August 2

338 BC – A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean. 216 BC – The Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of Cannae. 49 BC – Caesar, who marched to Spain earlier in the year leaving Marcus Antonius in charge of Italy, defeats Pompey's general Afranius and Petreius in Ilerda (Lerida) north of the Ebro river. 461 – Majorian is arrested near Tortona (northern Italy) and deposed by the Suebian general Ricimer as puppet emperor. 932 – After a two-year siege, the city of Toledo, in Spain, surrenders to the forces of the Caliph of Córdoba Abd al-Rahman III, assuming an important victory in his campaign to subjugate the Central March. 1274 – Edward I of England returns from the Ninth Crusade and is crowned King seventeen days later. 1343 – After the execution of her husband, Jeanne de Clisson sells her estates and raises a force of men with which to attack French shipping and ports. 1377 – Russian troops are defeated by forces of the Blue Horde Khan Arapsha in the Battle on Pyana River. 1415 – Thomas Grey is executed for participating in the Southampton Plot. 1610 – During Henry Hudson's search for the Northwest Passage, he sails into what is now known as Hudson Bay. 1776 – The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place. 1790 – The first United States Census is conducted. 1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile concludes in a British victory. 1830 – Charles X of France abdicates the throne in favor of his grandson Henri. 1858 – The Government of India Act 1858 replaces Company rule in India with that of the British Raj. 1869 – Japan's Edo society class system is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. 1870 – Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London, England, United Kingdom. 1873 – The Clay Street Hill Railroad begins operating the first cable car in San Francisco's famous cable car system.