October 2

Pre-1600

• 829 , Theophilos succeeds his father Michael II as Byzantine Emperor.
• 939 , Battle of Andernach: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, crushes a rebellion against his rule, by a coalition of Eberhard of Franconia and other Frankish dukes.
• 1187, Saladin won Jerusalem after the city surrendered to his forces following a prolonged siege.
• 1263 , The Battle of Largs is fought between Norwegians and Scots.
• 1470 , The Earl of Warwick's rebellion forces King Edward IV of England to flee to the Netherlands, restoring Henry VI to the throne.
• 1552 , Russo-Kazan Wars: Russian troops enter Kazan.

1601-1900

• 1766 - The Nottingham Cheese Riot breaks out at the Goose Fair in Nottingham, UK, in response to the excessive cost of cheese.
• 1780 , American Revolutionary War: John André, a British Army officer, is hanged as a spy by the Continental Army.
• 1789 , The United States Bill of Rights is sent to the various States for ratification.
• 1835 , Texas Revolution: Mexican troops attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
• 1864 , American Civil War: Confederates defeat a Union attack on Saltville, Virginia. A massacre of wounded Union prisoners ensues.
• 1870 , By plebiscite, the citizens of the Papal States accept annexation by the Kingdom of Italy.

1901-present

• 1919 , Seven days after suffering a "physical collapse" following a speech in Pueblo, Colorado, U.S. president Woodrow Wilson has a catastrophic stroke at the White House, leaving him physically and mentally incapacitated for the remainder of his presidency.
• 1920 , Ukrainian War of Independence: Mikhail Frunze orders the Red Army to immediately cease hostilities with the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.
• 1928 , The "Prelature of the Holy Cross and the Work of God", commonly known as Opus Dei, is founded.
• 1937 , Rafael Trujillo orders the execution of Haitians living in the border region of the Dominican Republic.
• 1942 , World War II: Ocean Liner RMS Queen Mary accidentally rams and sinks HMS Curacoa, killing over 300 crewmen aboard Curacoa.
• 1944 , World War II: German troops end the Warsaw Uprising.
• 1958 , Guinea declares its independence from France.
• 1967 , Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American justice of the United States Supreme Court.
• 1968 , Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz orders soldiers to suppress a demonstration of unarmed students, ten days before the start of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
• 1970 , An aircraft carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes in Colorado, killing 31 people.
• 1971 , South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu is re-elected in a one-man election.
• 1971 , British European Airways Flight 706 crashes near Aarsele, Belgium, killing 63.
• 1980 , Michael Myers becomes the first member of either chamber of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War.
• 1990 , Xiamen Airlines Flight 8301 is hijacked and lands at Guangzhou, where it crashes into two other airliners on the ground, killing 132.
• 1992 , Military police storm the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil during a prison riot. The resulting massacre leaves 111 prisoners dead.
• 1996 , Aeroperú Flight 603 crashes into the ocean near Peru, killing all 70 people on board.
• 1996 , The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
• 2002 , The Beltway sniper attacks begin in Washington, D.C., extending over three weeks and killing 10 people.
• 2004 , The first parkrun, then known as the Bushy Park Time Trial, takes place in Bushy Park, London, UK.
• 2006 , Five Amish girls are murdered in a shooting at a school in Pennsylvania, United States.
• 2007 , President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea goes to North Korea for an Inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
• 2016 , Ethiopian protests break out during a festival in the Oromia region, killing dozens of people.
• 2018 , The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is assassinated in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
• 2019 , A privately owned Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress conducting a living history exhibition flight crashes shortly after takeoff from Windsor Locks, Connecticut, killing seven.
• 2025, 2 people are killed and at least 4 others injured in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, UK, during Yom Kippur.

Pre-1600

• 1452 , Richard III of England (died 1485)
• 1470 , Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, Daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (died 1498)
• 1527 , William Drury, English politician (died 1579)
• 1538 , Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal and saint (died 1584)

1601-1900

• 1718 , Elizabeth Montagu, English author and critic (died 1800)
• 1768 , William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English general and politician (died 1854)
• 1798 , Charles Albert, King of Sardinia (1831-49) (died 1849)
• 1800 , Nat Turner, American slave and uprising leader (died 1831)
• 1815 , James Agnew, Irish-Australian politician, Premier of Tasmania (died 1901)
• 1821 , Alexander P. Stewart, American general (died 1908)
• 1828 , Charles Floquet, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1896)
• 1832 , Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (died 1917)
• 1847 , Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and politician, 2nd President of Germany (died 1934)
• 1851 , Ferdinand Foch, French field marshal (died 1929)
• 1852 , William Ramsay, Scottish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1916)
• 1854 , Patrick Geddes, Scottish biologist, sociologist, geographer, and philanthropist (died 1932)
• 1866 , Swami Abhedananda, Indian mystic and philosopher (died 1939)
• 1869 , Mahatma Gandhi, Indian freedom fighter, activist and philosopher (died 1948)
• 1871 , Cordell Hull, American politician, United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1955)
• 1871 , Martha Brookes Hutcheson, American landscaper and author (died 1959)
• 1873 , Stephen Warfield Gambrill, American lawyer and politician (died 1924)
• 1873 , Pelham Warner, English cricketer and manager (died 1963)
• 1875 , Pattie Ruffner Jacobs, American suffragist (died 1935)
• 1879 , Wallace Stevens, American poet (died 1955)
• 1882 , Boris Shaposhnikov, Russian colonel (died 1945)
• 1883 , Karl von Terzaghi, Austrian geologist and engineer (died 1963)
• 1890 , Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (died 1977)
• 1893 , Leroy Shield, American composer and conductor (died 1962)
• 1895 , Ruth Cheney Streeter, American colonel (died 1990)
• 1900 , Leela Roy Nag, Indian freedom fighter, social reformer and politician (died 1970)

1901-present

• 1902 , Leopold Figl, Austrian politician, Chancellor of Austria (died 1965)
• 1904 , Graham Greene, English novelist, playwright, and critic (died 1991)
• 1904 , Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian and politician, Prime Minister of India (died 1966)
• 1905 , Franjo Šeper, Croatian cardinal (died 1981)
• 1906 , Thomas Hollway, Australian politician, Premier of Victoria (died 1971)
• 1907 , Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Bolivian politician, President of Bolivia (died 2001)
• 1907 , Alexander R. Todd, Scottish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997)
• 1909 , Alex Raymond, American cartoonist, creator of Flash Gordon (died 1956)
• 1912 , Frank Malina, American engineer and painter (died 1981)
• 1914 , Jack Parsons, American chemist, occultist, and engineer (died 1952)
• 1914 , Bernarr Rainbow, English organist, conductor, and historian (died 1998)
• 1915 , Chuck Williams, American author and businessman, founded Williams Sonoma (died 2015)
• 1917 , Christian de Duve, Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013)
• 1917 , Charles Drake, American actor (died 1994)
• 1919 , John W. Duarte, English guitarist and composer (died 2004)
• 1921 , Edmund Crispin, English writer and composer (died 1978)
• 1921 , Albert Scott Crossfield, American pilot and engineer (died 2006)
• 1921 , Robert Runcie, English archbishop (died 2000)
• 1925 , Wren Blair, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (died 2013)
• 1926 , Jan Morris, Welsh historian and author (died 2020)
• 1928 , George McFarland, American actor (died 1993)
• 1928 , Wolfhart Pannenberg, Polish-German theologian and academic (died 2014)
• 1929 , Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (died 1996)
• 1929 , Moses Gunn, American actor (died 1993)
• 1930 , Dave Barrett, Canadian social worker and politician, 26th Premier of British Columbia (died 2018)
• 1932 , Maury Wills, American baseball player and manager (died 2022)
• 1933 , John Gurdon, English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2025)
• 1933 , Dave Somerville, Canadian singer (died 2015)
• 1934 , Richard Scott, Baron Scott of Foscote, English lawyer and judge
• 1934 , Earl Wilson, American baseball player (died 2005)
• 1935 , Omar Sívori, Italian-Argentine footballer and manager (died 2005)
• 1936 , Dick Barnett, American basketball player (died 2025)
• 1936 , Connie Dierking, American basketball player (died 2013)
• 1936, Gwen Marston, American quilter and writer (died 2019)
• 1937 , Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (died 2005)
• 1938 , Nick Gravenites, American singer-songwriter (died 2024)
• 1938 , Waheed Murad, Pakistani actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 1983)
• 1938 , Rex Reed, American film critic (died 2026)
• 1939 , Budhi Kunderan, Indian cricketer (died 2006)
• 1941 , Diana Hendry, English poet and author
• 1941 , Ron Meagher, American rock bass player
• 1942 , Steve Sabol, American director and producer, co-founded NFL Films (died 2012)
• 1943 , Anna Ford, English journalist
• 1943 , Henri Szeps, Australian actor (died 2025)
• 1944 , Vernor Vinge, American author (died 2024)
• 1945 , Martin Hellman, American cryptographer and academic
• 1945 , Don McLean, American singer-songwriter
• 1946 , Sonthi Boonyaratglin, Thai general and politician
• 1947 , Ward Churchill, American author and activist (died 2026)
• 1948 , Trevor Brooking, English footballer and manager
• 1948 , Avery Brooks, American actor
• 1948 , Donna Karan, American fashion designer, founded DKNY
• 1948 , Siim Kallas, Estonian politician, Prime Minister of Estonia (died 2026)
• 1948 , Persis Khambatta, Indian model and actress, (died 1998)
• 1949 , Richard Hell, American singer-songwriter and bass player
• 1949 , Annie Leibovitz, American photographer
• 1950 , Mike Rutherford, English guitarist
• 1951 , Sting, English singer-songwriter and actor
• 1952 , Janusz Olejniczak, Polish classical pianist and actor (died 2024)
• 1952 , Robin Riker, American actress
• 1953 , Vanessa Bell Armstrong, American singer
• 1953 , Tom Boswell, American basketball player
• 1954 , Lorraine Bracco, American actress
• 1955 , Philip Oakey, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
• 1956 , Freddie Jackson, American soul singer
• 1957 , John Cook, American golfer
• 1957 , Wade Dooley, English rugby player
• 1958 , Robbie Nevil, American singer-songwriter
• 1960 , Glenn Anderson, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1960 , Django Bates, English musician and composer
• 1960 , Joe Sacco, Maltese-American journalist and cartoonist
• 1960 , Dereck Whittenburg, American basketball player and coach
• 1962 , Mark Rypien, Canadian-American football player
• 1963 , Keith Bradshaw, Australian cricketer
• 1963 , Maria Ressa, Filipino-American journalist
• 1964 , Dirk Brinkmann, German field hockey player
• 1965 , Darren Cahill, Australian tennis player
• 1965 , Tom Moody, Australian cricketer
• 1965 , Ferhan and Ferzan Önder, Turkish-Austrian pianists
• 1966 , Yokozuna, American wrestler (died 2000)
• 1967 , Frankie Fredericks, Namibian sprinter
• 1967 , Alex Karp, American businessman
• 1967 , Thomas Muster, Austrian tennis player
• 1967 , Gillian Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1968 , Jana Novotná, Czech tennis player and sportscaster (died 2017)
• 1968 , Joey Slotnick, American actor
• 1968 , Glen Wesley, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1968 , Kelly Willis, American country music singer-songwriter
• 1969 , Badly Drawn Boy, English musician
• 1970 , Eddie Guardado, American baseball player
• 1970 , Patricia O'Callaghan, Canadian soprano
• 1970 , Kelly Ripa, American actress and talk show host
• 1970 , Maribel Verdú, Spanish actress
• 1971 , Tiffany Darwish, American singer-songwriter
• 1971 , Jim Root, American guitarist and songwriter
• 1971 , Chris Savino, American comic book artist, writer, animator and creator of The Loud House
• 1972 , Aaron McKie, American basketball player
• 1973 , Melissa Harris-Perry, American journalist, author, and educator
• 1973 , Lene Nystrøm, Norwegian singer, songwriter, and musician
• 1973 , Efren Ramirez, American actor
• 1973 , Scott Schoeneweis, American baseball player
• 1974 , Bjarke Ingels, Danish architect
• 1974 , Sam Roberts, Canadian singer-songwriter and musician
• 1974 , Paul Teutul Jr., American motorcycle designer, co-founded Orange County Choppers
• 1976 , Mark Chilton, English cricketer
• 1977 , Didier Défago, Swiss skier
• 1978 , Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer, songwriter, actress
• 1981 , Luke Wilkshire, Australian footballer
• 1982 , Tyson Chandler, American basketball player
• 1982 , Esra Gümüş, Turkish volleyball player
• 1984 , Marion Bartoli, French tennis player
• 1985 , Çağlar Birinci, Turkish footballer
• 1986 , Camilla Belle, American actress
• 1987 , Joe Ingles, Australian basketball player
• 1987 , Phil Kessel, American ice hockey player
• 1987 , Ricky Stenhouse Jr., American race car driver
• 1988 , Brittany Howard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1989 , Frederik Andersen, Danish ice hockey player
• 1989 , Josh Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1989 , Aaron Hicks, American baseball player
• 1989 , George Nash, English rower
• 1990 , Samantha Barks, Manx actress and singer
• 1991 , Roberto Firmino, Brazilian footballer
• 1992 , Alisson Becker, Brazilian footballer
• 1992 , Shane Larkin, American-Turkish basketball player
• 1992 , Nicol Ruprecht, Austrian rhythmic gymnast
• 1993 , Lance McCullers Jr., American baseball player
• 1995 , Tepai Moeroa, Cook Islands rugby league player
• 1996 , Tom Trbojevic, Australian rugby league player
• 2000 , Quadeca, American singer-songwriter and YouTuber
• 2002 , Jacob Sartorius, American social media personality and singer
• 2005 , Sam Konstas, Australian cricketer

Pre-1600

• 534 , Athalaric, king of the Ostrogoths in Italy
• 829 , Michael II, Byzantine emperor
• 939 , Eberhard of Franconia
• 939 , Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine
• 1264 , Pope Urban IV (born c. 1200)
• 1559 , Jacquet of Mantua, French-Italian composer (born 1483)

1601-1900

• 1626 , Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, 1st Count of Gondomar, Spanish academic and diplomat (born 1567)
• 1629 , Antonio Cifra, Italian composer (born 1584)
• 1629 , Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and theologian (born 1575)
• 1674 , George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, officer in the Dutch Army (born 1606)
• 1678 , Wu Sangui, Qing Chinese general (born 1612)
• 1708 , Anne Jules de Noailles, French general (born 1650)
• 1709 , Ivan Mazepa, Ukrainian diplomat (born 1639)
• 1724 , François-Timoléon de Choisy, French historian and author (born 1644)
• 1746 , Josiah Burchett, English admiral and politician (born 1666)
• 1764 , William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1720)
• 1780 , John André, English soldier (born 1750)
• 1782 , Charles Lee, English-born American general (born 1732)
• 1786 , Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (born 1725)
• 1803 , Samuel Adams, American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (born 1722)
• 1804 , Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, French engineer (born 1725)
• 1847 , Vasil Aprilov, Bulgarian educator, merchant and writer (born 1789)
• 1850 , Sarah Biffen, English painter (born 1784)
• 1853 , François Arago, French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and politician (born 1786)

1901-present

• 1920 , Max Bruch, German composer and conductor (born 1838)
• 1927 , Svante Arrhenius, Swedish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1859)
• 1938 , Alexandru Averescu, Romanian military leader and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Romania (born 1859)
• 1943 , John Evans, English-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Tasmania (born 1855)
• 1953 , John Marin, American painter (born 1870)
• 1953 , Émilie Busquant, French anarcho-syndicalist, sewed the first Flag of Algeria (born 1901)
• 1955 , William R. Orthwein, American swimmer and water polo player (born 1881)
• 1968 , Marcel Duchamp, French painter and sculptor (born 1887)
• 1971 , Jessie Arms Botke, American painter (born 1883)
• 1973 , Paul Hartman, American actor and dancer (born 1904)
• 1973 , Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (born 1897)
• 1974 , Vasily Shukshin, Russian actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1929)
• 1975 , K. Kamaraj, Indian lawyer and politician (born 1903)
• 1981 , Harry Golden, American journalist and author (born 1902)
• 1981 , Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American activist, actress, and musician (born 1920)
• 1985 , Rock Hudson, American actor (born 1925)
• 1987 , Madeleine Carroll, English actress (born 1906)
• 1987 , Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915)
• 1988 , Alec Issigonis, English car designer, designed the Mini (born 1906)
• 1988 , Hamengkubuwono IX, Indonesian politician, 2nd vice president of Indonesia (born 1912)
• 1991 , Hazen Argue, Canadian politician (born 1921)
• 1991 , Demetrios I of Constantinople (born 1914)
• 1996 , Robert Bourassa, Canadian lawyer and politician, Premier of Quebec (born 1933)
• 1996 , Andrey Lukanov, Bulgarian politician, 40th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (born 1938)
• 1998 , Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and guitarist (born 1907)
• 1999 , Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (born 1921)
• 2000 , David Tonkin, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (born 1929)
• 2001 , Franz Biebl, German composer and academic (born 1906)
• 2002 , Heinz von Foerster, Austrian-American physicist and philosopher (born 1911)
• 2003 , John Thomas Dunlop, American scholar and politician, United States Secretary of Labor (born 1914)
• 2005 , Nipsey Russell, American comedian and actor (born 1918)
• 2005 , August Wilson, American author and playwright (born 1945)
• 2006 , Helen Chenoweth-Hage, American politician (born 1938)
• 2006 , Paul Halmos, Hungarian-American mathematician (born 1916)
• 2007 , Tex Coulter, American football player (born 1924)
• 2007 , George Grizzard, American actor (born 1928)
• 2007 , Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (born 1902)
• 2010 , Kwa Geok Choo, Singaporean lawyer and scholar (born 1920)
• 2012 , Nguyễn Chí Thiện, Vietnamese-American poet and activist (born 1939)
• 2012 , Charles Roach, Trinidadian-Canadian lawyer and activist (born 1933)
• 2012 , J. Philippe Rushton, English-Canadian psychologist, theorist, academic (born 1943)
• 2013 , Abraham Nemeth, American mathematician and academic (born 1918)
• 2014 , Robert Flower, Australian footballer (born 1955)
• 2015 , Brian Friel, Irish author, playwright, and director (born 1929)
• 2015 , Coleridge Goode, Jamaican-English bassist and composer (born 1914)
• 2015 , Johnny Paton, Scottish footballer and coach (born 1923)
• 2016 , Neville Marriner, British conductor (born 1924)
• 2017 , Tom Petty, American musician (born 1950)
• 2018 , Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist (born 1958)
• 2020 , Anne-Marie Hutchinson, British lawyer (born 1957)
• 2021 , Jack Biondolillo, American bowler (born 1940)
• 2022 , Sacheen Littlefeather, American actress, model and activist for Native American civil rights (born 1946)
• 2023 , Francis Lee, English footballer (born 1944)
• 2024 , Susie Berning, American professional golfer (born 1941)
• 2024 , Marissa Haque, Indonesian politician (born 1962)

• Batik Day (Indonesia)
• Christian feast day:
  • Denha I of Tikrit (Syriac Orthodox Church)
  • Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels
  • Leodegar
  • October 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Gandhi's birthday-related observances:
  • Gandhi Jayanti (India)
  • International Day of Non-Violence
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Guinea from France in 1958
• National Grandparents Day (Italy)
• International Day of Non-Violence