May 28 in History

The Battle of Hulao, (Chinese: 虎牢之戰) or Battle of Sishui (汜水之戰, Wade–Giles: Ssŭ Shui), was a decisive Tang victory over the rival Zheng and Hebei-based Xia polities during the transition from Sui to Tang. The battle took place during the Luoyang–Hulao campaign on 28 May 621 when a Xia army – led by Dou Jiande, ruler of Xia – was defeated attacking a smaller Tang army – led by Prince Li Shimin – entrenched at the strategic Hulao Pass. Li launched the Luoyang–Hulao campaign in August 620, attacking eastwards and quickly besieging Wang Shichong, ruler of Zheng, in Luoyang. Zheng attempts to break the siege failed, and they appealed to Xia for help. In April 621, Dou led a Xia army of 100,000–120,000 troops westward to break the siege. Instead of retreating back to the Tang heartland in Shanxi, Li maintained the siege and took a small part of the Tang army further east to the Hulao Pass to block the Xia. A stalemate ensued for a few weeks; the Tang refused to fight outside of their positions, and the Xia refused to outflank Li or redirect their offensive to Shanxi. Li broke the stalemate at the end of May by feinting the departure of a large part of the Tang cavalry. On the morning of 28 May, the Xia issued a challenge by arraying for battle in the open. The Tang sapped the endurance and unit cohesion of the waiting Xia by delaying the main action. A Tang cavalry probe at noon developed into a general attack as Xia cohesion collapsed. The Xia retreat, disrupted by poor communications and Tang cavalry in the rear and flanks, turned into a rout. The Xia defeat and Dou's capture led to the surrender of both Zheng and Xia to Tang. Tang emerged with control over the central plains, a dominant position from which it completed conquering China in 628.

This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Saxons from about 886, and while he was not the first king to claim to rule all of the English, his rule represents the start of the first unbroken line of kings to rule the whole of England, the House of Wessex. Arguments are made for a few different kings thought to have controlled enough Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to be deemed the first king of England. For example, Offa of Mercia and Egbert of Wessex are sometimes described as kings of England by popular writers, but it is no longer the majority view of historians that their wide dominions were part of a process leading to a unified England. The historian Simon Keynes states, for example, "Offa was driven by a lust for power, not a vision of English unity; and what he left was a reputation, not a legacy." That refers to a period in the late 8th century, when Offa achieved a dominance over many of the kingdoms of southern England, but it did not survive his death in 796. Likewise, in 829 Egbert of Wessex conquered Mercia, but he soon lost control of it. It was not until the late 9th century that one kingdom, Wessex, had become the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Its king, Alfred the Great, was the overlord of western Mercia and used the title King of the Angles and Saxons though he never ruled eastern and northern England, which was then known as the Danelaw and had been conquered by the Danes, from southern Scandinavia. Alfred's son Edward the Elder conquered the eastern Danelaw. Edward's son Æthelstan became the first king to rule the whole of England when he conquered Northumbria in 927. Æthelstan is regarded by some modern historians as the first true king of England. The title "King of the English" or Rex Anglorum in Latin, was first used to describe Æthelstan in one of his charters in 928. The standard title for monarchs from Æthelstan until John was "King of the English". In 1016, Cnut the Great, a Dane, was the first to call himself "King of England". In the Norman period, "King of the English" remained standard, with occasional use of "King of England" or Rex Anglie. From John's reign onwards, all other titles were eschewed in favour of "King" or "Queen of England". The Principality of Wales was incorporated into the Kingdom of England under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, and in 1301, King Edward I invested his eldest son, the future King Edward II, as Prince of Wales. Since that time, the eldest sons of all English monarchs, except for King Edward III, have borne this title. After the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, her cousin King James VI of Scotland inherited the English crown as James I of England, joining the crowns of England and Scotland in personal union. By royal proclamation, James styled himself "King of Great Britain", but no such kingdom was created until 1707, when England and Scotland united during the reign of Queen Anne to form the new Kingdom of Great Britain, with a single British parliament sitting at Westminster. That marked the end of the Kingdom of England as a sovereign state.

The Avignonet massacre occurred on the eve of 28 May 1242 when a small force, mainly consisting of Cathars, massacred a group of inquisitors during the Albigensian Crusade. Guillaume Arnaud and Etienne de Saint-Thibery, the chief inquisitors of the County of Toulouse were visiting Avignonet. Arnaud and Saint-Thibery were lodged at the castle of Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse. The count's nephew, Raymond d'Alfaro sent a letter to Montsegur, where there were a number of prominent Cathars, including Pierre Roger. The letter informed Pierre Roger that the inquisitors were in Avignonet. Pierre Roger set out for Avignonet with about 15 knights and 40 horse riding sergeants, which was about half of his Montsegur garrison. Pierre Roger stopped at the town of Gaja-la-Selve, taking up a reserve position while the others continued. By nightfall, the raiders had arrived at Avignonet. A messenger continued to give them information about the activities of the inquisitors. Sympathetic locals opened the gates for the raiders and twelve knights and fifteen locals marched toward the castle. The raiders broke down the castle door and hacked the inquisitors to death. Eleven men died. The castle was then looted. The massacre was celebrated by Cathars in short vernacular songs (coblas esparsas). Eventually, the French government decided to crack down on the Cathars, resulting in the Siege of Montségur from 1243 to 1244.

The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and primate of the Church of England. In this capacity, they are the diocesan bishop of the diocese of Canterbury, the metropolitan of the province of Canterbury, and the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Ecclesial functions aside, the archbishop is also one of the 26 Anglican bishops who sit in the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual. The 106th archbishop is Dame Sarah Mullally, who was confirmed on 28 January 2026 and is the first woman to hold the office. The first archbishop of Canterbury was Augustine, the "Apostle to the English", who was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great and arrived in 597. From Augustine until William Warham the archbishops of Canterbury were in full communion with the Catholic Church. During the English Reformation, King Henry VIII broke communion with Rome and proclaimed himself the head of the Church of England. Thomas Cranmer, appointed in 1533, initially with Rome's approval, thereafter became the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury and would become one of the most important figures in the development of Anglicanism. The archbishop is appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the prime minister of the United Kingdom and formally elected by the college of canons of Canterbury Cathedral. In practice, however, candidates are chosen by the Crown Nominations Commission, a Church of England body which advises the prime minister.

The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada, lit. 'Great and Most Fortunate Navy') was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, and was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War. The Armada was commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat appointed by Philip II of Spain. His orders were to sail up the English Channel, join with the army of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma in Flanders, and escort an invasion force that would land in England and overthrow Elizabeth I. Its purpose was to reinstate Catholicism in England, end English support for the Dutch Republic in the north and prevent attacks by English and Dutch privateers against Spanish interests in the Americas. The Spanish were opposed by an English fleet based in Plymouth. Faster and more manoeuvrable than the larger Spanish galleons, its ships were able to attack the armada as it sailed up the Channel. Several subordinates advised Medina Sidonia first to enter Plymouth Sound and attack the English fleet before it could leave harbour and then to anchor in the Solent and occupy the Isle of Wight, but he refused to deviate from his instructions to join with Parma. Although the armada reached Calais largely intact, while awaiting communication from Parma, it was attacked at night by English fire ships and forced to scatter. The armada suffered further losses in the ensuing Battle of Gravelines and was in danger of running aground on the Dutch coast when the wind changed, allowing it to escape into the North Sea. Pursued by the English, the Spanish ships returned home via Scotland and Ireland. Up to 24 ships were wrecked along the way before the rest managed to get home. Among the factors contributing to the defeat and withdrawal of the armada were bad weather conditions and the better employment of naval guns and battle tactics by the English. The following year, England organized a similar large-scale campaign against Spain, known as the "English Armada", and sometimes called the "counter-armada of 1589", which failed. Three further Spanish armadas were sent against England and Ireland in 1596, 1597, and 1601, but these likewise ended in failure.

The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the struggle consisted of the First English Civil War and the Second English Civil War. The Anglo-Scottish war of 1650 to 1652 is sometimes referred to as the Third English Civil War.

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a conflict in North America between Great Britain and France, along with their respective Indigenous allies. Historians generally consider it part of the global Seven Years' War, which lasted from 1756 to 1763, although in the United States it is often viewed as a distinct conflict unassociated with any larger European war. Britain and France had been officially at peace following the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, but tensions over trade continued in North America. These tensions culminated in a dispute over the Forks of the Ohio, and the related French Fort Duquesne which controlled them. In May 1754, this led to the Battle of Jumonville Glen, when Virginia militia led by George Washington ambushed a French patrol. In 1755, Edward Braddock, the new Commander-in-Chief, North America, planned a four-way attack on the French. None succeeded, while the Braddock Expedition ended in disaster at the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9, with Braddock himself dying of his wounds a few days later. From 1755 to 1757, further British operations in Pennsylvania and New York failed, but were offset by the British capture of Fort Beauséjour on the border between British Nova Scotia and French Acadia. Over the next nine years, French settlers were expelled from Acadia and replaced by those from New England. The Seven Years' War began in 1756, and a number of disastrous campaigns in 1757, including the Louisbourg Expedition and Siege of Fort William Henry led to the fall of the British government. The new Prime Minister, William Pitt, significantly increased British military resources in the colonies when France was struggling to support their limited forces in New France, preferring to concentrate their forces in Europe. Between 1758 and 1760, the British launched a campaign to capture French Canada, taking Quebec in 1759, then Montreal the following year. This largely ended fighting in North America. In accordance with the 1763 Treaty of Paris, France ceded its Canadian possessions to Britain, along with its claim to territories east of the Mississippi River. France also gave French Louisiana west of the Mississippi to their ally Spain in the separate Treaty of Fontainebleau, in compensation for their losses to Britain. The French presence in North America was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming Britain's position as the dominant colonial power.

Guadeloupe is an overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and two Îles des Saintes—and 30 uninhabited islets and 3 inhabited islets. It is south of Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat and north of Dominica. The capital city is Basse-Terre, on the southern west coast of Basse-Terre Island; the most populous city is Les Abymes and the main centre of business is neighbouring Pointe-à-Pitre, both on Grande-Terre Island. It had a population of 395,726 in 2024.

The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

The Paris Commune (French: Commune de Paris, pronounced [kɔ.myn də pa.ʁi]) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the French National Guard had defended Paris, and working class radicalism grew among its soldiers. Following the establishment of the French Third Republic in September 1870 (under French chief-executive Adolphe Thiers from February 1871) and the complete defeat of the French Army by the Germans by March 1871, soldiers of the National Guard seized control of the city on 18 March. The Communards killed two French Army generals and refused to accept the authority of the Third Republic; instead, the radicals set about establishing their own independent government. The Commune governed Paris for two months, promoting policies that tended toward a progressive, anti-religious system, which was an eclectic mix of many 19th-century schools of thought. These policies included the separation of church and state, self-policing, the remission of rent, the abolition of child labor, and the right of employees to take over an enterprise deserted by its owner. The Commune closed all Catholic churches and schools in Paris. Feminism, communism, old-style social democracy (a mix of reformism and revolutionism) and anarchist/Proudhonist currents, among other socialist schools of thought, played important roles in the Commune. The various Communards had little more than two months to achieve their respective goals before the national French Army suppressed the Commune during the semaine sanglante ("bloody week") beginning on 21 May 1871. The national forces still loyal to the Third Republic government either killed in battle or executed an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Communards, though one unconfirmed estimate from 1876 put the toll as high as 20,000. In its final days the Commune executed the Archbishop of Paris, Georges Darboy, and about one hundred hostages, mostly gendarmes and priests. National army forces took 43,522 Communards as prisoners, including 1,054 women. More than half of the prisoners had not fought, and were released immediately. The Third Republic tried around 15,000 in court, 13,500 of whom were found guilty; 95 were sentenced to death, 251 to forced labor, and 1,169 to deportation (mostly to New Caledonia). Many other Commune supporters, including several of the leaders, fled abroad, mostly to England, Belgium or Switzerland. All the surviving prisoners and exiles received pardons in 1880 and could return home, where some resumed political careers. Debates over the policies and result of the Commune had significant influence on the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who described the régime in Paris as the first example of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Engels wrote: "Of late, the Social-Democratic philistine has once more been filled with wholesome terror at the words: Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Well and good, gentlemen, do you want to know what this dictatorship looks like? Look at the Paris Commune. That was the Dictatorship of the Proletariat."

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the fourth-most populous city in California and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with a population of 826,079 in 2025. Among U.S. cities with a population of 200,000 or more, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income, third by population density, and sixth by aggregate income as of 2024. Some 4.6 million residents live in the city's metropolitan statistical area, which is the 13th-largest in the United States. Around 9.2 million live in the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland combined statistical area, the fifth-largest in the United States.

The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the Liaodong Peninsula and near Mukden in Southern Manchuria, with naval battles taking place in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan. At the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895 had ceded the Liaodong Peninsula and Port Arthur to Japan before the Triple Intervention, in which Russia, Germany, and France forced Japan to relinquish its claim. Japan feared that Russia would impede its plans to establish a sphere of influence in mainland Asia, especially as Russia built the Trans-Siberian Railroad, began making inroads in Korea, and acquired a lease of the Liaodong Peninsula and Port Arthur from China in 1898. Japan signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902, and began offering to recognize Russia's dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea as part of Japan's sphere of influence. However, this was rejected by Russia. After negotiations broke down, Japan opened hostilities in a surprise attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur on 9 February [O.S. 27 January] 1904. Both sides declared war, and Japanese troops landed in Korea, crossed the Yalu River into Manchuria in May, and landed more forces on the Liaodong Peninsula. In August, the Japanese laid siege to Port Arthur, which eventually fell in January 1905. In March 1905, Japanese troops took Mukden, the Manchurian capital, after heavy fighting. The Russian Baltic Fleet, which had sailed over seven months and 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 km) from the Baltic Sea to reinforce its Pacific Fleet, arrived in the region in May and was intercepted and destroyed by the Japanese Combined Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima. The war was concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth (5 September [O.S. 23 August] 1905), mediated by US president Theodore Roosevelt. The treaty recognized Japanese interests in Korea, and awarded to Japan Russia's lease on the Liaodong Peninsula, control of the Russian-built South Manchuria Railway, and the southern half of the island of Sakhalin (Karafuto). The complete military victory of an Asian and non-Western nation over a European and Western power surprised international observers, and transformed the global balance of power, with the Empire of Japan emerging as a great power and the Russian Empire declining in prestige among the European powers. Russia's incurrence of substantial casualties and losses for a cause which resulted in a humiliating defeat contributed to internal unrest culminating in the 1905 Russian Revolution, during which the Russian autocracy was forced to make concessions. More widely, however, Japan's win effectively damaged the credibility of European dominance across Asia.

The Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) races are an annual motorcycle racing event held on the Isle of Man in May and June of mostly every year since its inaugural race in 1907. The two-week event is sanctioned by the Auto-Cycle Union, which also organises the event. The Manx government owns the rights to and promotes the event. The Isle of Man TT is a series of time-trial format races, run on public roads closed for racing. The event consists of one week of practice and qualifying sessions, followed by one week of racing. The closed public roads form the Snaefell Mountain Course, a 37.73-mile (60.72 km) route containing 219 turns that traverses through a mix of urban and rural areas. The event currently features 5 different classes of road racing, each competing in two races over the course of the racing week. Since the inaugural Isle of Man TT in 1907, the event has been held mostly every year since, with seasons being cancelled only due to war or disease outbreak. The TT has become part of the local culture and economy of the Isle of Man with more than 40,000 visitors annually travelling to the island for the event.

The Republic of Azerbaijan, better known in historiography as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, was the first secular democratic republic in the Turkic and Muslim worlds. The ADR was founded by the Azerbaijani National Council in Tiflis on 28 May 1918 after the collapse of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, and ceased to exist on 28 April 1920. Its established borders were with Russia to the north, the Democratic Republic of Georgia to the north-west, the Republic of Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. It had a population of around 3 million. Ganja was the temporary capital of the Republic as Baku was under Bolshevik control. Under the ADR, a government system was developed in which a Parliament elected on the basis of universal, free, and proportionate representation was the supreme organ of state authority; the Council of Ministers was held responsible before it. Fatali Khan Khoyski became its first prime minister. Besides the Musavat majority, Ahrar, Ittihad, Muslim Social Democrats as well as representatives of Armenian (21 out of 120 seats), Russian, Polish, German, and Jewish minorities gained seats in the parliament. Many members supported Pan-Islamist and Pan-Turkist ideas. Among the important accomplishments of the Parliament was the extension of suffrage to women, making Azerbaijan one of the first countries in the world, and the first majority-Muslim nation, to grant women equal political rights with men. Another important accomplishment of the ADR was the establishment of Baku State University, which was the first modern-type university founded in Azerbaijan.

The 28 May 1926 coup d'état, sometimes called 28 May Revolution or, during the period of the corporatist Estado Novo (English: New State), the National Revolution (Portuguese: Revolução Nacional), was a military coup of a nationalist origin, that put an end to the unstable Portuguese First Republic and initiated 48 years of corporatist and nationalist rule within Portugal. The regime that immediately resulted from the coup, the Ditadura Nacional (National Dictatorship), would be later refashioned into the Estado Novo, which in turn lasted until the Carnation Revolution in 1974.

The Afsluitdijk (Dutch: [ˈɑfslœydɛik] ; West Frisian: Ofslútdyk [ˈɔfslyːdik]; "closure dyke") is a major dam and causeway in the Netherlands. It was constructed between 1927 and 1932 and runs from Den Oever in North Holland province to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, over a length of 32 kilometres (20 mi) and a width of 90 metres (300 ft), at an initial height above Amsterdam Ordnance Datum of between 6.7 metres (22 ft) along the section at Friesland, and 7.4 metres (24 ft) where it crosses the deep channel of the Vlieter. The height at the greater sea depths west of Friesland was required to be a minimum of 7 metres everywhere when originally constructed. Increases to the height of the Afsluitdijk have been made several times since 1958 as part of regular maintenance since the deadly North Sea Flood of 1953. The section between the Stevinsluizen and Lorentzsluizen sluice complexes was raised to 7.8 metres. Major upgrade works commenced in 2019, with one of the design conditions being that only limited wave overtopping during the design storm condition be permitted. The design proposed by the successful contractor to meet this criterion will see a further increase in the height of the dam, by approximately 2 metres. The Afsluitdijk is a fundamental part of the larger Zuiderzee Works, damming off the Zuiderzee, a salt water inlet of the North Sea, and turning it into the fresh water lake of the IJsselmeer. It is a major land reclamation project and provides a road connection between the North and West of the Netherlands.

The Municipality of Callander is a township in central Ontario, Canada, located at the southeast end of Lake Nipissing in the Almaguin Highlands region of Parry Sound District. The municipality is located on Callander Bay, just south of North Bay.

Alan Mathison Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science.

Volkswagen (German pronunciation: [ˈfɔlksˌvaːɡŋ̍] ), commonly abbreviated to VW, is a German automobile brand based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by the German Labour Front, it was revived after World War II by British Army officer Ivan Hirst and, over the 81 years since, grew into the global brand it is today. As of 2025, the company had a market capitalization of approximately US$58.9 billion. The brand is well known for the Beetle and serves as the flagship brand of its eponymous conglomerate, the Volkswagen Group, which was the world's largest automotive manufacturer by global sales in 2016 and 2017. The name Volkswagen derives from the German words Volk ('people') and Wagen ('wagon'), meaning 'people's car', or more directly 'folk's wain (wagon)'.

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, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940, as a naval battle in Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian town of Narvik, as part of the Norwegian campaign of the Second World War. The two naval battles in Ofotfjord on 10 April and 13 April were fought between the British Royal Navy together with the Polish Navy (under British supreme command) and the German Kriegsmarine, while the two-month land campaign was fought by Norwegian, French, British, and Polish troops against German mountain troops, shipwrecked Kriegsmarine sailors, and German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) from the 7th Air Division. Although defeated at sea off Narvik, losing control of the town of Narvik and being pushed back towards the Swedish border, the Germans eventually prevailed because of the Allied evacuation from Norway in June 1940 following the Battle of France. Narvik provided an ice-free harbour in the North Atlantic for iron ore transported by rail from Kiruna in Sweden. Both sides in the war had an interest in securing this iron supply for themselves and denying it to the enemy, thereby setting the stage for one of the largest battles since the Invasion of Poland. Prior to the German invasion, British forces had considered Narvik as a possible landing point for an expedition to help Finland in the Winter War. Such an expedition also had the potential of taking control of the Swedish mines and opening up the Baltic for the Allies.

Daniël François Malan (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈdɑːni.əl franˈsʋɑː mɑːˈlan]; 22 May 1874 – 7 February 1959) was a South African politician who served as the fourth prime minister of South Africa from 1948 to 1954. The National Party implemented the system of apartheid, which enforced racial segregation laws, during his tenure as prime minister.

The Cuban Revolution was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew the emerging Cuban democracy and consolidated power. Among those who opposed the coup was Fidel Castro, then a young lawyer, who initially tried to challenge the takeover through legal means in the Cuban courts. When these efforts failed, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led an armed assault on the Moncada Barracks, a Cuban military post, on 26 July 1953.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; Arabic: منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, romanized: ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is currently represented by the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh. Founded in 1964, it initially sought to establish an Arab state over the entire territory of the former Mandatory Palestine, advocating the elimination of Israel. Mediated talks between the Israeli government and the PLO in 1993 (the Oslo I Accord) resulted in the PLO recognizing Israel's legitimacy and accepting United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which mandated Israel's withdrawal from occupied territories, while Israel recognized the PLO as a legitimate authority representing the Palestinian people. Despite the Israel–PLO Letters of Mutual Recognition (1993), in which PLO leader Yasser Arafat renounced violence against Israel, the PLO engaged in militant activities during the Second Intifada (2000–2005). On 29 October 2018, the PLO Central Council suspended the Palestinian recognition of Israel. As the officially recognized government of the State of Palestine, it has enjoyed United Nations observer status since 1974. Prior to the Oslo Accords, the PLO's militant wings engaged in acts of violence against both the Israeli military and civilians, within Israel and abroad. The United States designated it as a terrorist group in 1987, though a presidential waiver has permitted American–PLO contact since 1988.

On 28 May 1968, Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892, a scheduled international passenger flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam with stopovers in Singapore, Bangkok, Bombay, Karachi, Cairo, and Rome, crashed during the climb-out after take-off from Santa Cruz Airport for the flight's Bombay to Karachi leg. The Convair 990A jet airliner operating the flight went down at Bilalpada village near Nala Sopara, killing all 29 people on board and one person on the ground.

Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares an open border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. At the 2021 census, its population was 1,903,175, making up around 3% of the UK's population and 27% of the population on the island of Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly, established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the UK Government. The government of Northern Ireland cooperates with the government of Ireland in several areas under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The Republic of Ireland also has a consultative role on non-devolved governmental matters through the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo, as well as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. As of 2021, the population of West Africa is estimated at 419 million, and approximately 382 million in 2017, of which 189.7 million were female and 192.3 million male. The region is one of the fastest growing in Africa, both demographically and economically.

Brampton Centennial Secondary School (BCSS) is a public high school located in Brampton, Ontario, Canada and is part of the Peel District School Board. In September 2008, BCSS had 1,775 students.

On the evening of May 28, 1977, a fire occurred at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky. With a total of 165 deaths and over 200 injuries, it is history's seventh-deadliest nightclub fire.

Konstantinos G. Karamanlis was a Greek statesman who was the four-time Prime Minister of Greece and two-term president of the Third Hellenic Republic, serving in the former role from 1955 to 1963 and from 1974 to 1980. A towering figure of Greek politics, his political career spanned portions of seven decades, covering much of the latter half of the 20th century.

Mathias Rust is a German aviator. In 1987, as a teenage amateur pilot, he flew from Helsinki, Finland, to Moscow, without authorization. According to Russian claims, he was tracked several times by Soviet Air Defence Forces and civilian air traffic controllers, as well as Soviet Air Force interceptor aircraft. The Soviet fighters did not receive permission to shoot him down, and his aeroplane was mistaken for a friendly aircraft several times. Also, 28 May 1987 was Border Guards Day, leaving many guards distracted. He landed on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, next to Red Square near the Kremlin in the capital of the USSR.

Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. With an estimated population of 6,287,000 inhabitants as of 2025, it is the tenth largest city in Africa. At an elevation of 2,355 metres (7,726 ft), it is the fourth-highest capital city in the world and the highest capital in Africa. Addis Ababa is a highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative center of Ethiopia.

The 1995 Neftegorsk earthquake occurred on 28 May at 01:03 local time in northern Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. It was the most destructive earthquake known within the modern borders of Russia, with a magnitude of Mw 7.1 and maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent) that devastated the town of Neftegorsk. Many buildings collapsed, and 1,989 of its 3,977 citizens were killed, with another 750 injured. Infrastructure was catastrophically damaged, leading to Neftegorsk becoming a ghost town. Surface effects from the earthquake were widespread, with many geological features changing or developing. Due to its location along a poorly understood plate boundary, the earthquake received considerable attention from scientists, and dozens of research papers have been written about it.

William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979, the governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981, and governor again from 1983 to 1992. His centrist Third Way political philosophy became known as Clintonism, which defined his presidency and the succeeding decades of Democratic Party into the 21st century.

Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests have been carried out since 1945. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to signal strength. Because of their destruction and fallout, testing has seen opposition by civilians as well as governments, with international bans having been agreed on. Thousands of tests have been performed, with most in the second half of the 20th century.

Milan is the capital and largest city of the region of Lombardy, in northern Italy, and the seat of the Metropolitan City of Milan. It is the second-largest city in Italy after the country’s capital, Rome, with a population of 1,362,863 in 2026. The city's wider metropolitan area is the largest in Italy, and the fourth-largest in the European Union, with an estimated population of 6.55 million. Milan is considered Italy's economic capital, and its metropolitan area accounts for about 20% of the country's GDP.

The World Trade Center site, often referred to as "Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounded by Vesey Street to the north, the West Side Highway to the west, Liberty Street to the south, and Church Street to the east. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) owns the site's land. The original World Trade Center complex stood on the site until it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks.

Peter John Hollingworth was an Australian bishop who served as Governor-General of Australia from 2001 until his resignation in 2003. He had previously held the position of Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane from 1989 to 2001.

The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The IGC consisted of various Iraqi political and tribal leaders who were appointed by the CPA to provide advice and leadership of the country until the June 2004 transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government.

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point above mean sea level on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and its largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural sovereign state, with Nepali as the official language.

West Bengal is a state in the eastern part of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal. In 2011, its population was around 91 million in an area of 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi), while the population estimate as of 2026 is 100.6 million. West Bengal is the fourth-most populous and thirteenth-largest state by area in India, as well as the eighth-most populous country subdivision of the world. As a part of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders Bangladesh in the east, and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also borders the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the third-largest metropolis, and seventh largest city by population in India. West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, the coastal Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal. The state's main ethnic group are the Bengalis.

Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country located in the central Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago which is 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. The two official languages are Maltese and English; Maltese is recognised as the national language. The country's capital is Valletta, which is the smallest capital city in the European Union by both area and population.

The Arkankergen massacre occurred on 28 May 2012 in the Arkankergen military post in the Alakol District of Kazakhstan on the border with China, near the village of Usharal. Fifteen people were killed. A border guard, Vladislav Chelakh, initially confessed to the murders, but later retracted his confession.

A wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Turkey began on 28 May 2013, initially to contest the urban development plan for Istanbul's Gezi Park. The protests were sparked by outrage at the violent eviction of a sit-in at the park protesting the plan. Subsequently, supporting protests and strikes took place across Turkey, protesting against a wide range of concerns at the core of which were issues of freedom of the press, of expression and of assembly, as well as the AKP government's erosion of Turkey's secularism. With no centralised leadership beyond the small assembly that organised the original environmental protest, the protests have been compared to the Occupy movement and the May 1968 events. Social media played a key part in the protests, not least because much of the Turkish media downplayed the protests, particularly in the early stages. Three and a half million people are estimated to have taken an active part in almost 5,000 demonstrations across Turkey connected with the original Gezi Park protest. Twenty-two people were killed and more than 8,000 were injured, many critically.

Harambe was a western lowland gorilla who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo. On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old boy visiting the zoo climbed under a fence into an outdoor gorilla enclosure where he was grabbed and violently dragged and thrown by Harambe. Fearing for the boy's life, a zoo worker shot and killed Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to use lethal force. Several primatologists and conservationists wrote later that the zoo had no other choice under the circumstances, and that it highlighted the danger of zoo animals near humans and the need for better standards of care.

Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel, single-seater formula racing cars run by the Formula One Group and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the world's premier forms of motorsport since its inaugural running in 1950 and is often considered to be the pinnacle of motorsport. The word formula in the name refers to the set of rules all participant cars must follow. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix. Grands Prix take place in multiple countries and continents on either purpose-built circuits or closed roads, as street circuits.