On This Day … 02 August

Events

  • 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 – The Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of Cannae.
  • 461 – Majorian is arrested near Tortona (northern Italy) and deposed by the Suebian general Ricimer as puppet emperor.
  • 1274 – Edward I of England returns from the Ninth Crusade and is crowned King seventeen days later.
  • 1343 – After the execution of her husband, Jeanne de Clisson sells her estates and raises a force of men with which to attack French shipping and ports.
  • 1377 – Russian troops are defeated by forces of the Blue Horde Khan Arapsha in the Battle on Pyana River.
  • 1415 – Thomas Grey is executed for participating in the Southampton Plot.
  • 1610 – During Henry Hudson’s search for the Northwest Passage, he sails into what is now known as Hudson Bay.
  • 1776 – The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.
  • 1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile concludes in a British victory.
  • 1830 – Charles X of France abdicates the throne in favour of his grandson Henri.
  • 1858 – The Government of India Act 1858 replaces Company rule in India with that of the British Raj.
  • 1869 – Japan’s Edo society class system is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms.
  • 1897 – Anglo-Afghan War: The Siege of Malakand ends when a relief column is able to reach the British garrison in the Malakand states.
  • 1903 – The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottoman Empire begins.
  • 1914 – The German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I begins.
  • 1916 – World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.
  • 1918 – The first general strike in Canadian history takes place in Vancouver.
  • 1934 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.
  • 1937 – The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
  • 1939 – Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.
  • 1943 – Jewish prisoners stage a revolt at Treblinka, one of the deadliest of Nazi death camps where approximately 900,000 persons were murdered in less than 18 months.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. president, saves all but two of his crew.
  • 1944 – ASNOM: Birth of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, celebrated as Day of the Republic in North Macedonia.
  • 1944 – World War II: The largest trade convoy of the world wars arrives safely in the Western Approaches.
  • 1945 – World War II: End of the Potsdam Conference.
  • 1989 – Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972.
  • 1989 – A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.
  • 1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
  • Paratroopers Day (Russia).
  • Romani genocide-related observances, including:
    • Roma Holocaust Memorial Day (Council of Europe, European Parliament)
    • Genocide Remembrance Day of the Roma and Sinti (Poland)
    • International Remembrance Day of the Holocaust of the Roma (Ukraine)

People (Births)

  • 1646 – Jean-Baptiste du Casse, French admiral and buccaneer (d. 1715).
  • 1740 – Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux, French general (d. 1817).
  • 1828 – Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque, Spanish general (d. 1895).
  • 1834 – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (d. 1904).
  • 1872 – George E. Stewart, Australian-American colonel, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 1946).
  • 1897 – Karl-Otto Koch, German SS officer (d. 1945).
  • 1925 – Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinian general and politician, 43rd President of Argentina (d. 2013).
  • 1934 – Valery Bykovsky, Russian general and astronaut (d. 2019).
  • 1938 – Terry Peck, Falkland Islander soldier (d. 2006).
  • 1943 – Herbert M. Allison, American lieutenant and businessman (d. 2013).
  • 1943 – Jon R. Cavaiani, English-American sergeant, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 2014).
  • 1949 – Bertalan Farkas, Hungarian general and astronaut.

People (Deaths)

  • 216 BC – Lucius Aemilius Paullus, Roman consul and general.
  • 1415 – Thomas Grey, English conspirator (b. 1384).
  • 1511 – Andrew Barton, Scottish admiral (b. 1466).
  • 1605 – Richard Leveson, English admiral (b. c. 1570).
  • 1611 – Katō Kiyomasa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1562).
  • 1799 – Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, French inventor, co-invented the hot air balloon (b. 1745).
  • 1815 – Guillaume Brune, French general and politician (b. 1763).
  • 1823 – Lazare Carnot, French mathematician, general, and politician, President of the National Convention (b. 1753).
  • 1849 – Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Ottoman Albanian commander (b. 1769).
  • 1917 – Jaan Mahlapuu, Estonian military pilot (b. 1894).
  • 1934 – Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and politician, 2nd President of Germany (b. 1847).
  • 1937 – Artur Sirk, Estonian soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1900).
  • 1970 – Angus MacFarlane-Grieve, English academic, mathematician, rower, and soldier (b. 1891).
  • 1996 – Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Somalian general and politician, 5th President of Somalia (b. 1934).
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