On this day in history

August 2

28 births · 19 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Gulf War

36 years ago

Born this day

1923

Shimon Peres

Would be 103

Photo (modified): Avi Ohayon · CC BY-SA 3.0

Oldest record

1171st

Ahmad ibn Hanbal

death anniversary

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Famous births28

1696 · 330 yrs

Mahmud I

Mahmud I (Ottoman Turkish: محمود اول, Turkish: I. Mahmud; 2 August 1696 – 13 December 1754), known as Mahmud the Hunchback, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1730 to 1754. He took over the throne after the quelling of the Patrona Halil rebellion.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleDied aged 58

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1760 · 266 yrs

Leo XII

Pope Leo XII (Italian: Leone XII; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829) was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death in February 1829.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Charles Picqué · Public domain

1820 · 206 yrs

John Tyndall

John Tyndall (2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was an Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 73

View profile Photo (modified): Tucker Collection · Public domain

1834 · 192 yrs

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi ( bar-T(H)OL-dee, French:; 2 August 1834 – 4 October 1904) was a French sculptor and painter. He is best known for designing Liberty Enlightening the World, commonly known as the Statue of Liberty, in New York City, United States.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 70

View profile Photo (modified): Nadar · Public domain

1865 · 161 yrs

Dmitry Merezhkovsky

Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky (Russian: Дми́трий Серге́евич Мережко́вский, IPA:; 14 August 1865 – 9 December 1941) was a Russian novelist, poet, religious thinker, and literary critic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 76

View profile Photo (modified): Maxim Petrovich Dmitriev · Public domain

1868 · 158 yrs

Constantine I of Greece

Constantine I (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Αʹ, romanized: Konstantínos I; 2 August 1868 – 11 January 1923) was King of Greece from 18 March 1913 to 11 June 1917 and again from 19 December 1920 to 27 September 1922. The eldest son of George I of Greece, he succeeded to the throne following his father's assassination in 1913.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 54

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1876 · 150 yrs

Alexander I of Serbia

Alexander I (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Обреновић, romanized: Aleksandar Obrenović; 14 August 1876 – 11 June 1903) reigned as the king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Draga Mašin, were assassinated by a group of Royal Serbian Army officers, led by Captain Dragutin Dimitrijević.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 150

View profile Photo (modified): Mijatovic, Cedomilj, 1842-1932 · Public domain

1905 · 121 yrs

Myrna Loy

Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television, and stage actress. As a performer, she was known for her ability to adapt to her screen partner's acting style.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 121

View profile Photo (modified): George Hurrell · Public domain

1923 · 103 yrs

Shimon Peres

Shimon Peres ( shee-MOHN PERR-ess, -⁠ez; Hebrew: שמעון פרס; born Szymon Perski, Polish:; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 to 2014.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 103

View profile Photo (modified): Avi Ohayon · CC BY-SA 3.0

1924 · 102 yrs

James Baldwin

James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain has been ranked by Time magazine as one of the top 100 English-language novels.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 102

View profile Photo (modified): Allan warren · CC BY-SA 3.0

1925 · 101 yrs

Jorge Rafael Videla

General Jorge Rafael Videla ( vid-EL-ə; Spanish:; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine general, politician and dictator who served as the president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981 during the National Reorganization Process. He came to power in a March 1976 coup d'état that deposed Isabel Perón.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 101

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1931 · 95 yrs

Takashi Takabayashi

Takashi Takabayashi (高林隆, Takabayashi Takashi; August 2, 1931 – December 27, 2009) was a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsWould be 95

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Showing 12 of 28

Famous deaths19

AD 855 · 1171 yrs

Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Arabic: أحمد ابن حنبل, romanized: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal; 780 – 855) was an Arab jurist and founder of the Hanbali school who is widely recognized as the scholar who memorized the most Hadiths in Islamic history.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 74

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1589 · 437 yrs

Henry III of France

Henry III of France (French: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589 and, as Henry of Valois (Polish: Henryk Walezy; Lithuanian: Henrikas Valua), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 37

View profile Photo (modified): Attributed to Étienne Dumonstier · Public domain

1667 · 359 yrs

Francesco Borromini

Francesco Borromini (Italian:), byname of Francesco Castelli (Italian:; 25 September 1599 – 2 August 1667), was an Italian architect born in the modern Swiss canton of Ticino who, with his contemporaries Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, was a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 67

View profile Photo (modified): Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain

1788 · 238 yrs

Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English painter, draughtsman and printmaker who specialised in portrait and landscape painting. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he was one of the most important British artists of the 18th century.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 61

View profile Photo (modified): Thomas Gainsborough · Public domain

1823 · 203 yrs

Lazare Carnot

Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Comte Carnot (English: kar-NOH, French:; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist, military officer, politician and a leading member of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyDied aged 70

View profile Photo (modified): Louis-Léopold Boilly · Public domain

1849 · 177 yrs

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali (4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849) was the Ottoman viceroy and governor of Albanian origin, who became the de facto ruler of Egypt from 1805 to 1848, widely considered the founder of modern Egypt.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Auguste Couder · Public domain

1921 · 105 yrs

Enrico Caruso

Enrico Caruso (25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic tenor, who sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that ranged from the lyric to the dramatic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 48

View profile Photo (modified): Copyright by Laveccha Studio, Chicago (no. 3). · Public domain

1922 · 104 yrs

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell (born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 75

View profile Photo (modified): Moffett Studio · Public domain

1923 · 103 yrs

Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular presidents at the time of his death.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 57

View profile Photo (modified): Copyright by Moffett, Chicago. J241772 U.S. Copyright Office. · Public domain

1934 · 92 yrs

Paul von Hindenburg

Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German military officer and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 86

View profile Photo (modified): Codexbox1 · CC BY-SA 4.0

1945 · 81 yrs

Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Mascagni (7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 81

View profile Photo (modified): Gavo Studio; copyright expire · Public domain

1955 · 71 yrs

Wallace Stevens

Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 147

View profile Photo (modified): Photograph by Sylvia Salmi. · Public domain

Showing 12 of 19

Events5

1945 · 81 yrs

Potsdam Agreement

The Potsdam Agreement (German: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the end of World War II in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1964 · 62 yrs

Gulf of Tonkin incident

The Gulf of Tonkin incident (Vietnamese: Sự kiện Vịnh Bắc Bộ) refers to a naval confrontation in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam, which led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1990 · 36 yrs

Gulf War

The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States in response to Saddam Hussein invading neighboring Kuwait on 2 August 1990.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1998 · 28 yrs

Second Congo War

The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 2 August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), just over a year after the First Congo War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2009 · 17 yrs

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, codenamed Project 17, began on 2 August 1990 and marked the beginning of the Gulf War. After defeating the State of Kuwait on 4 August 1990, Iraq went on to militarily occupy the country for the next seven months.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

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