October 28

Events

Pre-1600

* 97 – Roman emperor Nerva is forced by the Praetorian Guard to adopt general Marcus Ulpius Trajanus as his heir and successor.
* 306 – Maxentius is proclaimed Roman emperor.
* 312 – Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman emperor in the West.
* 969 – The Byzantine Empire recovers Antioch from Arab rule.
* 1344 – The lower town of Smyrna is captured by Crusaders in response to Aydınid piracy.
* 1420 – Beijing is officially designated the capital of the Ming dynasty when the Forbidden City is completed.
*1449 – Christian I is crowned king of Denmark.
* 1453 – Ladislaus the Posthumous is crowned king of Bohemia in Prague.
* 1492 – Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba on his first voyage to the New World, surmising that it is Japan.
*1516 – Second Ottoman–Mamluk War: Mamluks fail to stop the Ottoman advance towards Egypt at the Battle of Yaunis Khan.
*1520 – Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific Ocean.
*1531 – Abyssinian–Adal war: The Adal Sultanate seizes southern Ethiopia.
* 1538 – The Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino is founded in what is now the Dominican Republic.

1601–1900

*1628 – French Wars of Religion: The Siege of La Rochelle ends with the surrender of the Huguenots after fourteen months.
*1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony votes to establish a theological college, which would later become Harvard University.
* 1664 – The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established.
*1707 – The 1707 Hōei earthquake causes more than 5,000 deaths in Japan.
*1726 – The novel '' Gulliver's Travels'' written by Jonathan Swift is published.
*1776 – American Revolutionary War: British troops attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Continental Army.
*1834 – The Pinjarra massacre occurs in the Swan River Colony. An estimated 30 Noongar people are killed by British colonists.
*1835 – The United Tribes of New Zealand are established with the signature of the Declaration of Independence.
* 1864 – American Civil War: A Union attack on the Confederate capital of Richmond is repulsed.
*1886 – US president Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.
*1891 – The Mino–Owari earthquake, the largest inland earthquake in Japan's history, occurs.
*1893 – Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, ''Pathétique'' receives its première performance only nine days before the composer's death.

1901–present

* 1918 – World War I: A new Polish government in western Galicia is established, triggering the Polish–Ukrainian War.
* 1918 – World War I: Czech politicians peacefully take over the city of Prague, thus establishing the First Czechoslovak Republic.
*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.
* 1922 – Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.
* 1928 – Indonesia Raya, now the national anthem of Indonesia, is first played during the Second Indonesian Youth Congress.
*1940 – World War II: Greece rejects Italy's ultimatum. Italy invades Greece through Albania a few hours later.
*1942 – The Alaska Highway first connects Alaska to the North American railway network at Dawson Creek in Canada.
* 1948 – Paul Hermann Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.
* 1949 – An Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes in the Azores, killing all 48 people on board.
* 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.
* 1958 – John XXIII is elected Pope.
*1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis ends and Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.
* 1965 – Pope Paul VI promulgates '' Nostra aetate'', by which the Roman Catholic Church officially recognizes the legitimacy of non-Christian faiths.
* 1971 – Prospero becomes the only British satellite to be launched by a British rocket.
* 1982 – The Spanish general election begins fourteen years of rule by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.
* 1990 – Georgia holds its only free election under Soviet rule.
*1995 – The Baku Metro fire sees 289 people killed and 270 injured.
* 2006 – A funeral service takes place at the Bykivnia graves for Ukrainians who were killed by the Soviet secret police.
* 2007 – Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first directly elected female President of Argentina.
* 2009 – The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213.
* 2009 – NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its short-lived Constellation program.
* 2009 – US President Barack Obama signs the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
*2013 – Five people are killed and 38 are injured after a car crashes into barriers at Tiananmen Square in China.
*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.
*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.

Births

Pre-1600

* 1017 – Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1056)
* 1466 – Erasmus, Dutch philosopher (d. 1536)
*1479 – John Gage, English courtier (d. 1556)
* 1510 – Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía, Spanish priest and saint, 3rd Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1572)
* 1550 – Stanislaus Kostka, Polish saint (d. 1568)
*1585 – Cornelius Jansen, Dutch bishop and theologian (d. 1638)
* 1599 – Marie of the Incarnation, foundress of the Ursuline Monastery in Quebec (d. 1672)

1601–1900

* 1610 – Jacob Kettler, 3rd duke of Courland and Semigallia (d. 1682)
*1667 – Maria Anna of Neuburg, Queen consort of Spain
*1690 – Peter Tordenskjold, Norwegian admiral (d. 1720)
*1693 – Šimon Brixi, Czech composer (d. 1735)
* 1696 – Maurice de Saxe, French general (d. 1750)
*1703 – Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1768)
*1718 – Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian priest, mathematician, astronomer, and explorer (d. 1793)
*1733 – Franz Ignaz von Beecke, German composer (d. 1803)
* 1754 – John Laurens, American soldier (d. 1782)
*1767 – Marie of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1852)
*1793 – Eliphalet Remington, American businessman, founded Remington Arms (d. 1861)
*1794 – Robert Liston, Scottish surgeon (d. 1847)
* 1804 – Pierre François Verhulst, Belgian mathematician and theorist (d. 1849)
* 1815 – Ľudovít Štúr, Slovak philologist and politician (d. 1856)
*1816 – Malwida von Meysenbug, German writer (d. 1903)
*1837 – Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1913)
* 1839 – Edward P. Allen, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 1909)
* 1845 – Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist and chemist (d. 1888)
*1846 – Auguste Escoffier, French chef and author (d. 1935)
*1854 – Jean-Marie Guyau, French philosopher and poet (d. 1888)
* 1860 – Kanō Jigorō, Japanese martial artist (d. 1938)
* 1864 – Adolfo Camarillo – Sister Nivedita, Irish-Indian nurse, author, and educator (d. 1911)
*1875 – Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, Turkish-Canadian journalist (d. 1966)
* 1877 – Joe Adams, American baseball player and manager (d. 1952)
* 1879 – Channing H. Cox, American lawyer and politician, 49th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1968)
*1880 – Wilhelm Anderson, Belarusian-Estonian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1940)
* 1880 – Billy Wedlock, English footballer (d. 1965)
*1881 – Vin Coutie, Australian footballer (d. 1951)
*1884 – William Douglas Cook, New Zealand horticulturalist, founded Eastwoodhill Arboretum (d. 1967)
* 1885 – Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1922)
*1886 – Noel Macklin, English soldier and engineer (d. 1946)
*1888 – Christopher Vane, 10th Baron Barnard, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Durham (d. 1964)
*1889 – Juliette Béliveau, Canadian actress and singer (d. 1975)
*1892 – Dink Johnson, American pianist, drummer, and clarinet player (d. 1954)
*1893 – Christopher Kelk Ingold, British chemist (d. 1970)
*1896 – Howard Hanson, American composer, conductor, and educator (d. 1981)
*1897 – Edith Head, American costume designer (d. 1981)
* 1897 – Hans Speidel, German general (d. 1984)

1901–present

*1901 – Eileen Shanahan, Irish poet (d. 1979)
*1902 – Elsa Lanchester, English-American actress and singer (d. 1986)
*1903 – John Chamberlain, American historian, journalist, and critic (d. 1995)
* 1903 – Evelyn Waugh, English journalist, author, and critic (d. 1966)
*1904 – George Dangerfield, English-American historian, journalist, and author (d. 1986)
*1905 – Tatyana Pavlovna Ehrenfest, Dutch mathematician (d. 1984)
*1907 – John Hewitt, Irish poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1987)
* 1908 – Arturo Frondizi, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Argentina (d. 1995)
*1909 – Francis Bacon, Irish painter and illustrator (d. 1992)
* 1912 – Richard Doll, English physiologist and epidemiologist (d. 2005)
*1914 – Glenn Robert Davis, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1988)
* 1914 – Jonas Salk, American biologist and physician (d. 1995)
* 1914 – Richard Laurence Millington Synge, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
*1916 – Pearl Hackney, English actress (d. 2009)
*1917 – Jack Soo, American actor and singer (d. 1979)
*1919 – Walt Hansgen, American race car driver (d. 1966)
* 1919 – Hans Klenk, German race car driver (d. 2009)
* 1921 – Azumafuji Kin'ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 40th Yokozuna (d. 1973)
* 1922 – Gershon Kingsley, German-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
* 1922 – Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwe politician, 1st Vice President of Zimbabwe (d. 2003)
* 1922 – Butch van Breda Kolff, American basketball player and coach (d. 2007)
*1923 – John Connell, American actor (d. 2015)
* 1924 – Antonio Creus, Spanish race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 1996)
* 1924 – Peddibhotla Suryakantam, Telugu actress (d. 1994)
*1925 – Ian Hamilton Finlay, Bahamian-Scottish poet, sculptor, and gardener (d. 2006)
*1926 – Bowie Kuhn, American lawyer and businessman (d. 2007)
*1927 – Cleo Laine, English singer and actress
* 1928 – Ion Mihai Pacepa, Romanian general (d. 2021)
* 1928 – William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
*1929 – Marcel Bozzuffi, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1988)
* 1929 – Virginia Held, American philosopher, author, and academic
* 1929 – John Hollander, American poet, critic, and educator (d. 2013)
* 1929 – Joan Plowright, English actress
*1930 – Bernie Ecclestone, English businessman
*1931 – Harold Battiste, American saxophonist, pianist, and composer (d. 2015)
* 1932 – Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Cyprus (d. 2002)
* 1932 – Suzy Parker, American model and actress (d. 2003)
* 1933 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (d. 1983)
* 1933 – Michael Noakes, English painter and illustrator (d. 2018)
*1934 – Charles A. Gargano, American diplomat, businessman and government official
* 1935 – Alan Clarke, English director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
*1936 – Charlie Daniels, American singer-songwriter, fiddle-player and guitarist (d. 2020)
* 1936 – Ted Hawkins, American soul-blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
* 1937 – Graham Bond, English keyboard player, singer, and saxophonist (d. 1974)
* 1937 – Lenny Wilkens, American basketball player and coach
* 1938 – Keigo Abe