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306 - Maxentius is proclaimed Roman Emperor.

312 - Battle of Milvian Bridge: Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the only Roman Emperor.

1492 - Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba.

1516 - Battle of Yaunis Khan: Turkish forces under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mameluks near Gaza.

1531 - Battle of Amba Sel: Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi again defeats the army of Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia. The southern part of Ethiopia falls under Imam Ahmad's control.

1538 - The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established.

1628 - The Siege of La Rochelle, which had been ongoing for 14 months, ends with Huguenot surrender

1636 - A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes the first college in what would become the United States, today known as Harvard University.

1664 - The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot later to be known as the Royal Marines is established.

1775 - American Revolutionary War A British proclamation forbids residents from leaving Boston.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of White Plains - British Army forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.

1834 - The Battle of Pinjarra occurs in the Swan River Colony in present-day Pinjarra, Western Australia. Between 14 and 40 Aborigines are killed by British colonists.

1848 - The first railroad in Spain - between Barcelona and Mataró - is opened.

1864 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Fair Oaks ends - Union Army forces under General Ulysses S. Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia, after failing to breach the Confederate defenses around Richmond, Virginia.

1868 - Thomas Edison applied for his first patent, an electrical vote recorder.

1886 - In New York Harbor, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.

1893 - Tchaikovksy's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, ''Pathétique'', premiered in St. Petersburg, only nine days before the composer's death.

1905 - George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession is first performed in New York; though it had previously been performed in London, it had been censored, and the American performance was the first on the public stage.

1914 - The single largest one-day percentage decline of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the recorded history of the New York stock market.

1918 - World War I: Czechoslovakia is granted its independence from Austria-Hungary.

1918 - The German fleet is immobilized when sailors mutiny en masse and disobey an order to leave port five times; 1,000 would ultimately be arrested.

1918 - New Polish government in Western Galicia (Central Europe) is established.

1919 - The U.S. Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January.

1922 - March on Rome: Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government with the assistance of the Catholic Church; Pope Pius XI declares that "Mussolini is a man sent by divine providence."

1936 - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicates the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.

1940 - World War II: Italy invades Greece through Albania. This was the selected anniversary of Greece's entry into World War II. It is celebrated in Greece as Oxi (No) Day (Όχι=No) Day.

1941 - Holocaust in Kaunas, Lithuania: German SS forces arrange the massacre of more than 9,000 Jews of Kaunas ghetto. All Jews, men, women, children at 6 am, assembled on the big Demokratu square to be shot and buried later into the gigantic ditches.

1942 - The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska.

1942 - Holocaust: 2,000 Jewish children and 6,000 Jewish adults from Cracow are deported by Germans to Belzec death camp.

1942 - Holocaust: SS directive orders all Jewish children's mittens and stockings to be sent from the death camps to the SS families.

1943 - The alleged Philadelphia Experiment supposedly occurred.

1948 - Swiss chemist Paul Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.

1949 - Georges Bidault becomes Prime Minister of France

1950 - The Jack Benny Show, starring Jack Benny, premieres on American TV. It ran for 15 years.

1954 - The modern Kingdom of the Netherlands is re-founded as a federal monarchy.

1958 - Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli becomes the Pope and takes the name Pope John XXIII.

1961 - Chuck Berry goes on trial for the second time.

1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.

1962 - Y.A. Tittle of the New York Giants became the third quarterback in NFL history to throw seven touchdown passes in one game.

1964 - Vietnam War: U.S. officials deny any involvement in bombing North Vietnam.

1965 - French foreign minister Couve de Murville travels to Moscow.

1965 - Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves the Jews of the alleged killing of Jesus, reversing Innocent III's declaration from 760 years ago. In short, Pope Paul VI announces that the ecumenical council has decided that Jews are not collectively responsible for the killing of Christ.

1965 - In St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot-tall parabolic (catenarian) stainless steel Gateway Arch monument is completed.

1970 - The land speed record set by Gary Gabelich in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas.

1971 - Britain launches its first (and as of 2006, only) satellite, Prospero, into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow carrier rocket.

1976 - John D. Ehrlichman, former domestic policy adviser of President Nixon and convicted Watergate felon, arrives at the Swift Trail Camp minimum-security facility in southeastern Arizona.

1981 - The heavy metal band Metallica is founded.

1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes general secretary of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union.

1985 - The English-language version of the musical Les Miserables premieres in London.

1985 - Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and makes peace overtures to the United States; American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government.

1986 - The centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication is re-celebrated in New York Harbor.

1988 - The French drug manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it will resume distribution of the so-called abortion drug RU-486.

1997 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains a record 337.17 points to close at 7,498.32.

1998 - An Air China (Mainland China) jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.

2005 - Plame affair: Lewis Libby, Vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is indicted in the Valerie Plame case. Libby resigns later that day.

2006 - Voting on a new constitution that would make Kosovo officially a part of Serbia begins; voter turnout on day one was low. (BBC)

2006 - Funeral service for the peace of the executed at Bykivnia forest, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, with reburial of 817 Ukrainian civilians (out of some 100.000) executed by bolshevik communists at Bykivnia in 1930s - early 1940s.

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1510 - Francis Borgia, Spanish duke and Jesuit priest (d. 1572)

1585 - Cornelius Jansen, Dutch bishop (d. 1638)

1691 - Peder Tordenskjold, Norwegian naval hero (d. 1720)

1697 - Canaletto, Italian artist (d. 1768)

1703 - Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (d. 1768)

1718 - Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian Jesuit missionary (d. 1793)

1793 - Eliphalet Remington, American firearms manufacturer (d. 1861)

1804 - Pierre François Verhulst, Belgian mathematician (d. 1849)

1818 (O.S.) - Ivan Turgenev, Russian writer (d. 1883)

1845 - Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist (d. 1888)

1846 - Georges Auguste Escoffier, French chef (d. 1935)

1875 - Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, American geographer and editor (National Geographic Society) (d. 1966)

1877 - Joe Adams, Baseball player (d. 1952)

1885 (O.S.) - Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet (d. 1922)

1891 - Ormer Locklear, American movie stunt pilot (d. 1920)

1892 - Dink Johnson, American musician (d. 1954)

1896 - Howard Hanson, American composer (d. 1981)

1902 - Elsa Lanchester, British-born actress (d. 1986)

1903 - Evelyn Waugh, English writer (d. 1966)

1907 - Edith Head, American costume designer (d. 1981)

1907 - John Hewitt, Northern Irish poet (d. 1987)

1908 - Arturo Frondizi, President of Argentina (d. 1995)

1909 - Francis Bacon, Anglo-Irish painter (d. 1992)

1912 - Richard Doll, English epidemiologist (d. 2005)

1914 - Jonas Salk, American medical scientist (d. 1995)

1914 - Richard Laurence Millington Synge, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)

1914 - Glenn Robert Davis, U.S. Congressman (d. 1988)

1915 - Paul Jarrico, American screenwriter (d. 1997)

1917 - Jack Soo, American actor (d. 1979)

1922 - Gershon Kingsley, German composer

1922 - Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwe politician (d. 2003)

1926 - Bowie Kuhn, Commissioner of Major League Baseball

1927 - Dame Cleo Laine, British jazz/scat singer

1928 - Ion Mihai Pacepa, Romanian general

1929 - Joan Plowright, British actress

1929 - Marcel Bozzuffi, French actor (d. 1988)

1929 - John Hollander, American poet

1930 - Bernie Ecclestone, English racing official

1932 - Suzy Parker, American actress (d. 2003)

1933 - Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (d. 1983)

1936 - Charlie Daniels, American musician

1936 - Curtis Lee, American singer

1938 - Anne Perry, English-born novelist

1939 - Jane Alexander, American actress

1939 - Miroslav Cerar, Yugoslav gymnast

1940 - Susan Harris, American TV writer and producer

1941 - John Hallam, Irish actor

1941 - Hank Marvin, English guitarist

1942 - Kees Verkerk, Dutch speed skater

1943 - Conny Froboess, German singer

1944 - Dennis Franz, American actor

1944 - Anton Schlecker, German billionaire

1944 - Coluche, French comedian and actor (d. 1986)

1945 - Wayne Fontana, English singer (The Mindbenders)

1946 - Wim Jansen, Dutch football player and coach

1948 - Telma Hopkins, American singer (Tony Orlando and Dawn)

1949 - Bruce Jenner, American decathlon Olympic Gold Medal winner (1976)

1950 - Sihem Bensedrine, Tunisian human rights activist

1952 - Annie Potts, American actress

1953 - Pierre Boivin, French Canadian businessman and National Hockey League executive (Montreal Canadiens)

1955 - Bill Gates, American software pioneer & entrepeneur

1956 - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the controversial President of Iran

1962 - Daphne Zuniga, American actress

1963 - Lauren Holly, American actress

1963 - Eros Ramazzotti, Italian singer

1965 - Jami Gertz, American actress

1966 - Steve Atwater, American football player

1967 - Julia Roberts, American megastar actress

1967 - Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein

1969 - Ben Harper. American musician

1972 - Terrell Davis, American football player

1974 - Joaquin Phoenix, American actor

1974 - Dayanara Torres, Puerto Rican model and former Miss Universe

1976 - Karl Tremblay, Québécois singer (Les Cowboys Fringants)

1980 - Christy Hemme, American female professional wrestler

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312 - Maxentius, Roman emperor (b. c. 278)

1225 - Jien, Japanese poet and historian (b. 1155)

1412 - Margaret I of Denmark, wife of Haakon VI of Norway (b. 1353)

1485 - Rodolphus Agricola, Dutch humanist (b. 1443)

1520 - Pier Gerlofs Donia, Frisian pirate and freedom fighter

1568 - Ashikaga Yoshihide, Japanese shogun (b. 1539)

1627 - Jahangir, Mughal Emperor of India (b. 1569)

1639 - Stefano Landi, Italian composer (b. 1587)

1646 - William Dobson, English painter (b. 1610)

1661 - Agustín Moreto y Cavana, Spanish playwright (b. 1518)

1676 - Jean Desmarets, French writer (b. 1595)

1703 - John Wallis, English mathematician (b. 1616)

1704 - John Locke, English philosopher (b. 1632)

1708 - Prince George of Denmark, consort of Queen Anne of England (b. 1653)

1716 - Stephen Fox, English politician (b. 1627)

1740 - Empress Anna of Russia (b. 1693)

1754 - Friedrich von Hagedorn, German poet (b. 1708)

1755 - Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (b. 1689)

1763 - Heinrich, count von Brühl, German statesman (b. 1700)

1768 - Michel Blavet, French flutist (b. 1700)

1792 - Paul Möhring, German physician and scientist (b. 1710)

1792 - John Smeaton, English civil engineer (b. 1724)

1800 - Artemas Ward, American politician and soldier (b. 1727)

1806 - Charlotte Turner Smith, English poet and novelist (b. 1749)

1818 - Abigail Adams, First Lady of the United States (b. 1744)

1841 - Johan August Arfwedson, Swedish chemist (b. 1792)

1857 - Louis Eugène Cavaignac, French soldier and politician (b. 1802)

1877 - Robert Swinhoe, British naturalist (b. 1835)

1879 - Marie Roch Louis Reybaud, French writer (b. 1799)

1897 - Hercules Robinson, British colonial administrator (b. 1824)

1899 - Ottmar Mergenthaler, German-born inventor (tuberculosis) (b. 1854)

1900 - Max Müller, German-born orientalist (b. 1823)

1916 - Cleveland Abbe, American meteorologist (b. 1838)

1916 - Oswald Boelcke, German pilot (b. 1891)

1917 - Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (b. 1831)

1918 - Ulisse Dini, Italian mathematician (b. 1845)

1929 - Bernhard von Bülow, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1849)

1952 - Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)

1957 - Ernst Gräfenberg, German physican and scientist (b. 1881)

1959 - Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary (b. 1932)

1965 - Earl Bostic, American saxophonist (b. 1913)

1969 - Constance Dowling, American actress (b. 1920)

1973 - Taha Hussein, Egyptian writer (b. 1889)

1973 - Sergio Tofano, Italian actor (b. 1883)

1975 - Georges Carpentier, French boxer (b. 1894)

1975 - Oliver Nelson, American jazz composer and arranger (b. 1932)

1986 - John Braine, English novelist (b. 1922)

1987 - André Masson, French artist (b. 1896)

1998 - Ted Hughes, English poet (b. 1930)

2000 - Lída Baarová, Czech actress (b. 1914)

2000 - Carlos Guastavino, Argentine composer (b. 1912)

2001 - Gerard Hengeveld, Dutch composer (b. 1910)

2002 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (b. 1898)

2002 - Erling Persson, Swedish entrepreneur (b. 1917)

2004 - Jimmy McLarnin, Northern Irish-born boxer (b. 1907)

2005 - Eugene K. Bird, German prison director (b. 1926)

2005 - Bob Broeg, American sports writer (b. 1918)

2005 - Raymond Hains, French artist (b. 1926)

2005 - Tony Jackson, American basketball player (b. 1942)

2005 - Fernando Quejas, Cape Verdean singer and musician (b. 1922)

2005 - Richard Smalley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1943)

2005 - Ljuba Tadić, Serbian actor (b. 1929)

2006 - Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and executive (b. 1917)

2006 - Trevor Berbick, Jamaican boxer (b. 1955)

2006 - Marijohn Wilkin, American songwriter

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R.C. Saints - October 28th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:

Saint Jude (a.k.a Saint Thaddaeus or "of James")

St. Simon the Zealot (erroneously a.k.a. "the Canaanite")

St. Abraham

St. Anastasia II

St. Anglinus

St. Eadsin

St. Ferrutius

St. Fidelis of Como

Saint Godwin

St. Honoratus of Vercelli

St. John Dat

St. Remigius

St. Salvius

This day Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Saint Job of Pochayiv

Also see October 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Czechoslovakia - granted its independence from Austria-Hungary (1918); This is a holiday in the Czech Republic and Remembrance Day in Slovakia.

Greece - Oxi (No) Day marking the beginning of the (attempted) invasion of Greece by Italy via Albania (1940)