August 28 - Events

Events

• 475 – The Roman general Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his capital city,Ravenna.
• 489 – Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths defeats Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.
• 1189 – Third Crusade: the Crusaders begin the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan
• 1349 – 6,000 Jews are killed in Mainz, accused of being the cause of the plague.
• 1511 – The Portuguese conquer Malacca.
• 1521 – The Ottoman Turks occupy Belgrade.
• 1542 – Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557) – Battle of Wofla: the Portuguese are scattered, their leaderChristovão da Gama is captured and later executed.
• 1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Delaware Bay.
• 1619 – Ferdinand II is elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1640 – Second Bishop's War: King Charles I's English army loses to a Scottish Covenanter force at theBattle of Newburn.
• 1789 – William Herschel discovers a new moon of Saturn.
• 1810 – Battle of Grand Port – the French accept the surrender of a British Navy fleet.
• 1830 – The Tom Thumb presages the first railway service in the United States.
• 1845 – The first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.
• 1849 – After a month-long siege, Venice, which had declared itself independent, surrenders to Austria.
• 1859 – A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far away as Japan.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Second Manassas.
• 1867 – The United States takes possession of the, at this point unoccupied, Midway Atoll.
• 1879 – Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, is captured by the British.
• 1898 – Caleb Bradham renames his carbonated soft drink "Pepsi-Cola".
• 1901 – Silliman University is founded in the Philippines. The first American private school in the country.
• 1913 – Queen Wilhelmina opens the Peace Palace in The Hague.
• 1914 – World War I: the Royal Navy defeats the German fleet in the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
• 1914 – World War I: German troops conquer Namur.
• 1916 – World War I: Germany declares war on Romania.
• 1916 – World War I: Italy declares war on Germany.
• 1917 – Ten Suffragettes are arrested while picketing the White House.
• 1924 – The Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union.
• 1931 – France and Soviet Union sign a treaty of non-aggression.
• 1937 – Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.
• 1943 – World War II: in Denmark, a general strike against the Nazi occupation is started.
• 1944 – World War II: Marseille and Toulon are liberated.
• 1953 – Nippon Television broadcasts Japan's first television show, including its first TV advertisement.
• 1955 – Black teenager Emmett Till is murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement.
• 1961 – Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes.
• 1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech
• 1963 – Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie are murdered in their Manhattan flat, prompting the events that would lead to the passing of theMiranda Rights.
• 1964 – The Philadelphia race riot begins.
• 1968 – Riots in Chicago, Illinois, during the Democratic National Convention.
• 1979 – An IRA bomb explodes on the Grand Place in Brussels.
• 1981 – The National Centers for Disease Control announce a high incidence of pneumocystis and Kaposi's sarcoma in gay men. These will soon be recognized as symptoms of an immune disorder, which will be called AIDS.
• 1986 – United States Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is sentenced to 365 years imprisonment for espionage for the Soviet Union.
• 1988 – Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured.
• 1990 – Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province.
• 1990 – The Plainfield Tornado: an F5 tornado hits in Plainfield, Illinois, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 28 people.
• 1991 – Ukraine declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
• 1991 – Collapse of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
• 1996 – Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales divorce.
• 1998 – Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law" but the bill is defeated in the Senate.
• 2003 – An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.
• 2005 – Hurricane Katrina begins to make landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi in the afternoon, and brings the most severe damage toSlidell and New Orleans.