On This Day: 28 July

Roman emperor Maximus is defeated near Aquilea by Byzantine emperor Theodosius I		388
Crusaders in the Second Crusade abandon their siege of Damascus		1148
Henry VIII marries Catherine Howard – his fifth wife; Thomas Cromwell is executed, on Henry's orders, on charges of treason		1540
English polymath Sir Thomas Harriot docks at Plymouth with Europe's first cargo of potatoes, from Colombia		1586
The English fleet uses fire ships to scatter the Spanish Armada		1588
Battle of Warsaw begins (Charles X of Sweden invades Poland)		1656
King Frederik Willhelm I of Prussia introduces compulsory education for children breween 5 and 12 years of age		1717
Danish explorer Vitus Bering (in service of Russia) discovers Mount St Elias – the second highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, being situated on the border between Yukon Territory and Alaska		1741
Maria Theresa of Austria and King Frederick the Great of Prussia sign a peace treaty in Berlin, ending the First Silesian War (part of the War of the Austrian Succession)		1742
The Forth and Clyde Canal is opened		1790
George II appoints Henry James Pye as Poet Laureate		1790
Twenty–three leaders of "the Terror", including Maximilien Francois Isadore de Robespierre, are executed by guillotine, to thunderous cheers, in Paris		1794
Mahmud II becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. Often described as 'Peter the Great of Turkey', the reforms he instituted in his 31–year reign would eventually lead to the birth of the modern Turkish Republic		1808
A combined British, Portuguese and Spanish army, under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, defeats a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte at the Battle of Talavera		1809
Argentine general José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain		1821
King Louis Philippe of France escapes an assassination attempt, but 18 bystanders are killed		1835
		1849
A total solar eclipse is photographed by daguerrotype		1851
USS Constellation, the last all–sail warship built by the US Navy and now a museum ship in Baltimore Harbor, is commissioned		1854
Sir William James Herschel of the Indian Civil Service uses fingerprints as a means of identification for the first time		1858
Gaspard Mix Tournachon ('Nadar') takes the world's first airborne photograph from his hot air balloon Le Gant, which had a two–storey gondola and its own darkroom		1858
US Secretary of State William H. Seward announces that the 14^th amendment to the US constitution has been ratified, giving African Americans equal personal and property rights to whites		1868
The USA signs a treaty allowing unlimited Chinese immigration		1868
A water tricycle with paddle wheels crosses the English Channel in less than eight hours		1883
Two thousand lives are lost when shocks triggered by volcano Epomeo (on the Isle of Ischia) destroy 1,200 houses at Casamicciola, near Naples		1886
A petition organised by suffragist Kate Sheppard, signed by over 25,000 women (20% of the country's adult European female population) is delivered to New Zealand's parliament		1893
The city of Miami, Florida is incorporated		1896
Louis Lassen serves what the establishment claims to this day to have been the first hamburger sold in the USA, at his lunch wagon in New Haven, Connecticut (Louis' Lunch)		1900
Vyacheslav Plehve, Russia's Interior Minister (hated for his repressive policies as leader of the most reactionary elements of government) is assassinated when Yegor Sazonov, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, throws a bomb into his carriage on his weekly audience with the Tsar		1904
In the culmination of the July Crisis, Austria–Hungary declares war on Serbia		1914
Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, orders the British Grand Fleet to Scapa Flow		1914
US Marines go ashore in Haiti on orders from President Woodrow Wilson, "because of virtual anarchy" – leading to an occupation that would last until 1934		1915
Ten thousand African–Americans march through New York City, in protest against recent murders, lynchings, and other violence. This so–called Silent Parade was organised by writer and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson, in response to riots in East St. Louis, Illinois, where at least 40 black people were killed by white mobs. The riots were sparked, in part, by a labour dispute where blacks were used for strike breaking		1917
The Games of the IX Olympiad open in Amsterdam		1928
The Boeing B–17 Flying Fortress makes its first flight at Seattle		1935
The 34,000–ton Cunard–White Star liner Mauretania is launched at Cammell Laird's Birkenhead yard		1938
The Sutton Hoo hemlet – described as "the most iconic object" from "one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries ever made", and perhaps the most important known Anglo–Saxon artefact – is discovered		1939
In response to alarming German advances, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin orders that 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 penal battalion, through imprisonment in a Gulag, to execution		1942
The Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg, causing a firestorm in which 42,000 German civilians would lose their lives		1943
Thirteen lives are lost when a B–25 bomber crashes into the Empire State Building		1945
Disney's Alice in Wonderland is released		1951
992 lives are lost in a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, caused by heavy rain		1957
Britain's first postcodes are introduced (in Norwich)		1959
The Volkswagen Act comes into force in Germany, regulating the privatisation of Volkswagen GmbH. In order to maintain government control, it stipulates that votes on major shareholder meeting resolutions require an 80% majority. This is deemed to violate the 'free movement of capital' principle of European company law; only in 2013 would the German parliament finally amend the law to the satisfaction of the EU court		1960
UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold arrives in the Congo on a mission to end the civil war		1960
President Johnson sends another 50,000 US troops to Vietnam, bringing the total number to 125,000		1965
Edward Heath becomes leader of the Conservative Party		1965
Lord Justice Denning rules that Mrs. Florence Nagle must be granted a racehorse training licence		1966
Thousands of British dockers begin an official strike to safeguard jobs. The Government would declare a state of emergency a week later, and after three weeks (on 17 August) the TGWU would call off the strike, accepting terms that include a ban on unregistered dockers, no redundancies, and assurances that all container work would be done inside the ports (precluding the use of cheaper, casual labour)		1972
An estimated 600,000 rock fans – recognised by Guinness World Records at the time as the largest audience at a pop festival – come to the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway outside Watkins Glen, New York, to see the Allman Brothers Band, Grateful Dead and The Band perform		1973
Spetsgruppa A – Russia's elite special force – is formed		1974
Liz Taylor and Richard Burton divorce for the second time		1976
Almost a quarter of a million lives are lost, and 160,000 people are injured, when the deadliest earthquake of the 20^th century strikes the Tangshan area of China		1976
The Games of the XXIII Olympiad open in Los Angeles		1984
Laura Davis becomes the first British winner of the US Women's Open		1987
Paddy Ashdown is elected as the first leader of the new Social and Liberal Democrat Party (formed by the merger of the Liberals and the SDP)		1987
Winnie Mandela's home in Soweto is destroyed by arson		1988
Sheikh Abdul Obeid, a leading Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim, is abducted by Israelis		1989
One of the most complete prehistoric skeletons ever found – around 9,000 years old – is discovered on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, USA		1996
Former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar wins £85,000 libel damages against The Sun, which said he took bribes to throw matches; however, this is later slashed to £1 after The Sun appeals, the House of Lords ruling that there was adequate evidence of dishonesty. Grobbelaar would be ordered to pay costs estimated at £500,000, and would be declared bankrupt when he was unable to do so		1999
The last 78 prisoners – 52 Republicans and 26 Loyalists – are freed from the Maze prison in Northern Ireland, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement		2000
Australia's Ian Thorpe becomes the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championship meeting		2001
Michael Jackson, head of Channel 4, defends his decision to screen Brass Eye's spoof documentary about paedophilia		2001
Nine coal miners, trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground		2002
The Provisional IRA calls an end to its thirty–year armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland		2005
A tornado touches down in a residential area in Birmingham, causing 39 injuries and four million pounds' worth of damage		2005
Four UN observers are killed in an Israeli air strike as heavy fighting continues in southern Lebanon		2006
Weston–Super–Mare's Grand Pier burns down for the second time in 80 years		2008
All 152 people on board lose their lives in Pakistan's deadliest ever aviation accident, and the first involving an Airbus A321, when a domestic flight from Karachi crashes into the Margalla Hills to the north of its destination, Islamabad		2010
The South African Journal of Science publishes details of the earliest evidence of cancer, found in a 1.7 million–year–old toe fossil from the Swartkrans cave, about 20 miles from Johannesburg (part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site)		2016
The Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualifies Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office for life, after finding him guilty of corruption charges		2017
The US Senate votes against 'skinny' repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) by 51 votes to 49, when Republican John McCain (known as a critic of Donald Trump) casts the deciding vote against; meanwhile, Trump announces retired US Marine Corps general John F. Kelly as his new Chief of Staff (to take office on 31 July)		2017
Colombia's Egan Bernal, aged 22, becomes the first Latin American winner of the Tour de France		2019
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is sentenced to 12 years imprisonment and fined nearly $50 million, after being found guilty of corruption		2020
Halley's Comet is predicted to reach perihelion on its next (31st) passage		2061

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On This Day: 28 July