2 May 2024 (MIA)

 

1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.

 

1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.

 

1335 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.

 

1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.

 

1559 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.

 

1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.

 

1611 – The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.

 

1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.

 

1808 – Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.

 

1812 – The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory after Mexican rebels under José María Morelos y Pavón abandon the city after 72 days under siege by royalist Spanish troops under Félix María Calleja.

 

1816 – Marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte of Wales.

 

1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.

 

1863 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.

 

1866 – Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.

 

1876 – The April Uprising breaks out in Bulgaria.

 

1879 – The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party is founded in Casa Labra Pub (city of Madrid) by the historical Spanish workers’ leader Pablo Iglesias.

 

1885 – Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.

 

1885 – The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium.

 

1889 – Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs the Treaty of Wuchale, giving Italy control over Eritrea.

 

1903 – The TMRO Bitola Revolutionary Organization opens its congress in the village of Smilevo, Demir Hisar region. Dame Gruev is elected congress president. A majority is in favor of a rebellion against Ottoman occupation.

 

1906 – Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.

 

1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.

 

1933 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.

 

1941 – Following the coup d’état against Iraq Crown Prince ‘Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.

 

1945 – World War II: Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building.

 

1945 – World War II: Italian Campaign: General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy.

 

1945 – World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.

 

1946 – The “Battle of Alcatraz” takes place; two guards and three inmates are killed.

 

1949 – The Anton Panov National Theater is formed in Strumica. “Runaway Bride” by Macedonian playwright Basil Iljoski is performed on opening night.

 

1952 – The world’s first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.

 

1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

 

1960 – Gjorge Ivanov, President of the Republic of Macedonia elected for two five-year terms in 2009 and 2014, is born in Valandovo.

 

1963 – Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.

 

1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while it is docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.

 

1964 – First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.

 

1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.

 

1972 – In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91 workers.

 

1980 – Referendum on system of government held in Nepal.

 

1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

 

1986 – Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster

 

1989 – Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.

 

1994 – A bus crashes in Gdańsk, Poland killing 32 people.

 

1995 – During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.

 

1998 – The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union’s monetary policy.

 

1999 – Panamanian general election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.

 

2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.

 

2004 – The Yelwa massacre concludes. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims killed 78 Christians at Yelwa. In response, about 630 Muslims were killed by Christians on May 2nd.

 

2008 – Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.

 

2008 – Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.

 

2011 – Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI’s most wanted man, is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

 

2011 – An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.

 

2011 – The 41st Canadian federal election is held, in which the governing Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, increases their number of seats from a minority to a majority.

 

2012 – A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.

 

2014 – Odessa Clashes occur between supporters of a united Ukraine and supporters of Federalization; 48 casualties result.

 

2014 – Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.

 

2022 – New Zealand reopens its borders to international visitors from more than 60 countries after being closed for two years at the beginning of the pandemic.

 

2022 – US Supreme Court draft opinion leaks suggesting Roe v. Wade about to be overturned published on news website Portico.