On this day: 28 August

Orestes took control of Ravenna, the capital of the Western Roman Empire, forcing Emperor Julius Nepos to flee.

Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, defeats Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.

Silla–Tang armies crush the Baekje restoration attempt and force Yamato Japan to withdraw from Korea in the Battle of Baekgang.

Third Crusade: The Crusaders begin the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan.

Ottoman wars in Europe: The Ottoman Turks occupy Belgrade.

The Kaqchikel Maya rebel against their former Spanish allies during the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sights land near St. Augustine, Florida and founds the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the continental United States.

Ferdinand II, King of Bohemia and Hungary, was unanimously elected Holy Roman Emperor.

Meidingnu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.

Tom Thumb (replica pictured), the first American-built steam locomotive, took part in an impromptu race against a horse-drawn car in Maryland.

The first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.

Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire: After a month-long siege, Venice, which had declared itself independent as the Republic of San Marco, surrenders to Austria.

Richard Wagner's Lohengrin premieres at the Staatskapelle Weimar.

The Carrington event is the strongest geomagnetic storm on record to strike the Earth. Electrical telegraph service is widely disrupted.

American Civil War: Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in the Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries which lasts for two days.

American Civil War: The Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Second Manassas, begins in Virginia. The battle ends on August 30 with another Union defeat.

The United States takes possession of the (at this point unoccupied) Midway Atoll.

Caleb Bradham's beverage "Brad's Drink" is renamed "Pepsi-Cola".

Silliman University is founded in the Philippines. It is the first American private school in the country.

A group of mid-level Greek Army officers launches the Goudi coup, seeking wide-ranging reforms.

Queen Wilhelmina opens the Peace Palace in The Hague.

World War I: Italy declares war on Germany.

World War I: Germany declares war on Romania.

The Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union.

Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.

Denmark in World War II: German authorities demand that Danish authorities crack down on acts of resistance. The next day, martial law is imposed on Denmark.

World War II: Marseille and Toulon are liberated.

The Workers' Party of North Korea, predecessor of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, is founded at a congress held in Pyongyang, North Korea.

American tennis player Althea Gibson became the first African-American woman to compete at the U.S. National Championships.

U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the United States Senate from voting on the Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later. This would remain the longest speech ever conducted by a single Senator until Cory Booker spoke for 25 hours and five minutes, beginning on March 31, 2025.

American civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the speech "I Have a Dream" during the March on Washington, calling for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States.

Police and protesters clash during 1968 Democratic National Convention protests as protesters chant "The whole world is watching".

Construction began on the Ryugyong Hotel (pictured) in Pyongyang, the tallest building in North Korea.

Gulf War: Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province.

The autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia in Bosnia and Herzegovina is transformed into the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia.

The NASA spacecraft Galileo flew by the asteroid 243 Ida and took photographs that later revealed the first known asteroid moon (both pictured).

The NASA spacecraft Galileo flew by the asteroid 243 Ida and took photographs that later revealed the first known asteroid moon.

Singaporean presidential election: Former Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong is elected President of Singapore. Although it is the first presidential election to be determined by popular vote, the allowed candidates consist only of Ong and a reluctant whom the government had asked to run to confer upon the election the semblance of an opposition.

Second Congo War: Loyalist troops backed by Angolan and Zimbabwean forces repulse the RCD and Rwandan offensive on Kinshasa.

Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law" but the bill is defeated in the Senate.

The Russian space mission Soyuz TM-29 reaches completion, ending nearly 10 years of continuous occupation on the space station Mir as it approaches the end of its life.

NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-128.

The first experimental mission of ISRO's Scramjet Engine towards the realisation of an Air Breathing Propulsion System is successfully conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

China–India border standoff: China and India both pull their troops out of Doklam, putting an end to a two-month-long stalemate over China's construction of a road in disputed territory.

The second phase of the Thomson-East Coast MRT line was opened for service.