On this day: 28 March

Years ago today

Events · 15

• 1809
  Battle of Medellín — 1809 battle during the Peninsular War
• 1918
  First Battle of Dernancourt — WWI battle fought in 1918 near Dernancourt in northern France
• 1933
  1933 Imperial Airways Diksmuide crash — biplane crash
• 1942
  St Nazaire Raid — 1942 marine operation during ww2
• 1961
  ČSA Flight 511 (March 1961) — 1961 aviation accident
• 1965
  1965 La Ligua earthquake — m7.4 earthquake and mining disaster in Chile
• 1970
  Gediz earthquake of 1970 — 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Kütahya in western Turkey on March 29, 1970
• 1979
  Three Mile Island accident — nuclear accident
• 1994
  Shell House massacre — 1994 shooting incident in central Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1996
  Taipei Metro — rapid transit system located in Taipei, Taiwan
• 1997
  Tragedy of Otranto — Sinking of Katër i Radës
• 1999
  Izbica massacre — 1999 massacre during the Kosovo War
• 2003
  190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals friendly fire incident — 2003 invasion of Iraq event
• 2005
  2005 Sumatra earthquake — earthquake
• 2025
  2025 Myanmar earthquake — Earthquake impacting Myanmar and Thailand

Births · 60

• 1472(Julian date)
  Fra Bartolomeo — Italian Renaissance painter (1472-1517)
• 1515(Julian date)
  Teresa of Ávila — Roman Catholic saint (1515-1582)
• 1592
  John Amos Comenius — Czech teacher, educator, philosopher and writer (1592-1670)
• 1727
  Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria — Duke of Bavaria (1727-1777)
• 1750
  Francisco de Miranda — Venezuelan military leader (1750–1816)
• 1840
  Emin Paşa — German physician, traveller and Turkish-Egyptian colonial governor (1840-1892)
• 1851
  Bernardino Machado — Portuguese president (1851-1944)
• 1862
  Aristide Briand — politician, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate from France (1862-1932)
• 1892
  Corneille Heymans — Belgian physiologist (1892-1968)
• 1894
  Ernst Lindemann — German naval officer
• 1895
  Christian Herter — American politician (1895–1966)
• 1897
  Sepp Herberger — German footballer and manager (1897-1977)
• 1902
  Flora Robson — English actress (1902-1984)
• 1909
  Nelson Algren — American novelist, short story writer (1909-1981)
• 1910
  Ingrid of Sweden — queen consort of Denmark
• 1914
  Bohumil Hrabal — Czech writer (1914–1997)
• 1914
  Edmund Muskie — American politician (1914–1996)
• 1921
  Dirk Bogarde — British actor (1921–1999)
• 1924
  Freddie Bartholomew — American actor (1924–1992)
• 1925
  Innokenty Smoktunovsky — Soviet and Russian actor (1925-1994)
• 1928
  Zbigniew Brzezinski — Polish-American diplomat and political scientist (1928–2017)
• 1928
  Alexander Grothendieck — French mathematician (1928–2014)
• 1930
  Jerome Isaac Friedman — American physicist
• 1935
  Józef Szmidt — Polish triple jumper (1935–2024)
• 1936
  Mario Vargas Llosa — Peruvian, Spanish and Dominican novelist and writer (1936–2025)

Deaths · 60

• 193(Julian date)
  Pertinax — emperor of Ancient Rome (126-193)
• 593(Julian date)
  Guntram — king of Burgundy from 561 to 592
• 966(Julian date)
  Flodoard — Frankish chronicler and priest (893/4 – 966)
• 1072(Julian date)
  Ordulf — Duke of Saxony
• 1134(Julian date)
  Stephen Harding — English-born monk and abbot
• 1239(Julian date)
  Go-Toba — Emperor of Japan
• 1241
  Valdemar II of Denmark — King of Denmark from 1202 to 1241
• 1563(Julian date)
  Heinrich Glarean — polymath and humanist
• 1584
  Ivan the Terrible — Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584
• 1687
  Constantijn Huygens — Dutch writer, poet and composer (1596-1687)
• 1794
  Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat de Condorcet — French philosopher, mathematician, and political scientist (1743–1794)
• 1868
  James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan — British Crimean War Lieutenant-General (1797–1868)
• 1870
  George Henry Thomas — United States Army general (1816-1870)
• 1874
  Peter Andreas Hansen — German astronomer (1795-1874)
• 1881
  Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky — Russian composer (1839–1881)
• 1893
  Edmund Kirby Smith — Confederate States Army general (1824-1893)
• 1894
  Ferdinand Heine — German ornithologist (1809–1894)
• 1900
  Piet Joubert — South African politician and general (1834–1900)
• 1903
  Magdalene Thoresen — Danish-born Norwegian writer
• 1910
  Édouard Colonne — French conductor and violinist (1838–1910)
• 1917
  Albert Pinkham Ryder — American painter (1847–1917)
• 1929
  Katharine Lee Bates — American poet and songwriter (1859-1929)
• 1941
  Virginia Woolf — English modernist writer (1882–1941)
• 1941
  Marcus Hurley — American racing cyclist (1883–1941)
• 1942
  Miguel Hernández — Spanish poet (1910–1942)