What Happened on January 28th in History
30 historical events on this date
Finnish Civil War: The Red Guard rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki; members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of recently independent Finland between White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic. The clashes...
The Order of the White Rose of Finland is established by Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, the regent of Finland.
The Order of the White Rose of Finland is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. The President of Finland is the...
Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
For centuries, Spain recruited foreign soldiers to its armies, forming the foreign regiments such as the Regiment of Hibernia. However, the specific unit of the Spanish Army and Spain's Rapid...
Knickerbocker Storm: Washington, D.C.'s biggest snowfall, causes a disaster when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses, killing over 100 people.
The Knickerbocker storm was a blizzard on January 27â28, 1922 in the upper South and the middle Atlantic United States. The storm took its name from the resulting collapse of the Knickerbocker...
Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
The January 28 incident or Shanghai incident was a conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. In apparent response to a mob attack on Japanese Buddhist monks, the Japanese in...
The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim...
Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion.
Iceland is a Nordic island country between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Europe and North America. It is culturally and politically linked...
The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen at a speed of 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9Â mph).
The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile...
Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
The Franco-Thai War was fought between Thailand and Vichy France over certain areas of French Indochina.
World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major...
Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance.
Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century....
The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
Lego is a brand of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made...
The National Football League announces expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for the 1961 NFL season.
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the...
An unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is a part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and is one of the six armed forces and...
The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament.
The national flag of Canada, popularly referred to as the Maple Leaf, consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the horizontal ratio of 1â¶2â¶1, in which is featured one stylized,...
The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977, which dumps 3 metres (10Â ft) of snow in one day in Upstate New York. Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas are most affected.
The blizzard of 1977 hit Western New York, Central New York, Northern New York, and Southern Ontario from January 28 to February 1 of that year. Daily peak wind gusts ranging from 46 to 69Â mph were...
USCGCÂ Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
USCGC Blackthorn (WLB-391) was a 180-foot (55Â m) seagoing buoy tender (WLB) of the United States Coast Guard that sank following a collision in Tampa Bay, resulting in 23 fatalities.
Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States, helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he became an important figure in...
US Army General James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.
The United States Army is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is designated as the army of the United States in the United States Constitution. As a part of the United...
Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region.
Severe Tropical Storm Domoina in 1984 caused 100-year floods in South Africa and record rainfall in Swaziland. The fourth named storm of the season, Domoina developed on January 16 off the northeast...
Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
"We Are the World" is a charity single recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones for the album We Are the...
Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for...
In R v Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws.
R v Morgentaler, [1988] 1 SCR 30 is a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada which held that the abortion provision in the Criminal Code was unconstitutional because it violated women's rights to...
TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100, crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing 94.
TAME Flight 120 was a Boeing 727-134 airliner, registration HC-BLF, named El Oro, operating as a scheduled international passenger flight between Quito, Ecuador and Cali, Colombia, with a scheduled...
The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Poland collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others.
Katowice International Fair was an international trade fair in Katowice and one of the largest in Poland. A few dozen events were organized there each year, with the participation of some 4,500...
A nitrogen leak at a poultry food processing facility in Gainesville, Georgia kills six and injures at least ten.
The 2021 Georgia poultry plant accident was an industrial disaster that occurred on January 28, 2021, in Gainesville, Georgia, United States. Six people were killed by asphyxiation and at least ten...
Protests begin in the United States after police beat and kill Tyre Nichols.
Protests over the killing of Tyre Nichols began on January 27, 2023, following the release of police body camera and surveillance footage showing five Black officers from the Memphis Police...
A Learjet 45 crashes on approach to Baramati Airport in Maharashtra, killing all six occupants including the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar.
The Learjet 45 (LJ45) is a mid-size business jet aircraft produced by the Learjet Division of Bombardier Aerospace.
The Rubaya mine collapse at Rubaya mines in DR Congo causes at least 400 deaths and injured several others.
On 28 January 2026, a severe collapse occurred at the Rubaya mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Initially, 200 people were estimated to have been killed in the collapse, but by 2...
Storm Kristin causes a catastrophic impact in Portugal and Spain with âŹ6 billion in damage in the central region of Portugal, 15 deaths and 2,000 injuries.
Storm Kristin was a compact, catastrophic and record-breaking extratropical cyclone that severely impacted Portugal, as well as parts of the Mediterranean and Southeastern Europe in late January...