International On This Day - August 13, 2026

After an extended siege, forces led by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés capture Tlatoani Cuauhtémoc and conquer the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.

Colonel George Monck of the English Army forms Monck's Regiment of Foot. The Regiment later becomes the Coldstream Guards and is the oldest infantry regiment serving in the British Army.

Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott, BWV 101. The chorale cantata was the famous piece based on Martin Moller’s hymn Vater unser im Himmelreich.

The Royal Navy defeats the U.S. naval forces. The loss is the most significant loss for the U.S. Navy before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

King Louis XVI of France is arrested and declared an enemy after being arrested by revolutionaries. He was tried for treason for conspiring with foreign monarchs. He was stripped of his titles and designated a common citizen.

William Gray of Hartford is granted the patent for a "Coin-controlled apparatus for telephones." His invention of the modern day payphone was a result of people not allowing him to use their telephones to call a doctor for his sick wife.

Spanish and American forces engage in a mock battle for Manila, after which the Spanish surrendered to the Americans. The fake battle was planned between the two counties to prevent the Filipino military from taking control of Manila.

The all black infantrymen of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Regiment are accused of killing a white bartender and wounding a white police officer in Brownsville, Texas. Despite exculpatory evidence, President Theodore Roosevelt signed a declaration for the Regiment to be dishonorably discharged and denied benefits. President Richard Nixon pardoned the men and changed their discharges to honorable in 1972.

Opha May Johnson becomes the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corp. Referred to as "Marine Skirts" and "Marinettes," women were enlisted as bookkeepers, typists, and clerks. Most of the women were discharged after ending of WWI until 1942, when they were allowed to enlist again for war.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is established as a public company in Germany. Their first products were aircraft engines for the Luftstreitkräfte, the German Air Combat Forces during WWI.

Major General Eugene Reybold, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, authorizes the construction of the "Development of Substitute Materials" project. The project became known as the Manhattan Project.

East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin by putting up barbed wire. Known as Barbed Wire Sunday, the closing prevented thousands of people from leaving the East. It also led to the creation of the Berlin Wall.

Two women fall victim of grizzly bear attacks at Glacier National Park in Montana. Julie Helgeson and Michele Koons were both killed in two separate attacks on opposite ends of the park. It was the first time grizzlies attacked visitors in the 57-year history of the park.

One hundred fifty-six Congolese Tutsi refugees are massacred at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi. The group had fled violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Victims were explicitly targeted based on their ethnic identity. Only Lives of those who were not Tutsi refugees were spared.