28 January History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 28    -    The Roman Emperor Nerva names Trajan, an army general, as his successor.
  • 1547    -    Henry VIII of England dies and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Edward VI.
  • 1757    -    Ahmed Shah, the first King of Afghanistan, occupies Delhi and annexes the Punjab.
  • 1792    -    Rebellious slaves in Santo Domingo launch an attack on the city of Cap.
  • 1871    -    Surrounded by Prussian troops and suffering from famine, the French army in Paris surrenders. During the siege, balloons were used to keep contact with the outside world.
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  • 1915    -    The U.S. Coast Guard is founded to fight contraband trade and aid distressed vessels at sea.
  • 1915    -    The German navy attacks the U.S. freighter William P. Frye, loaded with wheat for Britain.
  • 1921    -    Albert Einstein startles Berlin by suggesting the possibility of measuring the universe.
  • 1932    -    The Japanese attack Shanghai, China, and declare martial law.
  • 1936    -    A fellow prison inmate slashes infamous kidnapper, Richard Loeb, to death.
  • 1941    -    French General Charles DeGaulle's Free French forces sack south Libya oasis.
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  • 1945    -    Chiang Kai-shek renames the Ledo-Burma Road the Stilwell Road, in honor of General Joseph Stilwell.
  • 1955    -    The U.S. Congress passes a bill allowing mobilization of troops if China should attack Taiwan.
  • 1964    -    The Soviets down a U.S. jet over East Germany killing three.
  • 1970    -    Israeli fighter jets attack the suburbs of Cairo.
  • 1986    -    The space shuttle Challenger explodes just after liftoff.

  • 28 January Birthdays

  • 1693    -    Anna "Ivanovna", Tsarina of Russia.
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  • 1706    -    John Baskerville, inventor of the "hot-pressing" method of printing.
  • 1933    -    Susan Sontag, American essayist and novelist (The Style of Radical Will, Illness as a Metaphor).