| 2 May 1250 | Ayyubid Sultanate, Egypt, Mameluke Sultanate [political events] | Turan Shah, the last Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, is murdered by his Mameluke (slave) guards, who elect their commander `Izz-ad-Din Aybak as regent while Shajar-ad-Durr, the widow of the former sultan Ayyub, is made nominal ruler. After 80 days Aybak marries her and assumes the sultanate, founding the Mameluke dynasty. |
| 2 May 1316 | Ireland [administration] | Edward Bruce, brother of Robert I the Bruce, King of Scotland, is crowned as king of Ireland at Dundalk in Ireland. |
| 2 May 1519 | Italy, France [births and deaths] | Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, draughtsman, architect, engineer, and scientist, one of the most influential Renaissance humanists, who painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, and whose science was ahead of its time, dies in Cloux, France (c. 67). |
| 2 May 1668 | France, Spain, Spanish Netherlands [War of Devolution (1667–68)] | The Peace of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) is signed between France and Spain, ending the War of Devolution. King Louis XIV of France is compelled to restore the Franche-Comté to Spain but he retains Lille and the 11 other fortresses in Flanders that surrendered to French forces during the war. |
| 2 May 1729 | Russian Empire, Prussia [births and deaths] | Catherine the Great, German-born empress of Russia 1762–96 who brings Russia into the political and cultural life of Europe, born in Szczecin, Prussia (–1796). |
| 2 May 1848 | Prussia, Denmark, Germany [political events] | A Prussian force invades Denmark in support of the independent German government of the combined duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. |
| 2–4 May 1863 | USA, Confederate States of America [American Civil War (1861–65)] | In one of the most humiliating Union defeats of the American Civil War, 60,000 Confederate troops defeat a Union force over twice that size at the Battle of Chancellorsville. The Confederacy suffers the most grievous loss, however, as the outstanding Confederate general Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson is mortally wounded by one of his own men and subsequently dies on 10 May. |
| 2 May 1877 | Mexico [political events] | The dictator Porfirio Díaz becomes president of Mexico after overthrowing the government of President Sebastián Ierdo de Tejada the previous year. |
| 2 May 1885 | France [births and deaths] | Victor Hugo, French Romantic novelist, dies in Paris, France (83). |
| 2 May 1889 | Ethiopia, Italy [treaties] | By the Treaty of Ucciali with Menelek of Ethiopia, Italy proclaims a protectorate over Ethiopia. |
| 2 May 1895 | Southern Rhodesia [colonization] | Territory belonging to the British South Africa Company south of the Zambezi is organized to form Southern Rhodesia. |
| 2 May–19 September 1915 | Austria-Hungary [World War I (1914–18)] | An Austro-German offensive begins in Galicia (northeastern Austria-Hungary) with the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnów, breaking the Russian lines. |
| 2 May 1933 | Germany [unions and associations] | Trades unions are suppressed by the Nazi government in Germany. |
| 2 May 1939 | USA [baseball] | US baseball player Lou Gehrig withdraws from the lineup after making 2,130 consecutive appearances for the New York Yankees, a sequence that stands as a major league record until 1995. |
| 2 May 1952 | UK, South Africa [aircraft] | BOAC's De Havilland Comet inaugurates jet-powered passenger aircraft service with the first scheduled commercial flight, from London, England, to Johannesburg, South Africa. |
| 2 May 1956 | USA [civil rights] | The general conference of the Methodist Church, meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, orders the abolishment of racial segregation in its churches. |
| 2 May 1964 | England [births and deaths] | Nancy Witcher Langhorne, Lady Astor, British politician and the first woman to sit in the House of Commons, dies in Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, England (84). |
| 2 May 1970 | USA, North Vietnam [Vietnam War (1954–75)] | The USA bombs North Vietnam in the heaviest raids since November 1968. |
| 2 May 1982 | UK, Argentina [Falklands War (1982)] | The British submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano off the Falkland Islands, killing 368 officers and crew members. |
