May 28

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

May 28, 1660

Birth of George I in Osnabrück, Germany, first Elector of Hannover and the first Hanoverian King of Great Britain. George I, the first Hanoverian King of Great Britain, was born in Osnabrueck, Hanover (now Germany) on May 28, 1660. The English Parliament's "Act of Settlement" of 1701, in an attempt to ensure a Protestant succession to the British throne, named George (then the Elector of Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire) third in line to the crown in opposition to the Roman Catholic claimant, James Edward. At the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the Whig party which had just gained control of government, urged him to the crown. At that time George did not know English. Since his new ministers did not know German, he was forced to deal with his ministers in French. Since George remained the ruler of Hanover, in addition to being the British King, he visited Hanover frequently. It was on such a visit that he died in Osnabrueck, where he had been born, in 1727.

May 28, 1787

Death of Leopold Mozart in Augsburg, Salzburg, Austria. He was the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Leopold Mozart was a violinist at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg and court composer. Clearly he did all in his power to develop the talent of his son, Wolfgang. (He has often been criticized, in fact for exploitation.)

May 28, 1918

The first American offensive action of WWI takes place at Cantigny, France. It is a small operation but successful and has strong morale value.

May 28, 1925

Birth of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Berlin, Germany.

May 28, 1937

Death of Alfred Adler in Aberdeen, Scotland (born in Penzing, Austria). Adler earned his M.D. at the University of Vienna. Beginning in 1902 he began to work closely with Sigmund Freud. He and Freud began to grow apart with the publication of Adler's Studie über Minderwertigkeit von Organen in 1907. By 1911 the two had become quite bitter toward each other. Adler developed a system of individual psychology and was very interested in the problems of inferiority feelings. In 1927 he became a visiting professor at the Long Island College of Medicine.

May 28, 1940

Belgium surrenders to Germany in World War II.

May 28, 1987

A 19 year old German, Mathias Rust, flies a small private plane through Russian security without clearance and lands on Red Square in Moscow.