On this day: August 2

Events on 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. Wikipedia
• 338 BC A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeats the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean. Wikipedia
• 49 BC Caesar, who marched to Spain earlier in the year, leaving Marcus Antonius in charge of Italy, defeats Pompey's general Afranius and Petreius in Ilerda (Lerida) north of the Ebro river. Wikipedia
• 47 BC Julius Caesar defeats Pharnaces II of Pontus in the battle of Zela. Wikipedia
• 932 After a two-year siege, the city of Toledo, in Spain, surrenders to the forces of the Caliph of Córdoba Abd al-Rahman III, assuming an important victory in his campaign to subjugate the Central March. Wikipedia
• 1492 The Jews are expelled from Spain: 40,000–200,000 leave. Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire, learning of this, dispatches the Ottoman Navy to bring the Jews safely to Ottoman lands, mainly to the cities of Thessaloniki (in modern-day Greece) and İzmir (in modern-day Turkey). Wikipedia
• 1784 The first British mail coach service runs from Bristol to London. Wikipedia
• 1903 The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottoman Empire begins. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: The German occupation of Luxembourg begins. Wikipedia
• 1916 An explosion, blamed on Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, sank the Italian dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto. Wikipedia
• 1923 Calvin Coolidge became the 30th president of the United States after Warren G. Harding suffered a fatal heart attack. Wikipedia
• 1923 U.S. Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes president upon the death of President Warren G. Harding. Wikipedia
• 1932 The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson. Wikipedia
• 1939 Leo Szilard 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. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: After the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. president, saves all but two of his crew. Wikipedia
• 1943 The Holocaust: 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. Wikipedia
• 1944 ASNOM: Birth of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, celebrated as Day of the Republic in North Macedonia. Wikipedia
• 1947 A British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian airliner crashes into a mountain during a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile. The wreckage would not be found until 1998. Wikipedia
• 1947 Star Dust, a British South American Airways airliner, crashed into Mount Tupungato in the Argentine Andes; its wreckage was not found until 1998. Wikipedia
• 1989 Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972. Wikipedia
• 1989 A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians. Wikipedia
• 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait: Iraq invades Kuwait and temporarily establishes the Republic of Kuwait puppet state on the orders of Saddam Hussein, eventually leading to the Gulf War. Wikipedia
• 1999 The Gaisal train disaster claims 285 lives in Assam, India. Wikipedia
• 2008 A taxi driver is murdered in Bangkok by a teenager addicted to video games leading to the Thai government banning the sale of Grand Theft Auto. Wikipedia

Born on August 2

• 1612 Saskia van Uylenburgh, Dutch model and wife of Rembrandt van Rijn (died 1642) Wikipedia
• 1696 Mahmud I, Ottoman sultan (died 1754) Wikipedia
• 1754 Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-American architect and engineer, designed Washington, D.C. (died 1825) Wikipedia
• 1834 Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (died 1904) Wikipedia
• 1865 John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (died 1955) Wikipedia
• 1868 Constantine I of Greece (died 1923) Wikipedia
• 1876 Pingali Venkayya, Indian geologist, designed the Flag of India (died 1963) Wikipedia
• 1897 Karl-Otto Koch, German SS officer (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1922 Len Murray, British trade union leader (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1923 Shimon Peres, Polish-Israeli lawyer and politician, 9th President of Israel (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1924 James Baldwin, American novelist, poet, and critic (died 1987) Wikipedia
• 1925 Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinian general and politician, 43rd President of Argentina (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1932 Peter O'Toole, British-Irish actor and producer (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1939 Wes Craven, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1941 Jules A. Hoffmann, Luxembourgish-French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1942 Isabel Allende, Chilean-American novelist, essayist, essayist Wikipedia
• 1943 Jon R. Cavaiani, English-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1964 Mary-Louise Parker, American actress Wikipedia
• 1970 Kevin Smith, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1976 Sam Worthington, English-Australian actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1984 JD Vance, American politician, 50th vice president of the United States Wikipedia
• 1992 Charli XCX, English singer-songwriter Wikipedia

Died on August 2

• 216 BC Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, Roman consul Wikipedia
• 216 BC Lucius Aemilius Paullus, Roman consul and general Wikipedia
• 216 BC Marcus Minucius Rufus, Roman consul Wikipedia
• 257 Pope Stephen I Wikipedia
• 686 Pope John V Wikipedia
• 855 Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Arab theologian and jurist (born 780) Wikipedia
• 1589 Henry III of France (born 1551) Wikipedia
• 1921 Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor and actor (born 1873) Wikipedia
• 1922 Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-Canadian engineer, invented the telephone (born 1847) Wikipedia
• 1923 Warren G. Harding, American journalist and politician, 29th president of the United States (born 1865) Wikipedia
• 1934 Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and politician, 2nd president of Germany (born 1847) Wikipedia
• 1976 Fritz Lang, Austrian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1890) Wikipedia
• 1997 William S. Burroughs, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 2016 Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1946) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church). Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Basil Fool for Christ (Russian Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ceferino Giménez Malla Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Centola and Helen Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joan of Aza Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Justin Russolillo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter Julian Eymard Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Plegmund Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Stephen I Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Portiuncola Indulgence ("Pardon of Assisi"), the plenary indulgence related to St. Francis of Assisi (Catholic Church). Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Samuel David Ferguson (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: August 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Azerbaijani cinema (Azerbaijan) Wikipedia
• Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica) Wikipedia
• Paratroopers Day (Russia) Wikipedia
• Republic Day (North Macedonia) Wikipedia
• Romani genocide-related observances, including: Roma Holocaust Memorial Day (Council of Europe, European Parliament) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “August 2” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.