July 2 in History

Historical Events on July 2

437

Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over the Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ends her regency, but continues to exercise political influence at the court in Rome.
626

Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.
706

In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang inters the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang outside Chang'an.
866

Battle of Brissarthe: The Franks led by Robert the Strong are defeated by a joint Breton-Viking army.
936

King Henry the Fowler dies in his royal palace in Memleben. He is succeeded by his son Otto I, who becomes the ruler of East Francia.
963

The imperial army proclaims Nikephoros II Phokas Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea.
1298

The Battle of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.
1494

The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain.
1504

Bogdan III the One-Eyed becomes Voivode of Moldavia.
1555

Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis sacks the Italian city of Paola.
1561

Menas, emperor of Ethiopia, defeats a revolt in Emfraz.
1582

Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide.
1613

The first English expedition (from Virginia) against Acadia led by Samuel Argall takes place.
1644

English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.
1645

Battle of Alford: Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
1698

Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine.
1776

The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not published until July 4.
1816

The French frigate Méduse struck the Bank of Arguin and 151 people on board had to be evacuated on an improvised raft, a case immortalised by Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa.
1822

Thirty-five slaves are hanged in South Carolina, including Denmark Vesey, after being accused of organizing a slave rebellion.
1823

Bahia Independence Day: The end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.
1839

Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship Amistad.
1853

The Russian Army crossed the Pruth river into the Danubian Principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia—providing the spark that set off the Crimean War.
1871

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy enters Rome after having conquered it from the Papal States.
1881

Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield (who would die of complications from his wounds on September 19).
1890

The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1897

British-Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London.
1900

The first Zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
1900

Jean Sibelius' Finlandia receives its première performance in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus.
1921

World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox-Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Imperial Germany.
1934

The Night of the Long Knives ends with the death of Ernst Röhm.
1937

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.
1940

Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta.
1962

The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
1964

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.
1966

The French military explodes a nuclear test bomb code-named Aldébaran in Moruroa, their first nuclear test in the Pacific.
1976

Fall of the Republic of Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam declares their union to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
1986

Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
1997

The Bank of Thailand floats the baht, triggering the Asian financial crisis
2000

Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.
2001

The AbioCor self-contained artificial heart is first implanted.
2002

Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
2005

The Live 8 benefit concerts takes place in the G8 states and in South Africa. More than 1,000 musicians perform and are broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks.
2008

Íngrid Betancourt, a member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia, is released from captivity after being held for six and a half years by FARC.
2010

The South Kivu tank truck explosion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 230 people.
2013

The International Astronomical Union names Pluto's fourth and fifth moons, Kerberos and Styx.
2013

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Aceh, Indonesia, killing at least 42 people and injuring 420 others.
2016

Suicide bombing of Karrada in Baghdad kills at least 341 people.

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