July 28

Events1540 - Thomas Cromwell is executed on order from Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.1609 - Bermuda is first settled, by survivors of the English Sea Venture, en route to Virginia. 1794 - Maximilien Robespierre is guillotined in front of a cheering crowd, for sending thousands of others to a similar fate during the French Revolution. 1809 - Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera - Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force under Joseph Bonaparte. 1821 - Peru: Jose de San Martin declares independence from Spain. 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church - The battle begins on this day when Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia. 1866 - The Metric Act of 1866 becomes law and legalizes the standardization of weights and measures in the United States. 1873 - The Japanese government implements land and tax reform as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms.1878 - Great Britain's William Gowland becomes the first non-Japanese to reach Yarigatake peak (3,180 meters), and he names the mountain the Japanese Alps, a name that is eventually used to refer to the entire mountain range.1896 - The City of Miami is incorporated. 1914 - World War I begins: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after it failed to meet the conditions of an ultimatum it set on July 23 following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serbian assassin. This event leads to the outbreak of war.1932 - US President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, DC. 1942 - World War II: USSR leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into Russia. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so will be immediately killed. 1943 - World War II: Operation Gomorrah - The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.1945 - A US Army B-25 bomber accidentally crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 injuring 26.1955 - The Union Mundial pro Interlingua is founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France. 1958 - Lord Jellicoe makes his maiden speech in the House of Lords.1965 - Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000. 1976 - The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude flattens Tangshan, the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.1994 - Pitcher Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers throws a perfect game against the California Angels in a 4-0 win at The Ballpark in Arlington. 1996 - Kennewick Man, the remains of a prehistoric man, was discovered near Kennewick, Washington.1997 - Guatemala becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.2002 - Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, were rescued after 77 hours underground. 2005 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army (The PIRA) call an end to their thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.2005 - A tornado touches down in a residential area in south Birmingham, England, causing £4,000,000 worth of damages and injuring 39 people.
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