Historical events on August 2

AUGUST 2, 1100
While on a hunting trip in the New Forest, King William II of England was killed by an arrow through the lung loosed by one of his own men.
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Read More
AUGUST 2, 461
Unpopular among the Senate aristocracy for his reforming efforts, Roman emperor Majorian was deposed by Ricimer and executed five days later.
The Roman Senate was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it Read More
AUGUST 2, 1971
The English rock band the Who released Who's Next, the group's only album to top the UK charts.
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, Read More
AUGUST 2, 338 BC
An allied army led by Philip II of Macedon overcame the forces of city-states led by Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony over the majority of ancient Greece.
Philip II of Macedon was the king (basileus) of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 Read More
AUGUST 2, 2007
Raúl Iturriaga, a former deputy director of the Chilean secret police, was captured in Viña del Mar after having been on the run following a kidnapping conviction.
Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann is a Chilean Army general and a former member Foreign Affairs Department of the DINA, as an analyst Read More
AUGUST 2, 1973
A flash fire killed 50 people at a leisure centre in Douglas, Isle of Man.
The Summerland disaster occurred when a fire spread through the Summerland leisure centre in Douglas on the Isle of Man on the Read More
AUGUST 2, 1916
An explosion, blamed on Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, sank the Italian dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci.
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Read More
AUGUST 2, 1920
Nepalese author Krishna Lal Adhikari (pictured) was sentenced to nine years in prison for publishing a book about the cultivation of corn alleged to contain attacks on the ruling dynasty.
Krishna Lal Adhikari was a Nepali author best known for publishing Makaiko Kheti (1920), a book about maize cultivation that was accused Read More
AUGUST 2, 1790
The first United States census was officially completed, with the nation's residential population enumerated to be 3,929,214.
The 1790 United States census was the first United States census. It recorded the population of the whole United States as of Read More
AUGUST 2, 1870
One of the world's earliest underground tube railways opened in the Tower Subway, a tunnel beneath the River Thames in London.
The Tower Subway is a tunnel beneath the River Thames in central London, between Tower Hill on the north bank of the Read More
AUGUST 2, 1923
Calvin Coolidge became the 30th president of the United States after Warren G. Harding suffered a fatal heart attack.
Calvin Coolidge was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously Read More
AUGUST 2, 1939
Leo Szilard (pictured) penned a letter, signed by Albert Einstein and addressed to U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning that Germany may develop atomic bombs, leading to the establishment of the Manhattan Project.
Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-born physicist, biologist and inventor who made numerous important discoveries in nuclear physics and the biological sciences. He Read More
AUGUST 2, 1947
Star Dust, a British South American Airways airliner, crashed into Mount Tupungato in the Argentine Andes; its wreckage was not found until 1998.
On 2 August 1947, Star Dust, a British South American Airways (BSAA) Avro Lancastrian airliner on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Read More

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