June 28 birthdays include that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, philosopher, in 1712.
On this date in 1914, 19-year-old Gavril Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and the Archduke’s wife Sophie. The Archduke had earlier missed a bomb thrown at his car, which necessitated a change in the motorcade route, which the driver forgot, which is why the car paused at the precise intersection in which Princip fired his fatal shots.
The shooting began a series of events that led to “The Great War,” now known as “World War I.”
On June 28, 1992, the Constitution of Estonia was signed into law.
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The driver, Leopold Lojka, did not forget the new route of the Archduke; rather, General Potiorek forgot to inform Lojka, of the change in route, until they reached the intersection at which the assassin struck.
Princip was too young to be legally executed, but was so harshly treated in prison that he died exactly three-and-a-half years into his twenty-year prison sentence, of malnutrition and tuberculosis.