On this day: May 28

Events on May 28

• 585 BC According to the Greek historian Herodotus, a solar eclipse, accurately predicted by Thales of Miletus, abruptly ended the Battle of Halys between the Lydians and the Medes. Wikipedia
• 621 Tang forces led by Li Shimin defeated and captured Dou Jiande at the Battle of Hulao in the civil war that followed the collapse of the Sui dynasty. Wikipedia
• 1533 The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid. Wikipedia
• 1588 The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.) Wikipedia
• 1608 Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi debuted his second opera L'Arianna, now one of his lost works, at a royal wedding in Mantua. Wikipedia
• 1644 English Civil War: Royalist troops stormed and captured the Parliamentarian stronghold of Bolton, leading to a massacre of defenders and local residents. Wikipedia
• 1754 French and Indian War: Led by 22-year-old George Washington, a company of Virginia colonial militiamen ambushed a force of 35 Canadiens at the Battle of Jumonville Glen. Wikipedia
• 1830 U.S. president Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, authorizing him to negotiate with Native Americans for their removal from their ancestral homelands. Wikipedia
• 1871 The Paris Commune falls after two months. Wikipedia
• 1892 Scottish-American preservationist John Muir founded the environmental organization Sierra Club in California. Wikipedia
• 1901 Mozaffar ad-Din, Shah of Persia, granted exclusive rights to prospect for oil in the country to businessman William Knox D'Arcy. Wikipedia
• 1905 Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Wikipedia
• 1937 The rise of Neville Chamberlain culminated with his accession as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, being summoned to Buckingham Palace to "kiss hands". Wikipedia
• 1937 Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer, is founded. Wikipedia
• 1940 Second World War: Belgium surrendered to Nazi Germany, ending the Battle of Belgium. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first Allied infantry victory of the War. Wikipedia
• 1958 Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero. Wikipedia
• 1964 The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as its first leader. Wikipedia
• 1979 Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community. Wikipedia
• 1982 Falklands War: The British War Cabinet, which never considered using nuclear weapons in the conflict, ordered that the nuclear depth bombs on British ships return home. Wikipedia
• 1987 Mathias Rust, a West German aviator, flew his Cessna 172 from Helsinki, Finland, through Soviet air defences, landing illegally near Red Square in Moscow. Wikipedia
• 1999 In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display. Wikipedia
• 2002 An independent commission appointed by the Football Association voted two-to-one to allow Wimbledon F.C. to relocate from London to Milton Keynes. Wikipedia
• 2010 A train derailment and collision in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal, India, caused the deaths of at least 148 passengers. Wikipedia
• 2013 Start of the Gezi Park protests in Turkey. Wikipedia
• 2016 Harambe was shot and killed after grabbing a three-year-old boy in his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, drawing widespread criticism and inspiring internet memes. Wikipedia

Born on May 28

• 1759 William Pitt the Younger, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1806) Wikipedia
• 1779 Thomas Moore, Irish poet and composer (died 1852) Wikipedia
• 1807 Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American paleontologist and geologist (died 1873) Wikipedia
• 1853 Carl Larsson, Swedish painter and author (died 1919) Wikipedia
• 1879 Milutin Milanković, Serbian mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (died 1958) Wikipedia
• 1884 Edvard Beneš, Czech academic and politician, 2nd and 4th President of Czechoslovakia (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1888 Jim Thorpe, American decathlete, football player, and coach (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1908 Ian Fleming, English journalist and author, created James Bond (died 1964) Wikipedia
• 1912 Patrick White, Australian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1923 György Ligeti, Hungarian-Austrian composer and educator (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1925 Bülent Ecevit, Turkish journalist, scholar, and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Turkey (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1931 Carroll Baker, American actress Wikipedia
• 1938 Jerry West, American basketball player, coach, and executive (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1942 Stanley B. Prusiner, American neurologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1944 Rudy Giuliani, American lawyer and politician, 107th mayor of New York City Wikipedia
• 1968 Kylie Minogue, Australian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1971 Marco Rubio, American lawyer and politician Wikipedia
• 1985 Carey Mulligan, English actress Wikipedia
• 1990 Kyle Walker, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1994 John Stones, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1999 Cameron Boyce, American actor (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 2000 Phil Foden, English footballer Wikipedia

Died on May 28

• 1357 Afonso IV of Portugal (born 1291) Wikipedia
• 1747 Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French author (born 1715) Wikipedia
• 1787 Leopold Mozart, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (born 1719) Wikipedia
• 1805 Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer (born 1743) Wikipedia
• 1843 Noah Webster, American lexicographer (born 1758) Wikipedia
• 1849 Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet (born 1820) Wikipedia
• 1878 John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1792) Wikipedia
• 1916 Ivan Franko, Ukrainian economist, journalist, and poet (born 1856) Wikipedia
• 1937 Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish ophthalmologist and psychologist (born 1870) Wikipedia
• 1972 Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 2003 Ilya Prigogine, Russian-Belgian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2010 Gary Coleman, American actor (born 1968) Wikipedia
• 2014 Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2018 Jens Christian Skou, Danish medical doctor and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day (Croatia) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bernard of Menthon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Germain of Paris Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Calvin (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Lanfranc Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Margaret Pole Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Bagnesi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Thomas Ford Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ubaldesca Taccini Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: William of Gellone Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Downfall of the Derg (Ethiopia) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Philippines) Wikipedia
• Menstrual Hygiene Day Wikipedia
• Republic Day (Nepal) Wikipedia
• TDFR Republic Day, celebrates the declaration of independence of the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918. (Azerbaijan and Armenia) Wikipedia
• Youm-e-Takbir (Pakistan) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “May 28” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/May 28” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 28” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for May 28 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.