| 2 July 936 | Germany, Saxony [births and deaths] | Henry I the Fowler, German king 919–36, founder of the Saxon dynasty, dies in Memleben, Saxony (c. 60). |
| 2 July 1035 | Normandy, France [political events] | On the death of Robert I (‘the Devil’ or ‘the Magnificent’), duke of Normandy, he is succeeded by his illegitimate son, William I, who is later known as William the Conqueror. |
| 2 July 1266 | Scotland, Norway [treaties] | By the Treaty of Perth agreed with King Alexander III of Scotland, King Magnus VI of Norway renounces his claims to the Hebrides and the Isle of Man. This ends the last stage of the growth of the monarchy of Scotland. |
| 2 July 1298 | Germany, Holy Roman Empire [wars] | In a battle near Göllheim (near Worms), Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor Adolf I of Nassau is defeated and killed by Albert of Habsburg. |
| 2 July 1500 | Holy Roman Empire, Germany [political events] | An edict of the Diet (legislative assembly) of Augsburg establishes the Reichsregiment, a ruling council of the Holy Roman Empire, with representatives from the three colleges of electors, princes, and cities, following the scheme of the archbishop of Mainz and imperial arch-chancellor Berthold of Henneberg. Germany is to be divided into six administrative ‘circles’; this number increases in 1512. |
| 2 July 1644 | UK [British Civil Wars (1642–51)] | A combined English parliamentarian army under Oliver Cromwell, the Earl of Manchester, and Thomas Fairfax decisively defeats the Royalists, led by Prince Rupert, nephew of King Charles I, at the Battle of Marston Moor near York. The Royalists suffer heavy losses and the defeat consolidates Parliament's control of the north of England. |
| 2 July 1652 | France [Fronde (1648–52)] | The royalist marshal Vicomte Henri de Turenne defeats Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, in the Faubourg St Antoine, Paris, France, but strategically withdraws. A provisional Fronde government is set up in Paris. |
| 2 July 1778 | France [births and deaths] | Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher whose writings provided inspiration to the leaders of the French Revolution, dies in Ermenonville, France (66). |
| 2 July 1850 | England [births and deaths] | Robert Peel, British prime minister 1834–35 and 1841–46, founder of the Conservative Party, dies in London, England (62). |
| 2 July 1865 | UK [charities] | William and Catherine Booth launch their Christian Mission in Britain, which they will later name the Salvation Army. |
| 2 July 1876 | Montenegro, Ottoman Empire [wars] | Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire in support of the revolt against Ottoman rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
| 2 July 1881 | USA [political events] | A disgruntled campaign worker, Charles J Guiteau, shoots US president James A Garfield, who is to die from his wounds on 19 September. He is succeeded by Chester Alan Arthur. |
| 2 July 1900 | Germany [aircraft] | German inventor Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin's lighter-than-air ship LZ-3D1 makes its first flight, at Lake Constance, Germany. It has an aluminium sheeting hull. |
| 2 July 1904 | [births and deaths] | Anton Chekhov, Russian writer and dramatist known for his mastery of the short story, dies in Badenweiler, Germany (44). |
| 2–5 July 1917 | USA [civil rights] | A race riot erupts in East St Louis, Missouri, where alienated white workers rampage through black neighbourhoods killing any black American in sight. ‘Official’ figures list 39 black and 8 white people killed, but civil-rights leader W E B Du Bois insists that as many as 125 people have died in what is undoubtedly the worst racial pogrom in US history. |
| 2 July 1921 | USA, France [boxing] | In the first ever boxing match to gross over a million dollars, more than 80,000 people in a purpose-built wooden stadium in Jersey City, USA, watch the defending US champion Jack Dempsey knock out George Carpentier of France in four rounds to retain his world heavyweight boxing title. |
| 2 July 1934 | Mexico [elections] | General Lázaro Cárdenas, of the reformist wing of the ruling National Revolutionary Party, is elected president of Mexico. |
| 2 July 1961 | USA [births and deaths] | Ernest Hemingway, US novelist who wrote A Farewell to Arms (1929) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1941), commits suicide in Ketchum, Idaho (61). |
| 2 July 1976 | Vietnam [political events] | North and South Vietnam are formally reunified. |
| 2 July 1996 | USA [space exploration] | The US aerospace company Lockheed Martin unveils plans for the X-33, a $1 billion wedge-shaped rocket ship. Called the Venture Star, it will be built and operated by Lockheed Martin and will replace the US space shuttle fleet by the year 2012. |
| 2 July 1997 | USA [births and deaths] | James Stewart, US actor, dies in Beverly Hills, California (89). |
| 2 July 2002 | [speed records] | At his sixth attempt, US millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett becomes the first man to fly a balloon solo and non-stop around the world, crossing the west Australian coastline in his Spirit of Freedom after covering more than 19,000 miles in just less than two weeks. |
| 2 July 2005 | [popular music] | Live8, an international rock music charity event emulating the 1984 Live Aid campaign and targeted against continuing global poverty, attracts 1.1 million people to concerts around the world and is watched on television by 2 billion people. |
