October 28

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