Historical Events on September 2

Our archives currently hold 70 major historical events, 24 famous births, and 24 notable deaths that took place on September 2. From world-changing treaties to the birth of modern icons, discover the legacy of this day.

Verified Source: Automatically curated and fact-checked via the Wikimedia Foundation Archives.

Sep 02

Events

2024

Four people are killed in a mass shooting targeting homeless people on a Chicago Transit Authority train in Forest Park, Illinois, United States.
2024

A suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills 6 people and injures 13.
2024

At least 129 inmates are killed and 59 more injured in an attempted prison break at Makala Prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2023

India's first solar observation mission: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launches Aditya-L1 from Satish Dhawan space centre.
2022

Eighteen people are killed and 23 others are injured by a suicide bombing at a Sunni mosque in Herat, Afghanistan.
2019

Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 hurricane, devastates the Bahamas, killing at least five.
2019

The dive boat MV Conception catches fire and sinks near Santa Cruz Island, killing 34.
2018

National Museum of Brazil fire, A massive fire destroys most of the Paço de São Cristóvão, which houses the National Museum of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro. The museum holds important archaeοlogical and anthropological objects, including the remains of the Luzia Woman, Marajoara vases and Egyptian mummies.
2013

The Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens at 10:15 pm at a cost of $6.4 billion, after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the old span.
2011

Bad weather caused a Chilean Air Force aircraft to crash into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 21 people on board.
2010

Israel-Palestinian conflict: the 2010 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are launched by the United States.
2009

The Andhra Pradesh, India helicopter crash occurred near Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles (74 km) from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India. Fatalities included Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
2008

Google launches its Google Chrome web browser.
1998

A fire in the cockpit on Swissair Flight 111, en route from New York City to Geneva, caused the aircraft to crash into the Atlantic Ocean near Canada, killing all 229 people on board.
1998

Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia; all 229 people on board are killed.
1998

The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide.
1992

An earthquake registering 7.7 Mw off the coast of Nicaragua became the first tsunami earthquake to be captured on modern broadband seismic networks.
1992

The 7.7 Mw Nicaragua earthquake affected the west coast of Nicaragua. With a Ms–Mw disparity of half a unit, this tsunami earthquake triggered a tsunami that caused most of the damage and casualties, with at least 116 killed. Typical runup heights were 3–8 meters (9.8–26.2 ft).
1990

Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.
1987

In Moscow, the trial begins for 19-year-old pilot Mathias Rust, who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May.
1985

Hurricane Elena, an unpredictable and damaging tropical cyclone that affected eastern and central portions of the United States Gulf Coast, made landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi, as a Category 3 major hurricane.
1985

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politicians and former MPs M. Alalasundaram and V. Dharmalingam are shot dead.
1984

Seven people are shot and killed and 12 wounded in the Milperra massacre, a shootout between the rival motorcycle gangs Bandidos and Comancheros in Sydney, Australia.
1970

NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.
1970

Aeroflot Flight 3630, a Tupolev Tu-124 en route from southern Russia to Lithuania, crashes after the pilots lost control of the aircraft at cruise altitude between Rostov-on-Don Airport and Vilnius Airport, on the second leg of the flight; all 37 passengers and crew are killed.
1968

Operation OAU begins during the Nigerian Civil War.
1967

Paddy Roy Bates proclaimed HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea off the coast of Suffolk, England, as an independent sovereign state: the Principality of Sealand (pictured).
1963

CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
1960

The first election of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. The Tibetan community observes this date as Democracy Day.
1958

A USAF RC-130 is shot down by fighters over Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew members are killed.
1957

South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm began an official visit to Australia, the first by a foreign incumbent head of state to the country.
1957

President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.
1946

The interim government of India, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, was formed to assist the transition of India from British rule to independence.
1946

The Interim Government of India is formed, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru as vice president with the powers of a Prime Minister.
1945

On the deck of the U.S. Navy battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, representatives from the Empire of Japan and the Allied powers signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender , formally ending World War II.
1945

World War II: The Japanese Instrument of Surrender is signed by Japan and the major warring powers aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, thus marking the official end to the war.
1945

Communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam after the end of the Nguyễn dynasty.
1944

The last execution of a Finn in Finland takes place when soldier Olavi Laiho is executed by shooting in Oulu.
1939

World War II: Following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.
1935

The Labor Day Hurricane, the most intense hurricane to strike the United States, makes landfall at Long Key, Florida, killing at least 400.
1923

Kantō Massacre: Amid rumors that Koreans had been conducting acts of sabotage in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, lynch mobs of Japanese begin massacring thousands of civilians over the course of several weeks, mainly ethnic minorities such as Koreans and Chinese.
1912

Arthur Rose Eldred became the first person to attain the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.
1901

U.S. vice president Theodore Roosevelt first publicly used the phrase "speak softly and carry a big stick" (cartoon pictured) at the Minnesota State Fair, describing his philosophy of negotiating peacefully while simultaneously threatening to use military force.
1901

Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
1898

Battle of Omdurman: British and Egyptian troops defeat Sudanese tribesmen and establish British dominance in Sudan.
1885

White miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, attacked Chinese-American immigrants, killing at least 28 Chinese miners and causing approximately $150,000 in property damage.
1885

Rock Springs massacre: In Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners, who are struggling to unionize so they could strike for better wages and work conditions, attack their Chinese fellow workers, killing 28, wounding 15 and forcing several hundred more out of town.
1870

Franco-Prussian War: Prussian forces captured Napoleon III at the Battle of Sedan, which led to the collapse of the Second French Empire within days.
1867

Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Japan, marries Masako Ichijō, thereafter known as Empress Shōken.
1864

American Civil War: Union forces enter Atlanta as the city surrenders, ending the Atlanta campaign as a victory for General William T. Sherman.
1862

American Civil War: United States President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
1859

The Carrington Event is the strongest geomagnetic storm on record.
1856

The Tianjing incident takes place in Nanjing, China.
1807

Napoleonic Wars: The British Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon.
1806

A massive landslide destroys the town of Goldau, Switzerland, killing 457.
1792

French Revolution: Due to an overwhelming fear that foreign armies would attack Paris and prisoners would revolt, revolutionaries began the summary execution of more than a thousand prisoners.
1792

During what became known as the September Massacres of the French Revolution, rampaging mobs slaughter three Roman Catholic bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers.
1789

The United States Department of the Treasury was founded following financial concerns in the new nation.
1752

Great Britain, along with its overseas possessions, adopts the Gregorian calendar.
1666

A large fire began in London's Pudding Lane and burned for five days, destroying St Paul's Cathedral and the homes of 70,000 of the city's 80,000 inhabitants.
1666

The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings, including Old St Paul's Cathedral.
1649

The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
1601

4th Spanish Armada makes landfall in Ireland at Kinsale.
1595

An imperial army retakes the city of Esztergom from the Ottoman Empire.
1561

Entry of Mary, Queen of Scots into Edinburgh, a spectacular civic celebration for the Queen of Scotland, marred by religious controversy.
1192

The Treaty of Jaffa is signed between Richard I of England and Saladin, leading to the end of the Third Crusade.
911

The Byzantine Empire and the Kievan Rus sign a treaty regulating trade.
-31

Final War of the Roman Republic: Battle of Actium: Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
-44

Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.
-44

Cicero launches the first of his Philippicae (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the following months.

Births

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Deaths

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Historical Events on September 2

Events

Four people are killed in a mass shooting targeting homeless people on a Chicago Transit Authority train in Forest Park, Illinois, United States.

A suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills 6 people and injures 13.

At least 129 inmates are killed and 59 more injured in an attempted prison break at Makala Prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

India's first solar observation mission: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launches Aditya-L1 from Satish Dhawan space centre.

Eighteen people are killed and 23 others are injured by a suicide bombing at a Sunni mosque in Herat, Afghanistan.

Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 hurricane, devastates the Bahamas, killing at least five.

The dive boat MV Conception catches fire and sinks near Santa Cruz Island, killing 34.

The Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens at 10:15 pm at a cost of $6.4 billion, after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the old span.

Bad weather caused a Chilean Air Force aircraft to crash into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 21 people on board.

Israel-Palestinian conflict: the 2010 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are launched by the United States.

The Andhra Pradesh, India helicopter crash occurred near Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles (74 km) from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India. Fatalities included Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Google launches its Google Chrome web browser.

A fire in the cockpit on Swissair Flight 111, en route from New York City to Geneva, caused the aircraft to crash into the Atlantic Ocean near Canada, killing all 229 people on board.

Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia; all 229 people on board are killed.

The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide.

An earthquake registering 7.7 Mw off the coast of Nicaragua became the first tsunami earthquake to be captured on modern broadband seismic networks.

The 7.7 Mw Nicaragua earthquake affected the west coast of Nicaragua. With a Ms–Mw disparity of half a unit, this tsunami earthquake triggered a tsunami that caused most of the damage and casualties, with at least 116 killed. Typical runup heights were 3–8 meters (9.8–26.2 ft).

Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.

In Moscow, the trial begins for 19-year-old pilot Mathias Rust, who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May.

Hurricane Elena, an unpredictable and damaging tropical cyclone that affected eastern and central portions of the United States Gulf Coast, made landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi, as a Category 3 major hurricane.

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politicians and former MPs M. Alalasundaram and V. Dharmalingam are shot dead.

Seven people are shot and killed and 12 wounded in the Milperra massacre, a shootout between the rival motorcycle gangs Bandidos and Comancheros in Sydney, Australia.

NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.

Aeroflot Flight 3630, a Tupolev Tu-124 en route from southern Russia to Lithuania, crashes after the pilots lost control of the aircraft at cruise altitude between Rostov-on-Don Airport and Vilnius Airport, on the second leg of the flight; all 37 passengers and crew are killed.

Operation OAU begins during the Nigerian Civil War.

Paddy Roy Bates proclaimed HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea off the coast of Suffolk, England, as an independent sovereign state: the Principality of Sealand (pictured).

CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.

The first election of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. The Tibetan community observes this date as Democracy Day.

A USAF RC-130 is shot down by fighters over Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew members are killed.

South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm began an official visit to Australia, the first by a foreign incumbent head of state to the country.

President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.

The interim government of India, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, was formed to assist the transition of India from British rule to independence.

The Interim Government of India is formed, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru as vice president with the powers of a Prime Minister.

On the deck of the U.S. Navy battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, representatives from the Empire of Japan and the Allied powers signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender , formally ending World War II.

World War II: The Japanese Instrument of Surrender is signed by Japan and the major warring powers aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, thus marking the official end to the war.

Communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam after the end of the Nguyễn dynasty.

The last execution of a Finn in Finland takes place when soldier Olavi Laiho is executed by shooting in Oulu.

World War II: Following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.

The Labor Day Hurricane, the most intense hurricane to strike the United States, makes landfall at Long Key, Florida, killing at least 400.

Kantō Massacre: Amid rumors that Koreans had been conducting acts of sabotage in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, lynch mobs of Japanese begin massacring thousands of civilians over the course of several weeks, mainly ethnic minorities such as Koreans and Chinese.

Arthur Rose Eldred became the first person to attain the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.

U.S. vice president Theodore Roosevelt first publicly used the phrase "speak softly and carry a big stick" (cartoon pictured) at the Minnesota State Fair, describing his philosophy of negotiating peacefully while simultaneously threatening to use military force.

Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.

Battle of Omdurman: British and Egyptian troops defeat Sudanese tribesmen and establish British dominance in Sudan.

White miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, attacked Chinese-American immigrants, killing at least 28 Chinese miners and causing approximately $150,000 in property damage.

Rock Springs massacre: In Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners, who are struggling to unionize so they could strike for better wages and work conditions, attack their Chinese fellow workers, killing 28, wounding 15 and forcing several hundred more out of town.

Franco-Prussian War: Prussian forces captured Napoleon III at the Battle of Sedan, which led to the collapse of the Second French Empire within days.

Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Japan, marries Masako Ichijō, thereafter known as Empress Shōken.

American Civil War: Union forces enter Atlanta as the city surrenders, ending the Atlanta campaign as a victory for General William T. Sherman.

American Civil War: United States President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.

The Carrington Event is the strongest geomagnetic storm on record.

The Tianjing incident takes place in Nanjing, China.

Napoleonic Wars: The British Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon.

A massive landslide destroys the town of Goldau, Switzerland, killing 457.

French Revolution: Due to an overwhelming fear that foreign armies would attack Paris and prisoners would revolt, revolutionaries began the summary execution of more than a thousand prisoners.

During what became known as the September Massacres of the French Revolution, rampaging mobs slaughter three Roman Catholic bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers.

The United States Department of the Treasury was founded following financial concerns in the new nation.

Great Britain, along with its overseas possessions, adopts the Gregorian calendar.

A large fire began in London's Pudding Lane and burned for five days, destroying St Paul's Cathedral and the homes of 70,000 of the city's 80,000 inhabitants.

The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings, including Old St Paul's Cathedral.

The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.

4th Spanish Armada makes landfall in Ireland at Kinsale.

An imperial army retakes the city of Esztergom from the Ottoman Empire.

Entry of Mary, Queen of Scots into Edinburgh, a spectacular civic celebration for the Queen of Scotland, marred by religious controversy.

The Treaty of Jaffa is signed between Richard I of England and Saladin, leading to the end of the Third Crusade.

The Byzantine Empire and the Kievan Rus sign a treaty regulating trade.

Final War of the Roman Republic: Battle of Actium: Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.

Cicero launches the first of his Philippicae (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the following months.