August 2nd

338 BC
Macedonian army led by Philip II defeats combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean.
Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)
216 BC
Second Punic War: Battle of Cannae - Carthaginian army lead by Hannibal defeats numerically superior Roman army under command consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro.
Second Punic War
216
During the Second Punic War, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal defeated the Roman army in the Battle of Cannae.
Battle of Cannae
2011
The Senate passed, and President Barack Obama signed, legislation to avoid an unprecedented national default.
Defense of Marriage Act
2007
Mattel recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead.
Zhang Shuhong
2000
Republicans nominated Texas Gov. George W. Bush for president and Dick Cheney for vice president at the party's convention in Philadelphia.
George W. Bush
1998
Second Congo War Begins. The deadliest war in Africa, the war and its aftermath has killed an estimated 5.4 million people. The war started with a mutiny in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and soon involved 9 African nations. It lasted for 5 years.
Congolese Civil War
1990
The Persian Gulf War broke out when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
Timeline of the Gulf War
1985
A Delta Air Lines jumbo jet crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 137 people.
San Francisco International Airport
1964
The Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.
USS Maddox (DD-731)
1958
The Arab Federation is dissolved. The short-lived federation of Jordan and Iraq was dissolved after King Faisal of Iraq was deposed and assasinated during the 14 July Revolution.
Arab Federation
1945
President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee concluded the Potsdam conference.
Potsdam Conference
1943
PT-109, a Navy patrol torpedo boat commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being sheared in two by a Japanese destroyer off the Solomon Islands. Kennedy was credited with saving members of the crew.
PT boat
1939
Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.
Einstein–Szilárd letter
1937
Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, essentially rendering marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
Portal:United States/On this day/August 2
1934
German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler's complete takeover.
German presidential election, 1932
1923
Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States, died in San Francisco.
Warren G. Harding
1909
The first Lincoln penny was issued.
Penny (United States coin)
1876
Frontiersman "Wild Bill" Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood in present-day South Dakota.
"Wild Bill" Hickok
1870
World's first underground railway opened. The Tower Subway beneath river Thames in London opened its doors for passengers. The subway was closed within a few months because of bankruptcy. The tunnel is now used for utilities.
Timeline of the London Underground
1858
Government of India transferred from East India Company to the British Crown.
Government of India Act 1858
1832
Battle of Bad Axe, Wisconsin: 1,300 Illinois militia defeat Sauk & Fox Native Americans ending the Black Hawk War in the US.
Battle of Bad Axe
1790
1st US census conducted, the population was 3,939,214 including 697,624 slaves.
1790 United States Census
1776
Formal signing of the US Declaration of Independence by 56 people (date most accepted by modern historians).
United States Declaration of Independence
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