July 2Birthdays & History

On this day: July 2 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 311Beginning of the papacy of Pope Miltiades.Europe
2. 626Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.Asia
3. 866Battle of Brissarthe: The Franks led by Robert the Strong are defeated by a joint Breton-Viking army.Europe
4. 1298Battle of Göllheim: Albert I of Habsburg defeats Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.Europe
5. 1494Age of Discovery: The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain.Europe
6. 1582Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide.Asia
7. 1644English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.Europe
8. 1645Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Alford.Europe
9. 1776American Revolution: The Continental Congress adopts the Lee Resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain. The wording of the formal Declaration of Independence was agreed upon and publicly released two days later, on July 4.North AmericaEurope
10. 1823Bahia Independence Day: The Siege of Salvador ends Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.EuropeLatin America
11. 1840A Ms 7.4 earthquake strikes present-day Turkey and Armenia; combined with the effects of an eruption on Mount Ararat, kills 10,000 people.Middle EastEurope
12. 1863American Civil War: On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg - the Battle of Little Round Top takes place and results in a Union victory after the Confederate troops unsuccessfully try to assault the Union left flank.North America
13. 1881Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James A. Garfield (who will die of complications from his wounds on September 19).North America
14. 1890The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act.North America
15. 1917In the leadup to the Battle of Aqaba, T. E. Lawrence and his Arab forces defeat a battalion of Ottomans at Abu al-Lissan.Middle East
16. 1921World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Germany.North AmericaEurope
17. 1934The Night of the Long Knives ends after three days of killings.Europe
18. 1937Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean and disappear while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.World
19. 1964Civil rights movement: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.North America
20. 1966France conducts its first nuclear weapon test in the Pacific, on Moruroa Atoll.Europe
21. 1976End of South Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam annexes the former South Vietnam to form the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam.Asia
22. 1986Aeroflot Flight 2306 crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Syktyvkar Airport in Syktyvkar, in present-day Komi Republic, Russia, killing 54 people.Europe
23. 1986Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile in the Quemados case.Latin America
24. 1990In the 1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy, 1,400 Muslim pilgrims are suffocated to death and trampled upon in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the holy city of Mecca.Middle East
25. 1993A mob sets fire to the Hotel Madımak in Sivas, Turkey, where an Alevi cultural festival was taking place, killing 37 people.Middle East
26. 1994USAir Flight 1016 crashes near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, killing 37 of the 57 people on board.North America
27. 1997The Bank of Thailand floats the baht, triggering the Asian financial crisis.Asia
28. 2000Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, in the 2000 Mexican general election.Latin America
29. 2005The Live 8 benefit concerts takes place in the G8 states and in South Africa. More than 1,000 musicians perform and are broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks.Africa
30. 2013A magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Aceh, Indonesia, killing at least 42 people and injuring 420 others.Asia
31. 2024A stampede during a religious event in Uttar Pradesh, India, leaves at least 121 people dead and 150 others injured.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "July 2" / CC BY-SA 4.0