March 28

What happened that day?

• 2006: Massive protests are mounted against France's First Employment Contract law, meant to reduce youth unemployment.
• 2005: An earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong), leaving 915-1,314 people dead and 340-1,146 injured.
• 2003: In a friendly fire incident, two American A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing one soldier.
• 1999: Kosovo War: Serb paramilitary and military forces kill 146 Kosovo Albanians in Izbica.
• 1994: In South Africa, African National Congress security guards kill dozens of Inkatha Freedom Party protesters.
• 1990: United States President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
• 1979: The British House of Commons passes a vote of no confidence against James Callaghan's government, precipitating a general election.
• 1979: A coolant leak at the Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania leads to the core overheating and a partial meltdown.
• 1978: The US Supreme Court hands down 5-3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.
• 1970: An earthquake strikes western Turkey at about 23:05 local time, killing 1,086 and injuring 1,260.
• 1969: Greek poet and Nobel Prize laureate Giorgos Seferis makes a famous statement on the BBC World Service opposing the junta in Greece.
• 1968: Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is killed by military police at a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students.
• 1959: The State Council of the People's Republic of China dissolves the government of Tibet.
• 1951: First Indochina War: In the Battle of Mạo Khê, French Union forces, led by World War II hero Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, inflict a defeat on Việt Minh forces commanded by General Võ Nguyên Giáp.
• 1946: Cold War: The United States Department of State releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
• 1942: World War II: A British combined force permanently disables the Louis Joubert Lock in Saint-Nazaire in order to keep the German battleship Tirpitz away from the mid-ocean convoy lanes.
• 1941: World War II: Britain's Mediterranean Fleet sinks three heavy cruisers and two destroyers of Italy's Regia Marina.
• 1939: Spanish Civil War: Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid after a three-year siege.
• 1933: The Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpool is believed to be the first airliner lost to sabotage when a passenger sets a fire on board.
• 1920: Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1920 affects the Great Lakes region and Deep South states.
• 1910: Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane, the Fabre Hydravion, after taking off from a water runway near Martigues, France.
• 1883: Tonkin Campaign: French victory in the Battle of Gia Cuc.
• 1871: The Paris Commune is formally established in Paris.
• 1862: American Civil War: In the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory. The battle began on March 26.
• 1860: First Taranaki War: The Battle of Waireka begins.
• 1854: Crimean War: France and Britain declare war on Russia.
• 1842: First concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, founded by Otto Nicolai.
• 1814: War of 1812: In the Battle of Valparaíso, two American naval vessels are captured by two Royal Navy vessels of equal strength.
• 1809: Peninsular War: France defeats Spain in the Battle of Medellín.
• 1802: Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid ever to be discovered.
• 1801: Treaty of Florence is signed.
• 1795: Partitions of Poland: The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a northern fief of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ceases to exist and becomes part of Imperial Russia.
• 1794: Allies under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld defeat French forces at Le Cateau.
• 1776: Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
• 1566: The foundation stone of Valletta, Malta's capital city, is laid by Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
• 364: Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor.
• 193: Roman Emperor Pertinax is assassinated by Praetorian Guards, who then sell the throne in an auction to Didius Julianus.
• AD 37: Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, entitled to him by the Senate.