On This Day — 28 October

2025

Hurricane Melissa makes landfall near Black River, Jamaica, killing over 30 people, as well as tying the 1935 Labor Day hurricane as the most intense landfall in the North Atlantic.

Hurricane Melissa

2023

The 2023 Rugby World Cup final is held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France. It saw South Africa defeat New Zealand 12 to 11, claiming their fourth Webb Ellis Cup, becoming the first nation to do so.

2023 Rugby World Cup final

2018

Jair Bolsonaro is elected president of Brazil with 57 million votes, with Workers' Party candidate Fernando Haddad as the runner-up. It is the first time in 16 years that a Workers' Party candidate is not elected president.

Jair Bolsonaro

2014

A rocket carrying NASA's Cygnus CRS Orb-3 resupply mission to the International Space Station explodes seconds after taking off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia.

Cygnus Orb-3

2013

Five people are killed and 38 are injured after a car crashes into barriers at Tiananmen Square in China.

2013 Tiananmen Square attack

2009

The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213.

28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing

2009

NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its short-lived Constellation program.

NASA

2009

US President Barack Obama signs the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Barack Obama

2007

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first directly elected female President of Argentina.

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

2006

A funeral service takes place at the Bykivnia graves for Ukrainians who were killed by the Soviet secret police.

Bykivnia graves

1995

The Baku Metro fire sees 289 people killed and 270 injured.

1995 Baku Metro fire

1990

Georgia holds its only free election under Soviet rule.

1990 Georgian Supreme Soviet election

1989

Aloha Island Air Flight 1712, a Twin Otter 300, crashed into terrain at night in Hawaii killing all 20 occupants onboard.

Aloha IslandAir Flight 1712

1982

The Spanish general election begins fourteen years of rule by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.

1982 Spanish general election

1971

Prospero becomes the only British satellite to be launched by a British rocket.

Prospero (spacecraft)

1965

Pope Paul VI promulgates Nostra aetate, by which the Roman Catholic Church officially recognizes the legitimacy of non-Christian faiths.

Pope Paul VI

1962

The Cuban Missile Crisis ends and Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1958

John XXIII is elected Pope.

Pope John XXIII

1956

Hungarian Revolution: A de facto ceasefire comes into effect between armed revolutionaries and Soviet troops, who begin to withdraw from Budapest. Communist officials and facilities come under attack by revolutionaries.

Hungarian Revolution of 1956

1954

Aeroflot Flight 136 crashes near Krasnoyarsk, killing 19.

Aeroflot Flight 136

1949

An Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes in the Azores, killing all 48 people on board.

Air France

1948

Paul Hermann Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.

Paul Hermann Müller

1948

Ecological disaster in Donora, Pennsylvania.

1948 Donora smog

1942

The Alaska Highway first connects Alaska to the North American railway network at Dawson Creek in Canada.

Alaska Highway

1940

World War II: Greece rejects Italy's ultimatum. Italy invades Greece through Albania a few hours later.

World War II

1928

Indonesia Raya, now the national anthem of Indonesia, is first played during the Second Indonesian Youth Congress.

Indonesia Raya

1922

Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.

Italian fascism

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.

Volstead Act

1918

World War I: A new Polish government in western Galicia is established, triggering the Polish–Ukrainian War.

World War I

1918

World War I: Czech politicians peacefully take over the city of Prague, thus establishing the First Czechoslovak Republic.

First Czechoslovak Republic

1893

Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique receives its première performance only nine days before the composer's death.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1891

The Mino–Owari earthquake, the largest inland earthquake in Japan's history, occurs.

1891 Mino–Owari earthquake

1886

US president Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.

Grover Cleveland

1864

American Civil War: A Union attack on the Confederate capital of Richmond is repulsed.

American Civil War

1835

The United Tribes of New Zealand are established with the signature of the Declaration of Independence.

United Tribes of New Zealand

1834

The Pinjarra massacre occurs in the Swan River Colony. An estimated 30 Noongar people are killed by British colonists.

Pinjarra massacre

1776

American Revolutionary War: British troops attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Continental Army.

American Revolutionary War

1746

The 1746 Lima–Callao earthquake causes up to 6,000 deaths in Peru, the deadliest in its history up to that point.

1746 Lima–Callao earthquake

1726

The novel Gulliver's Travels written by Jonathan Swift is published.

Gulliver's Travels

1707

The 1707 Hōei earthquake causes more than 5,000 deaths in Japan.

1707 Hōei earthquake

1664

The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established.

Royal Marines

1640

The Treaty of Ripon is signed, ending the hostilities of the Second Bishops' War.

Treaty of Ripon

1636

The Massachusetts Bay Colony votes to establish a theological college, which would later become Harvard University.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

1628

French Wars of Religion: The Siege of La Rochelle ends with the surrender of the Huguenots after fourteen months.

French Wars of Religion

1538

The Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino is founded in what is now the Dominican Republic.

Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino

1531

Abyssinian–Adal war: The Adal Sultanate seizes southern Ethiopia.

Ethiopian–Adal War

1520

Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific Ocean.

Ferdinand Magellan

1516

Second Ottoman–Mamluk War: Mamluks fail to stop the Ottoman advance towards Egypt at the Battle of Yaunis Khan.

Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517)

1492

Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba on his first voyage to the New World, surmising that it is Japan.

Christopher Columbus

1453

Ladislaus the Posthumous is crowned king of Bohemia in Prague.

Ladislaus the Posthumous

1449

Christian I is crowned king of Denmark.

Christian I of Denmark

1420

Beijing is officially designated the capital of the Ming dynasty when the Forbidden City is completed.

Beijing

1344

The lower town of Smyrna is captured by Latin Christians in response to Aydınid piracy during the Smyrniote crusades.

Aydinids

969

The Byzantine Empire recovers Antioch from Arab rule.

Byzantine Empire

312

Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman emperor in the West.

Constantine the Great

306

Maxentius is proclaimed Roman emperor.

Maxentius

97

Roman emperor Nerva is forced by the Praetorian Guard to adopt general Marcus Ulpius Trajanus as his heir and successor.

AD 97