What happened in 1928

25 events　Japan 1, North America 3, Europe 10, USSR / Russia 1, Asia 3, Middle East 4, Latin America 1, Africa 2

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Highlights of 1928

Japan1

  • Mar 15March 15 incident: The Japanese government cracks down on socialists and communists, arresting over 1,000 people.

North America3

  • May 15The animated short Plane Crazy is released by Disney Studios in Los Angeles, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse (in a non-distributed film).
  • Nov 61928 United States presidential election: Republican Herbert Hoover wins by a wide margin, over Democratic New York Governor Al Smith.
  • NovMickey Mouse is bornOn November 18, Disney's Steamboat Willie was released. It won acclaim as a cartoon whose pictures and sound were matched exactly.

Europe10

  • Feb 11The 1928 Winter Olympics are held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first as a separate event. Sonja Henie of Norway wins her first gold medal, in women's figure skating.
  • May 7Passage of the Representation of the People Act in the United Kingdom lowers the voting age for women from 30 to 21, giving them equal suffrage with men from July 2.
  • May 24The airship Italia crashes at the North Pole; one of the occupants is Italian general Umberto Nobile. A rescue expedition leaves for the Pole on May 30. Roald Amundsen will be among those who lose their lives in the search for survivors.
  • Jul 28The 1928 Summer Olympics are held in Amsterdam, opening with the lighting of the Olympic flame. Women's athletics and gymnastics debut at these games, and discus thrower Halina Konopacka of Poland becomes the first female Olympic gold medal winner for a track or field event. Coca-Cola enters Europe as sponsor of the games.
  • Aug 27The Kellogg–Briand Pact is signed in Paris, the first treaty to outlaw aggressive war.
  • Sep 1Ahmet Zogu, President of the Albanian Republic, declares the country to be a constitutional monarchy, the Albanian Kingdom, with himself as King Zog I.
  • SepDiscovery of penicillinFleming in Britain noticed that bacteria did not grow around a blue mold. It was the world's first antibiotic. Mass-produced in the United States and Britain during World War II, it greatly reduced deaths from infected wounds.
  • Oct 2Josemaría Escrivá founds Opus Dei.
  • Nov 9Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness (published on 27 July by Jonathan Cape in London, England) is tried and convicted on the grounds of obscenity due to its theme of lesbian love, following a newspaper campaign.
  • Nov 22The one-movement ballet Boléro (music by Maurice Ravel, choreography by Bronislava Nijinska) premières at the Paris Opéra, to a commission by Ida Rubinstein.

USSR / Russia1

  • Oct 1Joseph Stalin launches the first five-year plan (1928–1932); the average nonfarm wage falls by 50% in the Soviet Union.

Asia3

  • May 3Jinan incident: An armed conflict between the Imperial Japanese Army (allied with Northern Chinese warlords) and the Kuomintang's southern army occurs in Jinan, China.
  • Jun 4Huanggutun incident: Zhang Zuolin, a warlord, is killed by Japanese agents in China.
  • Oct 28The Second Youth Congress is held in Batavia, Dutch East Indies by young Indonesian nationalists, resulting in the Youth Pledge. The Indonesian national anthem, "Indonesia Raya", is introduced at the congress.

Middle East4

  • Mar 22The Muslim Brotherhood is founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna.
  • Nov 1Turkey passes a law switching the country from the Arabic to the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet.
  • Nov 14the Afghan Civil War begins as rebels besiege Jalalabad.
  • The women's organisation Anjuman-i Himayat-i-Niswan is founded in Afghanistan.

Latin America1

  • Jul 17José de León Toral assassinates Álvaro Obregón, president-elect of Mexico.

Africa2

  • Jun 9Ellis Park Stadium, a well-known sport venue of South Africa, officially opens in Johannesburg.
  • Aug 2Italy and Ethiopia sign the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty.