August 2
is the 214th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (215th in
leap years), with 151 days remaining.
*
216 BC -
Second Punic War:
Battle of Cannae - The
Carthaginian army lead by
Hannibal defeats a numerically superior
Roman army under command of
consuls
Lucius Aemilius Paullus and
Gaius Terentius Varro.
*
1610 -
Henry Hudson sails into what it is now known as
Hudson Bay, thinking he had made it through the
Northwest Passage and reached the
Pacific Ocean.
*
1776 - Delegates to the
Continental Congress begin signing the
United States Declaration of Independence.
*
1790 - The first
US Census is conducted.
*
1798 -
French Revolutionary Wars:
Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay) concludes in an English victory
*
1869 -
Japan's samurai,
farmer,
artisan,
merchant class system (
Shinōkōshō) is abolished as part of the
Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional
Japanese date:
June 25,
1869).
*
1870 -
Tower Subway, the world's first
underground tube railway, opens in
London.
*
1903 -
Fall of the Ottoman Empire: Unsuccessful uprising of the
Bulgarians against
Ottoman Turkey, also known as the
Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising.
*
1916 -
World War I:
Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the
Italian battleship
Leonardo da Vinci in
Taranto.
*
1918 -
Japan announces that it is deploying troops to
Siberia in the aftermath of
World War I.
*
1934 -
Gleichschaltung:
Adolf Hitler becomes
Führer of
Germany.
*
1943 -
World War II:
PT-109 rammed by the
Japanese destroyer
Amagiri and sinks. Lt.
John F. Kennedy saves all but two of his crew.
*
1945 - World War II:
Potsdam Conference, in which the
Allied Powers discuss the future of defeated
Germany, concludes.
*
1964 -
Vietnam War:
Gulf of Tonkin Incident -
North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fires on
U.S. destroyers,
USS Maddox and the
USS C. Turner Joy.
*
1967 - The second
Blackwall Tunnel opens in
Greenwich, London.
*
1980 - A
bomb explodes at the
railway station in
Bologna,
Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
*
1985 - A
Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137.
*
1990 -
Gulf War:
Iraq invades
Kuwait, eventually leading to conflict with coalition forces.
*
2004 -
Monday demonstrations against social cutbacks began in
Germany.
*
2005 -
Air France Flight 358 skids off the runway at
Toronto Pearson International Airport outside
Toronto,
Canada, destroying the plane but resulting in no loss of life.
*
1533 -
Theodor Zwinger, Swiss scholar (d.
1588)
*
1672 -
Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (d.
1733)
*
1674 -
Philip II, Duke of Orléans,
Regent of France (d.
1723)
*
1696 -
Mahmud I,
Ottoman Sultan (d.
1754)
*
1703 -
Lorenzo Ricci, Italian
Jesuit leader (d.
1775)
*
1754 -
Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-born architect and city planner (d.
1825)
*
1788 -
Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (d.
1853)
*
1815 -
Adolf Friedrich von Schack, German writer (d.
1894)
*
1834 -
Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (d.
1904)
*
1835 -
Elisha Gray, American inventor and entrepreneur (d.
1901)
*
1865 -
Irving Babbitt, American literary critic (d.
1933)
*
1868 - King
Constantine I of Greece (d.
1923)
*
1871 -
John French Sloan, American artist (d.
1951)
*
1875 -
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian artist (d.
1957)
*
1878 -
Georg Hackenschmidt, Estonian wrestler (d.
1968)
*
1882 -
Red Ames, Baseball player (d.
1936)
*
1890 -
Marin Sais, American actress (d.
1971)
*
1892 -
Jack Warner, Canadian film producer (d.
1978)
*
1896 -
Lorenzo Herrera, Venezuelan singer and composer (d.
1960)
*
1897 -
Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d.
1974)
*
1899 -
Charles Bennett, British screenwriter (d.
1995)
*
1900 -
Helen Morgan, American actress (d.
1941)
*
1905 -
Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (d.
1963)
* 1905 -
Myrna Loy, American actress (d.
1993)
*
1907 -
Mary Hamman, American writer (d.
1984)
*
1910 -
Roger MacDougall, writer (d.
1993)
*
1912 -
Vladimir Zerjavic, Croatian statistician (d.
2001)
*
1914 -
Beatrice Straight, American actress (d.
2001)
*
1915 -
Gary Merrill, American actor (d.
1990)
*
1924 -
James Baldwin, American author (d.
1987)
* 1924 -
Carroll O'Connor, American actor (d.
2001)
*
1925 -
Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinian dictator
* 1925 -
Alan Whicker, British journalist and broadcaster
*
1930 -
Vali Myers (artist), Australian painter (d.
2003)
*
1931 -
Pierre DuMaine, Catholic bishop
*
1932 -
Peter O'Toole, Irish-born actor
*
1934 -
Valery Bykovsky, cosmonaut
*
1935 -
Hank Cochran, American country music singer and songwriter
*
1937 -
Garth Hudson, Canadian musician (
The Band)
*
1939 -
Wes Craven, American film director
*
1941 -
Doris Coley, American singer (
Shirelles) (d.
2000)
*
1942 -
Isabel Allende, Chilean author
*
1943 -
Max Wright, American actor
*
1945 -
Joanna Cassidy, American actress
* 1945 -
Alex Jesaulenko, Australian footballer
*
1947 -
Massiel, Spanish singer
*
1948 -
Andy Fairweather Low, British guitarist
* 1948 -
Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
*
1949 -
James Fallows, American journalist
*
1950 -
Lance Ito, American judge
*
1951 -
Andrew Gold, American singer, musician and songwriter
*
1953 -
Butch Patrick, American actor
*
1954 -
Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
*
1955 -
Caleb Carr, American novelist and military historian
*
1957 -
Mojo Nixon, American musician and actor
*
1959 -
Victoria Jackson, American comedian
*1959 -
Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress
*
1960 -
Neal Morse, American singer (
Spock's Beard and
Transatlantic)
*
1961 -
Linda Fratianne, American figure skater
*
1964 -
Mary-Louise Parker, American actress
*
1966 -
Tim Wakefield, baseball player
*
1969 -
Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer
* 1969 -
Richard Hallebeek, Dutch guitarist
*
1970 -
Tony Amonte, American hockey player
* 1970 -
Kevin Smith, American actor, director, and screenwriter
*
1971 -
Michael Hughes, Irish footballer
*
1972 -
Justyna Steczkowska, Polish singer
*
1974 -
Jeremy Castle, American singer and songwriter
*
1975 -
Xu Huaiwen, Chinese-born badminton player
*1975 -
Mineiro, Brazilian footballer
*
1977 -
Edward Furlong, American actor
*
1982 -
Grady Sizemore, baseball player
* 1982 -
Hélder Postiga, Portuguese footballer
*
1985 -
Harry Smith, Canadian professional wrestler
*
1986 -
Mathieu Razanakolona, Malagasy skier
*
1988 -
Brittany Hargest, singer (
Jump5)
*
1992 -
Hallie Kate Eisenberg, American actress
*
686 -
Pope John V*
1100 - King
William II of England*
1222 - Count
Raymond VI of Toulouse (b.
1156)
*
1511 -
Andrew Barton, Scottish naval leader
*
1589 - King
Henry III of France (b.
1551)
*
1611 -
Kato Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b.
1562)
*
1696 -
Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, Scottish military commander (b.
1630)
*
1769 -
Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician (b.
1689)
*
1776 -
Louis François I, Prince of Conti, French military leader (b.
1717)
*
1788 -
Thomas Gainsborough, English artist (b.
1727)
*
1815 -
Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, French marshal (murdered) (b.
1763)
*
1849 - Governor
Muhammad Ali of Egypt (b.
1769)
*
1859 -
Horace Mann, American educator and abolitionist (b.
1796)
*
1876 -
James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, American gunfighter (b.
1837)
*
1890 -
Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet (b.
1813)
*
1903 -
Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian (b.
1850)
*
1921 -
Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b.
1873)
*
1922 -
Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor (b.
1847)
*
1923 -
Warren G. Harding, 29th
President of the United States (b.
1865)
*
1934 -
Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and
President of Germany (b.
1847)
*
1936 -
Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (b.
1872)
*
1939 -
Harvey Spencer Lewis, American Rosacrucian mystic (b.
1883)
*
1945 -
Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b.
1863)
*
1976 -
Fritz Lang, Austrian film director (b.
1890)
*
1978 -
Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (b.
1899)
*
1979 -
Thurman Munson, baseball player (b.
1947)
*
1986 -
Roy Cohn, American politician (b.
1927)
*
1988 -
Raymond Carver, American writer (b.
1938)
* 1988 -
Joe Carcione, American consumer advocate (b.
1914)
*
1990 -
Norman Mclean, American writer (b.
1902)
*
1997 -
William S. Burroughs, American writer (b.
1914)
*
1998 -
Shari Lewis, American puppeteer (b.
1933)
*
2003 -
Don Estelle, British actor (b.
1933)
* 2003 -
Mike Levey, American television personality (b.
1948)
* 2003 -
Peter Safar, Austrian physician (b.
1924)
*
2004 -
Don Tosti, American musician (b.
1923)
*
2006 -
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German-born soprano (b.
1915)
*
Costa Rica -
Our Lady of the Angels.
*
Bulgaria/
Republic of Macedonia -
Ilinden (
St. Ilya Day), a day of remembrance of the
Ilinden Uprising.
*Feast day of
Ilya the Prophet in the
Russian Orthodox Church.
*
Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least 4 saints:
**St.
Peter Julian Eymard**St.
Stephen**St.
Alphonsus Mary de Ligouri**St.
Etheldritha/
Alfrida*Day of in
Russia.
*Tisha B'Av, Jewish Day of Mourning over the destruction of the First and Second Temples
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
This Day In History: History ChannelAugust 1 -
August 3 -
July 2 -
September 2 --
listing of all days
