March 2

Events

Pre-1600

* 537 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his '' bucellarii'' are almost cut off.
* 986 – Louis V becomes the last Carolingian king of West Francia after the death of his father, Lothaire.
* 1331 – fall of Nicaea to the Ottoman Turks after a siege.
* 1444 – Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League of Lezhë.
*1458 – George of Poděbrady is chosen as the king of Bohemia.
*1476 – Burgundian Wars: The Old Swiss Confederacy hands Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, a major defeat in the Battle of Grandson in Canton of Neuchâtel.
*1484 – The College of Arms is formally incorporated by Royal Charter signed by King Richard III of England.
*1498 – Vasco da Gama's fleet visits the Island of Mozambique.

1601–1900

*1657 – The Great Fire of Meireki begins in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan, causing more than 100,000 deaths before it exhausts itself three days later.
*1776 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units attempt to prevent capture of supply ships in and around the Savannah River by a small fleet of the Royal Navy in the Battle of the Rice Boats.
*1791 – Claude Chappe demonstrates the first semaphore line near Paris.
*1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound banknotes.
*1807 – The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.
*1811 – Argentine War of Independence: A royalist fleet defeats a small flotilla of revolutionary ships in the Battle of San Nicolás on the River Plate.
*1815 – Signing of the Kandyan Convention treaty by British invaders and the leaders of the Kingdom of Kandy.
*1836 – Texas Revolution: The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico is adopted.
*1855 – Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.
* 1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, begins.
*1865 – East Cape War: The Völkner Incident in New Zealand.
* 1867 – The U.S. Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act.
*1877 – Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declares Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote.
*1882 – Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick Maclean in Windsor.

1901–present

*1901 – United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.
* 1901 – The U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops.
*1903 – In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
*1917 – The enactment of the Jones–Shafroth Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
*1919 – The first Communist International meets in Moscow.
*1932 – Finnish president P. E. Svinhufvud gave a radio speech, which four days later finally ended the Mäntsälä Rebellion and the far-right Lapua Movement that started it.
*1937 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel, leading to unionization of the United States steel industry.
*1939 – Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII.
*1941 – World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria after it joins the Axis Pact.
*1943 – World War II: Allied aircraft defeat a Japanese attempt to ship troops to New Guinea.
*1949 – Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress '' Lucky Lady II'' in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.
*1955 – Norodom Sihanouk, king of Cambodia, abdicates the throne in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit.
*1962 – In Burma, the army led by General Ne Win seizes power in a ''coup d'état''.
* 1962 – Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points.
*1965 – The US and Republic of Vietnam Air Force begin Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
*1968 – Baggeridge Colliery closes marking the end of over 300 years of coal mining in the Black Country.
*1969 – In Toulouse, France, the first test flight of the Anglo-French Concorde is conducted.
*1970 – Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown.
*1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.
*1977 – Libya becomes the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as the General People's Congress adopted the "Declaration on the Establishment of the Authority of the People".
*1978 – Czech Vladimír Remek becomes the first non-Russian or non-American to go into space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28.
* 1978 – The late iconic actor Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from his grave in Switzerland.
*1983 – Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
*1989 – Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
*1990 – Nelson Mandela is elected deputy President of the African National Congress.
*1991 – Establishment of Kuwait Democratic Forum, center-left political organization in Kuwait.
*1991 – Battle at Rumaila oil field brings an end to the 1991 Gulf War.
*1992 – Start of the war in Transnistria.
* 1992 – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all of which (except San Marino) were former Soviet republics, join the United Nations.
*1995 – Researchers at Fermilab announce the discovery of the top quark.
*1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
*2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).
*2004 – War in Iraq: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500.
*2012 – A tornado outbreak occurs over a large section of the Southern United States and into the Ohio Valley region, resulting in 40 tornado-related fatalities.
*2017 – The elements Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson are officially added to the periodic table at a conference in Moscow, Russia.

Births

Pre-1600

* 480 – Benedict of Nursia, Italian Christian saint (d. 543 or 547)
*1316 – Robert II of Scotland (d. 1390)
* 1409 – Jean II, Duke of Alençon (d. 1476)
* 1432 – Countess Palatine Margaret of Mosbach, countess consort of Hanau (d. 1457)
*1453 – Johannes Engel, German doctor, astronomer and astrologer (d. 1512)
*1459 – Pope Adrian VI (d. 1523)
* 1481 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (d. 1523)
* 1545 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founded the Bodleian Library (d. 1613)
* 1577 – George Sandys, English traveller, colonist and poet (d. 1644)

1601–1900

*1628 – Cornelis Speelman, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1684)
* 1651 – Carlo Gimach, Maltese architect, engineer and poet (d. 1730)
* 1705 – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1793)
*1740 – Nicholas Pocock, English naval painter (d.1821)
*1760 – Camille Desmoulins, French journalist and politician (d. 1794)
*1769 – DeWitt Clinton, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of New York (d. 1828)
*1770 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general (d. 1826)
*1779 – Joel Roberts Poinsett, American physician and politician, 15th United States Secretary of War (d. 1851)
*1793 – Sam Houston, American soldier and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1863)
*1800 – Yevgeny Baratynsky, Russian-Italian poet and philosopher (d. 1844)
*1810 – Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903)
* 1816 – Alexander Bullock, American lawyer and politician, 26th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1882)
*1817 – János Arany, Hungarian journalist and poet (d. 1882)
*1820 – Multatuli, Dutch writer (d. 1887)
*1824 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1884)
* 1829 – Carl Schurz, German-American general, lawyer, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1906)
*1836 – Henry Billings Brown, American lawyer and judge (d. 1913)
*1842 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer, art collector, and philanthropist (d. 1914)
*1846 – Marie Roze, French soprano (d. 1926)
* 1849 – Robert Means Thompson, American commander, lawyer, and businessman (d. 1930)
* 1859 – Sholem Aleichem, Ukrainian-American author and playwright (d. 1916)
*1860 – Susanna M. Salter, American activist and politician (d. 1961)
*1862 – John Jay Chapman, American lawyer, author, and poet (d. 1933)
*1869 – Julien Félix, French military officer and aviator (d. 1914)
*1876 – James A. Gilmore, American businessman and baseball executive (d. 1947)
* 1876 – Pope Pius XII (d. 1958)
*1886 – Willis H. O'Brien, American animator and director (d. 1962)
* 1886 – Kurt Grelling, German logician and philosopher (d. 1942)
*1900 – Kurt Weill, German-American pianist and composer (d. 1950)

1901–present

*1901 – Grete Hermann, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1984)
*1902 – Moe Berg, American baseball player and spy (d. 1972)
* 1902 – Edward Condon, American physicist and academic (d. 1974)
*1904 – Dr. Seuss – Marc Blitzstein, American composer and songwriter (d. 1964)
* 1905 – Geoffrey Grigson, English poet and critic (d. 1985)
* 1908 – Walter Bruch, German engineer (d. 1990)
*1909 – Mel Ott, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 1958)
*1912 – Henry Katzman, American pianist, composer, and painter (d. 2001)
*1913 – Godfried Bomans, Dutch television host and author (d. 1971)
* 1913 – Mort Cooper, American baseball player (d. 1958)
*1914 – Martin Ritt, American actor and film director (d. 1990)
*1915 – John Burton, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Ceylon (d. 2010)
*1917 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1986)
* 1917 – David Goodis, American author and screenwriter (d. 1967)
* 1917 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player and coach (d. 1976)
*1919 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (d. 2009)
* 1919 – Eddie Lawrence, American actor, singer, and playwright (d. 2014)
* 1919 – Tamara Toumanova, Russian-American ballerina and actress (d. 1996)
*1921 – Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2006)
* 1921 – Ernst Haas, Austrian-American photographer and journalist (d. 1986)
*1922 – Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, American saxophonist (d. 1986)
* 1922 – Bill Quackenbush, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1999)
* 1922 – Frances Spence, American computer programmer (d. 2012)
*1923 – Basil Hume, English cardinal (d. 1999)
* 1923 – Robert H. Michel, American soldier and politician (d. 2017)
* 1923 – Dave Strack, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
*1924 – Cal Abrams, American baseball player (d. 1997)
* 1924 – Renos Apostolidis, Greek philologist, author, and critic (d. 2004)
*1926 – Bernard Agré, Ivorian cardinal (d. 2014)
* 1926 – Murray Rothbard, American economist and historian (d. 1995)
*1927 – Roger Walkowiak, French cyclist and economist (d. 2017)
*1930 – John Cullum, American actor and singer
* 1930 – Emma Penella, Spanish actress (d. 2007)
* 1930 – Tom Wolfe, American journalist and author (d. 2018)
*1931 – Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian lawyer and politician, the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
*1932 – Gun Hägglund, Swedish journalist and translator (d. 2011)
*1934 – Dottie Rambo, American singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
*1935 – Gene Stallings, American football player and coach
*1936 – Haroon Ahmed, Pakistani-English engineer and academic
* 1936 – John Tusa, Czech-English journalist and academic
*1937 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algerian soldier and politician, 5th President of Algeria (d. 2021)
*1938 – Ricardo Lagos, Chilean economist, lawyer, and politician, 33rd President of Chile
* 1938 – Lawrence Payton, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1997)
* 1938 – Clark Gesner

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