Events
97
– Emperor Nerva is forced by the Praetorian
Guard, to adopt general Marcus Ulpius Trajanus
as his heir and successor.
306 – Maxentius is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
312 – Battle of Milvian Bridge: Constantine
I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman
emperor.
456 – The Visigoths brutally sack the Suebi's
capital of Braga (Portugal), churches are
burnt to the ground.
1061 – Empress Agnes, acting as regent for
her son, brings about the election of bishop
Cadalus, the antipope Honorius II.
1516 – Battle of Yaunis Khan: Turkish forces
under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat
the Mameluks near Gaza.
1531 – Battle of Amba Sel: Imam Ahmad ibn
Ibrihim al-Ghazi again defeats the army
of Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia. The
southern part of Ethiopia falls under Imam
Ahmad's control.
1538 – The first university in the New World,
the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is
established.
1628 – The Siege of La Rochelle, which had
lasted for 14 months, ends with the surrender
of the Huguenots.
1636 – A vote of the Great and General Court
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes
the first college in what would become the
United States, today known as Harvard University.
1664 – The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime
Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the
Royal Marines, is established.
1707 – The 1707 Hōei earthquake causes more
than 5,000 deaths in Honshu, Shikoku and
Kyūshū, Japan
1775 – American Revolutionary War: A British
proclamation forbids residents from leaving
Boston.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Battle
of White Plains – British Army forces arrive
at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton
Hill from the Americans.
1834 – The Battle of Pinjarra is fought
in the Swan River Colony in present-day
Pinjarra, Western Australia. Between 14
and 40 Aborigines are killed by British
colonists.
1835 – The United Tribes of New Zealand
is established with the signature of the
Declaration of Independence.
1848 – The first railroad in Spain – between
Barcelona and Mataró – is opened.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of
Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road (also known
as the Second Battle of Fair Oaks) ends
– Union forces under General Ulysses S.
Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia,
after failing to breach the Confederate
defenses around Richmond, Virginia.
1886 – In New York Harbor, President Grover
Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.
1891 – The Mino-Owari earthquake, the largest
inland earthquake in Japan's history, strikes
Gifu Prefecture.
1893 – Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B
Minor, Pathétique, receives its première
performance in St. Petersburg, only nine
days before the composer's death.
1915 – Richard Strauss conducts the first
performance of his tone poem Eine Alpensinfonie
in Berlin.
1918 – World War I: Czechoslovakia is granted
independence from Austria-Hungary marking
the beginning of an independent Czechoslovak
state, after 300 years.
1918 – A new Polish government in Western
Galicia is established.
1919 – The U.S. Congress passes the Volstead
Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto,
paving the way for Prohibition to begin
the following January.
1922 – March on Rome: Italian fascists led
by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take
over the Italian government.
1928 – Declaration of the Youth Pledge in
Indonesia, the first time Indonesia Raya,
now the national anthem, was sung.
1929 – Black Monday, a day in the Wall Street
Crash of 1929, which also saw major stock
market upheaval.
1940 – World War II: Greece rejects Italy's
ultimatum. Italy invades Greece through
Albania, marking Greece's entry into World
War II.
1942 – The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway)
is completed through Canada to Fairbanks,
Alaska.
1948 – Swiss chemist Paul Müller is awarded
the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
for his discovery of the insecticidal properties
of DDT.
1958 – John XXIII, is elected Pope.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union
leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that
he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile
bases in Cuba.
1964 – Vietnam War: U.S. officials deny
any involvement in bombing North Vietnam.
1965 – Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration
on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian
Religions" of the Second Vatican Council,
is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves
the Jews of responsibility for the death
of Jesus, reversing Innocent III's 760 year-old
declaration.
1965 – Construction on the St. Louis Arch
is completed.
1971 – Britain launches the satellite Prospero
into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow
carrier rocket, the only British satellite
to date launched by a British rocket.
1982 – The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
wins elections, leading to the first Socialist
government in Spain after death of Franco.
Felipe Gonzalez becomes Prime Minister-elect.
1990 – The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
holds the first multiparty legislature election
in the country's history.
1995 – 289 people are killed and 265 injured
in Baku Metro fire, the deadliest subway
disaster.
1998 – An Air China jetliner is hijacked
by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown
to Taiwan.
2005 – Plame affair: Lewis Libby, Vice-president
Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is indicted
in the Valerie Plame case. Libby resigns
later that day.
2006 – The funeral service takes place for
those executed at Bykivnia forest, outside
Kiev, Ukraine. 817 Ukrainian civilians (out
of some 100,000) executed by Bolsheviks
at Bykivnia in 1930s – early 1940s are reburied.
2007 – Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes
the first woman elected President of Argentina.
2009 – The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing
kills 117 and wounds 213.
2009 – NASA successfully launches the Ares
I-X mission, the only rocket launch for
its later-cancelled Constellation program.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Abdias of Babylon
Abgar V of Edessa (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Eadsige
Fidelis of Como (Roman Catholic Church)
Faro
Godwin of Stavelot
Job of Pochayiv (repose) (Eastern Orthodox
Church)
Jude the Apostle (Western Christianity)
Lord of Miracles (Lima)
Simon the Zealot (Western Christianity)
October 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the Establishment of an Independent
Czecho-Slovak State, celebrates the independence
of Czechoslovakia from Austria-Hungary in
1918. (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
International Animation Day (ASIFA)
Ochi Day (Greece, Cyprus and the Greek communities)
Prefectural Earthquake Disaster Prevention
Day (Gifu Prefecture)
Youth Pledge Day or Hari Sumpah Pemuda (Indonesia)
For details, contact Datacentre
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