On This Day — 2 June
2000s
2023
A collision between two passenger trains and a parked freight train near the city of Balasor, Odisha in eastern India, results in 296 deaths and more than 1,200 people injured.
2023 Odisha train collision
2022
Following a request from Ankara, the United Nations officially changed the name of the Republic of Turkey in the organization from what was previously known as "Turkey" to "Türkiye".
Ankara
2014
Telangana officially becomes the 29th state of India, formed from ten districts of northwestern Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana
2012
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
President of Egypt
2003
Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
Mars
1900s
1998
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-91, the final mission of the Shuttle-Mir program.
Space Shuttle Discovery
1997
In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later.
Denver
1990
The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12.
June 1990 Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak
1983
After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place.
Air Canada Flight 797
1979
Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
Pope John Paul II
1967
Luis Monge is executed in Colorado's gas chamber, in the last pre-Furman execution in the United States.
Luis Monge (mass murderer)
1967
Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran are brutally suppressed, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
West Berlin
1966
Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.
Surveyor program
1964
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed.
Palestine Liberation Organization
1962
During the FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history.
1962 FIFA World Cup
1958
Aeronaves de México Flight 111 crashes on approach to Guadalajara International Airport, killing 45.
Aeronaves de México Flight 111
1955
The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between the two countries, discontinued since 1948.
Soviet Union
1953
The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey becomes the first British coronation and one of the first major international events to be televised.
Coronation of Elizabeth II
1946
Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum, King Umberto II of Italy is exiled.
1946 Italian institutional referendum
1941
World War II: German paratroopers murder Greek civilians in the villages of Kondomari and Alikianos.
World War II
1924
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
Calvin Coolidge
1919
Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities.
Anarchism
1910
Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
Charles Rolls
1909
Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
Alfred Deakin
1800s
1896
Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph.
Guglielmo Marconi
1878
Nobiling assassination attempt by anarchist Karl Nobiling targeting the German Kaiser, Wilhelm I.
Nobiling assassination attempt
1866
The Fenians defeat Canadian forces at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, but the raids end soon after.
Fenian Brotherhood
1848
The Slavic Congress opens in Prague.
Prague Slavic Congress, 1848
1805
Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptures from the British the island of Diamond Rock, which guards the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, Martinique.
Napoleonic Wars
Before 1800
1793
French Revolution: François Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror.
French Revolution
1780
The anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in London leave an estimated 300 to 700 people dead.
Gordon Riots
1774
Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act of 1774 is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.
Intolerable Acts
1763
Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
Pontiac's War
1692
Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty the same day and hanged on June 10.
Bridget Bishop
1676
Franco-Dutch War: France ensured the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in the Battle of Palermo.
Franco-Dutch War
1615
The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
Recollects
1608
The Colony of Virginia gets a charter, extending borders from "sea to sea".
Colony of Virginia
1259
Wedding of Manfred, King of Sicily, and Byzantine princess Helena Angelina Doukaina.
Manfred, King of Sicily
1098
First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later.
First Crusade
575
Pope Benedict I is consecrated after obtaining imperial approval from Constantinople.
Pope Benedict I
455
Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.
Sack of Rome (455)
260
Sima Zhao's regicide of Cao Mao: The figurehead Wei emperor Cao Mao personally leads an attempt to oust his regent, Sima Zhao; the attempted coup is crushed and the emperor killed.
Sima Zhao's regicide of Cao Mao