On this day: September 2

Events on September 2

• 44 BC Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion. Wikipedia
• 44 BC Cicero launches the first of his Philippicae (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the following months. Wikipedia
• 31 BC Final War of the Roman Republic: Battle of Actium: Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Wikipedia
• 911 The Byzantine Empire and the Kievan Rus sign a treaty regulating trade. Wikipedia
• 1595 An imperial army retakes the city of Esztergom from the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1792 French Revolution: Due to an overwhelming fear that foreign armies would attack Paris and prisoners would revolt, revolutionaries began the summary execution of more than a thousand prisoners. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: United States President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Union forces enter Atlanta as the city surrenders, ending the Atlanta campaign as a victory for General William T. Sherman. Wikipedia
• 1898 Battle of Omdurman: British and Egyptian troops defeat Sudanese tribesmen and establish British dominance in Sudan. Wikipedia
• 1901 U.S. vice president Theodore Roosevelt first publicly used the phrase "speak softly and carry a big stick" (cartoon pictured) at the Minnesota State Fair, describing his philosophy of negotiating peacefully while simultaneously threatening to use military force. Wikipedia
• 1901 Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: Following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany. Wikipedia
• 1944 The last execution of a Finn in Finland takes place when soldier Olavi Laiho is executed by shooting in Oulu. Wikipedia
• 1945 On the deck of the U.S. Navy battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, representatives from the Empire of Japan and the Allied powers signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender , formally ending World War II. Wikipedia
• 1946 The interim government of India, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, was formed to assist the transition of India from British rule to independence. Wikipedia
• 1946 The Interim Government of India is formed, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru as vice president with the powers of a Prime Minister. Wikipedia
• 1970 Aeroflot Flight 3630, a Tupolev Tu-124 en route from southern Russia to Lithuania, crashes after the pilots lost control of the aircraft at cruise altitude between Rostov-on-Don Airport and Vilnius Airport, on the second leg of the flight; all 37 passengers and crew are killed. Wikipedia
• 1970 NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19. Wikipedia
• 1990 Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void. Wikipedia
• 1998 The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide. Wikipedia
• 2008 Google launches its Google Chrome web browser. Wikipedia
• 2018 National Museum of Brazil fire: A massive fire destroys most of the Paço de São Cristóvão, which houses the National Museum of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro. The museum holds important archaeοlogical and anthropological objects, including the remains of the Luzia Woman, Marajoara vases and Egyptian mummies. Wikipedia
• 2019 Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 hurricane, devastates the Bahamas, killing at least five. Wikipedia
• 2024 Four people are killed in a mass shooting targeting homeless people on a Chicago Transit Authority train in Forest Park, Illinois, United States. Wikipedia
• 2024 A suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills six people and injures 13. Wikipedia
• 2024 At least 129 inmates are killed and 59 more injured in an attempted prison break at Makala Prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wikipedia

Born on September 2

• 1838 Liliʻuokalani, Last sovereign monarch of Hawaiʻi (died 1917) Wikipedia
• 1839 Henry George, American economist and author (died 1897) Wikipedia
• 1852 Paul Bourget, French author and critic (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1853 Wilhelm Ostwald, Latvian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1932) Wikipedia
• 1877 Frederick Soddy, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1956) Wikipedia
• 1894 Joseph Roth, Austrian journalist and author (died 1939) Wikipedia
• 1913 Bill Shankly, Scottish footballer and manager (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1922 Arthur Ashkin, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1924 Sidney Phillips, USMC WW2 combat veteran, physician, and author (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1924 Daniel arap Moi, Kenyan educator and politician, 2nd President of Kenya (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1931 Alan Simpson, American politician, US Senator from Wyoming (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1933 Mathieu Kérékou, Beninese soldier and politician, President of Benin (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1934 Chuck McCann, American actor and screenwriter (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1952 Jimmy Connors, American tennis player, coach, and sportscaster Wikipedia
• 1953 Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghan commander and politician, Afghan Minister of Defense (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1954 Andrej Babiš, Czech politician, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Wikipedia
• 1961 Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1962 Keir Starmer, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Wikipedia
• 1964 Keanu Reeves, Canadian actor, singer, and producer Wikipedia
• 1966 Salma Hayek, Mexican-American actress, director, and producer Wikipedia
• 1989 Alexandre Pato, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Emiliano Martínez, Argentine footballer Wikipedia

Died on September 2

• 1651 Kosem Sultan, Ottoman Valide sultan and regent (born 1589) Wikipedia
• 1865 William Rowan Hamilton, Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (born 1805) Wikipedia
• 1910 Henri Rousseau, French painter (born 1844) Wikipedia
• 1937 Pierre de Coubertin, French historian and educator, founded the International Olympic Committee (born 1863) Wikipedia
• 1964 Alvin C. York, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1969 Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese politician, 1st President of Vietnam (born 1890) Wikipedia
• 1973 J. R. R. Tolkien, English novelist, short story writer, poet, and philologist (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1991 Alfonso García Robles, Mexican politician and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 1992 Barbara McClintock, American geneticist and botanist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 1997 Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (born 1905) Wikipedia
• 2001 Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon and academic (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 2013 Ronald Coase, English-American economist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 2016 Islam Karimov, Uzbek politician, 1st President of Uzbekistan (born 1938) Wikipedia
• 2021 Mikis Theodorakis, Greek composer (born 1925) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Acepsimas of Hnaita and companions (Syriac Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Agricola of Avignon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Antoninus of Pamiers Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Brocard Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Diomedes Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eleazar Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hieu (abbess) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Holy September Martyrs Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ingrid of Sweden Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Justus of Lyon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Margaret of Louvain Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maxima of Rome Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nonnosus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: William of Roskilde Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Democracy Day (Tibet) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Transnistria, unrecognized) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Artsakh, unrecognized) Wikipedia
• National Blueberry Popsicle Day (United States) Wikipedia
• National Day, celebrates the independence of Vietnam from Japan and France in 1945 Wikipedia
• Victory over Japan Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Sedantag (German Empire) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 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.