October 2

Pre-1600

• 829 – Theophilos succeeds his father Michael II as Byzantine Emperor.
• 939 – Battle of Andernach: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, crushes a rebellion against his rule, by a coalition of Eberhard of Franconia and other Frankish dukes.
• 1263 – The Battle of Largs is fought between Norwegians and Scots.
• 1470 – The Earl of Warwick's rebellion forces King Edward IV of England to flee to the Netherlands, restoring Henry VI to the throne.
• 1552 – Russo-Kazan Wars: Russian troops enter Kazan.

1601–1900

• 1780 – American Revolutionary War: John André, a British Army officer, is hanged as a spy by the Continental Army.
• 1789 – The United States Bill of Rights is sent to the various States for ratification.
• 1835 – Texas Revolution: Mexican troops attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Confederates defeat a Union attack on Saltville, Virginia. A massacre of wounded Union prisoners ensues.
• 1870 – By plebiscite, the citizens of the Papal States accept annexation by the Kingdom of Italy.

1901–present

• 1920 – Ukrainian War of Independence: Mikhail Frunze orders the Red Army to immediately cease hostilities with the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.
• 1928 – The "Prelature of the Holy Cross and the Work of God", commonly known as Opus Dei, is founded.
• 1937 – Rafael Trujillo orders the execution of Haitians living in the border region of the Dominican Republic.
• 1942 – World War II: Ocean Liner RMS Queen Mary accidentally rams and sinks HMS Curacoa, killing over 300 crewmen aboard Curacoa.
• 1944 – World War II: German troops end the Warsaw Uprising.
• 1958 – Guinea declares its independence from France.
• 1967 – Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American justice of the United States Supreme Court.
• 1968 – Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz orders soldiers to suppress a demonstration of unarmed students, ten days before the start of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
• 1970 – An aircraft carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes in Colorado, killing 31 people.
• 1971 – South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu is re-elected in a one-man election.
• 1971 – British European Airways Flight 706 crashes near Aarsele, Belgium, killing 63.
• 1980 – Michael Myers becomes the first member of either chamber of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War.
• 1990 – Xiamen Airlines Flight 8301 is hijacked and lands at Guangzhou, where it crashes into two other airliners on the ground, killing 132.
• 1992 – Military police storm the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil during a prison riot. The resulting massacre leaves 111 prisoners dead.
• 1996 – Aeroperú Flight 603 crashes into the ocean near Peru, killing all 70 people on board.
• 1996 – The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
• 2002 – The Beltway sniper attacks begin in Washington, D.C., extending over three weeks and killing 10 people.
• 2004 – The first parkrun, then known as the Bushy Park Time Trial, takes place in Bushy Park, London, UK.
• 2006 – Five Amish girls are murdered in a shooting at a school in Pennsylvania, United States.
• 2007 – President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea goes to North Korea for an Inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
• 2016 – Ethiopian protests break out during a festival in the Oromia region, killing dozens of people.
• 2018 – The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is assassinated in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
• 2019 – A privately-owned Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress conducting a living history exhibition flight crashes shortly after takeoff from Windsor Locks, Connecticut, killing seven.

Pre-1600

• 1452 – Richard III of England (d. 1485)
• 1470 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, Daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (d. 1498)
• 1527 – William Drury, English politician (d. 1579)
• 1538 – Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal and saint (d. 1584)

1601–1900

• 1718 – Elizabeth Montagu, English author and critic (d. 1800)
• 1768 – William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English general and politician (d. 1854)
• 1798 – Charles Albert, King of Sardinia (1831–49) (d. 1849)
• 1800 – Nat Turner, American slave and uprising leader (d. 1831)
• 1815 – James Agnew, Irish-Australian politician, Premier of Tasmania (d. 1901)
• 1821 – Alexander P. Stewart, American general (d. 1908)
• 1828 – Charles Floquet, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1896)
• 1832 – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (d. 1917)
• 1847 – Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and politician, 2nd President of Germany (d. 1934)
• 1851 – Ferdinand Foch, French field marshal (d. 1929)
• 1852 – William Ramsay, Scottish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
• 1854 – Patrick Geddes, Scottish biologist, sociologist, geographer, and philanthropist (d. 1932)
• 1866 – Swami Abhedananda, Indian mystic and philosopher (d. 1939)
• 1869 – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian freedom fighter, activist and philosopher (d. 1948)
• 1871 – Cordell Hull, American politician, United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
• 1871 – Martha Brookes Hutcheson, American landscaper and author (d. 1959)
• 1873 – Stephen Warfield Gambrill, American lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
• 1873 – Pelham Warner, English cricketer and manager (d. 1963)
• 1875 – Pattie Ruffner Jacobs, American suffragist (d. 1935)
• 1879 – Wallace Stevens, American poet (d. 1955)
• 1882 – Boris Shaposhnikov, Russian colonel (d. 1945)
• 1883 – Karl von Terzaghi, Austrian geologist and engineer (d. 1963)
• 1890 – Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1977)
• 1893 – Leroy Shield, American composer and conductor (d. 1962)
• 1895 – Ruth Cheney Streeter, American colonel (d. 1990)
• 1900 – Leela Roy Nag, Indian freedom fighter, social reformer and politician (d. 1970)

1901–present

• 1902 – Leopold Figl, Austrian politician, Chancellor of Austria (d. 1965)
• 1904 – Graham Greene, English novelist, playwright, and critic (d. 1991)
• 1904 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian and politician, Prime Minister of India (d. 1966)
• 1905 – Franjo Šeper, Croatian cardinal (d. 1981)
• 1906 – Thomas Hollway, Australian politician, Premier of Victoria (d. 1971)
• 1907 – Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Bolivian politician, President of Bolivia (d. 2001)
• 1907 – Alexander R. Todd, Scottish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
• 1909 – Alex Raymond, American cartoonist, creator of Flash Gordon (d. 1956)
• 1912 – Frank Malina, American engineer and painter (d. 1981)
• 1914 – Jack Parsons, American chemist, occultist, and engineer (d. 1952)
• 1914 – Bernarr Rainbow, English organist, conductor, and historian (d. 1998)
• 1915 – Chuck Williams, American author and businessman, founded Williams Sonoma (d. 2015)
• 1917 – Christian de Duve, Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
• 1917 – Charles Drake, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1919 – John W. Duarte, English guitarist and composer (d. 2004)
• 1921 – Edmund Crispin, English writer and composer (d. 1978)
• 1921 – Albert Scott Crossfield, American pilot and engineer (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Robert Runcie, English archbishop (d. 2000)
• 1925 – Wren Blair, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2013)
• 1926 – Jan Morris, Welsh historian and author (d. 2020)
• 1928 – George McFarland, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1928 – Wolfhart Pannenberg, Polish-German theologian and academic (d. 2014)
• 1929 – Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (d. 1996)
• 1929 – Moses Gunn, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1930 – Dave Barrett, Canadian social worker and politician, 26th Premier of British Columbia (d. 2018)
• 1932 – Maury Wills, American baseball player and manager (d. 2022)
• 1933 – John Gurdon, English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1933 – Dave Somerville, Canadian singer (d. 2015)
• 1934 – Richard Scott, Baron Scott of Foscote, English lawyer and judge
• 1934 – Earl Wilson, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1935 – Omar Sívori, Italian-Argentine footballer and manager (d. 2005)
• 1936 – Dick Barnett, American basketball player
• 1936 – Connie Dierking, American basketball player (d. 2013)
• 1937 – Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (d. 2005)
• 1938 – Waheed Murad, Pakistani actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1983)
• 1938 – Rex Reed, American film critic
• 1939 – Budhi Kunderan, Indian cricketer (d. 2006)
• 1941 – Diana Hendry, English poet and author
• 1941 – Ron Meagher, American rock bass player
• 1942 – Steve Sabol, American director and producer, co-founded NFL Films (d. 2012)
• 1943 – Anna Ford, English journalist
• 1943 – Henri Szeps, Australian actor
• 1944 – Vernor Vinge, American author (d. 2024)
• 1945 – Martin Hellman, American cryptographer and academic
• 1945 – Don McLean, American singer-songwriter
• 1946 – Sonthi Boonyaratglin, Thai general and politician
• 1947 – Ward Churchill, American author and activist
• 1948 – Trevor Brooking, English footballer and manager
• 1948 – Avery Brooks, American actor
• 1948 – Donna Karan, American fashion designer, founded DKNY
• 1948 – Siim Kallas, Estonian politician, Prime Minister of Estonia
• 1948 – Persis Khambatta, Indian model and actress, (d. 1998)
• 1949 – Richard Hell, American singer-songwriter and bass player
• 1949 – Annie Leibovitz, American photographer
• 1950 – Mike Rutherford, English guitarist
• 1951 – Sting, English singer-songwriter and actor
• 1952 – Robin Riker, American actress
• 1953 – Vanessa Bell Armstrong, American singer
• 1953 – Tom Boswell, American basketball player
• 1954 – Lorraine Bracco, American actress
• 1955 – Philip Oakey, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
• 1956 – Freddie Jackson, American soul singer
• 1957 – John Cook, American golfer
• 1957 – Wade Dooley, English rugby player
• 1958 – Robbie Nevil, American singer-songwriter
• 1960 – Glenn Anderson, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1960 – Django Bates, English musician and composer
• 1960 – Joe Sacco, Maltese-American journalist and cartoonist
• 1960 – Dereck Whittenburg, American basketball player and coach
• 1962 – Mark Rypien, Canadian-American football player
• 1963 – Keith Bradshaw, Australian cricketer
• 1963 – Maria Ressa, Filipino-American journalist
• 1964 – Dirk Brinkmann, German field hockey player
• 1965 – Darren Cahill, Australian tennis player
• 1965 – Tom Moody, Australian cricketer
• 1966 – Yokozuna, American wrestler (d. 2000)
• 1967 – Frankie Fredericks, Namibian sprinter
• 1967 – Thomas Muster, Austrian tennis player
• 1967 – Gillian Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1968 – Jana Novotná, Czech tennis player and sportscaster (d. 2017)
• 1968 – Joey Slotnick, American actor
• 1968 – Glen Wesley, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1968 – Kelly Willis, American country music singer-songwriter
• 1969 – Badly Drawn Boy, English musician
• 1970 – Eddie Guardado, American baseball player
• 1970 – Patricia O'Callaghan, Canadian soprano
• 1970 – Kelly Ripa, American actress and talk show host
• 1970 – Maribel Verdú, Spanish actress
• 1971 – Tiffany Darwish, American singer-songwriter
• 1971 – Jim Root, American guitarist and songwriter
• 1971 – Chris Savino, American comic book artist, writer, animator and creator of The Loud House
• 1972 – Aaron McKie, American basketball player
• 1973 – Melissa Harris-Perry, American journalist, author, and educator
• 1973 – Lene Nystrøm, Norwegian singer, songwriter, and musician
• 1973 – Efren Ramirez, American actor
• 1973 – Scott Schoeneweis, American baseball player
• 1974 – Bjarke Ingels, Danish architect
• 1974 – Brian Knight, American baseball player
• 1974 – Matthew Nicholson, Australian cricketer
• 1974 – Sam Roberts, Canadian singer-songwriter and musician
• 1974 – Paul Teutul Jr., American motorcycle designer, co-founded Orange County Choppers
• 1976 – Mark Chilton, English cricketer
• 1977 – Didier Défago, Swiss skier
• 1978 – Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer, songwriter, actress
• 1979 – Primož Brezec, Slovenian basketball player
• 1981 – Santi Kolk, Dutch footballer
• 1981 – Luke Wilkshire, Australian footballer
• 1982 – Tyson Chandler, American basketball player
• 1982 – Esra Gümüş, Turkish volleyball player
• 1984 – Marion Bartoli, French tennis player
• 1985 – Çağlar Birinci, Turkish footballer
• 1985 – Brandon Jackson, American football player
• 1986 – Camilla Belle, American actress
• 1987 – Bojana Bobusic, Australian tennis player
• 1987 – Joe Ingles, Australian basketball player
• 1987 – Phil Kessel, American ice hockey player
• 1987 – Christopher Larkin, South Korean-American actor
• 1987 – Joel Reinders, American football player
• 1987 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr., American race car driver
• 1988 – Kirara Asuka, Japanese model and adult video actress
• 1988 – Brittany Howard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1989 – Frederik Andersen, Danish ice hockey player
• 1989 – Josh Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1989 – Aaron Hicks, American baseball player
• 1989 – George Nash, English rower
• 1990 – Samantha Barks, Manx actress and singer
• 1991 – Roberto Firmino, Brazilian footballer
• 1992 – Alisson Becker, Brazilian footballer
• 1992 – Shane Larkin, American-Turkish basketball player
• 1993 – Lance McCullers Jr., American baseball player
• 1993 – Elizabeth McLaughlin, American actress
• 1994 – Joana Eidukonytė, Lithuanian tennis player
• 1995 – Tepai Moeroa, Cook Islands rugby league player
• 1996 – Tom Trbojevic, Australian rugby league player

Pre-1600

• 534 – Athalaric, king of the Ostrogoths in Italy
• 829 – Michael II, Byzantine emperor
• 939 – Eberhard of Franconia
• 939 – Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine
• 1264 – Pope Urban IV
• 1559 – Jacquet of Mantua, French-Italian composer (b. 1483)

1601–1900

• 1626 – Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, 1st Count of Gondomar, Spanish academic and diplomat (b. 1567)
• 1629 – Antonio Cifra, Italian composer (b. 1584)
• 1629 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and theologian (b. 1575)
• 1674 – George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, officer in the Dutch Army (b. 1606)
• 1678 – Wu Sangui, Qing Chinese general (b. 1612)
• 1708 – Anne Jules de Noailles, French general (b. 1650)
• 1709 – Ivan Mazepa, Ukrainian diplomat (b. 1639)
• 1724 – François-Timoléon de Choisy, French historian and author (b. 1644)
• 1746 – Josiah Burchett, English admiral and politician (b. 1666)
• 1764 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1720)
• 1780 – John André, English soldier (b. 1750)
• 1782 – Charles Lee, English-born American general (b. 1732)
• 1786 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (b. 1725)
• 1803 – Samuel Adams, American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1722)
• 1804 – Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, French engineer (b. 1725)
• 1850 – Sarah Biffen, English painter (b. 1784)
• 1853 – François Arago, French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and politician (b. 1786)

1901–present

• 1920 – Max Bruch, German composer and conductor (b. 1838)
• 1927 – Svante Arrhenius, Swedish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
• 1938 – Alexandru Averescu, Romanian military leader and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1859)
• 1943 – John Evans, English-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Tasmania (b. 1855)
• 1953 – John Marin, American painter (b. 1870)
• 1955 – William R. Orthwein, American swimmer and water polo player (b. 1881)
• 1968 – Marcel Duchamp, French painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
• 1971 – Jessie Arms Botke, American painter (b. 1883)
• 1973 – Paul Hartman, American actor and dancer (b. 1904)
• 1973 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (b. 1897)
• 1974 – Vasily Shukshin, Russian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
• 1975 – K. Kamaraj, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1903)
• 1981 – Harry Golden, American journalist and author (b. 1902)
• 1981 – Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American activist, actress, and musician (b. 1920)
• 1985 – Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
• 1987 – Madeleine Carroll, English actress (b. 1906)
• 1987 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
• 1988 – Alec Issigonis, English car designer, designed the Mini (b. 1906)
• 1988 – Hamengkubuwono IX, Indonesian politician, Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1912)
• 1991 – Hazen Argue, Canadian politician (b. 1921)
• 1991 – Demetrios I of Constantinople (b. 1914)
• 1996 – Robert Bourassa, Canadian lawyer and politician, Premier of Quebec (b. 1933)
• 1996 – Andrey Lukanov, Bulgarian politician, 40th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1938)
• 1998 – Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and guitarist (b. 1907)
• 1999 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (b. 1921)
• 2000 – David Tonkin, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (b. 1929)
• 2001 – Franz Biebl, German composer and academic (b. 1906)
• 2002 – Heinz von Foerster, Austrian-American physicist and philosopher (b. 1911)
• 2003 – John Thomas Dunlop, American scholar and politician, United States Secretary of Labor (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Nipsey Russell, American comedian and actor (b. 1918)
• 2005 – August Wilson, American author and playwright (b. 1945)
• 2006 – Helen Chenoweth-Hage, American politician (b. 1938)
• 2006 – Paul Halmos, Hungarian-American mathematician (b. 1916)
• 2007 – Tex Coulter, American football player (b. 1924)
• 2007 – George Grizzard, American actor (b. 1928)
• 2007 – Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (b. 1902)
• 2010 – Kwa Geok Choo, Singaporean lawyer and scholar (b. 1920)
• 2012 – Nguyễn Chí Thiện, Vietnamese-American poet and activist (b. 1939)
• 2012 – Charles Roach, Trinidadian-Canadian lawyer and activist (b. 1933)
• 2012 – J. Philippe Rushton, English-Canadian psychologist, theorist, academic (b. 1943)
• 2013 – Abraham Nemeth, American mathematician and academic (b. 1918)
• 2014 – Robert Flower, Australian footballer (b. 1955)
• 2015 – Brian Friel, Irish author, playwright, and director (b. 1929)
• 2015 – Coleridge Goode, Jamaican-English bassist and composer (b. 1914)
• 2015 – Johnny Paton, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1923)
• 2016 – Neville Marriner, British conductor (b. 1924)
• 2017 – Tom Petty, American musician (b. 1950)
• 2018 – Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist (b. 1958)
• 2020 – Anne-Marie Hutchinson, British lawyer (b. 1957)
• 2022 – Sacheen Littlefeather, American actress, model and activist for Native American civil rights (b. 1946)
• 2023 – Francis Lee, English football player (b. 1944)

• Batik Day (Indonesia)
• Christian feast day:
  • Denha I of Tikrit (Syriac Orthodox Church)
  • Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels
  • Leodegar
  • October 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Gandhi's birthday-related observances:
  • Gandhi Jayanti (India)
  • International Day of Non-Violence
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Guinea from France in 1958
• National Grandparents Day (Italy)