2 October in history

5 events that happened on 2 October, from 1187 to 1968.

  1. ✦ Anniversary of the day

    1187 CE 839 years ago

    Saladin takes Jerusalem from the Crusaders

    After a short siege, Saladin accepted the surrender of Jerusalem, ending 88 years of Crusader rule. Most inhabitants were allowed to ransom themselves, and the city's loss prompted the Third Crusade.

    Ayyubid EmpireThird CrusadeSaladin

  2. 1780 CE 246 years ago

    Major John André is hanged as a British spy

    Major John André, captured carrying Benedict Arnold's plans to surrender West Point, was hanged at Tappan, New York. His composure won sympathy even among his captors, while Arnold's name became a byword for treason.

    New York

  3. 1835 CE 191 years ago

    Texan settlers fire the first shots of the Texas Revolution

    At Gonzales, Texan colonists refused to hand back a small cannon to Mexican troops and fired on them beneath a flag reading 'Come and Take It'. The skirmish opened the war that led to Texan independence in 1836.

  4. 1869 CE 157 years ago

    Mohandas Gandhi is born in Porbandar

    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, on India's western coast. His method of non-violent mass resistance, satyagraha, drove the Indian independence movement and inspired civil rights campaigns worldwide.

    British EmpireIndian independence

  5. 1968 CE 58 years ago

    Mexican troops open fire on students at Tlatelolco

    Soldiers and police fired on a student rally in Mexico City's Plaza de las Tres Culturas, ten days before the Olympic Games opened. Estimates of the dead range from about 30 to several hundred; the government long concealed the toll.

    Mexico CityTlatelolco

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