Historical Events on May 2

  • 1863: After surveying the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire. Eight days later, he’ll succumb to pneumonia.
  • 1879: Pablo Iglesias founds the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party in Madrid.
  • 1885: Canadian forces are defeated by Assiniboine and Cree Native American warriors at the Battle of Cut Knife during the North West Rebellion.
  • 1885: King Léopold II of Belgium founds the Congo Free State.
  • 1918: Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware is acquired by General Motors.
  • 1920: The Negro National Baseball League plays its first game in Indianapolis, Indiania.
  • 1933: During the process of Gleichschaltung, trade unions are banned by Adolf Hitler.
  • 1945: Berlin falls to Soviet forces during World War II.
  • 1945: Wehrmacht forces in Italy officially surrender when General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs a declaration of surrender during WWII.
  • 1945: Wöbbelin Concentration Camp is liberated by the United States 82nd Airborne Division during World War II; Upon taking the camp, American airborne discover over 1,000 dead prisoners – the majority of which were starved to death.
  • 1955: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof wins Tennessee Williams the Pulitzer Prize for Drama on this day.
  • 1964: The USS Card is sunk by a bomb planted by a NVA frogman during the Vietnam War. The ship is raised and returned to service in under 7 months.
  • 1986: 6-days after the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, the city of Chernobyl is finally evacuated.
  • 1994: 32 people are killed when a bus crashes in Gdansk, Poland.

Famous Birthdays on May 2

  • Russian Catherine the Great is born in 1729.
  • Irish-English 2nd Earl of Shelburne and Prime Minister of the U.K., William Petty is born in 1737.
  • Spanish composer Vicente Martín y Soler is born in 1754.
  • German chemist and physicist, Heinrich Gustav Magnus is born in 1802.
  • Canadian-American engineer, Elijah McCoy is born in 1843.
  • American engineer and author, E.E. Smith is born in 1890.
  • German captain and pilot Manfred von Richthofen (The Red Baron) is born in 1892.
  • American-Canadian wrestler and actor, Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) is born in 1972.