2nd August, on this day

338 BC A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean.
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.
257 St Stephen I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
640 Severinus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
686 John V ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1100 William II of England, son of William the Conqueror, is killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest, Hampshire - allegedly mistaken for a deer
1492 Jews are expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
1589 Henry III of France is assassinated by Jacques Clement
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 Formal signing of the Declaration of Independence
1784 The first specially-built Royal Mail coach begins its' scheduled service from Bristol to London
1798 British under Adm Horatio Nelson beat French at Battle of Nile
1802 In France, Napoleon Bonaparte is declared 'Consul For Life'
1819 1st parachute jump in US
1832 1,300 Illinois militia defeat Sac and Fox indians, end Black Hawk War: Black Hawk defeated (IA)
1832 Whites decimate Indians in Battle of Bad Axe River, Wisc
1858 1st US street mailboxes-Boston, Mass
1865 Publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It is soon withdrawn because of bad printing. Only 21 copies of the first edition survive, making it one of the rarest 19th century books
1869 Japan's samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system (Shinokosho) 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.
1875 Britain's first roller-skating rink opens in Belgravia, London
1876 James Butler - US Marshall Wild Bill Hickok - is shot dead by Jack McCall while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota. His poker hand - two black aces, two black eights and the jack of diamonds - becomes known as 'the dead man's hand'
1903 Unsuccessful uprising of Macedonians against Turkey
1909 US Army Air Corps formed as Army takes 1st delivery from Wright Brothers
1916 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.
1923 Calvin Coolidge becomes the 30th US President following the sudden death of Warren Harding after his return from a trip to Alaska
1931 Einstein urges all scientists to refuse military work.
1932 The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
1934 Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
1934 1st airplane train, plane tows 3 mail gliders behind it

1934 William Franks twirls an indian club overhead 17,280 times in 1 hour
1935 Britain passes the Government of India Act - separating Burma and Aden from India
1937 The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, essentially rendering marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
1939 In US Hatch Act prohibits political activity by federal workers
1939 Scientist Albert Einstein, concerned that German scients are working on powerful uranium bombs, writes to US President Roosevelt urging him to start research into building an atomic bomb
1941 Jews are expelled from Hungarian Ruthenia
1943 PT-109 rammed AND sunk
1943 Rebellion in the Nazi death camp of Treblinka.
1945 World War II: The end of the Potsdam Conference at which the Allied leaders decided on the post-war treatment of Germany and called for the unconditional surrender of Japan
1961 Beatles 1st gig as house band of Liverpool's Cavern Club
1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident : North Vietnam fires on a US destroyers, USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy. in Gulf of Tonkin
1964 Race riot in Jersey City, NJ
1965 Morley Safer's sends 1st Vietnam report indicating US is losing
1965 French Riviera fires: At least 7,000 people, mostly holidaymakers, evacuate to a local beach as fires swept the hills between the Provence resorts of Hyeres and St Tropez.
1967 The second Blackwall Tunnel opens in Greenwich, London
1968 The 1968 Casiguran Earthquake hits Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines killing more than 270 people and wounding 261.
1967 US's Lunar Orbiter 5 launched; enters lunar orbit Aug 5
1973 In Britain, more than 40 people are killed when fire sweeps through the Summerland Amusement Centre at Douglas on the Isle of Man
1974 John Dean, American lawyer and member of staff at the White House, is sent to a jail for his part in covering up the Watergate break-in
1980 Right-wing terrorists explode a bomb at Bologna Railway Station in northern Italy which kills 84 people and injures another 100
1985 Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137.
1985 5 die in a train crash in Westminster, Colorado
1989 Trade restrictions between Britain and Argentina are lifted for the first time since the Falklands War
1989 NASA confirmed Voyager 2's discovery of 3 more moons of Neptune designated temporarily 1989 N2, 1989 N3 & 1989 N24
1990 Gulf War starts: Iraq invades Middle East neighbours Kuwait and takes control of the country in eight hours. The Kuwaiti royal family flees to Saudi Arabia
1991 Funk singer Rick James, arrested on sexual torture charges

2nd August 2006

Israel hit by Hezbollah barrage

Migrants die on way to Canaries

Polish city lures back migrants

2nd August 2007

Shock collapse of Mississippi bridge

European fires near record levels

Russia plants flag under N Pole

2nd August 2008

Wedding carnage in Afghan blast

Militants killed in Gaza battle

Honecker's nuclear bunker opens

2nd August 2009

Many dead in Zimbabwe bus crash

Market in Iraq 'hit by car bomb'

More US troops die in Afghanistan

2nd August 2010

Killing of Pakistani politician triggers violence

Tractor rampage in China kills 11

Plane crash in Siberia kills 15

Birthdates which occurred on 2nd August :

1696 Mahmud I Ottoman sultan, fought Austrians & Russians
1754 Pierre Charles L'Enfant France, architect laid out Wash DC
1832 Henry Steel Olcott 1st president of Theosophical Society
1878 Princess Ingeborg of Sweden
1884 R¢mulo Gallegos Venezuela, novelist (Do¤a B rbara), pres (1948)
1891 Sir Arthur Bliss (Edward Drummond) London, composer (Olympians)
1892 John Kieran NYC, columnist/author (Natural History of NYC)
19-- Lisa Brown KC, Mo, actress (Guiding Light, Iva-As the World Turns)
19-- Max Wright Detroit, actor (Buffalo Bill, Alf, Misfits of Science)
19-- Tim Dunigan St Louis, actor (A-Team, Mr Smith, Wizards & Warriors)
19-- W K Stratton Front Royal Va, actor (Lt Casey-Baa Baa Black Sheep)
1905 Myrna Loy Montana, actress (Rebound, Emma)
1910 Lou Zara NYC, writer (Stump the Authors)
1914 Gary Merrill Hartford Conn, actor (Young Dr Kildare, All About Eve)
1916 Beatrice Straight Old Westbury NY, actress (Poltergeist, Nun's Story)
1922 Carroll O'Connor NYC, actor (All in the Family, Heat of the Night)
1922 Paul Laxalt (Sen-R-Nev)
1924 James Baldwin US writer (Another Country)
1926 Betsy Bloomingdale dept store mogul
1932 Lamar Hunt owns NFL KC Chiefs
1932 Peter O'Toole Ireland, actor (Lord Jim, Beckett, Lawrence of Arabia)
1934 Albert W Hall actor (Apocalypse Now)
1934 Valery Bykovsky cosmonaut (Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, 31)
1937 William Cannon football player (Heisman-1959)
1938 Brunhilde Hendrix German FR, relay runner (Olympic-silver-1960)
1938 Yvonne Regg Switzerland, giant slalom (Olympic-gold-1960)
1939 Edward Pattern Atlanta Ga, singer (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
1940 Doris Kenner Passaic NJ, singer (Shirelles-Soldier Boy)
1942 Garth Hudson keyboardist (The Band)
1944 Joanna Cassidy [Caskey], Haddonfield NJ, actress (240 Robert)
1946 Bob Beamon long jumper (Olympic-gold-1968 29' 2«" (8.9m))
1949 Bertalan Farkas 1st Hungarian space traveler (Soyuz 36)
1950 Kathryn Harrold Tarzewell Va, actress (MacGruder & Loud)
1951 Andrew Gold Burbank, rocker (Lonely Boy)
1952 Paul David Crews SC, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List)
1955 Roberta Wallach NYC, actress (Civil Wars)
1956 Isabel Pantoja Spain, spanish singer (Genio y Figura)
1959 Britt Helfer Utah, actress (Lily-Loving, Alley Cat)
1960 Apollonia [Patricia Kotero], Santa Monica Ca, actress (Purple Rain)
1960 Linda Fratianne US, figure skater (Olympic-silver-1980)
1967 Aaron Krickstein Ann Arbor, Mich, tennis player (Tel Aviv 1983)
1967 Derek Wells LA Calif, actor (Fitzpatricks)
1973 Kia Goodwin Livingston NJ, actress (Tiffany Holloway-227)
1977 Edward Furlong Pasedina Calif, actor (John Connor-Terminator 2)
1991 Gabriel Anthony Cohen son of Meredith Viera & Richard Cohen

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Deaths which occurred on August 2nd:
1075 John VIII Xiphilinus theologian/patriarch of Constantinople, dies
1876 Wild Bill Hickok shot dead (from behind) by Jack McCall while
poker. He held a pair of Aces & a pair of 8's
1923 Pres Harding dies at Palace Hotel, SF
1934 Paul Von Hindenburg dies at 86, Hitler takes over presidency
1964 Jack Kirkwood actor (Fibber McGee & Molly), dies at 69
1967 Claude A Barnett founded Associated Negro Press, dies at 78
1972 Brian Cole rocker with the Association, dies of heroin OD at 28
1979 Thurmon Munson killed in a plane crash at Akron Oh at 32
1982 Cathleen Nesbitt English actress (Seperate Tables), dies at 93
1985 Frank Faylen vaudevillian, dies at 79 of pneumonia
1988 Raymond Carver poet/short story writer (Furious Season), dies at 50
1991 Gabriel Cohen son of Meredith Viera & Richard Cohen