March 2: Day of the year

March 2 is the 61st day of the year (62nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 304 days remaining until the end of the year.

Up to 1900

• 537 - Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under King Vitiges begins the siege of the city.
• 871 - Ethelred of Wessex defeats a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton.
• 986 – Louis V becomes King of the Franks.
• 1127 – Assassination of Charles I, Count of Flanders.
• 1444 - Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League of Lezhe.
• 1476 - Burgundian Wars: The Old Swiss Confederacy hands Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, a major defeat in the Battle of Grandson in the Canton of Neuchâtel.
• 1484 – The College of Arms is formally incorporated by a Royal Charter, signed by King Richard III of England.
• 1498 - Vasco da Gama's fleet visits the Island of Mozambique.
• 1561 - Mendoza, Argentina, is founded by Spanish conquistador Pedro del Castillo.
• 1657 - Great Fire of Meireki: A fire in Edo (now Tokyo) kills 100,000 people and lasts three days.
• 1776 - American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units arrest the Royal Governor of Georgia, James Wright, and attempt to prevent capture of supply ships in the Battle of Rice Boats.
• 1791 - Long-distance communication speeds up with the unveiling of a semaphore machine in Paris.
• 1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound notes.
• 1798 – The Swiss Canton of Thurgau is created.
• 1807 - United States Congress bans the importation of more slaves into the country.
• 1811 - Argentine War of Independence: A royalist fleet defeats a small flotilla of revolutionary ships in the Battle of San Nicolas.
• 1815 - Signing of the Kandyan Convention Treaty between the British and the King of Sri Lanka.
• 1818 - Italian adventurer Giovanni Battista Belzani re-discovers the tomb in the Chephren Pyramid in Egypt, though he finds it empty.
• 1825 – Blida, in Algeria, is hit by an earthquake, killing 7,000 people.
• 1836 – The Republic of Texas declares its independence from Mexico.
• 1855 – Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.
• 1861 - The Dakota Territory is created, covering the current states of North Dakota, South Dakota and parts of Montana and Wyoming. Yankton, South Dakota is the territorial capital.
• 1877 – Rutherford B. Hayes is declared the winner of the 1876 US presidential election, despite Samuel J. Tilden winning the popular vote.
• 1882 – Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick McLean in Windsor.
• 1885 - Sino-French War: French victory in the Battle of Hoa Moc, near Tuyen Quang, North Vietnam.
• 1899 – The Mount Rainier National Park in the State of Washington, is created.

1901 – 2000

• 1903 - In New York City, the Martha Washington Hotel opens, the first hotel only to cater for women.
• 1917 - The Jones-Shafroth Act grants United States citizenship to people from Puerto Rico.
• 1919 - The first Communist International meets in Moscow.
• 1933 – The Sanriku earthquake in Japan, measuring at magnitude 8.4, kills almost 3,000 people.
• 1933 – The movie King Kong opens at New York City's Radio Music Hall.
• 1935 – Prajadhipok abdicates as King of Thailand, being succeeded by the 9-year-old Ananda Mahidol.
• 1939 – cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope on his 63rd birthday. He chooses to be known as Pope Pius XII.
• 1943 – World War II: In the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, US and Australian forces sink Japanese convoy ships.
• 1946 – Ho Chi Minh is elected President of North Vietnam.
• 1949 – Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II airplane at Fort Worth, Texas, after flying non-stop around the world in 94 hours and 1 minute.
• 1949 – The first automatic street light is installed in New Milford, Connecticut.
• 1955 – Norodom Sihanouk abdicates as King of Cambodia, in favour of his father, Norodom Suramarit.
• 1956 – Morocco declares independence from France.
• 1958 – Edmund Hillary and Vivian Fuchs complete their crossing of Antarctica.
• 1962 – In Burma, the Army, led by Ne Win, seizes power in a coup.
• 1962 – Basketball: Wilt Chamberlain sets an NBA record by scoring 100 points in a single game.
• 1965 - United States and South Vietnamese Air Forces begin Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
• 1969 - Soviet and Chinese forces clash at the border outpost on the Ussuri River.
• 1969 – In Toulouse, the first test flight of Concorde is carried out.
• 1970 – Rhodesia declares itself a Republic.
• 1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
• 1978 – Czechoslovakian Vladimir Remek becomes the first human in space who is neither Soviet or American.
• 1983 – Compact Discs and Compact Disc players are released in the United States, though they were already available in Japan.
• 1987 - The Chrysler Group takes over the American Motors Corporation.
• 1989 - 12 European Community nations agree to ban the production of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
• 1990 – Nelson Mandela is declared Deputy Head of the African National Congress.
• 1991 - Battle of Rumaila takes place at the end of the Gulf War.
• 1992 – San Marino joins the UN, along with the former Soviet States of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
• 1993 - The 1993 Storm of the Century begins to form in the North Atlantic Ocean.
• 1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has an ocean of liquid water under a thick crust of ice.
• 1998 – In Austria, 10-year-old Natascha Kampusch is kidnapped by Wolfgang Priklopil and is held in captivity until her escape in 2006, after which Priklopil commits suicide.
• 2000 – Former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet is allowed to return home after the United Kingdom refused to extradite him to Spain on torture charges.

From 2001

• 2002 – As part of the US invasion of Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda is launched.
• 2004 – Iraq War: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Kerbala, killing 270 people.
• 2004 – In the US, John Kerry becomes the Democrats' candidate for the US presidential election, which he loses to George W. Bush eight months later.
• 2006 - The Nintendo DS goes on sale in Japan.
• 2008 – Dmitry Medvedev is elected President of Russia, due to Vladimir Putin's term limits, though Putin becomes Prime Minister.
• 2009 – President of Guinea-Bissau Joao Bernardo Vieira is killed in an armed attack on his home.
• 2012 – 27 people are killed as tornadoes sweep across the States of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
• 2017 - Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are held after the collapse of the power-sharing government.
• 2019 - The SpX-DM1 space mission is launched; it is the first United States-launched manned mission since 2011.

Up to 1900

• 959 - Emperor En'yu of Japan (d. 991)
• 1241 - Isabella of France, Queen of Navarre (d. 1271)
• 1316 – King Robert II of Scotland (d. 1390)
• 1459 – Pope Adrian VI (d. 1523)
• 1544 - Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and library founder (d. 1613)
• 1760 – Camille Desmoulins, French lawyer and journalist (d. 1794)
• 1769 - DeWitt Clinton, 6th Governor of New York (d. 1828)
• 1779 – Joel Roberts Poinsett, American statesman (d. 1851)
• 1793 – Sam Houston, President and Governor of Texas (d. 1863)
• 1800 – Yevgeny Baratynsky, Russian poet (d. 1844)
• 1810 – Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903)
• 1816 - Alexander Bullock, 26th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1882)
• 1820 – Multatuli, Dutch writer (d. 1887)
• 1824 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (d. 1884)
• 1829 – Carl Schurz, German politician and revolutionary (d. 1906)
• 1836 - John W. Foster, United States Secretary of State (d. 1917)
• 1842 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer (d. 1914)
• 1843 - Princess Maria Clotilde of Saxony (d. 1911)
• 1851 - Franz von Liszt, German jurist (d. 1919)
• 1859 – Sholom Aleichem, Russian novelist (d. 1916)
• 1860 - Susanna M. Salter, American politician (d. 1961)
• 1862 - Boris Borisovich Galitzine, Russian physicist (d. 1916)
• 1868 - Edmund Schulthess, Swiss politician (d. 1944)
• 1876 – Pope Pius XII (d. 1958)
• 1878 - Wander Johannes de Haas, Dutch physicist and mathematician (d. 1960)
• 1880 – Ivar Kreuger, Swedish industrialist, known for the match stick monopoly (d. 1932)
• 1883 - Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek writer (d. 1957)
• 1885 - Victor Houteff, Bulgarian religious reformer and writer (d. 1955)
• 1886 - Leo Gehr von Schweppenburg, German general (d. 1974)
• 1894 - Alexander Oparin, Soviet biochemist (d. 1980)
• 1900 – Kurt Weill, German-born American composer (d. 1950)

1901 – 1950

• 1901 - Grete Hermann, German mathematician (d. 1984)
• 1902 – Edward Condon, American physicist (d. 1974)
• 1904 – Dr. Seuss, American writer (d. 1991)
• 1905 - Marc Blitzstein, American composer (d. 1964)
• 1905 - Roberto Francisco Chiari Remón, 31st President of Panama (d. 1981)
• 1908 - Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov, Soviet sniper (d. 1968)
• 1908 - Walter Bruch, German electrical engineer (d. 1990)
• 1909 - Mel Ott, American baseball player (d. 1958)
• 1912 – Henry Katzman, American composer and pianist (d. 2001)
• 1912 - William Thayer Tutt, American ice hockey executive (d. 1989)
• 1913 - Celedonio Romero, Spanish guitarist (d. 1996)
• 1914 - Martin Ritt, American movie director (d. 1990)
• 1917 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, musician and bandleader (d. 1986)
• 1918 - Michael Rye, American voice actor (d. 2012)
• 1919 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (d. 2009)
• 1919 - Tamara Toumanova, Russian ballerina and actress (d. 1996)
• 1921 - Cornelius Edward Gallagher, American politician (d. 2018)
• 1921 - Kazimierz Gorski, Polish footballer (d. 2006)
• 1921 - Ernst Haas, Austrian photojournalist (d. 1986)
• 1922 - Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, American jazz tenor saxophonist (d. 1986)
• 1923 - Masao Ono, Japanese footballer (d. 2001)
• 1923 - Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster (d. 1999)
• 1923 - Orrin Keepnews, American songwriter and producer (d. 2015)
• 1923 - Dave Strack, American basketball coach (d. 2014)
• 1923 - Robert H. Michel, American soldier and politician (d. 2017)
• 1924 - Cal Abrams, American baseball player (d. 1997)
• 1926 - Murray Rothbard, American economist and philosopher (d. 1995)
• 1926 – George Patrick Leonard Walker, British volcanologist (d. 2005)
• 1926 - Bernard Agré, Ivorian cardinal (d. 2014)
• 1930 - John Cullum, American actor and singer
• 1930 - Pat Arrowsmith, British writer and peace campaigner
• 1930 - Tom Wolfe, American writer (d. 2018)
• 1930 – Sergei Kovalev, Russian dissident and politician
• 1931 – Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1931 - Jean Périmony, French actor and theatre director (d. 2017)
• 1932 – Gun Hägglund, Swedish television journalist (d. 2011)
• 1934 - Howard Cassady, American football player (d. 2019)
• 1937 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika, former President of Algeria (d. 2021)
• 1937 - Denny Crum, American basketball coach
• 1938 - Aleksandar Kostov, Bulgarian footballer (d. 2019)
• 1938 – Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile
• 1939 - Irina Bogacheva, Russian mezzo-soprano (d. 2019)
• 1939 - Takako Shimazu, Japanese royal
• 1940 - Billy McNeill, Scottish footballer (d. 2019)
• 1940 - Mamnoon Hussain, 12th President of Pakistan
• 1940 – Lothar de Maizière, German lawyer and politician
• 1941 - John Cornell, Australian actor, director, producer and businessman
• 1941 - David Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States
• 1942 - Kwang Jo Choi, Korean taekwondo champion
• 1942 – Lou Reed, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
• 1942 – Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iranian politician
• 1942 – John Irving, American writer
• 1943 – Zygfryd Blaut, Polish footballer (d. 2005)
• 1943 - Tony Meehan, British musician (d. 2005)
• 1943 - B. Subhashan Reddy, Indian judge (d. 2019)
• 1944 – Uschi Glas, German actress
• 1947 – Harry Redknapp, English football manager
• 1947 – Yuri Matiyasevich, Russian mathematician
• 1947 - Glenn O'Brien, American journalist, editor and television presenter (d. 2017)
• 1948 – Larry Carlton, American musician
• 1948 - Jeff Kennett, Australian politician, 43rd Premier of Victoria
• 1948 - Rory Gallagher, Irish musician, songwriter and bandleader (d. 1995)
• 1949 - Alain Chamfort, French singer
• 1949 - Gates McFadden, American actress
• 1949 - J. P. R. Williams, Welsh rugby player
• 1950 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (d. 1983)

1951 – 1975

• 1951 – Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
• 1952 - Laraine Newman, American actress, comedienne and writer
• 1953 - Russ Feingold, American politician
• 1954 - Eddie Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1955 - Jay Osmond, American drummer and singer
• 1955 - Ken Salazar, American politician
• 1955 – Shoko Asahara, Japanese cult leader (Aum Shinrikyo)
• 1956 – Mark Evans, Australian musician (AC/DC)
• 1956 - John Cowsill, American musician
• 1956 - Eduardo Rodriguez, former President of Bolivia
• 1957 - Mark Dean, American computer scientist
• 1958 – Ian Woosnam, Welsh golfer
• 1958 - Kevin Curren, South African tennis player
• 1959 - Larry Stewart, American singer
• 1960 - Debra Marshall, American wrestler, manager and actress
• 1961 - Simone Young, Australian conductor
• 1962 - Raimo Summanen, Finnish ice hockey player and coach
• 1962 - Morioka Hiroyuki, Japanese writer
• 1962 – Jon Bon Jovi, American musician (Bon Jovi)
• 1963 - Anthony Albanese, Australian politician
• 1963 - Henry Bolton, British politician, former leader of UKIP
• 1965 – Lembit Opik, British politician
• 1968 – Daniel Craig, British actor
• 1970 – Alexander Armstrong, British comedian and television presenter
• 1970 - James Purnell, British politician
• 1971 - Dave Gorman, British comedian
• 1971 – Lisa Lackey, Australian actress
• 1971 - Amber Smith, American actress and model
• 1971 - Method Man, American rapper, producer and actor
• 1971 - Norbert Hofer, Austrian politician
• 1972 – Mauricio Pochettino, Argentine footballer
• 1973 – Trevor Sinclair, English footballer
• 1973 - Dejan Bodiroga, Serbian basketball player

From 1976

• 1976 - França, Brazilian footballer
• 1977 – Chris Martin, English musician (Coldplay)
• 1977 – Andrew Strauss, English cricketer
• 1979 - Sergei Davydov, Belarussian figure skater
• 1979 – Damien Duff, Irish footballer
• 1979 – Francesco Tavano, Italian footballer
• 1979 - Nicky Weaver, English footballer
• 1980 - Rebel Wilson, Australian actress
• 1981 - Bryce Dallas Howard, American actress, writer and director
• 1981 – Lance Cade, American professional wrestler (d. 2010)
• 1982 - Henrik Lundqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1982 – Kevin Kuranyi, German footballer
• 1982 – Ben Roethlisberger, American football player
• 1982 - Pilou Asbaek, Danish actor
• 1982 - Jade Galbraith, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1983 - Ryan Shannon, American ice hockey player
• 1983 - Lisandro Lopez, Argentine footballer
• 1984 - Elizabeth Jagger, English model and actress
• 1985 - Suso Santana, Spanish footballer
• 1985 – Luke Pritchard, British singer (The Kooks)
• 1986 - Babacar Gueye, French-Senegalese footballer
• 1988 – Matthew Mitcham, Australian diver
• 1988 - James Arthur, British singer
• 1988 - Dexter Pittman, American basketball player
• 1989 - Toby Alderweireld, Belgian footballer
• 1989 - Marcel Hirscher, Austrian alpine skier
• 1990 - Rauno Alliku, Estonian footballer
• 1990 - Lee Hongki, South Korean singer and actor
• 1993 - Mariya Yaremchuk, Ukrainian singer
• 1997 - Becky G, American rapper
• 1998 - Tua Tagovailoa, American football player
• 2016 - Prince Oscar, Duke of Skane, Swedish royal

Up to 1900

• 672 - Chad of Mercia, Anglo-Saxon abbot
• 855 – Lothair I, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor (b. 795)
• 1127 – Charles I, Count of Flanders
• 1316 - Marjorie Bruce, died shortly after giving birth to Robert II of Scotland, (b. 1296)
• 1589 - Alessandro Farnese, Italian cardinal (b. 1520)
• 1619 – Anne of Denmark, Queen Consort of Scotland, England and Ireland (b. 1574)
• 1729 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian philosopher and scientist (b. 1662)
• 1791 – John Wesley, English founder of Methodism (b. 1703)
• 1797 – Horace Walpole, English politician and writer (b. 1717)
• 1829 - Karl Gottfried Hagen, German polymath (b. 1749)
• 1835 – Francis, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1768)
• 1840 - Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers, German physician and astronomer (b. 1758)
• 1855 – Tsar Nicholas I of Russia (b. 1796)
• 1895 – Berthe Morisot, French painter (b. 1841)
• 1895 – Isma'il Pasha, Governor of Egypt (b. 1830)

1901 – 2000

• 1919 – Melchora Aquino, Filipino national hero (b. 1812)
• 1921 – Nicholas I of Montenegro (b. 1841)
• 1930 – D. H. Lawrence, British writer (b. 1885)
• 1939 – Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
• 1943 - Gisela Januszewska, Austrian physicist (b. 1867)
• 1945 – Emily Carr, Canadian artist (b. 1871)
• 1949 – Pietro Ferrero, Italian businessman and confectioner (b. 1898)
• 1953 – James Lightbody, American athlete (b. 1882)
• 1960 - Stanislaw Taczak, Polish general (b. 1874)
• 1962 - Charles Jean de la Vallee-Poussin, Belgian mathematician (b. 1866)
• 1965 - Mikheil Tsereteli, Georgian historian and diplomat (b. 1878)
• 1967 – Jose Martinez Ruiz, Spanish poet and writer (b. 1873)
• 1975 – Josiah Mwangi Kariuki, Kenyan politician and opposition activist (b. 1929) (unsolved murder)
• 1982 – Philip K. Dick, American writer (b. 1928)
• 1987 - Randolph Scott, American actor and director (b. 1898)
• 1987 - Lolo Soetoro, Indonesian stepfather of Barack Obama (b. 1935)
• 1991 – Serge Gainsbourg, French singer (b. 1928)
• 1994 - Maurice Bambier, French politician (b. 1925)
• 1994 - Anita Morris, American actress and singer (b. 1943)
• 1999 – Dusty Springfield, English singer (b. 1939)
• 2000 - Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler (b. 1963)

From 2001

• 2003 - Hank Ballard, American singer (b. 1927)
• 2004 - Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (b. 1918)
• 2007 – Henri Troyat, French writer (b. 1911)
• 2008 – Jeff Healey, Canadian musician (b. 1966)
• 2009 – Joao Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1939)
• 2009 – Ernst Benda, German politician (b. 1925)
• 2010 – Winston Spencer-Churchill, British politician (b. 1940)
• 2011 - Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistani politician (b. 1968)
• 2011 – Thor Vilhjalmsson, Icelandic writer (b. 1925)
• 2013 - Hans Schnitger, Dutch field hockey player (b. 1915)
• 2014 - Ryhor Baradulin, Belarussian painter (b. 1935)
• 2014 - Molly Bobak, Canadian writer, painter and printmaker (b. 1922)
• 2014 - Peter Bares, German composer (b. 1936)
• 2015 - Francisco González Ledesma, Spanish novelist, comics writer, and journalist (b. 1927)
• 2015 - Dave Mackay, Scottish footballer (b. 1934)
• 2015 - Dean Hess, American minister and air force colonel (b. 1917)
• 2016 - Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern, German royal and art historian (b. 1932)
• 2016 - Aubrey McClendon, American energy and basketball executive (b. 1959)
• 2016 - Janusz Bolonek, Polish Roman Catholic prelate and diplomat (b. 1938)
• 2016 - Marion Patrick Jones, Trinidadian writer (b. 1931)
• 2016 - Paul Webley, English educator (b. 1953)
• 2017 - Tommy Gemmell, Scottish footballer (b. 1943)
• 2017 - Simon Hobday, South African golfer (b. 1940)
• 2017 - Howard Schmidt, American cybersecurity advisor (b. 1950)
• 2017 - Andrés Ocaña, Spanish politician (b. 1954)
• 2018 - Gillo Dorfles, Italian art critic, painter and philosopher (b. 1910)
• 2018 - Ota Filip, Czech novelist and journalist (b. 1930)
• 2018 - Brandon Jenkins, American singer-songwriter (b. 1969)
• 2018 - Carlo Ripa di Meana, Italian politician (b. 1929)
• 2019 - Arnulf Baring, German political scientist and historian (b. 1932)
• 2019 - Keith Davis, New Zealand rugby union player (b. 1930)
• 2019 - Fred Hill, American baseball coach (b. 1934)
• 2019 - Med Hondo, Mauritanian-French film director, screenwriter and actor (b. 1936)
• 2019 - Francisco Macri, Italian-Argentine businessman (b. 1930)
• 2019 - Keith Harvey Miller, American politician, 3rd Governor of Alaska (b. 1925)
• 2019 - Ogden R. Reid, American politician and diplomat (b. 1925)
• 2019 - Werner Schneyder, Austrian director and actor (b. 1937)
• 2019 - Rafael Torija de la Fuente, Spanish Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1927)

• Independence Day (Morocco)
• Texas Independence Day
• Read Across America Day in the United States (Birthday of Dr. Seuss)
• Victory at Adwa Day (Ethiopia)
• Peasants Day (Burma)