August 2nd has been distinguished historically by notable events spanning several centuries and geographical areas.
At the Battle of Chaeronea in338 BC Philip II of Macedon decisively defeated Athens and Thebes, hence establishing Macedonian rule in Greece and the Aegean. Fast forward to 216 BC, and Hannibal of Carthage, displaying his tactical genius against a numerically superior force, dealt a devastating blow to Rome at the Battle of Cannae.
Crucially for Julius Caesar’s campaign during the Roman Civil War, the year 49 BC saw him defeating Pompey’s generals Afranius and Petreius at Ilerda (now Lerida). Majorian, the Roman Emperor, was removed by general Ricimer around 461 AD, therefore changing the balance of power within the Western Roman Empire.
For the Caliph of Córdoba, Abd al-Rahman III, the year 932 AD represented a major triumph when Toledo in Spain collapsed following a two-year siege, therefore strengthening his effort to rule the Central March. Returning from the Ninth Crusade in 1274, Edward I of England was crowned king, therefore carrying on the legacy of English royalty.
Driven by wrath and revolt, Jeanne de Clisson raised an army to assault French trade and ports following the murder of her husband in 1343. Reflecting the stormy military confrontations of the time, Russian soldiers were routed in 1377 by the Blue Horde Khan Arapsha in the Battle on Pyana River.
Thomas Grey was executed in 1415 for his participation in the Southampton Plot, a component of more general political upheaval in England. Forty thousand to 200,000 Jews left Spain by 1492; Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II provided sanctuary and dispatched the Ottoman Navy to guard them in locations including Thessaloniki and İzmir.
Part of his hunt for the Northwest Passage, Henry Hudson explored what is now Hudson Bay in 1610. For the United States, the year 1776 was crucial since the signing of the Declaration of Independence established the basis of a new country. The first United States Census was carried out in 1790, therefore providing a basis for population tracking.
Early in the 19th century Charles X of France abdicated in 1830 and the British beat the French at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Following the dissolution of the Edo class system in Japan in 1869, the mid-19th century saw the Government of India Act 1858 turning India from Company control to the British Raj.
The first underground tube train in the world, the Tower Subway debuted in London in 1870; thereafter, the Clay Street Hill Railroad brought the cable car to San Francisco in 1873. An important incident in the Anglo-Afghan War, the Siege of Malakand occurred in 1897 late in the 19th century.
Events of the 20th century included the German takeover of Luxembourg in 1914, the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1903, and the loss of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in 1916 because of Austrian sabotage. While Carl D. Anderson discovered the positron in 1932, Calvin Coolidge became U.S. President following the death of Warren G. Harding in 1923.
Significant events carried on with the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 criminalizing marijuana and Albert Einstein’s 1939 letter to Roosevelt advocating the Manhattan Project. Along with battles and upheavals, World War II had the 1943 Treblinka uprising and the sinking of PT-109 with Lt. John F. Kennedy rescuing his men.
The Potsdam Conference came to an end, the biggest commerce convoy arrived, and the Socialist Republic of Macedonia was founded in 1944. Events including the 1973 Summerland fire, the 1980 Bologna bombing, and Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait bringing to the Gulf War occurred in the middle of the 20th century.
Recent events comprise the 1999 Gaisal train accident, the 2005 Air France Flight 358 incident, and the 2014 Kunshan Chinese manufacturing explosion. Every one of these events emphasizes the many and significant events that have molded August 2nd spanning many millennia.