THE DAY IN HISTORY · JULY 28
July 28 in history
What happened on July 28: 4 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1148, 1942, 1951 and 1976, each linked to the map that shows it.
— Siege of Damascus
24–28 Jul 1148 — the Second Crusade’s kings besiege the one Muslim city friendly to Jerusalem, then retreat in four days for reasons still argued. The fiasco drives Damascus into Nur al-Din’s arms and discredits crusading for a generation.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE CRUSADES MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Fall of Rostov and Order No. 227
24–28 Jul 1942 — The loss of Rostov-on-Don opened the road to the Caucasus. Four days later Stalin issued Order No. 227, “Not one step back!”, which created penal battalions and blocking detachments behind the front.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE SOVIET UNION UNDER STALIN MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
A UN conference in Geneva adopts the Refugee Convention, defining a refugee and forbidding return to persecution — for events in Europe before 1951 only.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE UPROOTED MAP →
— Tangshan earthquake
28 Jul 1976 — An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 (7.8 on the Chinese scale) destroys the industrial city of Tangshan before dawn. The official count is 242,000 dead; other estimates are higher. The government refused foreign aid. Many people read the disaster, by an old tradition, as a sign that the Mandate of Heaven was passing.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC UNDER MAO MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
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