Historical Events on August 2
216 BC
The Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of Cannae.
Continue reading1274
Edward I of England returns from the Ninth Crusade and is crowned King seventeen days later.
Continue reading1916
World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.
Continue reading1923
Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes U.S. President upon the death of President Warren G. Harding.
Continue reading1939
Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.
Continue reading1943
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.
Continue reading1943
World War II: The Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. President, saves all but two of his crew.
Continue reading1989
Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972.
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Famous Birthdays on August 2
- 1923
Shimon Peres
- 1924
James Baldwin
- 1970
Kevin Smith
- 1992
Charli XCX
Famous Deaths on August 2
- 1923
Warren G. Harding
- 1934
Paul von Hindenburg
- 1997
William S. Burroughs