl Revue, was a beauty pageant held from May 15 to May 17, 1926, in Galveston, Texas. The previous editions of the Galveston Bathing Girl Revue had only featured contestants from the United States. However, during the 1926 event, one contestant from Mexico and another from Canada entered, giving the pageant its first international competitors. It was reported that around 160,000 people watched the bathing costume parade on the afternoon of the 16th.


1926 International Pageant of Pulchritude
Miss Dallas, Catherine Moylan, won the event, becoming the first Beauty Queen of the Universe.


1926 International Pageant of Pulchritude, Events
The contestants began to arrive in Galveston on May 13. Señorita Mexico Maria Martha Perres and Miss Winnipeg Patricia O'Shea, both international entries, notably arrived on that first day, amid a crowd of curious onlookers. The opening parade was held on May 15, with the pageant itself held on May 16. The prizes were given out at the American Beauty Ball, held at the Garden of Tokio in Galveston, which was accompanied by music from various bands such as the Missouri Pacific band, and the Southern Pacific band.


1926 International Pageant of Pulchritude, Results
I'm really overwhelmed by the results of the pageant, and my good fortune is almost more than I had hoped for. But I really don't feel much different than yesterday, when I was no more than 'Miss Dallas.'


1926 International Pageant of Pulchritude, Results
Miss Dallas, Catherine Moylan, won first place in the pageant and was crowned Beauty Queen of the Universe. It was the second time in a row that Miss Dallas won the competition. For winning, Moylan received $2000, and a gold and silver plaque engraved with "Beauty Queen of the Universe". After the competition, Moylan had revealed in an interview that she would use the prize money to attend Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She also gave credit to Dorothy Stahl, her coach, for her win.


1926 International Pageant of Pulchritude, Results
The second-place winner received $1000, the third $250, and the remaining nine places received $100 each.


1926 International Pageant of Pulchritude, Results
Judging was based on "beauty, form, grace, and personal charm." Costumes, props, and other decorations were not considered.


1926 International Pageant of Pulchritude, Delegates
Thirty-nine women entered the contest in 1926, with most coming from Texas and its surrounding states. The presence of contestants Maria Martha Parres from Mexico and Patricia O'Shea from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, made the competition Galveston's first international event.


1926 International Soccer League
Statistics of the International Soccer League for the 1926 season.


1926 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
The 1926 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1926 Big Ten Conference football season.


1926 Iowa Senate election
The 1926 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1926 United States elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in 21 of the state senate's 50 districts. State senators serve four-year terms in the Iowa State Senate.


1926 Iowa Senate election
A statewide map of the 50 state Senate districts in the 1926 elections is provided by the Iowa General Assembly


1926 Iowa Senate election
The primary election on June 7, 1926 determined which candidates appeared on the November 2, 1926 general election ballot.


1926 Iowa Senate election
Following the previous election, Republicans had control of the Iowa state Senate with 45 seats, the Democrats had 4 seats, and 1 seat was held by an independent.


1926 Iowa Senate election
Republicans maintained control of the Iowa State Senate following the 1926 general election with the balance of power shifting to Republicans holding 49 seats and Democrats having 1 seat (a net gain of 4 seats for Republicans).


1926 Iowa State Cyclones football team
The 1926 Iowa State Cyclones football team represented Iowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts (later renamed Iowa State University) in the Missouri Valley Conference during the 1926 college football season. In their first season under head coach Noel Workman, the Cyclones compiled a 4–3–1 record (3–3–1 against conference opponents), finished in seventh place in the conference, and were outscored by opponents by a combined total of 60 to 51. They played their home games at State Field in Ames, Iowa.


1926 Iowa State Cyclones football team
Roland "Bud" Coe was the team captain. No Iowa State players were selected as first-team all-conference players.


1926 Iowa State Cyclones football team
The October 2 contest against Washington of St. Louis was postponed to October 4 due to field conditions.


1926 Iowa gubernatorial election
The 1926 Iowa gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1926. Incumbent Republican John Hammill defeated Democratic nominee Alex R. Miller with 71.51% of the vote.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering
In late 1925, the Iowa State Highway Commission, now known as the Iowa Department of Transportation, announced plans to renumber several state highways. The changes to the highway system were a result of the creation of the United States Numbered Highway System. The new U.S. Highways replaced several of the state's primary roads and other routes were renumbered in order to eliminate driver confusion between the two systems. As the new highways were being signed, Iowa's state highways were given a new circular route marker. Previously, the primary road number was stenciled in black onto a telegraph pole over a band of yellow paint.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering, Background
In the early days of the automobile, when people still traveled cross-country predominantly by train, auto clubs were created to promote traveling by automobile. These auto clubs would collect dues from cities and in return, they would create an auto trail, such as the Lincoln Highway and Jefferson Highway, and route traffic through those cities. The clubs would then mark the route by painting telegraph poles with the colors and logos of their association.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering, Background
Often, the trails were not the most direct ways to travel between places and as a result, competing auto clubs would spring up to divert traffic from other routes. More often than not, the auto clubs were more interested in collecting dues than improving the roads upon which their trails lay.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering, Background
Starting in 1920, the Iowa State Highway Commission began marking these auto trails with primary road numbers in order to facilitate wayfinding. This was brought on by the success of a 1917 state law passed in neighboring Wisconsin that created a 5,000-mile (8,000 km) numbered state highway system complete with route markers to replace the informal trail system. In Iowa, however, the route numbers did not replace the trail system; they were applied in addition to the trail names; e.g. the Primary Road No. 6 number was applied to the Lincoln Highway.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering, Background
Route numbers were selected in such a way that they corresponded to route numbers that were used in neighboring states. All towns with populations over 1000 residents were connected to the primary road system. Routes were signified on telegraph poles by a painted yellow stripe upon which the outline of Iowa with "Primary Road" and the route number were stenciled in black.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering, Background
By 1924, the state highway commissioned had registered 64 named auto trails. Each of these auto trails were sponsored by dues-collecting associations that produced maps and other promotional materials for their routes. Confusion for the traveler reigned supreme. Nationally, the Bureau of Public Road Engineers, with approval from the American Association of State Highway Officials, began to create a national system of interstate highways. Their original plan was for a system covering 75,884 miles (122,123 km), 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of which were to be in Iowa.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering, Background
Several routes in the state would be renumbered to comply with the new interstate system; No. 6 along the Lincoln Highway would change to U.S. Highway 30. Route renumbering had a cascading effect as the state highway commission had a policy of reducing confusion by not duplicating route numbers. Since No. 30 was in use in northwest Iowa, that road was renumbered Iowa Highway 140.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering, Background
The highway commission had planned for route markers to be changed over to the new route numbers by July 1, 1926, however, this was not the case. In Davenport, for instance, signs for the new U.S. Highways were installed in October 1926. Property owners thought the new signs were gaudy and did a disservice to the beauty of their streetscapes. Complains were lodged to local auto clubs, but since this was a state project, the auto clubs deflected any responsibility.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering, Background
While the efficiency of wayfinding was greatly improved by the addition of route numbers, motor club officials wished for the names of their highways to not be forgotten. Charles M. Hayes of the Chicago Motor Club urged people to use a hybrid system of route numbers and names in order to preserve the historical significance and sentimental value of the routes. Hayes liked the removal of trail names to railroad engineers numbering train routes while the public calls the routes by their names. Hayes got his wish as the automobile associations disbanded, motorists continued to refer to the routes with their trail names.


1926 Iowa highway renumbering, Route changes
This table represents sections of routes that were eliminated or reassigned to or from another route in the primary highway system.


1926 Isle of Man TT
Further changes occurred in the 1926 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy with the scrapping of the Side-Car TT and Ultra-Lightweight TT Races from the lack of entries. Most of the TT Course had now been tarmacked, including the Snaefell Mountain Section. Another change in 1926 was the ban on alcohol based fuels, forcing competitors to use road petrol. Despite these changes the prestige of the Isle of Man TT Races had encouraged the Italian motor-cycle manufacturers Bianchi, Garelli and Moto Guzzi to enter.


1926 Isle of Man TT
The 7 lap (264.11 miles) 1926 Junior TT race was won by Alec Bennett riding a 350 cc overhead-camshaft Velocette motor-cycle, in 3 hours, 57 minutes and 37 seconds, at an average speed of 66.70 mph.


1926 Isle of Man TT
The 1926 Lightweight TT Race produced one of the most notorious events in the history of the Isle of Man TT Races, described by "The Motor-Cycle" Magazine as the "Guzzi Incident." The Italian rider Pietro Ghersi was excluded from second place for using a different sparking-plug in the engine of his Moto Guzzi. Despite the competition from the Italian marques the 1926 Lightweight TT Race was won by 'Paddy' Johnston riding a Cotton motor-cycle, in 4 hours, 23 minutes and 16 seconds, at an average speed of 60.24 mph for the 7 lap race.


1926 Isle of Man TT
The 1926 Senior TT Race was less controversial and was won by Stanley Woods riding for Norton for the first-time by 4 minutes from Wal Handley. The 1926 Senior TT Race produced the first 70 mph (113 km/h) lap and was again set by Jimmie Simpson on an AJS motorcycle in 32 minutes and 9 seconds an average speed of 70.43 mph.


1926 Italian Grand Prix
The 1926 Italian Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Monza on 5 September 1926.


1926 Italian Grand Prix
The cars were divided into two classes, which raced simultaneously  but over a different distance. The longer race, which was also the final race of the 1926 AIACR World Manufacturers' Championship season, was contested by 1.5-litre Grand Prix cars over 60 laps, while the shorter race was for up to 1.1 litre cyclecars, and held over 40 laps. Like the other races in the 1926 season, the Italian Grand Prix was quite dull, with just two cars running after the cyclecars had finished their race.


1926 Italian Grand Prix, Report
Costantini's Bugatti took the lead early, with the other two Bugattis battling with the two Maseratis over the first two laps, the gap between second and fifth place just 5 seconds after the first lap, with the Chiribiri of Serboli down the field with the 1100cc cars. After just four laps, Maserati retired with engine failure, followed one lap later by team-mate Materassi, also with engine failure, leaving just the three Bugattis and the lone struggling Chiribiri in the 1500cc class.


1926 Italian Grand Prix, Report
The Chiribiri of Serboli eventually retired after 27 laps in a spectacular fire in the otherwise dull race. Goux and Sabipa swapped positions a few times mostly due to pitstops, but Goux ultimately retired after 36 laps. Once the cyclecars had finished their 40 laps, the two remaining Bugattis continued uneventfully until nearly the end of the race. However, on his 58th lap, Costantini, who had totally dominated the race experienced engine trouble, but was able to crawl around to the pits. Although he lost the lead to Sabipa, he was able to finish the race on just three (of eight) cylinders.


1926 JBUs Pokalturnering
The 1926 JBUs Pokalturnering (Unofficial English translation: 1926 JBU Cup, 1926 Jutland Cup) was the 3rd edition of the regional tournament, JBUs Pokalturnering, the highest senior cup competition organised by the Jutland FA (JBU). The tournament was held in the third and fourth quarter of 1926 with Aalborg BK as the defending cup champions. The season was launched on 22 August 1926 with the first round, embraced five cup rounds and concluded on 21 November 1926 with the cup final. A total of 29 clubs participated in the cup tournament, which was the same number of teams as the previous season.


1926 JBUs Pokalturnering
Aalborg BK won the cup tournament for the third consecutive time, by winning the final on 21 November 1926 in Ringkjøbing against regional top-flight league rivals Esbjerg fB. The cup final was a repeat of the last season's cup final in Vejle. Aalborg BK outscored their opponents 33–6 on aggregate in the five games played in this year's competition, while Esbjerg fB reached the final in four games due to a bye in the second round.


1926 JBUs Pokalturnering, Participants
The following 29 senior teams from the Jutland FA's then three tier league system, 1925–26 JBUs Mesterskabsrække (3 clubs), the 1925–26 JBUs A-række (23 clubs) and the 1925–26 JBUs B-række (3 clubs), signed up for the cup tournament. From the JBUs Mesterskabsrække, Aarhus GF and Vejle BK did not take part in this season – Aarhus GF redrew their original registration due to the new format of the regional top-flight league, while Vejle BK was of the opinion that the costs were too large in relation to the significance and interest of the cup matches. Horsens FS participated with their reserve team, that had been promoted to the 1926–27 JBUs Mesterskabsrække, and not the first senior team.


1926 JBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, First Round Proper
The first round proper of the cup tournament was played on Sunday, 22 August 1926 in 13 different cities. No Aarhus-based club progressed to the next round. The draw for the first round by the Jutland FA took place on 13 August 1926. Brande IF received a bye to the second round.


1926 JBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Second Round Proper
The initial match schedule for the regional cup tournament was published on 1 September 1926 by the Jutland FA. The matches in the second round was scheduled for Sunday, 5 September 1926. Esbjerg fB received a bye to the third round.


1926 JBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Quarter-finals
The matches in the quarterfinals were originally scheduled to be played on 26 September 1926, but were moved several weeks to 7 November 1926.


1926 JBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
The cup final was a repeat of the last season's cup final featuring the same teams and was played on Ringkjøbing IFs Bane in Ringkjøbing on 21 November 1926. The entire match was plagued by rain, which affected the game on the field and the attendance figures. The line-up of Aalborg BK consisted of one reserve player as replacement for the regular half back, Egon Thon. Esbjerg fB featured the same line-up, that had played in the club's semi-final match, with the exception that Niels Pedersen was included as right innerwing in the squad instead of Magnus Hansen, that was injured.


1926 JBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
15 minutes into the first half, Aalborg BK's Alex Willadsen was injured to his knee, but was able to resume playing. Aalborg BK netted four goals (one being scored via penalty kick) and dominated the first half, while Esbjerg fB was the constant attacking part, scored the most goals in the second half. For the third consecutive year, Aalborg BK secured the cup championship in the JBUs Pokalturnering by winning the match 5–3 against league rivals Esbjerg fB – the trophy had to be won a total of five times for a club to obtain it permanently.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering
The 1926 KBUs Pokalturnering (Unofficial English translation: 1926 KBU Cup, 1926 Copenhagen Cup) was the 17th edition of the regional tournament, KBUs Pokalturnering, the highest senior cup competition organised by the Copenhagen FA (KBU). The tournament was held in the fall of 1926 with BK Frem, then based on Enghavevej, as the defending cup champions. The season was launched with one match on 22 August 1926 between the last season's runners-up in Copenhagen Football League B.93 and the newly promoted league club BK Fremad Amager.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering
This season's installment was won by B.93 after defeating Kjøbenhavns BK 5–1 in the final played at Københavns Idrætspark on 7 November 1926, which was the club's fifth cup title after having contested in eight finals of the tournament. The 8 participants in the tournament included the six members of the 1925–26 KBUs Mesterskabsrække and the two highest placed teams from the 1925–26 KBUs A-række.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering
The runners-up of the 1925–26 KBUs A-række, the second-tier league under the Kjøbenhavns Boldspil-Union, managed to reach the second round by defeating Akademisk BK from the regional top-tier Copenhagen Football League, before eventually being eliminated by Østerbro-based B.93. In the very first round, the two KBUs Mesterskabsrække clubs of B 1903 and BK Frem had to play two additional matches over the course of 5 weeks time before a winner could be found, that would go through to the semi-finals. KFUMs BK and Kjøbenhavns BK played one extra quarterfinal game to determine which club would participate in the semi-finals. The extra matches would generate an additional income of DKK 5–6,000 to both clubs. Forward Poul "Tist" Nielsen of Kjøbenhavns BK became the tournament's top goal scorer with 8 goals, which he scored during the course of the club's four cup matches.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
Københavns Idrætspark acted as the host stadium on 7 November 1926 for the fourteenth time in the history of KBUs Pokalturnering. The weather at the game was sunny and relatively less windy, but with a wet and greasy surface due to the great rain shower in the morning and the previous night. This required high studs under the players' football boots for stability, which not all players had. Kjøbenhavns Boldklub's football kit consisted of blue-white shirts during the match, while the B.93 players had all white shirts.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
The final match was a repetition of the 1910 and 1916 cup finals, who had previously meet against each other a total of six times in the competition's history. Based on the team's recent league results, B.93 were regarded as favorites to win the cup title by various newspapers. The previous weekend, on 31 October 1926, the two teams had also met each other in the league resulting in a 3–1 win to B.93.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
The match was refereed by Lauritz Andersen (affiliated with BK Velo) together with two of KBU's most used referees at that time, Valdemar Nilsson and Poul Jørgensen, as the linesmen featured in yellow shirts. The draw at the beginning of the match concerning the right to choose the starting half of the football field was won by Kjøbenhavns BK's captain Poul "Tist" Nielsen, who choose the goal facing the western side of the stadium, towards Øster Allé, which meant the KB players would start the game with the sun and wind in their backs.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
B.93 fielded the exact same team line-up, that they had used in their previous match the previous Sunday, while Kjøbenhavns BK fielded three relatively new players in the squad, namely the newly promoted youth players Harald Lindemann, Holger "Dirk" Asmussen and Poul Hansen (as replacement for forward Erik Eriksen) — the last one having played youth matches the previous season and reserve team matches in the fall of 1926. Poul Hansen, placed as left innerwing, would get his debut on KB's first team in this match. Poul "Tist" Nielsen, the captain of Kjøbenhavns BK, was the only player on the field having also participated in the 1910 final, while Anthon Olsen of B.93 was the oldest player on the field being 37 years old.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
The match started on time, 13:30 CET, with the referee emerging from the changing room in the basement of the stadium as the last one on the field, and the first several minutes began at a nervous, sluggish pace. The Østerbro-based team had the first dangerous attack in the match, which resulted in Michael Rohde getting a hard ball in his face, and the referee Lauritz Andersen having to halt the play for a small minute, and the club's masseuse Marx treating him.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
Shortly hereafter, in the 9th minute, B.93 forward Magnus Simonsen outplayed Kjøbenhavns BK defenders Aage Jørgensen and Steen Steensen Blicher, before passing the ball to Svend Petersen, who did not hesitate placing the ball resolute and hard in the right corner of the goal outside the reach of goalkeeper Poul Graae. The goal energized the players, who began playing in a much larger pace.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
Kjøbenhavn BK attempted a few fruitless attacks against B.93's defense and goal, but the ball was primarily kept on KB's side with one attempt from B.93's forward Anthon Olsen hitting the upper goalpost before returning in play. A few minutes after, the referee called a foul on K.B. 's Steen Steensen Blicher using his arm improperly against Michael Rohde, and awarded B.93 a free kick 3 meters outside the penalty area.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
Anthon Olsen executed the free kick, scoring directly in the right side of the goal, giving B.93 a 2–0 lead approximately halfway through the first half, above the reach of defender Valdemar Laursen standing at the goal line. This was followed by the KB players' best period in the match, which consisted of a series of attacks, one of which resulted in the referee awarding the team a penalty kick.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
B.93's goalkeeper Svend Jensen had unnecessarily driven his albow into the chin of the opponent's left inner wing Poul Hansen following Poul Hansen's attempt at heading the ball out of the keeper's hands. Steen Steensen Blicher scored from the penalty spot. A new free kick to B.93 was executed by Anthon Olsen, passing the ball to Michael Rohde, who scored his first goal of the match with only a few minutes missing of the first half. The opening half ended with a 3–1 lead to B.93.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
The low-lying sunrays were pointing the Kjøbenhavns Boldklub players directly in their faces in the second half, when their own goal was now located on the eastern side next to a hockey field. Kjøbenhavns BK players started with a period of superiority at the beginning of the second half, which however did not result in any goals. B.93 overtook that game advantage and kept it for the remaining part of the match, with K.B. only being allowed to play on their own terms momentarily.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
After circa 20 minutes of play in the second half, B.93's forward Michael Rohde received the ball from the right side of the field, outplayed defender Valdemar Laursen of K.B., and starting going towards the goal hard pressed by four opponents, and eventually placing the goal in the net behind Kjøbenhavns BK's goalkeeper Poul Graae. Poul Graae was engaged in a lot of activities in front of his goal in the last part of the second half.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
Only one minute before the final whistle, B.93's Anthon Olsen attempted a shot against KB's Poul Graae, who only managed to push the ball to the right side. Svend Petersen was standing on that specific side of the goal, ready to make a pass to Michael Rohde, who scored another goal, obtaining a hattrick in the game, giving B.93 a solid 5–1 lead and ending the cup final shortly hereafter. The only direct goal attempt by KB was made by Vilhelm Nielsen at the end of the match.


1926 KBUs Pokalturnering, Matches, Cup Final, Match summary
B.93 won the final of the KBUs Pokalturnering and was crowned Copenhagen Cup Champions (Danish: KBU pokalmestre) by the representatives of the local football organisation, Copenhagen FA (KBU), and acquiring their first lot (of five) in their efforts of being able to keep the trophy permanently. Newspapers Berlingske Tidende, Fyens Stiftstidende and Dagbladet graded Fritz Tarp, Michael Rohde and Anthon Olsen as the winning team's best players during the final. The finale had an attendance of approximately 13,000 spectators.


1926 Kansas City Cowboys season
The 1926 Kansas City Cowboys season was their third and final season in the league. The team improved on their previous output of 2–5–1, winning eight games. They finished fourth in the league.


1926 Kansas City Cowboys season, Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.


1926 Kansas Jayhawks football team
The 1926 Kansas Jayhawks football team represented the University of Kansas in the Missouri Valley Conference during the 1926 college football season. In their first season under head coach Franklin Cappon, the Jayhawks compiled a 2–6 record (1–5 against conference opponents), finished in ninth place in the conference, and were outscored by opponents by a combined total of 135 to 34. They played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas. Harold Zuber was the team captain.


1926 Kansas State Wildcats football team
The 1926 Kansas State Agricultural College Wildcats football team represented Kansas State Agricultural College in the 1926 college football season.


1926 Kansas gubernatorial election
The 1926 Kansas gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1926. Incumbent Republican Benjamin S. Paulen defeated Democratic nominee Jonathan M. Davis with 63.31% of the vote.


1926 Kars earthquake
The 1926 Kars/Leninakan earthquake occurred at 21:59 local time on 22 October 1926 in the border area of Soviet Armenia and eastern Turkey. It had a surface wave magnitude of 6.0 and a maximum felt intensity of IX (Violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale, causing 360 casualties. Many buildings in Leninakan and surrounding villages were destroyed or damaged.


1926 Kars earthquake
The Soviet investigation by the geologist Pyotr Lebedev, published in 1927, noted that the quake could be felt as far away as Yerevan, Tiflis, Batumi and even Sochi, and that aftershocks lasted for several days. He noted that up to 300 people were killed in the quake in Soviet Armenia, with about the same number seriously injured.


1926 Kent State Silver Foxes football team
The 1926 Kent State Silver Foxes football team was an American football team that represented Kent State Normal College (later Kent State University) during the 1926 college football season. In its second season under head coach Merle E. Wagoner, Kent State compiled a 2–6 record and was outscored by a total of 176 to 35.


1926 Kentucky Derby
The 1926 Kentucky Derby was the 52nd running of the Kentucky Derby. The race was run on May 15, 1926.


1926 Kentucky Wildcats football team
The 1926 Kentucky Wildcats football team was an American football team that represented the University of Kentucky as a member of the Southern Conference during the 1926 season. In its third season under head coach Fred J. Murphy, Kentucky compiled a 2–6–1 record.


1926 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship
The 1926 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship was the 32nd staging of the Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Kilkenny County Board.


1926 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship
On 8 August 1926, Dicksboro won the championship after a 5-05 to 1-04 defeat of Mooncoin in the final. It was their second championship title overall and their first title in three championship seasons.


1926 Kingston upon Hull Central by-election
The Kingston upon Hull Central by-election of 1926 was fought on 29 November 1926 when Joseph Kenworthy changed party allegiance from the Liberal Party to the Labour Party and sought re-election with the change of party allegiance. Kenworthy retained the seat.


1926 Klass I season
The 1926 Klass I season was the fourth season of the Klass I, the top level of ice hockey in Sweden. It was won by Södertälje SK.


1926 LFF Lyga
The 1926 LFF Lyga was the 5th season of the LFF Lyga football competition in Lithuania. Kovas Kaunas won the championship.


1926 LSU Tigers football team
The 1926 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University (LSU) in the 1926 college football season.


1926 Lafayette Leopards football team
The 1926 Lafayette Leopards football team was an American football team that represented Lafayette College as an independent during the 1926 college football season. In its third season under head coach Herb McCracken, Lafayette compiled a 9–0 record and shut out five of nine opponents. Halfback Frank Kirkleski was the team captain.


1926 Lafayette Leopards football team
Although Alabama and Stanford have been named the 1926 national champion by most selectors, the 1926 Lafayette team was named as the national champion by one selector, Parke H. Davis.


1926 Lafayette Leopards football team
The team played its home games at the Fisher Stadium in Easton, Pennsylvania. Fisher Stadium opened in 1926 with a seating capacity of 13,132.


1926 Lagos by-election
A by-election was held for the Lagos seat in the Legislative Council of Nigeria on 30 April 1926. It followed the death of incumbent Egerton Shyngle, who had been a member of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP). John Caulcrick of the NNDP was elected with 69% of the vote.


1926 Lagos by-election, Campaign
Four candidates contested the elections; Caulcrick, a medical practitioner, was nominated by the NNDP, whilst the other three ran as independents. Two of whom had also contested the 1923 general elections – barrister Adeyemo Alakija and civil engineer George Debayo Agbebi, who had received 6% and 3% of the vote respectively. The final candidate was P J C Thomas, a businessman.


1926 Latvian Football Championship
Statistics of the Latvian Higher League for the 1926 season- RFK were the league champions:


1926 Lehigh Brown and White football team
The 1926 Lehigh Brown and White football team was an American football team that represented Lehigh University as an independent during the 1926 college football season. In its second season under head coach Percy Langdon Wendell, the team compiled a 1–8 record and was outscored by a total of 168 to 32. The team played its home games at Taylor Stadium in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.


1926 Liechtenstein fire insurance referendum
A referendum on fire insurance was held in Liechtenstein on 7 February 1926. Voters were asked whether a state insurance scheme for fire damage should be established. The proposal was rejected by 65.8% of voters.


1926 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship
The 1926 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship was the 32nd staging of the Limerick Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Limerick County Board in 1887.


1926 Limerick Senior Hurling Championship
On 17 October 1926, Claughaun won the championship after a 5-03 to 1-04 defeat of Newcastle West in the final. It was their fifth championship title overall and their first championship title since 1918.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état
The 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état (Lithuanian: 1926-ųjų perversmas) was a military coup d'état in Lithuania that resulted in the replacement of the democratically elected government with a conservative authoritarian government led by Antanas Smetona. The coup took place on 17 December 1926 and was largely organized by the military; Smetona's role remains the subject of debate. The coup brought the Lithuanian Nationalist Union, the most conservative party at the time, to power.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état
Before 1926, it had been a fairly new and insignificant nationalistic party: in 1926, its membership numbered about 2,000 and it had won only three seats in the parliamentary elections. The Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party, the largest party in the Seimas at the time, collaborated with the military and provided constitutional legitimacy to the coup, but did not accept any major posts in the new government and withdrew in May 1927. After the military handed power over to the civilian government, it ceased playing a direct role in political life.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Background
Lithuania was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1795. It was occupied by Germany during World War I, and declared itself independent on 16 February 1918. The next two years were marked by the turbulence of the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, delaying international recognition and the establishment of political institutions. The newly formed army fought the Bolsheviks, the Bermontians, and Poland. In October 1920, Poland annexed Vilnius, the historic and modern-day capital of Lithuania, and the surrounding area; this controversial action was the source of ongoing tension between the two powers during the interwar period. Lithuania's second-largest city, Kaunas, was designated the interim capital of the state.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Background
The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania, elected in April 1920, adopted a constitution in August 1922; elections to the First Seimas took place in October 1922. The most-disputed constitutional issue was the role of the presidency. Eventually, the powers of government were heavily weighted in favor of the unicameral parliament (Seimas). Members of the Seimas were elected by the people to three-year terms. Each new Seimas directly elected the president, who was authorized to appoint a prime minister. The Prime Minister was then charged with confirming a cabinet of ministers. The presidential term was limited to no more than two three-year terms in succession. The parliamentary system proved unstable: eleven cabinets were formed between November 1918 and December 1926.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Background
The principal political actors at the time of the coup had been active during the independence movement and the republic's first few years. Antanas Smetona had served as Lithuania's first president between April 1919 and June 1920; he then withdrew from formal political involvement, although he published political criticism, for which he served a brief prison term in 1923. Augustinas Voldemaras represented Lithuania at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 and later served as Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Background
He resigned from the government in 1920, although he continued to write and publish political criticism, for which he also was sentenced to a short prison term. Kazys Grinius had chaired a post-World War I repatriation commission, and went on to serve as head of the 6th Cabinet of Ministers and in the First and Second Seimas. Mykolas Sleževičius served as prime minister in 1918 and 1919, oversaw the organization of the Lithuanian armed forces in 1920, and was a member of the Second Seimas between 1922 and 1926.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, 1926 parliamentary election
Between 8 and 10 May 1926, regular elections to the Third Seimas were held. For the first time since 1920, the bloc led by the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party, which strongly supported the Roman Catholic Church and its clergy, did not obtain a majority.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, 1926 parliamentary election
The Lithuanian people were disillusioned with this party, as its members had been involved in several financial scandals: Juozas Purickas had been using his diplomatic privileges in Moscow to deal in cocaine and saccharin; Eliziejus Draugelis and Petras Josiukas had purchased cheap low-quality smoked pig fat from Germany instead of buying from Lithuanian farmers; and the Minister of Finance, Vytautas Petrulis, had transferred a large sum of money from the state budget to his personal account. The party's strategies for coping with an economic crisis were perceived as ineffective.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, 1926 parliamentary election
An additional tension arose when the Concordat of 1925 between Poland and the Holy See unilaterally recognized Vilnius as an ecclesiastical province of Poland, despite Lithuanian requests to govern Vilnius directly from Rome. Although it was not traditionally a Vatican policy to establish an arrangement of this type, the decision was objected to strongly by many Lithuanians. The decision implied that the Pope had recognized Polish claims to Vilnius, and this created a loss of prestige for the Christian Democrats. Diplomatic relations with the Holy See were severed, and they did not improve when Pope Pius XI unilaterally established and reorganized Lithuanian ecclesiastical provinces in April 1926 without regard to Lithuanian proposals and demands.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, 1926 parliamentary election
The Peasant Popular Union and Social Democrats formed a left-wing coalition in opposition to the Christian Democrats. But the coalition still did not constitute a majority, and it went on to add representatives of minorities in Lithuania – Germans from the Klaipėda Region, Poles, and Jews. On 7 June, Kazys Grinius was elected the 3rd president of Lithuania and Mykolas Sleževičius became the prime minister. Both were members of the Peasant Popular Union.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Causes
The reasons for the coup remain the subject of debate. The domestic situation was definitely troubled; historians have pointed to specific European precedents in the 1920s that may have had an influence, including the 1922 March on Rome by Benito Mussolini in Italy and the May 1926 Coup of Józef Piłsudski in Poland. Other historians have cited more general trends in Europe that resulted in more or less undemocratic governments in almost all Central and Eastern European nations by the end of the 1930s.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Causes
Democratic immaturity was displayed by an unwillingness to compromise, and the frequent shifts of government created a chronic perception of crisis. Historians have also discussed an exaggerated fear of communism as a factor, along with the lack of a stable center that could reach out to parties on the left and right; these parties accused each other of Bolshevism and fascism. According to historian Anatol Lieven, Smetona and Voldemaras saw themselves as the dispossessed true heroes of the independence movement, who despaired of returning to power by democratic means.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Causes
After the May elections, the Grinius/Sleževičius government lifted martial law, still in effect in Kaunas and other localities, restored democratic freedoms, and granted broad amnesty to political prisoners. For the first time, Lithuania had become truly democratic. However, the change did not meet with universal approval. Many of the released prisoners were communists who quickly used the new freedoms of speech to organize a protest attended by approximately 400 people in Kaunas on 13 June. The protest was dispersed.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Causes
The new government's opposition used this protest as the platform for a public attack on the government, alleging that it was allowing illegal organizations (the Communist Party of Lithuania was still outlawed) to continue their activities freely. Despite its local nature, the incident was presented as a major threat to Lithuania and its military; the government was said to be incapable of dealing with this threat.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Causes
Further allegations of "Bolshevization" were made after Lithuania signed the Soviet–Lithuanian Non-Aggression Treaty of 28 September 1926. The treaty was conceived by the previous government, which had been dominated by the Christian Democrats. However, Christian Democrats voted against the treaty, while Antanas Smetona strongly supported it. It drew sharp criticism as Lithuania exchanged Soviet recognition of its rights to the Vilnius Region for international isolation, as the treaty demanded that Lithuania make no other alliances with other countries.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Causes
At the time, the Soviet Union was not a member of the League of Nations; France and the United Kingdom were looking for reliable partners in Eastern Europe, and the Baltic states were contemplating a union on their own. On 21 November, a student demonstration against "Bolshevization" was forcibly dispersed by the police. About 600 Lithuanian students gathered near a communist-led workers' union. The police, fearing armed clashes between the two groups, intervened and attempted to stop the demonstration. Seven police officers were injured and thirteen students were arrested. In an attempt to overthrow the government legally, the Christian Democrats suggested a motion of no confidence in response to the incident, but it was rejected.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Causes
Another public outcry arose when the government, seeking the support of ethnic minorities, allowed the opening of over 80 Polish schools in Lithuania. At the time, the Polish government was closing Lithuanian schools in the fiercely contested Vilnius Region. The coalition government directly confronted the Christian Democrats when it proposed a 1927 budget that reduced salaries to the clergy and subsidies to Catholic schools. Further controversies were created when the government's military reform program was revealed as a careless downsizing. Some 200 conservative military officers were fired. The military began planning the coup.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Preparations
There is considerable academic debate concerning the involvement of Antanas Smetona in planning the coup. In 1931, Augustinas Voldemaras, who had since been ousted from the government and forced into exile, wrote that Smetona had been planning the coup since 1925. Historian Zenonas Butkus asserted that an idea of a coup had been raised as early as 1923. However, this time frame is disputed, since the military did not take action until the autumn of 1926. Smetona's personal secretary, Aleksandras Merkelis, held that Smetona knew about the coup, but neither inspired nor organized it.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Preparations
Before the coup, Smetona had been the editor of Lietuvis (The Lithuanian), and a shift in its orientation that took place in late November has been cited as evidence that he was not informed about the coup until then. Before the issue of 25 November appeared, the newspaper was critical of the government and of the Christian Democrats. On that date, however, the newspaper published several articles about 21 November student protest and an article headlined Bolshevism's Threat to Lithuania. The latter article argued that the communists posed a genuine threat and that the current government was incapable of dealing with it. After that date, the newspaper ceased issuing criticisms of the Christian Democrats.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Preparations
On 20 September 1926, five military officers, led by Captain Antanas Mačiuika, organized a committee. Generals Vladas Nagevičius and Jonas Bulota were among its members. About a month later, another group, the so-called Revolutionary General Headquarters (Lithuanian: revoliucinis generalinis štabas), was formed. The two groups closely coordinated their efforts. By 12 December, the military had already planned detailed actions, investigated the areas where the action was to take place, and informed the leaders of the Lithuanian National Union and Christian Democratic parties. Rumors of the plan reached the Social Democrats, but they took no action. Just before the coup, disinformation about movements of the Polish army in the Vilnius Region was disseminated; its purpose was to induce troops in Kaunas that would potentially have opposed the coup to move towards Vilnius.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, The coup
Late in the evening of 16 December, the Soviet consul informed Sleževičius about a possible coup the following night, but Sleževičius did not pay much attention to this warning. The coup began on the night of 17 December 1926. The 60th birthday of President Kazys Grinius was being celebrated in Kaunas, attended by numerous state officials. The 1927 budget, with its cuts to military and church spending, had not yet been passed. During the night, military forces occupied central military and government offices and arrested officials.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, The coup
Colonel Kazys Škirpa, who had initiated the military reform program, tried to rally troops against the coup, but was soon overpowered and arrested. The Seimas was dispersed and President Grinius was placed under house arrest. Colonel Povilas Plechavičius was released from prison (he had been serving a 20-day sentence for a fist fight with another officer) and declared dictator of Lithuania. Later that day, Colonel Plechavičius asked Smetona to become the new President and normalize the situation.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, The coup
The military strove to create the impression that the coup had been solely their initiative, that Smetona had not been involved at all, and that he had joined it only in response to an invitation to serve as the "savior of the nation". Prime Minister Sleževičius resigned, and President Grinius appointed Augustinas Voldemaras as the new Prime Minister.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, The coup
Smetona and Voldemaras, both representing the Lithuanian National Union, invited the Christian Democrats to join them in forming a new government that would restore some degree of constitutional legitimacy. The party agreed reluctantly; they were worried about their prestige. Looking toward the near future, the Christian Democrats reasoned that they could easily win any upcoming Seimas elections, regaining power by constitutional means and avoiding direct association with the coup. In keeping with this strategy, they allowed members of the Lithuanian National Union to take over the most prominent posts.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, The coup
Initially, President Grinius refused to resign, but he was eventually persuaded that Polish invasion was imminent and that Smetona had sworn to uphold the constitution. On 19 December 42 delegates of the Seimas met (without the Social Democrats or the Peasant Popular Union) and elected Aleksandras Stulginskis as the new Speaker of the Seimas. Stulginskis was the formal head of state for a few hours before Smetona was elected as the President (38 deputies voted for, two against, and two abstained). The Seimas also passed a vote of confidence in the new cabinet formed by Voldemaras. Constitutional formalities were observed thereby. The Lithuanian National Union secured other major roles: Antanas Merkys assumed office as Minister of Defense and Ignas Musteikis as Minister of the Interior.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Aftermath
The official rationale given by the military was that their actions had prevented an imminent Bolshevik coup, allegedly scheduled for 20 December. Martial law was declared. About 350 communists were arrested and four leaders (Karolis Požela, Juozas Greifenbergeris, Kazys Giedrys and Rapolas Čarnas) were executed on 27 December. This was a serious blow to the Communist Party of Lithuania and it was inactive for a time. No concrete evidence was ever found that the communists had planned any coups.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Aftermath
Other political parties and organizations were not brutalized and, according to the military, no casualties were associated with the coup, apart from the four executions. However, other sources cite the case of Captain Vincas Jonuška, who was allegedly shot by the guards of the Presidential Palace, and died a day later in a hospital.


1926 Lithuanian coup d'état, Aftermath
International recognition of the new government did not prove to be difficult. The Western powers were not pleased with the Third Seimas when it ratified the non-aggression treaty with the Soviet Union in September. They were looking for a government that would change the priorities of Lithuanian foreign policy.