March 2Birthdays & History

On this day: March 2 in history

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

1. 537Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his bucellarii are almost cut off.Europe
2. 986Louis V becomes the last Carolingian king of West Francia after the death of his father, Lothaire.Europe
3. 1331Fall of Nicaea to the Ottoman Turks after a siege.Middle East
4. 1444Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League of Lezhë.Europe
5. 1458George of Poděbrady is chosen as the king of Bohemia.Europe
6. 1476Burgundian Wars: The Old Swiss Confederacy hands Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, a major defeat in the Battle of Grandson in Canton of Neuchâtel.EuropeNorth AmericaAsia
7. 1484The College of Arms is formally incorporated by Royal Charter signed by King Richard III of England.Europe
8. 1498Vasco da Gama's fleet visits the Island of Mozambique.Africa
9. 1657The Great Fire of Meireki begins in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan, causing more than 100,000 deaths before it exhausts itself three days later.Asia
10. 1776American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units attempt to prevent capture of supply ships in and around the Savannah River by a small fleet of the Royal Navy in the Battle of the Rice Boats.North America
11. 1791Claude Chappe demonstrates the first semaphore line near Paris.Europe
12. 1796Napoleon Bonaparte is appointed to command the Army of Italy.Europe
13. 1797The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound banknotes.Europe
14. 1807The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.North America
15. 1811Argentine War of Independence: A royalist fleet defeats a small flotilla of revolutionary ships in the Battle of San Nicolás on the River Plate.Latin America
16. 1815Signing of the Kandyan Convention treaty by British invaders and the leaders of the Kingdom of Kandy.Europe
17. 1836Texas Revolution: The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico is adopted.North AmericaLatin America
18. 1855Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.Europe
19. 1859The two-day Great Slave Auction, once thought to be the largest such auction in United States history, begins.North America
20. 1864Ulysses S. Grant is promoted to lieutenant general, giving him command of all Union Armies.North America
21. 1865East Cape War: The Völkner Incident in New Zealand.Oceania
22. 1867The U.S. Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act.North America
23. 1877Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declares Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote.North America
24. 1882Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick Maclean in Windsor.Europe
25. 1901United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.North America
26. 1901The U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment limiting the autonomy of Cuba, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops.North AmericaLatin America
27. 1903In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.North America
28. 1917The enactment of the Jones–Shafroth Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.North America
29. 1919The first Communist International meets in Moscow.Europe
30. 1932Finnish president P. E. Svinhufvud gives a radio speech, which four days later finally ends the Mäntsälä Rebellion and the far-right Lapua Movement that started it.Europe
31. 1933The film King Kong premieres in Radio City Music Hall and RKO Roxy in New York City.North America
32. 1937The Steel Workers Organizing Committee signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel, leading to unionization of the United States steel industry.North America
33. 1939Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII.Europe
34. 1941World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria after it joins the Axis Pact.Europe
35. 1943World War II: During the Battle of the Bismarck Sea Allied aircraft defeat a Japanese attempt to ship troops to New Guinea.AsiaOceania
36. 1949Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.North America
37. 1955Norodom Sihanouk, king of Cambodia, abdicates the throne in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit.Asia
38. 1962In Burma, the army led by General Ne Win seizes power in a coup d'état.Asia
39. 1962Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points.North America
40. 1965The US and Republic of Vietnam Air Force begin Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.North AmericaAsia
41. 1968Baggeridge Colliery closes, marking the end of over 300 years of coal mining in the Black Country.Europe
42. 1969In Toulouse, France, the first test flight of the Anglo-French Concorde is conducted.Europe
43. 1970Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown.AfricaEurope
44. 1972The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.North America
45. 1977Libya becomes the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as the General People's Congress adopts the "Declaration on the Establishment of the Authority of the People".AfricaMiddle EastNorth America
46. 1978The late iconic actor Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from his grave in Switzerland.Europe
47. 1978Czech Vladimír Remek becomes the first non-Soviet or non-American to go into space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28.EuropeNorth America
48. 1983Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.North AmericaAsia
49. 1986Aeroflot Flight F-77 crashes near Bugulma Airport, killing all 38 people aboard.Europe
50. 1989Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.Europe
51. 1990Nelson Mandela is elected deputy president of the African National Congress.AfricaNorth America
52. 1991Establishment of Kuwait Democratic Forum, center-left political organization in Kuwait.Middle East
53. 1991Battle at Rumaila oil field brings an end to the 1991 Gulf War.Middle East
54. 1992Start of the war in Transnistria.Europe
55. 1992Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all of which (except San Marino) were former Soviet republics, join the United Nations.EuropeAsia
56. 1995Space Shuttle Endeavour launches from the Kennedy Space Center on STS-67, carrying the ASTRO-2 spacelab observatory.North America
57. 1995Researchers at Fermilab announce the discovery of the top quark.North America
58. 1998Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.World
59. 2002U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).North AmericaAsia
60. 2004War in Iraq: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500.Middle East
61. 2006In Monterrey, Mexico, a man identified as Diego Santoy Riveroll commits a double murder against two children, followed by an attempted murder of his ex-partner, Erika. The incident is popularly known as the Cumbres case.Latin America
62. 2012A tornado outbreak occurs over a large section of the Southern United States and into the Ohio Valley region, resulting in 40 tornado-related fatalities.North America
63. 2014The Oscar Selfie, regarded as one of the most influential and important images of all time, is taken at the 86th Academy Awards.North America
64. 2017The elements Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson are officially added to the periodic table at a conference in Moscow, Russia.Europe
65. 2022Russian forces capture the city of Kherson during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which subsequently began the start of the Russian occupation and military-civilian administration in Kherson. Kherson is the only regional capital in Ukraine that Russia captured.Europe
66. 2026The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah launches several projectiles into northern Israel as a response to the assassination of Ali Khamenei, formally initiating the 2026 Lebanon War.Middle East

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