[Amnorix]

August 2

338 BC. A Macedonian Army under Philip II defeats the combined forces of Athens and Thebes, securing Macedonian hegemony over Greece and the Aegean and laying one of the final pieces in the foundation on which his son, Alexander the Great, will build his empire when Philip is assassinated two years later.

216 BC. The Battle of Cannae. In Apulia (Southeastern) Italy, a Carthaginian army under the command of Hannibal defeats a far superior in numbers Roman Army.

Originally Posted by Roman historian Polybius

The Senate determined to bring eight legions into the field, which had never been done at Rome before, each legion consisting of five thousand men besides allies. ... Most of their wars are decided by one consul and two legions, with their quota of allies; and they rarely employ all four at one time and on one service. But on this occasion, so great was the alarm and terror of what would happen, they resolved to bring not only four but eight legions into the field.

Including allied forces and attachments, the estimated strength of this army was an incredible 90,000 men, which for those times in ancient Europe was indeed massive. With this latest defeat, Rome had lost, in three campaigns by Hannibal over 20 months, fully 20% of its entire population over 17 years of age.

1790. The first US census is conducted.

1869. Japan's caste system -- samurai, farmers, merchants, artisans -- is abolished as part of the Meiji reforms.

1939. Physicist Albert Einstein signs a letter primarily written by physicist Leo Szilard and addressed to President Franklin Roosevelt urging him to begin research into the weapon potential of atomic power.

Originally Posted by Albert Einstein

In the course of the last four months it has been made probable — through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America — that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.

This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable — though much less certain — that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air.

1943. The Japanese destroyer Amagiri rams and sinks US PT Boat 109. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future President, saves all but two of her crew.

1964. The Gulf of Tonkin incident. Allegedly, at least, on this date three North Vietnamese gunboats opened fire on the USS destroyer Maddox, which had been sailing on patrol. The Maddox fired 280 3 and 5 inch shells, and four fighter/bomber planes supported. One plane was damaged, one 14.5mm round hit the destroyer, and all 3 North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged. Two days later, again allegedly, was a naval battle between another US Destroyer, the Turner Joy, and Vietnamese torpedo boats. The result was the Tonkin Gulf resolution, which Congress passed giving President Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was endangered by "Communist aggression." President Johnson used this as his legal justification for fully committing the US into what became known as the Vietnam War.

In retrospect, the August 4th attack is greatly suspect, though the August 2 attack is admitted. One of the US pilots flying over the August 4th "battle", James Stockdale, the squadron commander said

Originally Posted by James Stockdale

[I] had the best seat in the house to watch that event, and our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets—there were no PT boats there... There was nothing there but black water and American fire power.

Stockdale at one point recounts seeing Turner Joy pointing her guns at the Maddox.Stockdale said his superiors ordered him to keep quiet about this. After he was captured, this knowledge became a heavy burden. He later said he was concerned that his captors would eventually force him to reveal what he knew about the second incident.

In 1995, retired Vietnamese Defense Minister Vo Nguyen Giap, meeting with former Secretary of Defense McNamara, categorically denied that Vietnamese gunboats had attacked American destroyers on August 4, while admitting to the attack on August 2.