Discover · History

On this day — August 2

A hand-curated thread of what happened on this date, across centuries.

2014

Milestone

At least 146 people were killed and more than 114 injured in a factory explosion in Kunshan

Jiangsu, China.

2005

Milestone

Air France Flight 358 lands at Toronto Pearson International Airport and runs off the runway

causing the plane to burst into flames, leaving 12 injuries and no fatalities.

1999

Disaster

The Gaisal train disaster claims 285 lives in Assam

India.

1991

Milestone

Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-43 to deploy the TDRS-5 satellite.

1990

Politics

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait

Iraq invades Kuwait and temporarily establishes the Republic of Kuwait puppet state on the orders of Saddam Hussein, eventually leading to the Gulf War.

1989

Milestone

Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972.

1989

Milestone

A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.

1985

Milestone

Delta Air Lines Flight 191

a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137.

1982

Milestone

The Helsinki Metro

the first rapid transit system of Finland, is opened to the general public.

1980

Milestone

A bomb explodes at the railway station in Bologna

Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.

1973

Disaster

A flash fire kills 50 people at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas

Isle of Man.

1968

Disaster

An earthquake hits Casiguran

Aurora, Philippines killing more than 270 people and wounding 261.

1947

Milestone

A British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian airliner crashes into a mountain during a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile. The wreckage would not be found until 1998.

1945

Politics

World War II

The Potsdam Conference ends.

1944

Milestone

ASNOM: Birth of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia

celebrated as Day of the Republic in North Macedonia.