August 2

### Up to 1940

- 338 BC – Rise of Macedon: Philip II of Macedon crushes Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea.
- 216 BC – Punic Wars: In the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal destroys the Roman army of Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro in what is considered one of the great masterpieces of the tactical art.
- AD 461 – Majorian resigns as Western Roman Emperor; shortly afterwards Libius Severus is declared western Roman emperor by Ricimer.
- 1274 – Edward I of England returns from the Ninth Crusade and is crowned King 17 days later.
- 1377 – Russian troops are defeated at the Battle of Pyana River because of drunkenness.
- 1610 – Henry Hudson sails into what is now Hudson Bay, thinking he had reached the Pacific Ocean through the Northwest Passage.
- 1776 – Delegates to the Continental Congress begin to sign the United States Declaration of Independence.
- 1790 – First US Census; records are missing for five states: Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey and Virginia. Destroyed somewhere between that date and 1830.
- 1798 – Second Coalition: End of the Battle of the Nile between French and British navies; France defeated.
- 1830 – Charles X of France leaves the throne to his grandson Henri, Count of Chambord, who is, disputedly, King of France until August 9.
- 1832 – Battle of Bad Axe: US troops defeat Native American Chief Black Hawk.
- 1858 – British Columbia becomes a British colony.
- 1869 – Japan's samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system 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.
- 1873 – The Clay Street Railroad begins operating the first cable car in San Francisco's famous cable car system.
- 1874 – Iceland celebrates 1,000 years of settlement.
- 1876 – In Deadwood, South Dakota, Jack McCall shoots and kills American Western figure Wild Bill Hickok, who was playing a game of cards at the time. The combination of cards he held at the time is now referred to as Dead Man's Hand.
- 1897 – Anglo-Afghan War: The Siege of Malakand ends.
- 1903 – Fall of the Ottoman Empire: Unsuccessful uprising of the Macedonians and Aromanians against Ottoman, also known as the Ilinden uprising.
- 1909 – The 'Tragic Week' uprising in Barcelona against Spain's colonial politics in Morocco is violently crushed by police. Over 100 people are killed.
- 1916 – World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of Italian battleship _Leonardo da Vinci_ in Taranto.
- 1918 – Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.
- 1918 – The first General Strike in Canadian history takes place in Vancouver.
- 1922 – A typhoon hits Shantou, Republic of China, killing over 50,000 people.
- 1923 – After the death of Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge becomes President of the United States.
- 1934 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
- 1937 – Marijuana is made illegal in the United States.
- 1939 – Leó Szilárd and Albert Einstein sign a letter to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning of the dangers posed by Nazi Germany and calling for the development of a nuclear weapon.

### From 1941

- 1943 – PT-109, with future president of the United States Lieutenant John F. Kennedy aboard, sinks. He manages to save most of the crew.
- 1944 – The Socialist Republic of Macedonia is created.
- 1944 – Beginning of the Treblinka uprising.
- 1945 – World War II: Potsdam Conference, in which the Allied Powers discuss the future of defeated Germany, concludes.
- 1947 – A British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian airliner crashes into a mountain on a flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile. The wreckage disappears under a glacier and only reappears over 50 years later. The meaning of its last message, "STENDEC", remains a mystery.
- 1950 – The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures was published on Yankee Stadium, New York.
- 1955 – Velcro is patented.
- 1964 – North Vietnam fires on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
- 1967 – The second Blackwall Tunnel opened in Greenwich, London.
- 1967 – Turkish sports club Trabzonspor is founded in Trabzon.
- 1968 – An earthquake hits Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines, killing over 270 people.
- 1970 – Powder Ridge Rock Festival
- 1973 – A flash fire kills 51 people at the Summerland amusement centre in Douglas, Isle of Man.
- 1975 – In New Orleans, Louisiana, the Superdome officially opens with an American football game between the New Orleans Saints and Houston Oilers.
- 1976 – An intruder breaks into Priscilla Davis's Mockingbird Lane mansion in Fort Worth, Texas. Priscilla Davis and a friend are injured while Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr are killed. T. Cullen Davis is tried and found innocent of the crime.
- 1980 – A terrorist bombing at the railway station in Bologna, Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200.
- 1980 – Hard rock band AC/DC release Back in Black, their first album with lead singer Brian Johnson and their best–selling
- 1985 – A Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas, killing 137.
- 1989 – Pakistan is re–admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1989 – A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peacekeeping Force in Sri Lanka, killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.
- 1990 – On the orders of Saddam Hussein, Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
- 1994 – Popular Japanese television and movie actor Beat Takeshi is seriously injured in a motorcycle accident.
- 1997 – Australian ski instructor Stuart Diver is rescued as the sole survivor from the Thredbo landslide in New South Wales, Australia, in which 18 people died.
- 1998 – The Second Congo War begins.
- 2003 – A 65th anniversary edition of The Beano is released.
- 2005 – Air France Flight 358 lands at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and runs off the runway, causing the plane to burst into flames. All on board survive, with 12 injured.
- 2007 – Crews from the Russian submarines Mir 1 and Mir 2 plant the Flag of Russia in the seabed beneath the North Pole.
- 2014 – A factory explosion near Shanghai kills 146 people.
- 2018 – Apple Inc. becomes the first company to reach a worth of a trillion United States dollars.
- 2018 – The first multi–sport European Championships, co–hosted by Glasgow (Scotland) and Berlin (Germany), begin.

### Up to 1900

- 1455 – John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1499)
- 1533 – Theodor Zwinger, medical scholar (d. 1588)
- 1612 – Saskia van Uylenburgh, wife of Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (d. 1642)
- 1627 – Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten, Dutch painter and writer (d. 1678)
- 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)
- 1702 – Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1769)
- 1703 – Lorenzo Ricci, General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1775)
- 1754 – Pierre Charles L'Enfant, architect, city planner (d. 1825)
- 1780 – Marie-Anne Gaboury, French–Canadian settler in Manitoba (d. 1875)
- 1788 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (d. 1853)
- 1802 – Nicholas Wiseman, English theologian, cardinal and archbishop (d. 1865)
- 1808 – Augustus French, 9th Governor of Illinois (d. 1864)
- 1815 – Adolf Friedrich von Schack, writer (d. 1894)
- 1820 – John Tyndall, British physicist (d. 1893)
- 1824 – Princess Francisca of Brazil (d. 1898)
- 1825 – J. Neely Johnson, 4th Governor of California (d. 1872)
- 1827 – Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Albuquerque, Spanish general (d. 1895)
- 1834 – Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (d. 1904)
- 1835 – Elisha Gray, American inventor and founder of Western Electric (d. 1901)
- 1849 – Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (d. 1882)
- 1854 – Milan I, King of Serbia (d. 1901)
- 1858 – Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Regent of the Netherlands (d. 1934)
- 1862 – Duncan Campbell Scott, Canadian writer (d. 1947)
- 1865 – Irving Babbitt, American literary critic (d. 1933)
- 1865 – John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (d. 1955)
- 1866 – Adrien de Gerlache, Belgian explorer (d. 1934)
- 1866 – Charles Francis Adams III, American politician, United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1954)
- 1867 – Ernest Dowson, English poet (d. 1900)
- 1868 – King Constantine I of Greece (d. 1923)
- 1870 – Marianne Weber, German sociologist (d. 1954)
- 1871 – John French Sloan, artist (d. 1951)
- 1875 – Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian general (d. 1957)
- 1876 – Pingali Venkayya, designer of the Flag of India (d. 1963)
- 1877 – Ravishankar Shukla, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (d. 1956)
- 1878 – Aino Kallas, Finnish–Estonian writer (d. 1956)
- 1880 – Arthur Dove, American artist (d. 1946)
- 1882 – Albert Bloch, American painter, writer and translator (d. 1961)
- 1882 – Red Ames, American baseball player (d. 1936)
- 1883 – Jonathan Wainwright, American general (d. 1953)
- 1884 – Rómulo Gallegos, 46th President of Venezuela (d. 1969)
- 1886 – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, Canadian aviator (d. 1961)
- 1891 – Arthur Bliss, English composer and conductor (d. 1975)
- 1891 – Viktor Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian and linguist (d. 1971)
- 1892 – Jack Warner, Canadian movie producer (d. 1978)
- 1894 – Carlo Galimberti, Italian weightlifter (d. 1939)
- 1897 – Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1974)
- 1897 – Karl Otto Koch, German SS officer (d. 1945)
- 1899 – Charles Bennett, English director and screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 1900 – Helen Morgan, American actress (d. 1941)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1902 – Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, Egyptian Coptic Church Patriarch (d. 1971)
- 1905 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, composer (d. 1963)
- 1905 – Myrna Loy, American actress (d. 1993)
- 1905 – Rudolf Prack, Austrian actor (d. 1981)
- 1912 – Vladimir Zerjavic, Croatian statistician (d. 2001)
- 1912 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (d. 1979)
- 1914 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1915 – Gary Merrill, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1919 – Carlo Savina, Italian movie score composer (d. 2002)
- 1919 – Nehemiah Persoff, Israeli–American actor
- 1920 – François Flohic, French admiral (d. 2018)
- 1921 – Ruth Barcan Marcus, American philosopher and logician (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Alan Whicker, British journalist and broadcaster (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Paul Laxalt, American politician, 22nd Governor of Nevada (d. 2018)
- 1923 – Shimon Peres, 9th President of Israel (d. 2016)
- 1924 – James Baldwin, American writer (d. 1987)
- 1924 – Carroll O'Connor, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1925 – John McCormack, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2017)
- 1925 – Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinian dictator (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Luigi Colani, German industrial designer (d. 2019)
- 1929 – Irwin Fridovich, American biochemist (d. 2019)
- 1929 – Ursula Karusseit, German actress (d. 2019)
- 1929 – K.M. Peyton, English writer
- 1929 – David Waddington, Baron Waddington, British Governor of Bermuda (d. 2017)
- 1929 – Vidya Charan Shukla, Indian politician (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Karl Miller, British literary editor, critic and writer (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Peter O'Toole, Irish–British actor (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Lamar Hunt, American sportsman (d. 2006)
- 1933 – Lorenzo Milam, writer and broadcaster
- 1934 – Valery Bykovsky, Soviet–Russian cosmonaut (d. 2019)
- 1935 – Alex Parker, Scottish footballer
- 1937 – Garth Hudson, Canadian musician, organist/keyboardist with The Band
- 1937 – Gundula Janowitz, Austrian soprano
- 1937 – Jim McLean, Scottish footballer
- 1938 – Timo Konietzka, German–Swiss footballer and manager (d. 2012)
- 1938 – Paul Jenkins, American actor (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Wes Craven, American movie director (d. 2015)
- 1939 – Benjamin Barber, American theorist, author and academic (d. 2017)
- 1939 – John W. Snow, American politician
- 1941 – Jules Hoffmann, Luxembourg–French biologist and Nobel Prize winner
- 1941 – François Weyergans, Belgian writer and director (d. 2019)
- 1941 – Doris Coley, singer (Shirelles) (d. 2000)
- 1941 – Fabio Testi, Italian actor
- 1942 – Isabel Allende, Chilean–American writer
- 1942 – Leo Beenhakker, Dutch football coach
- 1942 – Juan Formell, Cuban musician and composer (d. 2014)
- 1943 – Jon R. Cavaiani, American soldier (d. 2014)
- 1943 – Max Wright, American actor
- 1943 – Rose Tremain, British writer
- 1944 – Jim Capaldi, British drummer, singer, and songwriter (Traffic) (d. 2005)
- 1944 – Naná Vasconcelos, Brazilian singer and musician (d. 2016)
- 1945 – Joanna Cassidy, American actress
- 1947 – Massiel, Spanish singer, actress and television presenter
- 1948 – Dennis Prager, radio talk show host and writer
- 1949 – Mario Illien, Swiss engineer
- 1950 – Jussi Adler-Olsen, Danish writer
- 1950 – Lance Ito, American judge
- 1950 – Mathieu Carrière, German actor
- 1950 – Ken Kutaragi, Japanese businessman, founder of PlayStation

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Per Westerberg, Swedish politician
- 1951 – Joe Lynn Turner, American singer
- 1951 – Marcel Iures, Romanian actor
- 1952 – Alain Giresse, French footballer and manager
- 1953 – Donnie Munro, Scottish musician and singer, formerly of the band Runrig
- 1953 – Butch Patrick, American actor
- 1954 – Ken MacLeod, Scottish writer
- 1954 – Sammy McIlroy, Irish footballer
- 1954 – Enrique Saura, Spanish footballer
- 1956 – Fulvio Melia, Italian–American physicist, astrophysicist and writer
- 1956 – Isabel Pantoja, Spanish singer
- 1957 – Mojo Nixon, musician and actor
- 1958 – Elaine C. Smith, Scottish actress and comedienne
- 1959 – Johnny Kemp, Bahamian singer (d. 2015)
- 1960 – Olivier Gruner, French actor
- 1961 – Linda Fratianne, American figure skater
- 1961 – Mike Ross, American politician
- 1963 – Laura Bennett, American fashion designer
- 1964 – Mary-Louise Parker, American actress
- 1965 – Hisanobu Watanabe, Japanese baseball player and coach
- 1965 – Joe Hockey, Australian politician
- 1967 – Marco Giampaolo, Italian footballer and manager
- 1967 – Aaron Krickstein, American tennis player
- 1968 – Chrystia Freeland, Canadian politician
- 1968 – Stefan Effenberg, German footballer
- 1968 – Russell Latapy, Trinidadian footballer
- 1969 – Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer
- 1969 – Angélica Rivera, Mexican actress and First Lady
- 1970 – Tony Amonte, American ice hockey player
- 1970 – Kevin Smith, American actor, director, comedian and writer
- 1972 – Muriel Bowser, American politician, 8th Mayor of the District of Columbia
- 1972 – Corinne Rey-Bellet, Swiss ski racer (d. 2006)
- 1972 – Justyna Steczkowska, Polish singer
- 1972 – Carol Monaghan, Scottish politician
- 1972 – Mohamed Al-Deayea, Saudi Arabian footballer
- 1973 – Miguel Mendonça, Anglo–Azorean writer
- 1973 – Susie O'Neill, Australian swimmer
- 1974 – Jeremy Castle, singer and songwriter
- 1975 – Xu Huaiwen, Chinese–born German badminton player
- 1975 – Mineiro, Brazilian footballer

### From 1976

- 1976 – Sam Worthington, Australian actor
- 1976 – Kati Wilhelm, German biathlete
- 1977 – Edward Furlong, American actor
- 1978 – Deividas Semberas, Lithuanian footballer
- 1982 – Hélder Postiga, Portuguese footballer
- 1983 – Laura Bassett, English footballer
- 1983 – Michel Bastos, Brazilian footballer
- 1984 – Giampaolo Pazzini, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Stephen Ferris, Irish rugby player
- 1985 – Britt Nicole, American singer
- 1985 – David Hart Smith, Canadian professional wrestler
- 1986 – Alisha Annas, musician
- 1986 – Mathieu Razanakolona, Malagasy skier
- 1987 – Yura Movsisyan, Armenian footballer
- 1989 – Nacer Chadli, Belgian footballer
- 1990 – Skylar Diggins, American basketball player
- 1991 – Skyler Day, American actress
- 1991 – Hrafnhildur Lúthersdóttir, Icelandic swmmer
- 1992 – Charli XCX, English singer and songwriter
- 1992 – Hallie Kate Eisenberg, American actress
- 1997 – Christina Robinson, American actress

### Up to 1900

- 640 – Pope Severinus
- 686 – Pope John V
- 924 – King Ælfweard of Wessex (b. 904)
- 1100 – King William II of England (b. 1056)
- 1222 – Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse (b. 1156)
- 1316 – Louis of Burgundy (b. 1297)
- 1332 – King Christopher II of Denmark (b. 1276)
- 1512 – Alessandro Achillini, Italian physician and philosopher (b. 1463)
- 1546 – Peter Faber, Jesuit priest (b. 1506)
- 1589 – King Henry III of France (b. 1551)
- 1611 – Kato Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1562)
- 1644 – Bernardo Strozzi, Italian Baroque painter (b. 1581)
- 1667 – Francesco Borromini, Swiss architect (b. 1599)
- 1788 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (b. 1727)
- 1799 – Pope Pius VI (b. 1717)
- 1823 – Lazare Carnot, French general, politician and mathematician (b. 1753)
- 1849 – Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Egyptian military officer and statesman (b. 1769)
- 1859 – Horace Mann, American educator and abolitionist (b. 1796)
- 1876 – Wild Bill Hickok, American gunfighter (b. 1837)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1913 – Ferenc Pfaff, Hungarian architect (b. 1861)
- 1921 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
- 1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish–American inventor (b. 1847)
- 1923 – Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States (b. 1865)
- 1929 – Mae Costello, American actress (b. 1882)
- 1932 – Ignaz Seipel, Chancellor of Austria (b. 1876)
- 1934 – Paul von Hindenburg, German military figure and President (b. 1847)
- 1936 – Louis Blériot, French aviator (b. 1872)
- 1938 – Yakov Yurovsky, Russian Bolshevik, led the execution of the family of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (b. 1878)
- 1945 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863)
- 1955 – Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1901)
- 1973 – Jean-Pierre Melville, French movie director (b. 1917)
- 1976 – Fritz Lang, Austrian movie director (b. 1890)
- 1978 – Antony Noghès, French businessman (b. 1890)
- 1979 – Thurman Munson, American baseball player (b. 1947)
- 1988 – Raymond Carver, American writer (b. 1938)
- 1992 – Michel Berger, French singer-songwriter and songwriter (b. 1947)
- 1996 – Mohamed Farah Aidid, Somali warlord (b. 1934)
- 1996 – Obdulio Varela, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1917)
- 1997 – Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician (b. 1938)
- 1997 – William S. Burroughs, American writer (b. 1914)
- 1998 – Shari Lewis, American television host and puppeteer (b. 1933)

### From 2001

- 2004 – François Craenhals, Belgian comics artist (b. 1926)
- 2004 – José Pastoriza, Argentine footballer (b. 1942)
- 2005 – Jay Hammond, former Governor of Alaska (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Holden Roberto, Angolan rebel and activist (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Kay Dotrice, British actress (b. 1929)
- 2011 – Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan–born immunologist and Nobel Prize winner (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Mihaela Ursuleasa, Romanian pianist (b. 1978)
- 2014 – Barbara Prammer, Austrian politician (b. 1954)
- 2014 – James Thompson, American–Finnish author (b. 1964)
- 2014 – Pete van Wieren, American sports broadcaster (b. 1944)
- 2015 – Piet Fransen, Dutch footballer (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Forrest Bird, American aviator and inventor (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Giovanni Conso, Italian jurist and politician (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Natalia Molchanova, Russian freediver (b. 1962)
- 2016 – Jonathan Borwein, Scottish mathematician (b. 1951)
- 2016 – Forbes Carlile, Australian swimming coach and modern pentathlete (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Franciszek Macharski, Polish cardinal (b. 1927)
- 2016 – Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian chemist (b. 1946)
- 2017 – Wanda Chotomska, Polish writer (b. 1929)
- 2017 – John Graham, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1935)
- 2017 – Judith Jones, American cookbook author (b. 1924)
- 2017 – Daniel Licht, American composer and musician (b. 1957)
- 2017 – Jim Marrs, American newspaper journalist and author (b. 1943)
- 2017 – Ara Parseghian, American football player and coach (b. 1923)
- 2017 – Shen Daren, Chinese politician (b. 1928)
- 2017 – Santosh Mohan Dev, Indian politician (b. 1934)
- 2018 – Neil Argo, American composer (b. 1947)
- 2018 – Armand de Las Cuevas, French cyclist (b. 1968)
- 2018 – Herbert King, Colombian actor (b. 1963)
- 2018 – Winston Ntshona, South African actor and playwright (b. 1941)
- 2018 – Daan Schrijvers, Dutch footballer (b. 1941)
- 2019 – Vahakn Dadrian, Armenian–American sociologist and historian (b. 1926)
- 2019 – Deepak Obhrai, Canadian politician (b. 1950)
- 2019 – Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau, Canadian politician (b. 1955)
- 2019 – Alexandra Strelchenko, Russian folk singer (b. 1937)

## Observances

- The Catholic Church celebrates on August 2, starting at noon of the preceding day, the "Perdono di Assisi", the plenary indulgence related to Saint Francis of Assisi.
- Republic Day (North Macedonia)
- Emancipation Day (Bahamas)