Date·Lore

On This Day · The 209th day of the year

July 28

July 28 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1540 and 2005. Henry VIII of England marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

♌ZodiacLeo ◈BirthstoneRuby ❀Birth flowerLarkspur

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on July 28?

July 28 is the 209th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1540 and 2005. Famous people born on July 28 include Mathieu Debuchy, Marcel Duchamp and Hugo Chávez.

The shape of the day

This year marks the 50th anniversary of 1976 Tangshan earthquake — July 28 carries the weight of round numbers. Its center of gravity is the 20th century, and conflict is a recurring thread.

Leo is the sign for July 28 — read more on the Leo page, or see July's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on July 28

Movies, games, albums & shows

2025

  • Game One-Eyed Likho

2024

  • Game Chuxie

2023

  • Movie Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani
  • Game Disney Illusion Island

2022

  • Game Azure Striker Gunvolt 3
  • Game Anonymous;Code
  • Game Digimon Survive
  • Game Life Makeover

2021

  • Game The Forgotten City
  • Game Omno
  • Game Unbound: Worlds Apart
  • Game Chernobylite
  • Game Eldest Souls

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1540

    Henry VIII

    Henry VIII of England marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

  2. 1778

    Cantabria

    Constitution of the province of Cantabria ratified at the Assembly Hall in Bárcena la Puente, Reocín, Spain.

  3. 1866

    Vinnie Ream

    At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln).

  4. 1911

    Australasian Antarctic Expedition

    The Australasian Antarctic Expedition began as the SY Aurora departed London.

  5. 1914

    World War I

    World War I: In the culmination of the July Crisis, Austria-Hungary declares war on the Kingdom of Serbia and begins the Great War.

  6. 1942

    World War II

    World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227. In response to alarming German advances, all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be tried in a military court, with punishment ranging from duty in a shtrafbat battalion, imprisonment in a Gulag, or execution.

  7. 1945

    North American B-25 Mitchell

    A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.

  8. 1976

    1976 Tangshan earthquake

    The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.

  9. 1984

    Olympic Games

    Olympic Games: Games of the XXIII Olympiad: The summer Olympics were opened in Los Angeles.

  10. 2005

    Provisional Irish Republican Army

    The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty-year-long armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.

Famous birthday twins

Born on July 28

Mathieu Debuchy

b. 1985

French footballer

Marcel Duchamp

b. 1887

French-American painter and sculptor

Hugo Chávez

b. 1954

Venezuelan colonel and politician, President of Venezuela

William T. Vollmann

b. 1959

American novelist, short story writer and journalist

John Ashbery

b. 1927

American poet

Michael Carrick

b. 1981

English footballer and coach

Ernst Cassirer

b. 1874

Polish-American philosopher and academic

William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg

b. 1516

German nobleman

Deaths

  • 2004Tiziano Terzani
  • 1844Joseph Bonaparte
  • 1794Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
  • 1794Maximilien Robespierre
  • 1750Johann Sebastian Bach
  • 1741Antonio Vivaldi

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Alphonsa Muttathupadathu (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Botvid
  • —Christian feast day: Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel, Henry Purcell (Episcopal Church commemoration)
  • —Christian feast day: Johann Sebastian Bach, Heinrich Schütz, George Frederick Handel (Lutheran commemoration)
  • —Christian feast day: Nazarius and Celsus
  • —Christian feast day: Pedro Poveda Castroverde
  • —Christian feast day: Pope Innocent I
  • —Christian feast day: Pope Victor I

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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