May 2

Events

1670 - King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
1863 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering for the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.
1876 – The April Uprising breaks out against the Turkish rule of the Ottoman Empire in Bulgaria.
1885 – The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium.
1933 - Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.
1945 - World War II: The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building. German forces surrender in Italy. German forces surrender to the New Zealand Army in Trieste.

1860 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian Zionist (d. 1904)
1881 - Alexander Kerensky, second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government (d. 1970)
1892 - Manfred von Richthofen, German World War I flying ace (d. 1918)

1519 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian inventor and painter (b. 1452)
1919 - Gustav Landauer, Jewish anarchist (b. 1870)
1945 - Martin Bormann, German military official (b. 1900)
1957 – Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1908)
1969 - Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879)
1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, American director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (b. 1895)