On this day: 28 July

Pope Felix III excommunicated patriarch Acacius of Constantinople for his support of the Henoticon and his support of the removal of patriarch John Talaia, leading to the Acacian schism.

Crusades: The siege of Damascus ended in a decisive victory for the Muslims, leading to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.

Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina.

Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I.

La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines, is founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomiendas (provinces) in the country.

Eighty Years' War: The Spanish capture the strategic Dutch fortress of Schenkenschans.

Second Northern War: Battle of Warsaw begins.

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

Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.

Peruvian War of Independence: Argentine general José de San Martín declared the independence of Peru from the Spanish Empire.

USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy and current museum ship in Baltimore Harbor, is commissioned.

American Civil War: In the Battle of Ezra Church, Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt under General John Bell Hood to prevent Union forces led by General William T. Sherman from approaching Atlanta, Georgia.

Aged 18, Vinnie Ream became the youngest artist and first woman to receive a United States government commission for a statue—that of Abraham Lincoln currently in the Capitol rotunda.

The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.

The city of Miami is incorporated.

A Category 1 hurricane (map pictured) made landfall in Azua Province in the Dominican Republic, destroying three large schooners at Santo Domingo; only one crew member on the three vessels survived.

The Australasian Antarctic Expedition began with the departure of SY Aurora from London.

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

U.S. Marines landed at Port-au-Prince to begin a nineteen-year occupation of Haiti.

In New York City, the NAACP and church and community leaders organized a silent march of at least 8,000 people to protest violence directed towards African Americans.

During the Great Depression, U.S. president Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.

Hawaii Clipper disappears between Guam and Manila as the first loss of an airliner in trans-Pacific China Clipper service.

The German Volkswagen Act comes into force.

Beginning of the 8th World Festival of Youth and Students.

Vietnam War: U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: Nearly 600,000 people attend a rock festival at the Watkins Glen International Raceway.

Spetsgruppa A, Russia's elite special force, was formed.

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

The remains of a prehistoric man are discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains will be known as the Kennewick Man.

At the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Australian Ian Thorpe became the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single FINA world championship.

Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground.

Australian Wendy Tuck becomes the first female skipper to win the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.