May 28Birthdays & History

On this day: May 28 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 585 BCA solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated. It is also the earliest event of which the precise date is known.Europe
2. 621Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty's collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty.Asia
3. 934English king Æthelstan begins his invasion of Scotland.Europe
4. 1242Avignonet massacre: A group of Cathars, with the probable connivance of Count Raymond VII of Toulouse, murder the inquisitor William Arnaud and eleven of his companions.Europe
5. 1347Marriage of Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos and Helena Kantakouzene.Europe
6. 1533The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.Europe
7. 1588The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)Europe
8. 1644English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.Europe
9. 1754French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.EuropeNorth America
10. 1802In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon's troops.Europe
11. 1830U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them.North America
12. 1871The Paris Commune falls after two months.Europe
13. 1892In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.North America
14. 1905Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.AsiaEurope
15. 1907The first Isle of Man TT race is held.Europe
16. 1918The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.Europe
17. 1926The 28 May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.Europe
18. 1932In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.Europe
19. 1934Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.North America
20. 1936Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.Europe
21. 1937Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer, is founded.Europe
22. 1940World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first Allied infantry victory of the War.Europe
23. 1940World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.Europe
24. 1948Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.Africa
25. 1958Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.Latin America
26. 1961Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.Europe
27. 1962The Soviet Kosmos 5 satellite is launched.Europe
28. 1964The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as its first leader.Middle East
29. 1968Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 crashes near Nala Sopara in India, killing 30.Asia
30. 1974Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.Europe
31. 1975At Brampton Centennial Secondary School, student Michael Slobodian kills two people and injures 13 others before committing suicide.North America
32. 1975Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.Africa
33. 1977The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, is engulfed by fire, killing 165 people inside.North America
34. 1979Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.Europe
35. 1987An 18-year-old West German pilot, Mathias Rust, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow, Russia.Europe
36. 1991The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.Africa
37. 1995The 7.0 Mw Neftegorsk earthquake shakes the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt.Europe
38. 1996U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.North America
39. 1998Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.AsiaNorth AmericaAsia
40. 1999In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.Europe
41. 2002The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.North America
42. 2003Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.Oceania
43. 2004The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government.Middle East
44. 2008The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.Asia
45. 2010In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers.Asia
46. 2011Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.Europe
47. 2012The Arkankergen massacre in Kazakhstan's Alakol District kills 15 people.Asia
48. 2013Start of the Gezi Park protests in Turkey.Middle East
49. 2016Harambe, a gorilla, is shot to death after grabbing a three-year-old boy in his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, resulting in widespread criticism and sparking various internet memes.North America
50. 2017Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato wins his first Indianapolis 500, the first Japanese and Asian driver to do so. Double world champion Fernando Alonso retires from the race with an engine issue in his first entry of the event.AsiaAsia

Source: Wikipedia "May 28" / CC BY-SA 4.0