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October 28 in History

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The Fake Fourth Funnel at Penang

October 28, 1914

The Fake Fourth Funnel at Penang

A lone German raider with a chimney made of sailcloth walked into a fortified Allied harbor and sank two warships before breakfast. The real question isn't how she pulled it off, but why nobody stopped her at the door.

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Also on this day

More that happened on October 28

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  1. 312Constantine the Great defeated rival emperor Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, securing sole control of the Western Roman Empire.
  2. 1420The Yongle Emperor officially proclaimed Beijing to be the new primary capital city of the Ming dynasty in imperial China.
  3. 1636The Massachusetts General Court voted to establish Harvard College in Cambridge, founding the oldest higher education institution in the United States.
  4. 1746A catastrophic earthquake and tsunami struck the Peruvian coast, devastating the cities of Lima and Callao and killing thousands of residents.
  5. 1886President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor during an elaborate public ceremony attended by thousands.
  6. 1919The United States Congress overrode President Woodrow Wilson's veto to pass the Volstead Act, establishing federal enforcement for nationwide Prohibition.
  7. 1929The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered a massive loss of nearly thirteen percent, marking the devastating crash known as Black Monday.
  8. 1940Italian troops invaded Greece from occupied Albania after Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas rejected an ultimatum from dictator Benito Mussolini.
  9. 1962Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev announced the removal of offensive nuclear missiles from Cuba, effectively diffusing the tense Cuban Missile Crisis.
  10. 1965Workers fitted the final keystone section into the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri, completing the world's tallest stainless steel monument.
  11. 1971Great Britain successfully launched the satellite Prospero into orbit from Woomera, Australia, using its domestically designed Black Arrow rocket.
  12. 2007Voters in Argentina elected Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to the presidency, making her the first woman chosen directly for that office.

Chosen from the October 28 pages of HistoryNet and OnThisDay.com, retold in our own words.