This Day In European History
2nd September
Events31 BCE: The Battle of Actium, where Mark Antony is beaten by Agrippa, a loyalist of Octavius Caesar.
1642: Public plays/theatre are outlawed in England; this remains in force until the Restoration in 1660.
1642: 6000 Parliamentarian infantry and their commanders are forced to surrender to King Charles I during the English Civil War.
1666: The Great Fire of London begins.
1745: Battle of Prestonpans; Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite army defeats a British force.
1752: Britain drops 11 days from its calendar in order to switch to the Gregorian system: September 2nd is followed by September 14th.
1870: Following defeat in the Battle of Sedan (see yesterday) Emperor Napoleon III of France concedes defeat to Prussia.
1985: The remains of the Titanic are discovered by a US/French team.
Births
1725: Ewald von Hertzberg, Prussian minister.
1726: John Howard, English social reformer.
1877: Frederick Soddy, English chemist.
Deaths
1502: Crown Prince Arthur of England.
1834: Thomas Telford, Scottish engineer.
1865: William Hamilton, Irish mathematician.
