On This Day — 28 July

2022

Catastrophic floods devastate Eastern Kentucky, resulting in 45 fatalities and causing damage to thousands of homes and businesses.

2022 Appalachian floods

2018

Australian Wendy Tuck becomes the first female skipper to win the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

Wendy Tuck

2017

Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from office for life by Supreme Court of Pakistan after finding him guilty of corruption charges.

Nawaz Sharif

2011

While flying from Seoul, South Korea to Shanghai, China, Asiana Airlines Flight 991 develops an in-flight fire in the cargo hold. The Boeing 747-400F freighter attempts to divert to Jeju International Airport, but crashes into the sea South-West of Jeju island, killing both crew members on board.

Seoul

2010

Airblue Flight 202 crashes into the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad, Pakistan, killing all 152 people aboard. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Pakistan history and the first involving an Airbus A321.

Airblue Flight 202

2005

The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty-year-long armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.

Provisional Irish Republican Army

2002

Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground.

Coal mining

2002

Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 9560 crashes after takeoff from Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, killing 14 of the 16 people on board.

Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 9560

2001

Australian Ian Thorpe becomes the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championship meeting.

Ian Thorpe

1996

The remains of a prehistoric man are discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains will be known as the Kennewick Man.

Prehistory

1984

Olympic Games: Games of the XXIII Olympiad: The summer Olympics were opened in Los Angeles.

Olympic Games

1976

The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.

1976 Tangshan earthquake

1974

Spetsgruppa A, Russia's elite special force, was formed.

Alpha Group

1973

Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: Nearly 600,000 people attend a rock festival at the Watkins Glen International Raceway.

Summer Jam at Watkins Glen

1965

Vietnam War: U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

Vietnam War

1962

Beginning of the 8th World Festival of Youth and Students.

8th World Festival of Youth and Students

1960

The German Volkswagen Act comes into force.

Volkswagen Act

1957

Heavy rain and a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, kills 992.

Isahaya, Nagasaki

1945

A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.

North American B-25 Mitchell

1943

World War II: Operation Gomorrah: The Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg, Germany causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.

Bombing of Hamburg in World War II

1942

World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227. In response to alarming German advances, all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be tried in a military court, with punishment ranging from duty in a shtrafbat battalion, imprisonment in a Gulag, or execution.

World War II

1939

The Sutton Hoo helmet is discovered.

Sutton Hoo helmet

1938

Hawaii Clipper disappears between Guam and Manila as the first loss of an airliner in trans-Pacific China Clipper service.

Pan Am Flight 229

1935

First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

1932

During the Great Depression, U.S. president Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.

Great Depression

1917

Anti-lynching movement: The Silent Parade takes place in New York City, in protest against murders, lynchings, and other violence directed towards African Americans.

Anti-lynching movement

1915

The United States begins a 19-year occupation of Haiti.

United States occupation of Haiti

1914

World War I: In the culmination of the July Crisis, Austria-Hungary declares war on the Kingdom of Serbia and begins the Great War.

World War I

1911

The Australasian Antarctic Expedition began as the SY Aurora departed London.

Australasian Antarctic Expedition

1896

The city of Miami is incorporated.

Miami

1883

A moderate earthquake measuring magnitude 4.3–5.2 strikes the Italian island of Ischia, killing over 2,300 people.

1883 Casamicciola earthquake

1868

The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

1866

At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln).

Vinnie Ream

1864

American Civil War: In the Battle of Ezra Church, Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt under General John Bell Hood to prevent Union forces led by General William T. Sherman from approaching Atlanta, Georgia.

American Civil War

1854

USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy and current museum ship in Baltimore Harbor, is commissioned.

USS Constellation (1854)

1821

José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.

José de San Martín

1809

Peninsular War: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army repulse a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte in the Battle of Talavera.

Peninsular War

1808

Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.

Mahmud II

1794

French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France.

French Revolution

1778

Constitution of the province of Cantabria ratified at the Assembly Hall in Bárcena la Puente, Reocín, Spain.

Cantabria

1656

Second Northern War: Battle of Warsaw begins.

Northern War of 1655–1660

1635

Eighty Years' War: The Spanish capture the strategic Dutch fortress of Schenkenschans.

Eighty Years' War

1571

La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines, is founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomiendas (provinces) in the country.

Encomienda

1540

Henry VIII of England marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

Henry VIII

1402

Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I.

Battle of Ankara

1364

Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina.

Republic of Pisa