June 2

Events
Up to 1950
455 - Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome and plunder the city for two weeks.
1098 - First Crusade: At the end of a siege, Crusade forces take Antioch.
1676 - Franco-Dutch War: France ensures the dominance of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war, with victory at the Battle of Palermo
1692 - Bridget Bishop becomes the first person to go on trial in the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. She is found guilty and executed on June 10.
1763 - Pontiac's Rebellion: In present-day Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of Lacrosse, then chasing the ball into a fort.
1793 - French Revolution: Francois Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat.
1805 - Napoleonic Wars: A French-Spanish fleet recaptures Diamond Riot, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, from the British.
1835 - P. T. Barnum's circus starts touring the United States.
1848 - The Slavic Congress in Prague begins.
1855 - The Rum Riot occurs in Portland, Maine.
1858 - Comet C/1858 L1 is discovered by Italian astronomer Giambattista Donati.
1864 - The Ionian Islands, previously a British protectorate, are given to Greece.
1876 - Bulgarian revolutionary Hristo Botev is killed.
1886 - Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom.
1896 - Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for the radio.
1909 - Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for a third time.
1910 - Charles Rolls becomes the first person to make a non-stop crossing of the English Channel by aeroplane.
1919 - Anarchists simultaneously set of bombs in eight separate United States cities.
1924 - US President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act, giving equal citizenship to Native Americans born within the territory of the United States.
1941 - World War II: German paratroopers murder Greek civilians in the village of Kondomari.
1946 - In a referendum, voters in Italy support the formation of a Republic.
1951 2000
1953 - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
1953 - The news of the first successful ascent of Mt. Everest reaches the UK.
1955 - The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade Declaration.
1962 - The most violent match of the FIFA World Cup occurs in Chile as police have to intervene between Chilean and Italian footballers.
1965 - A cyclone kills over 30,000 people in Pakistan.
1966 - The Surveyor 1 spacecraft on the Moon.
1967 - German student Benno Ohnesorg is shot dead by police at a demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy.
1973 - Amsterdam's Vincent van Gogh Museum opens to the public.
1974 - Jigme Singye Wangchuck is crowned King of Bhutan.
1976 - As part of Operation Condor, Bolivian President Juan Jose Torres is abducted and murdered. It is not known to what extent his successor Hugo Banzer was involved.
1976 - The Third Cod War between the United Kingdom and Iceland ends in a temporary agreement, as the UK recognizes Iceland's claimed fishing zone of 200 nautical miles.
1979 - The Uganda-Tanzania War ends, with Ugandan forces under Idi Amin being defeated.
1979 - Pope John Paul II visits Poland, his native country, for the first time in his papacy.
1980 - The Rubik's Cube goes on sale in West Germany.
1983 - After an emergency landing because of an inflight fire, 23 passengers on board Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open.
1990 - 66 tornadoes hit an area across Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, killing 12 people, including 6 alone in Petersburg, Indiana.
1994 - A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Java, killing 277 people.
1997 - Timothy McVeigh is convicted of the Oklahoma City bombing.
1999 - Bhutan starts television transmission.
From 2001
2003 - The Mars Express Space Probe launches from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
2004 - Ken Jennings begins his 74-game winning run on the TV game show Jeopardy!.
2007 - Violence erupts at a demonstration in Rostock, northeastern Germany, while preparations are made for the G-8 summit in nearby Heiligendamm.
2010 - Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama announces his resignation, less than 9 months after taking office. Naoto Kan succeeds him.
2010 - Derrick Bird goes on a shooting rampage in Cumbria, England. 12 people are killed and 11 people are injured, before Derrick Bird kills himself.
2012 - Former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life in prison for ordering killings during the 2011 Egyptian protests.
2014 - In India, Telangana becomes the 29th State, as Andhra Pradesh is officially split in two. Hyderabad, which is in the new state, will serve as capital city of both states until 2024.
2014 - King Juan Carlos I of Spain announces his intent to abdicate (leave) the throne. An official date for the handover is not yet set, as Felipe, Prince of Asturias is to succeed him as King.
2015 - Sepp Blatter announces his intention to resign as President of FIFA, just four days after his controversial re-election to the post following a corruption scandal.
2016 - The German Bundestag officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide.
2017 - Leo Varadkar becomes the new leader of the Republic of Ireland's Fine Gael party, and is therefore set to become the country's next Taoiseach.
Births
Up to 1900
926 - Emperor Murakami of Japan (d. 967)
1423 - Ferdinand I of Naples (d. 1494)
1535 - Pope Leo XI (d. 1605)
1699 - Marie-Therese Rodet Geoffrin, French writer (d. 1677)
1731 - Martha Washington, wife of George Washington, first First Lady of the United States (d. 1802)
1737 - Ernest Augustus II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (d. 1758)
1740 - Marquis de Sade, French writer (d. 1814)
1773 - John Randolph of Roanoke, American planter and politician (d. 1833)
1774 - William Lawson, explorer of New South Wales (d. 1850)
1793 - Jacobus Josephus Eeckhout, Belgian painter (d. 1861)
1813 - Daniel Pollen, 9th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1896)
1815 - Philip Kearny, American general (d. 1862)
1821 - Ion C. Bratianu, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1891)
1823 - Gedeon Ouimet, 2nd Premier of Quebec (d. 1905)
1835 - Pope Pius X (d. 1914)
1835 - Nikolai Rubinstein, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1881)
1838 - Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg (d. 1900)
1840 - Thomas Hardy, English poet, novelist (d. 1928)
1849 - Albert Besnard, French painter (d. 1934)
1857 - Edward Elgar, English composer (d. 1934)
1857 - Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer (d. 1919)
1860 - Roger de Barbarin, French trap shooter (d. 1925)
1861 - Helen Herron Taft, First Lady of the United States, wife of William Howard Taft (d. 1943)
1863 - Felix Weingartner, composer and conductor (d. 1942)
1881 - Walter Egan, American golfer (d. 1971)
1885 - Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt, German neurologist (d. 1964)
1887 - Howard Johnson, American songwriter (d. 1941)
1891 - Takijiro Onishi, Japanese World War II figure (d. 1945)
1899 - Lotte Reiniger, German movie director (d. 1981)
1899 - Edwin Way Teale, American environmentalist and photographer (d. 1980)
1901 1950
1902 - Giuseppe Lepori, Swiss politician (d. 1968)
1904 - Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (d. 1984)
1906 - Carlo Scarpa, Italian architect (d. 1978)
1907 - Dorothy West, American writer (d. 1998)
1909 - Rudolf Brandt, German SS officer (d. 1948)
1911 - Joe McCluskey, American runner (d. 2002)
1913 - Barbara Pym, English writer (d. 1980)
1913 - Walter Andreas Schwarz, German singer-songwriter and playwright (d. 2002)
1913 - Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong social activist (d. 2015)
1915 - Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian activist and agent (d. 1992)
1915 - Walter Tetley, American voice actor (d. 1975)
1917 - Max Showalter, American actor (d. 2000)
1917 - Heinz Sielmann, German photographer, biologist, zoologist and documentary filmmaker (d. 2006)
1920 - Marcel Reich-Ranicki, German literary critic (d. 2013)
1920 - Frank G. Clement, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969)
1922 - Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish movie director and screenwriter (d. 2002)
1922 - Carmen Silvera, Canadian-English actress (d. 2002)
1922 - Charlie Sifford, American golfer (d. 2015)
1923 - Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist (d. 2016)
1925 - M. Caldwell Butler, American politician (d. 2014)
1926 - Chiyonoyama Masanobu, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1977)
1926 - Milo O'Shea, Irish-American actor (d. 2013)
1927 - W. Watts Biggers, American novelist (d. 2014)
1928 - Stig Claesson, Swedish writer and illustrator (d. 2008)
1928 - Rafael Lecuona, Cuban-American gymnast (d. 2014)
1929 - Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (d. 2007)
1930 - Pete Conrad, American astronaut (d. 1999)
1930 - Vic Firth, American musician and instruments manufacturer (d. 2015)
1931 - Viktor Tsaryov, Russian footballer (d. 2017)
1933 - Horacio Ferrer, Uruguayan writer, poet and tango historian (d. 2014)
1935 - Carol Shields, American-Canadian novelist (d. 2003)
1936 - Volodymyr Holubnychy, Ukrainian race walker and Olympic champion
1937 - Sally Kellerman, American actress
1937 - Rosalyn Higgins, British jurist
1938 - Cliff Cushman, American hurdler (d. 1966)
1938 - Princess Desiree, Baroness Silfverchiold of Sweden
1940 - Constantine II, former King of Greece
1941 - Stacy Keach, American actor
1941 - Charlie Watts, English musician (The Rolling Stones)
1941 - William Guest, American singer
1941 - Lou Nanne, Canadian ice hockey player
1943 - Crescenzio Sepe, Italian cardinal
1943 - Ilaiyaraaja, Indian singer-songwriter and producer
1944 - Marvin Hamlisch, American composer (d. 2012)
1945 - Jon Peters, American movie producer
1946 - Lasse Hallstrom, Swedish movie director
1946 - Peter Sutcliffe, British serial killer
1947 - Mark Elder, British conductor
1948 - Todd Rundgren, American singer and producer
1951 1975
1951 - Larry Robinson, Canadian ice hockey player
1951 - Arnold Muhren, Dutch footballer
1951 - Khattiya Sawasdipol, Thai general (d. 2010)
1951 - Gilbert Baker, American gay rights activist (d. 2017)
1952 - Pete Farndon, British musician (The Pretenders) (d. 1983)
1953 - Keith Allen, British actor and comedian
1953 - Cornel West, American theologian and activist
1953 - Paul Engemann, American musician
1955 - Michael Steele, American musician (The Bangles)
1956 - Mani Ratnam, Indian movie director
1957 - Mark Lawrenson, English footballer and commentator
1958 - Lex Luger, American wrestler and football player
1959 - Lydia Lunch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress
1960 - Olga Bondarenko, Russian Olympic gold medalist (athletics)
1960 - Tony Hadley, English singer (Spandau Ballet)
1963 - Bernard Cazeneuve, French politician
1964 - Caroline Link, German movie director and screenwriter
1965 - Mark Waugh, Australian cricketer
1965 - Steve Waugh, Australian cricketer
1966 - Pedro Guerra, Spanish singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress
1968 - Jon Culshaw, British comedian and actor
1968 - Beetlejuice, American comedian and actor
1968 - Jason Falkner, American musician, songwriter and producer
1969 - Paulo Sergio Silvestre do Nascimento, Brazilian footballer
1970 - B-Real, American rapper, producer and actor
1971 - Anthony Montgomery, American actor
1972 - Wayne Brady, American actor, comedian, game show host and singer
1972 - Wentworth Miller, American actor
1973 - Carlos Acosta, Cuban dancer
1974 - Gata Kamsky, Russian-born American chess player
From 1976
1976 - Earl Boykins, American basketball player
1976 - Tim Rice-Oxley, English musician (Keane)
1976 - Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso of Lesotho
1977 - Zachary Quinto, American actor
1978 - Dominic Cooper, English actor
1978 - Nikki Cox, American actress
1978 - Justin Long, American actor
1978 - Deon Richmond, American actor
1978 - A. J. Styles, American wrestler
1979 - Morena Baccarin, Brazilian actress
1980 - Abby Wambach, American soccer player
1981 - Nikolay Davydenko, Russian tennis player
1983 - Christopher Higgins, American ice hockey player
1983 - Leela James, American singer-songwriter
1983 - Brooke White, American singer and actress
1985 - Ana Cristina, American singer and actress
1987 - Sonakshi Sinha, Indian actress
1987 - Angelo Mathews, Sri Lankan cricketer
1987 - Darin Zanyar, Swedish singer
1988 - Patrik Berglund, Swedish ice hockey player
1988 - Sergio Aguero, Argentine footballer
1988 - Takashi Inui, Japanese footballer
1989 - Freddy Adu, Ghanaian-born footballer
1990 - Brittany Curran, American actress and singer
1990 - Jack Lowden, Scottish actor
1992 - Pajtim Kasami, Swiss footballer
1994 - Jemma McKenzie-Brown, English actress
1995 - Sterling Beaumon, American actor
Deaths
Up to 1950
657 - Pope Eugene I
829 - Saint Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 758)
910 - Richilde of Provence, Queen of West Francia (b. 845)
1418 - Catherine of Lancaster, Queen Consort of Henry III of Castile (b. 1373)
1567 - Shane O'Neill, Irish king (b. 1530)
1581 - James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, regent of Scotland (b. 1525)
1701 - Madeleine de Scudery, French writer (b. 1607)
1716 - Ogata Korin, Japanese painter (b. 1658)
1754 - Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish religious dissenter (b. 1680)
1761 - Jonas Alstromer, Swedish industrialist (b. 1685)
1785 - Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, French mathematician (b. 1713)
1875 - Jozef Kremer, Polish philosopher (b. 1806)
1876 - Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1848)
1882 - Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot (b. 1807)
1933 - Frank Jarvis, American athlete (b. 1878)
1937 - Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (b. 1870)
1941 - Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (b. 1903)
1942 - Bunny Berigan, American singer, trumpeter and bandleader (b. 1908)
1948 - Nazi war criminals executed:
Viktor Brack, German physician (b. 1904)
Karl Brandt, German SS officer (b. 1904)
Rudolf Brandt, German SS officer (b. 1909)
Karl Gebhardt, German physician (b. 1897)
Waldemar Hoven, German physician (b. 1903)
Wolfram Sievers, German SS officer (b. 1905)
1951 2000
1952 - Naum Torbov, Bulgarian architect (b. 1880)
1956 - Jean Hersholt, Danish actor and humanitarian (b. 1886)
1961 - George S. Kaufman, American playwright (b. 1889)
1962 - Vita Sackville-West, English writer (b. 1892)
1967 - Benno Ohnesorg, German student (b. 1940)
1968 - Andre Mathieu, Canadian pianist and composer (b. 1929)
1969 - Leo Gorcey, American actor (b. 1917)
1970 - Bruce McLaren, New Zealand racing driver and team founder (b. 1937)
1970 - Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian poet (b. 1888)
1970 - Albert Lamorisse, French director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
1976 - Juan Jose Torres, President of Bolivia (b. 1920)
1978 - Santiago Bernabeu Yeste, Spanish footballer (b. 1895)
1981 - Rino Gaetano, Italian singer and musician (b. 1950)
1982 - Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (b. 1904)
1983 - Stan Rogers, Canadian musician (b. 1949)
1987 - Andres Segovia, Spanish guitarist (b. 1893)
1988 - Raj Kapoor, Indian actor, movie producer and movie director (b. 1924)
1988 - Horace Hildreth, American politician, Governor of Maine (b. 1902)
1990 - Rex Harrison, British actor (b. 1908)
1992 - Philip Dunne, American movie director (b. 1908)
1994 - Henry Mancini, American composer (b. 1924)
1996 - Ray Combs, American comedian, actor and game show host (b. 1956)
1996 - Leon Garfield, English writer (b. 1921)
1997 - Helen Jacobs, American tennis player (b. 1908)
1998 - Junkyard Dog, American wrestler (b. 1952)
1999 - Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican musician (b. 1949)
From 2001
2005 - Gunder Gundersen, Norwegian skier (b. 1930)
2006 - Vince Welnick, musician (Grateful Dead) (b. 1951)
2007 - Huang Ju, Chinese Vice Premier (b. 1938)
2008 - Bo Diddley, American musician (b. 1928)
2008 - Mel Ferrer, American actor and movie director (b. 1917)
2009 - David Eddings, American writer (b. 1931)
2010 - Giuseppe Taddei, Italian operatic baritone (b. 1916)
2012 - Kathryn Joosten, American actress (b. 1939)
2012 - Richard Dawson, English-American actor, comedian and game show host (b. 1932)
2013 - Chen Xitong, Chinese politician, 8th Mayor of Beijing (b. 1930)
2014 - Alexander Shulgin, American medical scientist and author (b. 1925)
2014 - Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal (b. 1924)
2014 - Kuaima Riruako, Namibian politician (b. 1935)
2014 - Anjan Das, Indian filmmaker (b. 1949)
2015 - Alberto De Martino, Italian movie director (b. 1929)
2015 - Irwin Rose, American biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1926)
2015 - Theo Saat, Dutch Olympic sprinter (b. 1928)
2016 - Tom Kibble, British physicist (b. 1932)
2016 - Yevhen Lemeshko, Ukrainian football coach (b. 1930)
2016 - Abderrahmane Meziani, Algerian footballer (b. 1942)
2016 - Andrzej Niemczyk, Polish volleyball player and coach (b. 1944)
2016 - Freddie Wadling, Swedish singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
2017 - Gordon Christian, American ice hockey player (b. 1927)
2017 - Iakovos Garmatis, Greek-American church leader (b. 1928)
2017 - Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Pakistani lawyer and politician (b. 1923)
2017 - Peter Sallis, English actor (b. 1921)
2017 - Jeffrey Tate, English conductor (b. 1943)
2017 - Jack O'Neill, American businessman and surfer (b. 1923)
2018 - Paul D. Boyer, American chemist (b. 1918)
2018 - Tony Morphett, Australian screenwriter (b. 1938)
2018 - Bernard E. Trainor, American Marine Corps general, military analyst and journalist (b. 1928)
2018 - Emil Wolf, Czech-born American physicist (b. 1922)
2018 - Fernando Mazariegos, Guatemalan chemist and inventor (b. 1938)
2019 - Momtazuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi dramatist and educator (b. 1935)
2019 - Alistair Browning, New Zealand actor (b. 1954)
2019 - Donald M. Fraser, American politician (b. 1924)
2019 - Barry Hughes, Welsh footballer (b. 1937)
2019 - Alexey Kazannik, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1941)
2019 - Mart Nutt, Estonian politician and historian (b. 1962)
2019 - Maciej Parowski, Polish journalist, essayist, science fiction writer, editor and translator (b. 1946)
Observances
Republic Day (Italy)
Hristo Botev Day (Bulgaria)
June 02