What Happened Today in History on July 28

The Papal States are established as Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, donates land to Pope Stephen II, creating a temporal domain for the papacy.

The Battle of Posada takes place between the Mongol Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, resulting in a Hungarian victory.

Henry VIII marries his Fifth wife, Catherine Howard at Oatlands Palace in Surrey on the same day that Thomas Cromwell, his once all-powerful minister was executed. On August 8 , Catherine was formally acknowledged as Queen at Hampton Court Palace. Catherine was the first cousin of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII second wife. The marriage was terminated on November 23, 1541 and Catherine was charged with adultery and she was executed on February 13, 1542.  More

Peru, officially The Republic of Peru, declares its independence from Spain. Peru is a country in western South America. It is bordered to the north by Ecuador and Colombia, to the east by Brazil, to the southeast by Bolivia, to the south by Chile, and to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. Peru has a population of over 32 million, and its capital and largest city is Lima Peru's with a metropolitan population exceeding 11 Million people.  Expand +

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed by the Senate in 1966, is officially adopted, having been ratified by the requisite number of states. The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states. More

Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia following the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke and Crown Prince of Austria in Sarajevo, marking the beginning of World War I. More

Hitler becomes Party Chairman and leader of the Nazis.

The Bonus Army, a group of 43,000 demonstrators – 17,000 veterans of U.S. involvement in World War I, their families, and affiliated groups gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand early cash redemption of their service bonus certificates. They were forcibly disbanded by the U.S. Army in Washington, D.C.

A B-25 Mitchell bomber of the United States Army Air Forces crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building in New York City while flying in thick fog. The crash, impacting the 79th floor killed the three crewmen and eleven people in the building and injured twenty-four others including Elevator operator Lou Oliver who plunged 75 stories in the elevator to the basement. She was injured but survived. The damage caused by the crash was estimated at US$1 million (equivalent to about $17 million in 2024), but the building's structural integrity was not compromised. More

Stalin Issues Order No. 227: “Not a Step Back” The order, intended to galvanize the morale of the hard-pressed Red Army under German attack. More

A 7.8 earthquake razes the Chinese city of Tangshan located about 68 miles east of Beijing. The official death toll, reported was 242,000 persons, but it may have been twice as high. At least 700,000 more people were injured and the property damage was extensive. More