This day in history
Every day is full of amazing anniversaries, ancient and modern! As well as today, you can also look at any other day of the year - click the arrows to select the month, then click a number to select the day.
2 July
Events
- 1035: On the death of Robert I (the Devil or the Magnificent), duke of Normandy, he is succeeded by his illegitimate son, William I, who is later known as William the Conqueror.
- 1266: By the Treaty of Perth agreed with King Alexander III of Scotland, King Magnus VI of Norway renounces his claims to the Hebrides and the Isle of Man. This ends the last stage of the growth of the monarchy of Scotland.
- 1298: In a battle near Gllheim (near Worms), Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor Adolf I of Nassau is defeated and killed by Albert of Habsburg.
- 1500: An edict of the Diet (legislative assembly) of Augsburg establishes the Reichsregiment, a ruling council of the Holy Roman Empire, with representatives from the three colleges of electors, princes, and cities, following the scheme of the archbishop of Mainz and imperial arch-chancellor Berthold of Henneberg. Germany is to be divided into six administrative circles; this number increases in 1512.
- 1644: A combined English parliamentarian army under Oliver Cromwell, the Earl of Manchester, and Thomas Fairfax decisively defeats the Royalists, led by Prince Rupert, nephew of King Charles I, at the Battle of Marston Moor near York. The Royalists suffer heavy losses and the defeat consolidates Parliament's control of the north of England.
- 1652: The royalist marshal Vicomte Henri de Turenne defeats Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Cond, in the Faubourg St Antoine, Paris, France, but strategically withdraws. A provisional Fronde government is set up in Paris.
- 1865: William and Catherine Booth launch their Christian Mission in Britain, which they will later name the Salvation Army.
- 1876: Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire in support of the revolt against Ottoman rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 1881: A disgruntled campaign worker, Charles J Guiteau, shoots US president James A Garfield, who is to die from his wounds on 19 September. He is succeeded by Chester Alan Arthur.
- 1900: German inventor Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin's lighter-than-air ship LZ-3D1 makes its first flight, at Lake Constance, Germany. It has an aluminium sheeting hull.
- 1921: In the first ever boxing match to gross over a million dollars, more than 80,000 people in a purpose-built wooden stadium in Jersey City, USA, watch the defending US champion Jack Dempsey knock out George Carpentier of France in four rounds to retain his world heavyweight boxing title.
- 1927: The US tennis player Helen Wills (later Helen Moody) wins the first of eight ladies' singles titles at the Wimbledon lawn tennis championships in London, England. Full seeding for all five events at the championships is introduced.
- 1934: General Lzaro Crdenas, of the reformist wing of the ruling National Revolutionary Party, is elected president of Mexico.
- 1976: North and South Vietnam are formally reunified.
- 1996: The US aerospace company Lockheed Martin unveils plans for the X-33, a $1 billion wedge-shaped rocket ship. Called the Venture Star, it will be built and operated by Lockheed Martin and will replace the US space shuttle fleet by the year 2012.
- 1998: Hong Kong's Chek Lap Tok Airport, which has the largest passenger terminal in the world, is officially opened. US president Bill Clinton is one of the first to land there. The airport operates in chaos for the first few weeks.
- 1999: The British High Court dismisses charges of manslaughter against Great Western Trains, whose passenger train collided with a freight train in London in 1997, killing seven people.
- 2000: France's national soccer team win the European championship, beating Italy 21 in the final in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to add to their 1998 World Cup success.
- 2002: At his sixth attempt, US millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett becomes the first man to fly a balloon solo and non-stop around the world, crossing the west Australian coastline in his Spirit of Freedom after covering more than 19,000 miles in just less than two weeks.
- 2005: Live8, an international rock music charity event emulating the 1984 Live Aid campaign and targeted against continuing global poverty, attracts 1.1 million people to concerts around the world and is watched on television by 2 billion people.
- 2005: US tennis player Venus Williams beats top seed Lindsay Davenport, also of the USA, in three sets in the women's singles final of the Wimbledon tournament in England.
Births and Deaths
- Henry I the Fowler
936: Henry I the Fowler, German king 91936, founder of the Saxon dynasty, dies in Memleben, Saxony (c. 60). - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1778: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher whose writings provided inspiration to the leaders of the French Revolution, dies in Ermenonville, France (66). - Robert Peel
1850: Robert Peel, British prime minister 183435 and 184146, founder of the Conservative Party, dies in London, England (62). - Anton Chekhov
1904: Anton Chekhov, Russian writer and dramatist known for his mastery of the short story, dies in Badenweiler, Germany (44). - Ernest Hemingway
1961: Ernest Hemingway, US novelist who wrote A Farewell to Arms (1929) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1941), commits suicide in Ketchum, Idaho (61). - James Stewart
1997: James Stewart, US actor, dies in Beverly Hills, California (89). - Mario Puzo
1999: Mario Puzo, US writer, author of the novel The Godfather (1969) and co-writer with Francis Coppola of the screenplay of the film of the same name (1972), dies in Bay Shore, New York (78).
Data provided by Helicon Publishing
