March 2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
March 2 is the 61st day of the year (62nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 304 days remaining until the end of the year.
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Events [change]
- 871 - Ethelred of Wessex defeats a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton.
- 986 – Louis V becomes King of the Franks.
- 1127 – Assassination of Charles I, Count of Flanders.
- 1444 - Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League of Lezhe.
- 1484 – The College of Arms is formally incorporated by a Royal Charter, signed by King Richard III of England.
- 1498 - Vasco da Gama's fleet visits the Island of Mozambique.
- 1776 - American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units arrest the Royal Governor of Georgia, James Wright, and attempt to prevent capture of supply ships in the Battle of Rice Boats.
- 1791 - Long-distance communication speeds up with the unveiling of a semaphore machine in Paris.
- 1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound notes.
- 1798 – The Swiss Canton of Thurgau is created.
- 1807 - United States Congress bans the importation of more slaves into the country.
- 1811 - Argentine War of Independence: A royalist fleet defeats a small flotilla of revolutionary ships in the Battle of San Nicolas.
- 1815 - Signing of the Kandyan Convention Treaty between the British and the King of Sri Lanka.
- 1818 - Italian adventurer Giovanni Battista Belzani re-discovers the tomb in the Chephren Pyramid in Egypt, though he finds it empty.
- 1825 – Blida, in Algeria, is hit by an earthquake, killing 7,000 people.
- 1836 – The Republic of Texas declares its independence from Mexico.
- 1855 – Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1861 - The Dakota Territory is created, covering the current states of North Dakota, South Dakota and parts of Montana and Wyoming. Yankton, South Dakota is the territorial capital.
- 1877 – Rutherford B. Hayes is declared the winner of the 1876 US Presidential election, despite Samuel J. Tilden winning the popular vote.
- 1882 – Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick McLean in Windsor.
- 1899 – The Mount Rainier National Park in the State of Washington, is created.
- 1903 - In New York City, the Martha Washington Hotel opens, the first hotel only to cater for women.
- 1919 - The first Communist International meets in Moscow.
- 1933 – The Sanriku earthquake in Japan, measuring at magnitude 8.4, kills almost 3,000 people.
- 1933 – The film King Kong opens at New York City's Radio Music Hall.
- 1935 – Prajadhipok abdicates as King of Thailand, being succeeded by the 9-year-old Ananda Mahidol.
- 1939 – Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope on his 63rd birthday. He chooses to be known as Pope Pius XII.
- 1943 – World War II: In the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, US and Australian forces sink Japanese convoy ships.
- 1946 – Ho Chi Minh is elected President of North Vietnam.
- 1949 – Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II airplane at Fort Worth, Texas, after flying non-stop around the world in 94 hours and 1 minute.
- 1949 – The first automatic street light is installed in New Milford, Connecticut.
- 1955 – Norodom Sihanouk abdicates as King of Cambodia, in favour of his father, Norodom Suramarit.
- 1956 – Morocco declares independence from France.
- 1958 – Edmund Hillary and Vivian Fuchs complete their crossing of Antarctica.
- 1962 – In Burma, the Army, led by Ne Win, seizes power in a coup.
- 1962 – Basketball: Wilt Chamberlain sets an NBA record by scoring 100 points in a single game.
- 1965 - United States and South Vietnamese Air Forces begin Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
- 1969 - Soviet and Chinese forces clash at the border outpost on the Ussuri River.
- 1969 – In Toulouse, the first test flight of Concorde is carried out.
- 1970 – Rhodesia declares itself a Republic.
- 1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
- 1978 – Czechoslovakian Vladimir Remek becomes the first human in space who is neither Soviet or American.
- 1983 – Compact Discs and Compact Disc players are released in the United States, though they were already available in Japan.
- 1987 - The Chrysler Group takes over the American Motors Corporation.
- 1990 – Nelson Mandela is declared Deputy Head of the African National Congress.
- 1991 - Battle of Rumaila takes place at the end of the Gulf War.
- 1992 – San Marino joins the UN, along with the former Soviet States of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
- 1993 - The 1993 Storm of the Century begins to form in the North Atlantic Ocean.
- 1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has an ocean of liquid water under a thick crust of ice.
- 1998 – In Austria, 10-year-old Natascha Kampusch is kidnapped by Wolfgang Priklopil and is held in captivity until her escape in 2006, after which Priklopil commits suicide.
- 2000 – Former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet is allowed to return home after the United Kingdom refused to extradite him to Spain on torture charges.
- 2002 – As part of the US invasion of Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda is launched.
- 2004 – War in Iraq: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Kerbala, killing 270 people.
- 2004 – In the US, John Kerry becomes the Democrats' candidate for the US Presidential election, which he loses to George W. Bush eight months later.
- 2006 - The Nintendo DS goes on sale in Japan.
- 2008 – Dmitry Medvedev is elected President of Russia, due to Vladimir Putin's term limits, though Putin becomes Prime Minister.
- 2009 – President of Guinea-Bissau Joao Bernardo Vieira is killed in an armed attack on his home.
- 2012 – 27 people are killed as tornadoes sweep across the States of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
Births [change]
- 959 - Emperor En'yu of Japan (d. 991)
- 1316 – King Robert II of Scotland (d. 1390)
- 1459 – Pope Adrian VI (d. 1523)
- 1544 - Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and library founder (d. 1613)
- 1760 – Camille Desmoulins, French lawyer and journalist (d. 1794)
- 1769 - DeWitt Clinton, 6th Governor of New York (d. 1828)
- 1779 – Joel Roberts Poinsett, American statesman (d. 1851)
- 1793 – Sam Houston, President and Governor of Texas (d. 1863)
- 1800 – Yevgeny Baratynsky, Russian poet (d. 1844)
- 1810 – Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903)
- 1816 - Alexander Bullock, 26th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1882)
- 1820 – Multatuli, Dutch writer (d. 1887)
- 1824 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (d. 1884)
- 1829 – Carl Schurz, German politician and revolutionary (d. 1906)
- 1836 - John W. Foster, United States Secretary of State (d. 1917)
- 1842 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer (d. 1914)
- 1859 – Sholom Aleichem, Russian novelist (d. 1916)
- 1862 - Boris Borisovich Galitzine, Russian physicist (d. 1916)
- 1876 – Pope Pius XII (d. 1958)
- 1880 – Ivar Kreuger, Swedish industrialist, known for the match stick monopoly (d. 1932)
- 1883 - Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek writer (d. 1957)
- 1885 - Victor Houteff, Bulgarian religious reformer and author (d. 1955)
- 1894 - Alexander Oparin, Soviet biochemist (d. 1980)
- 1900 – Kurt Weill, German-born American composer (d. 1950)
- 1902 – Edward Condon, American physicist (d. 1974)
- 1904 – Dr. Seuss, American writer (d. 1991)
- 1905 - Marc Blitzstein, American composer (d. 1964)
- 1905 - Roberto Francisco Chiari Remon, 31st President of Panama (d. 1981)
- 1908 - Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov, Soviet sniper (d. 1968)
- 1908 - Walter Bruch, German electrical engineer (d. 1990)
- 1912 – Henry Katzman, American composer and pianist (d. 2001)
- 1912 - William Thayer Tutt, American ice hockey executive (d. 1989)
- 1913 - Celedonio Romero, Spanish guitarist (d. 1996)
- 1917 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, musician and bandleader (d. 1986)
- 1918 - Michael Rye, American voice actor (d. 2012)
- 1919 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (d. 2009)
- 1919 - Tamara Toumanova, Russian ballerina and actress (d. 1996)
- 1921 - Kazimierz Gorski, Polish footballer (d. 2006)
- 1922 - Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, American jazz tenor saxophonist (d. 1986)
- 1923 - Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster (d. 1999)
- 1924 - Cal Abrams, American baseball player (d. 1997)
- 1926 – George Patrick Leonard Walker, British volcanologist (d. 2005)
- 1930 – Sergei Kovalev, Russian dissident and politician
- 1931 – Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1931 – Tom Wolfe, American author
- 1932 – Gun Hägglund, Swedish television journalist (d. 2011)
- 1937 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of Algeria
- 1938 – Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile
- 1940 – Lothar de Maiziere, German lawyer and politician
- 1941 - David Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States
- 1942 - Kwang Jo Choi, Korean taekwondo champion
- 1942 – Lou Reed, American singer and guitarist
- 1942 – Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iranian politician
- 1942 – John Irving, American author
- 1943 – Zygfryd Blaut, Polish footballer (d. 2005)
- 1943 - Tony Meehan, British musician (d. 2005)
- 1944 – Uschi Glas, German actress
- 1947 – Harry Redknapp, English football manager
- 1947 – Yuri Matiyasevich, Russian mathematician
- 1948 – Larry Carlton, American musician
- 1949 - Gates McFadden, American actress
- 1949 - J. P. R. Williams, Welsh rugby player
- 1950 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (d. 1983)
- 1951 – Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
- 1952 - Laraine Newman, American actress, comedienne and writer
- 1953 - Russ Feingold, American politician
- 1954 - Eddie Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1955 - Jay Osmond, American drummer and singer
- 1955 - Ken Salazar, American politician
- 1955 – Shoko Asahara, Japanese cult leader (Aum Shinrikyo)
- 1956 – Mark Evans, Australian musician (AC/DC)
- 1956 - John Cowsill, American musician
- 1958 – Ian Woosnam, Welsh golfer
- 1958 - Kevin Curren, South African tennis player
- 1959 - Larry Stewart, American singer
- 1961 - Simone Young, Australian conductor
- 1962 - Morioka Hiroyuki, Japanese writer
- 1962 – Jon Bon Jovi, American musician (Bon Jovi)
- 1965 – Lembit Opik, British politician
- 1968 – Daniel Craig, British actor
- 1970 – Alexander Armstrong, British comedian and television presenter
- 1971 - Dave Gorman, British comedian
- 1971 – Lisa Lackey, Australian actress
- 1971 - Amber Smith, American actress and model
- 1972 – Mauricio Pochettino, Argentine footballer
- 1973 – Trevor Sinclair, English footballer
- 1977 – Chris Martin, English musician (Coldplay)
- 1977 – Andrew Strauss, English cricketer
- 1979 - Sergei Davydov, Belarussian figure skater
- 1979 – Damien Duff, Irish footballer
- 1979 – Francesco Tavano, Italian footballer
- 1979 - Nicky Weaver, English footballer
- 1981 - Bryce Dallas Howard, American actress, writer and director
- 1981 – Lance Cade, American professional wrestler (d. 2010)
- 1982 - Henrik Lundqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1982 – Kevin Kuranyi, German footballer
- 1982 – Ben Roethlisberger, American football player
- 1983 - Ryan Shannon, American ice hockey player
- 1983 - Lisandro Lopez, Argentine footballer
- 1984 - Elizabeth Jagger, English model and actress
- 1985 - Suso Santana, Spanish footballer
- 1985 – Luke Pritchard, British singer (The Kooks)
- 1986 - Babacar Gueye, French-Senegalese footballer
- 1988 – Matthew Mitcham, Australian diver
- 1988 - James Arthur, British singer
- 1989 - Toby Anderweireld, Belgian footballer
- 1989 - Marcel Hirscher, Austrian alpine skier
Deaths [change]
- 855 – Lothair I, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor (b. 795)
- 1127 – Charles I, Count of Flanders
- 1316 - Marjorie Bruce, died shortly after giving birth to Robert II of Scotland, (b. 1296)
- 1589 - Alessandro Farnese, Italian cardinal (b. 1520)
- 1619 – Anne of Denmark, Queen Consort of Scotland, England and Ireland (b. 1574)
- 1729 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian philosopher and scientist (b. 1662)
- 1791 – John Wesley, English founder of Methodism (b. 1703)
- 1797 – Horace Walpole, English politician and writer (b. 1717)
- 1835 – Francis, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1768)
- 1855 – Tsar Nicholas I of Russia (b. 1796)
- 1895 – Berthe Morisot, French painter (b. 1841)
- 1895 – Isma'il Pasha, Governor of Egypt (b. 1830)
- 1919 – Melchora Aquino, Filipino national hero (b. 1812)
- 1921 – Nicholas I of Montenegro (b. 1841)
- 1930 – D. H. Lawrence, British writer (b. 1885)
- 1939 – Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
- 1945 – Emily Carr, Canadian artist (b. 1871)
- 1949 – Pietro Ferrero, Italian businessman and confectioner (b. 1898)
- 1953 – James Lightbody, American athlete (b. 1882)
- 1960 - Stanislaw Taczak, Polish general (b. 1874)
- 1962 - Charles Jean de la Vallee-Poussin, Belgian mathematician (b. 1866)
- 1967 – Jose Martinez Ruiz, Spanish poet and writer (b. 1873)
- 1975 – Josiah Mwangi Kariuki, Kenyan politician and opposition activist (b. 1929) (unsolved murder)
- 1982 – Philip K. Dick, American author (b. 1928)
- 1987 - Randolph Scott, American actor and director (b. 1898)
- 1987 - Lolo Soetoro, Indonesian stepfather of Barack Obama (b. 1935)
- 1991 – Serge Gainsbourg, French singer (b. 1928)
- 1999 – Dusty Springfield, English singer (b. 1939)
- 2003 - Hank Ballard, American singer (b. 1927)
- 2007 – Henri Troyat, French writer (b. 1911)
- 2008 – Jeff Healey, Canadian musician (b. 1966)
- 2009 – Joao Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1939)
- 2009 – Ernst Benda, German politician (b. 1925)
- 2010 – Winston Spencer-Churchill, British politician (b. 1940)
- 2011 - Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistani politician (b. 1968)
- 2011 – Thor Vilhjalmsson, Icelandic writer (b. 1925)
- 2013 - Hans Schnitger, Dutch field hockey player (b. 1915)
