October 2

Pre-1600

 * 829 – Theophilos succeeds his father Michael II as Byzantine Emperor.
 * 939 – Battle of Andernach: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, crushes a rebellion against his rule, by a coalition of Eberhard of Franconia and other Frankish dukes.
 * 1263 – The Battle of Largs is fought between Norwegians and Scots.
 * 1470 – The Earl of Warwick's rebellion forces King Edward IV of England to flee to the Netherlands, restoring Henry VI to the throne.
 * 1552 – Russo-Kazan Wars: Russian troops enter Kazan.

1601–1900

 * 1780 – American Revolutionary War: John André, a British Army officer, is hanged as a spy by the Continental Army.
 * 1789 – The United States Bill of Rights is sent to the various States for ratification.
 * 1835 – Texas Revolution: Mexican troops attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
 * 1864 – American Civil War: Confederates defeat a Union attack on Saltville, Virginia. A massacre of wounded Union prisoners ensues.
 * 1870 – By plebiscite, the citizens of the Papal States accept annexation by the Kingdom of Italy.

1901–present

 * 1920 – Ukrainian War of Independence: Mikhail Frunze orders the Red Army to immediately cease hostilities with the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.
 * 1928 – The "Prelature of the Holy Cross and the Work of God", commonly known as Opus Dei, is founded.
 * 1937 – Rafael Trujillo orders the execution of Haitians living in the border region of the Dominican Republic.
 * 1942 – World War II: Ocean Liner RMS Queen Mary accidentally rams and sinks HMS Curacoa (D41), killing over 300 crewmen aboard Curacoa.
 * 1944 – World War II: German troops end the Warsaw Uprising.
 * 1958 – Guinea declares its independence from France.
 * 1967 – Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American justice of the United States Supreme Court.
 * 1968 – Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz orders soldiers to suppress a demonstration of unarmed students, ten days before the start of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
 * 1970 – An aircraft carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes in Colorado, killing 31 people.
 * 1971 – South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu is re-elected in a one-man election.
 * 1971  – British European Airways Flight 706 crashes near Aarsele, Belgium, killing 63.
 * 1980 – Michael Myers becomes the first member of either chamber of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War.
 * 1990 – Xiamen Airlines Flight 8301 is hijacked and lands at Guangzhou, where it crashes into two other airliners on the ground, killing 132.
 * 1992 – Military police storm the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil during a prison riot. The resulting massacre leaves 111 prisoners dead.
 * 1996 – Aeroperú Flight 603 crashes into the ocean near Peru, killing all 70 people on board.
 * 1996  – The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
 * 2002 – The Beltway sniper attacks begin in Washington, D.C., extending over three weeks and killing 10 people.
 * 2004 – The first parkrun, then known as the Bushy Park Time Trial, takes place in Bushy Park, London, UK.
 * 2006 – Five Amish girls are murdered in a shooting at a school in Pennsylvania, United States.
 * 2007 – President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea goes to North Korea for an Inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
 * 2016 – Ethiopian protests break out during a festival in the Oromia region, killing dozens of people.
 * 2018 – The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is assassinated in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
 * 2019 – A privately-owned Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress conducting a living history exhibition flight crashes shortly after takeoff from Windsor Locks, Connecticut, killing seven.

Pre-1600

 * 1452 – Richard III of England (d. 1485)
 * 1470  – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, Daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (d. 1498)
 * 1527 – William Drury, English politician (d. 1579)
 * 1538 – Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal and saint (d. 1584)

1601–1900

 * 1718 – Elizabeth Montagu, English author and critic (d. 1800)
 * 1768 – William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English general and politician (d. 1854)
 * 1798 – Charles Albert, King of Sardinia (1831–49) (d. 1849)
 * 1800 – Nat Turner, American slave and uprising leader (d. 1831)
 * 1815 – James Agnew, Irish-Australian politician, Premier of Tasmania (d. 1901)
 * 1821 – Alexander P. Stewart, American general (d. 1908)
 * 1828 – Charles Floquet, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1896)
 * 1832 – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (d. 1917)
 * 1847 – Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and politician, 2nd President of Germany (d. 1934)
 * 1851 – Ferdinand Foch, French field marshal (d. 1929)
 * 1852 – William Ramsay, Scottish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
 * 1854 – Patrick Geddes, Scottish biologist, sociologist, geographer, and philanthropist (d. 1932)
 * 1866 – Swami Abhedananda, Indian mystic and philosopher (d. 1939)
 * 1869 – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian freedom fighter, activist and philosopher (d. 1948)
 * 1871 – Cordell Hull, American politician, United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
 * 1871  – Martha Brookes Hutcheson, American landscaper and author (d. 1959)
 * 1873 – Stephen Warfield Gambrill, American lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
 * 1873  – Pelham Warner, English cricketer and manager (d. 1963)
 * 1875 – Pattie Ruffner Jacobs, American suffragist (d. 1935)
 * 1879 – Wallace Stevens, American poet (d. 1955)
 * 1882 – Boris Shaposhnikov, Russian colonel (d. 1945)
 * 1883 – Karl von Terzaghi, Austrian geologist and engineer (d. 1963)
 * 1890 – Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1977)
 * 1893 – Leroy Shield, American composer and conductor (d. 1962)
 * 1895 – Ruth Cheney Streeter, American colonel (d. 1990)
 * 1900 – Leela Roy Nag, Indian freedom fighter, social reformer and politician (d. 1970)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Leopold Figl, Austrian politician, Chancellor of Austria (d. 1965)
 * 1904 – Graham Greene, English novelist, playwright, and critic (d. 1991)
 * 1904  – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian and politician, Prime Minister of India (d. 1966)
 * 1905 – Franjo Šeper, Croatian cardinal (d. 1981)
 * 1906 – Thomas Hollway, Australian politician, Premier of Victoria (d. 1971)
 * 1907 – Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Bolivian politician, President of Bolivia (d. 2001)
 * 1907  – Alexander R. Todd, Scottish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
 * 1909 – Alex Raymond, American cartoonist, creator of Flash Gordon (d. 1956)
 * 1912 – Frank Malina, American engineer and painter (d. 1981)
 * 1914 – Jack Parsons, American chemist, occultist, and engineer (d. 1952)
 * 1914  – Bernarr Rainbow, English organist, conductor, and historian (d. 1998)
 * 1915 – Chuck Williams, American author and businessman, founded Williams Sonoma (d. 2015)
 * 1917 – Christian de Duve, Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
 * 1917  – Charles Drake, American actor (d. 1994)
 * 1919 – John W. Duarte, English guitarist and composer (d. 2004)
 * 1921 – Edmund Crispin, English writer and composer (d. 1978)
 * 1921  – Albert Scott Crossfield, American pilot and engineer (d. 2006)
 * 1921  – Robert Runcie, English archbishop (d. 2000)
 * 1925 – Wren Blair, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2013)
 * 1926 – Jan Morris, Welsh historian and author (d. 2020)
 * 1928 – George McFarland, American actor (d. 1993)
 * 1928  – Wolfhart Pannenberg, Polish-German theologian and academic (d. 2014)
 * 1929 – Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (d. 1996)
 * 1929  – Moses Gunn, American actor (d. 1993)
 * 1930 – Dave Barrett, Canadian social worker and politician, 26th Premier of British Columbia (d. 2018)
 * 1932 – Maury Wills, American baseball player and manager (d. 2022)
 * 1933 – John Gurdon, English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1933  – Dave Somerville, Canadian singer (d. 2015)
 * 1934 – Richard Scott, Baron Scott of Foscote, English lawyer and judge
 * 1934  – Earl Wilson, American baseball player (d. 2005)
 * 1935 – Omar Sívori, Italian-Argentine footballer and manager (d. 2005)
 * 1936 – Dick Barnett, American basketball player
 * 1936  – Connie Dierking, American basketball player (d. 2013)
 * 1937 – Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (d. 2005)
 * 1938 – Waheed Murad, Pakistani actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1983)
 * 1938  – Rex Reed, American film critic
 * 1939 – Budhi Kunderan, Indian cricketer (d. 2006)
 * 1941 – Diana Hendry, English poet and author
 * 1941  – Ron Meagher, American rock bass player
 * 1942 – Steve Sabol, American director and producer, co-founded NFL Films (d. 2012)
 * 1943 – Anna Ford, English journalist
 * 1943  – Henri Szeps, Australian actor
 * 1944 – Vernor Vinge, American author (d. 2024)
 * 1945 – Martin Hellman, American cryptographer and academic
 * 1945  – Don McLean, American singer-songwriter
 * 1946 – Sonthi Boonyaratglin, Thai general and politician
 * 1947 – Ward Churchill, American author and activist
 * 1948 – Trevor Brooking, English footballer and manager
 * 1948  – Avery Brooks, American actor
 * 1948  – Donna Karan, American fashion designer, founded DKNY
 * 1948  – Siim Kallas, Estonian politician, Prime Minister of Estonia
 * 1948  – Persis Khambatta, Indian model and actress, (d. 1998)
 * 1949 – Richard Hell, American singer-songwriter and bass player
 * 1949  – Annie Leibovitz, American photographer
 * 1950 – Mike Rutherford, English guitarist
 * 1951 – Sting, English singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1952 – Robin Riker, American actress
 * 1953 – Vanessa Bell Armstrong, American singer
 * 1953  – Tom Boswell, American basketball player
 * 1954 – Lorraine Bracco, American actress
 * 1955 – Philip Oakey, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
 * 1956 – Freddie Jackson, American soul singer
 * 1957 – John Cook, American golfer
 * 1957  – Wade Dooley, English rugby player
 * 1958 – Robbie Nevil, American singer-songwriter
 * 1960 – Glenn Anderson, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1960  – Django Bates, English musician and composer
 * 1960  – Joe Sacco, Maltese-American journalist and cartoonist
 * 1960  – Dereck Whittenburg, American basketball player and coach
 * 1962 – Mark Rypien, Canadian-American football player
 * 1963 – Keith Bradshaw, Australian cricketer
 * 1963  – Maria Ressa, Filipino-American journalist
 * 1964 – Dirk Brinkmann, German field hockey player
 * 1965 – Darren Cahill, Australian tennis player
 * 1965 – Tom Moody, Australian cricketer
 * 1965 – Ferhan and Ferzan Önder, Turkish-Austrian pianists
 * 1966 – Yokozuna, American wrestler (d. 2000)
 * 1967 – Frankie Fredericks, Namibian sprinter
 * 1967  – Thomas Muster, Austrian tennis player
 * 1967  – Gillian Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1968 – Jana Novotná, Czech tennis player and sportscaster (d. 2017)
 * 1968  – Joey Slotnick, American actor
 * 1968  – Glen Wesley, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1968  – Kelly Willis, American country music singer-songwriter
 * 1969 – Badly Drawn Boy, English musician
 * 1970 – Eddie Guardado, American baseball player
 * 1970  – Patricia O'Callaghan, Canadian soprano
 * 1970  – Kelly Ripa, American actress and talk show host
 * 1970  – Maribel Verdú, Spanish actress
 * 1971 – Tiffany Darwish, American singer-songwriter
 * 1971  – Jim Root, American guitarist and songwriter
 * 1971  – Chris Savino, American comic book artist, writer, animator and creator of The Loud House
 * 1972 – Aaron McKie, American basketball player
 * 1973 – Melissa Harris-Perry, American journalist, author, and educator
 * 1973  – Lene Nystrøm, Norwegian singer, songwriter, and musician
 * 1973  – Efren Ramirez, American actor
 * 1973  – Scott Schoeneweis, American baseball player
 * 1974 – Bjarke Ingels, Danish architect
 * 1974  – Brian Knight, American baseball player
 * 1974  – Matthew Nicholson, Australian cricketer
 * 1974  – Sam Roberts, Canadian singer-songwriter and musician
 * 1974  – Paul Teutul Jr., American motorcycle designer, co-founded Orange County Choppers
 * 1976 – Mark Chilton, English cricketer
 * 1977 – Didier Défago, Swiss skier
 * 1978 – Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer, songwriter, actress
 * 1979 – Primož Brezec, Slovenian basketball player
 * 1981 – Santi Kolk, Dutch footballer
 * 1981  – Luke Wilkshire, Australian footballer
 * 1982 – Tyson Chandler, American basketball player
 * 1982  – Esra Gümüş, Turkish volleyball player
 * 1984 – Marion Bartoli, French tennis player
 * 1985 – Çağlar Birinci, Turkish footballer
 * 1985  – Brandon Jackson, American football player
 * 1986 – Camilla Belle, American actress
 * 1987 – Bojana Bobusic, Australian tennis player
 * 1987  – Joe Ingles, Australian basketball player
 * 1987  – Phil Kessel, American ice hockey player
 * 1987  – Christopher Larkin, South Korean-American actor
 * 1987  – Joel Reinders, American football player
 * 1987  – Ricky Stenhouse Jr., American race car driver
 * 1988 – Kirara Asuka, Japanese model and adult video actress
 * 1988  – Brittany Howard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1989 – Frederik Andersen, Danish ice hockey player
 * 1989  – Josh Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1989  – Aaron Hicks, American baseball player
 * 1989  – George Nash, English rower
 * 1990 – Samantha Barks, Manx actress and singer
 * 1991 – Roberto Firmino, Brazilian footballer
 * 1992 – Alisson Becker, Brazilian footballer
 * 1992 – Shane Larkin, American-Turkish basketball player
 * 1993 – Lance McCullers Jr., American baseball player
 * 1993  – Elizabeth McLaughlin, American actress
 * 1994 – Joana Eidukonytė, Lithuanian tennis player
 * 1995 – Tepai Moeroa, Cook Islands rugby league player
 * 1996 – Tom Trbojevic, Australian rugby league player

Pre-1600

 * 534 – Athalaric, king of the Ostrogoths in Italy
 * 829 – Michael II, Byzantine emperor
 * 939 – Eberhard of Franconia
 * 939  – Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine
 * 1264 – Pope Urban IV
 * 1559 – Jacquet of Mantua, French-Italian composer (b. 1483)

1601–1900

 * 1626 – Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, 1st Count of Gondomar, Spanish academic and diplomat (b. 1567)
 * 1629 – Antonio Cifra, Italian composer (b. 1584)
 * 1629  – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and theologian (b. 1575)
 * 1674 – George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, officer in the Dutch Army (b. 1606)
 * 1678 – Wu Sangui, Qing Chinese general (b. 1612)
 * 1708 – Anne Jules de Noailles, French general (b. 1650)
 * 1709 – Ivan Mazepa, Ukrainian diplomat (b. 1639)
 * 1724 – François-Timoléon de Choisy, French historian and author (b. 1644)
 * 1746 – Josiah Burchett, English admiral and politician (b. 1666)
 * 1764 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1720)
 * 1780 – John André, English soldier (b. 1750)
 * 1782 – Charles Lee, English-born American general (b. 1732)
 * 1786 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (b. 1725)
 * 1803 – Samuel Adams, American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1722)
 * 1804 – Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, French engineer (b. 1725)
 * 1850 – Sarah Biffen, English painter (b. 1784)
 * 1853 – François Arago, French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and politician (b. 1786)

1901–present

 * 1920 – Max Bruch, German composer and conductor (b. 1838)
 * 1927 – Svante Arrhenius, Swedish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
 * 1938 – Alexandru Averescu, Romanian military leader and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1859)
 * 1943 – John Evans, English-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Tasmania (b. 1855)
 * 1953 – John Marin, American painter (b. 1870)
 * 1955 – William R. Orthwein, American swimmer and water polo player (b. 1881)
 * 1968 – Marcel Duchamp, French painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
 * 1971 – Jessie Arms Botke, American painter (b. 1883)
 * 1973 – Paul Hartman, American actor and dancer (b. 1904)
 * 1973  – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (b. 1897)
 * 1974 – Vasily Shukshin, Russian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
 * 1975 – K. Kamaraj, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1903)
 * 1981 – Harry Golden, American journalist and author (b. 1902)
 * 1981  – Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American activist, actress, and musician (b. 1920)
 * 1985 – Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
 * 1987 – Madeleine Carroll, English actress (b. 1906)
 * 1987  – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
 * 1988 – Alec Issigonis, English car designer, designed the Mini (b. 1906)
 * 1988  – Hamengkubuwono IX, Indonesian politician, Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1912)
 * 1991 – Hazen Argue, Canadian politician (b. 1921)
 * 1991  – Demetrios I of Constantinople (b. 1914)
 * 1996 – Robert Bourassa, Canadian lawyer and politician, Premier of Quebec (b. 1933)
 * 1996  – Andrey Lukanov, Bulgarian politician, 40th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1938)
 * 1998 – Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and guitarist (b. 1907)
 * 1999 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (b. 1921)
 * 2000 – David Tonkin, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (b. 1929)
 * 2001 – Franz Biebl, German composer and academic (b. 1906)
 * 2002 – Heinz von Foerster, Austrian-American physicist and philosopher (b. 1911)
 * 2003 – John Thomas Dunlop, American scholar and politician, United States Secretary of Labor (b. 1914)
 * 2005 – Nipsey Russell, American comedian and actor (b. 1918)
 * 2005  – August Wilson, American author and playwright (b. 1945)
 * 2006 – Helen Chenoweth-Hage, American politician (b. 1938)
 * 2006  – Paul Halmos, Hungarian-American mathematician (b. 1916)
 * 2007 – Tex Coulter, American football player (b. 1924)
 * 2007  – George Grizzard, American actor (b. 1928)
 * 2007  – Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (b. 1902)
 * 2010 – Kwa Geok Choo, Singaporean lawyer and scholar (b. 1920)
 * 2012 – Nguyễn Chí Thiện, Vietnamese-American poet and activist (b. 1939)
 * 2012  – Charles Roach, Trinidadian-Canadian lawyer and activist (b. 1933)
 * 2012  – J. Philippe Rushton, English-Canadian psychologist, theorist, academic (b. 1943)
 * 2013 – Abraham Nemeth, American mathematician and academic (b. 1918)
 * 2014 – Robert Flower, Australian footballer (b. 1955)
 * 2015 – Brian Friel, Irish author, playwright, and director (b. 1929)
 * 2015  – Coleridge Goode, Jamaican-English bassist and composer (b. 1914)
 * 2015  – Johnny Paton, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1923)
 * 2016 – Neville Marriner, British conductor (b. 1924)
 * 2017 – Tom Petty, American musician (b. 1950)
 * 2018 – Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist (b. 1958)
 * 2020 – Anne-Marie Hutchinson, British lawyer (b. 1957)
 * 2022 – Sacheen Littlefeather, American actress, model and activist for Native American civil rights (b. 1946)
 * 2023 – Francis Lee, English football player (b. 1944)

Holidays and observances

 * Batik Day (Indonesia)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Denha I of Tikrit (Syriac Orthodox Church)
 * Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels
 * Leodegar
 * October 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Gandhi's birthday-related observances:
 * Gandhi Jayanti (India)
 * International Day of Non-Violence
 * Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Guinea from France in 1958
 * National Grandparents Day (Italy)