September 2

1862:

U.S. Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Second Bull Run.

1864:

U.S. Civil War: Union forces under General William T. Sherman enter Atlanta, Georgia a day after the Confederate defenders fled the city.

1870:

Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan - Prussian forces defeat the French armies and take emperor Napoleon III and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner at Sedan.

1898:

Battle of Omdurman - British and Egyptian troops led by General Horatio Kitchener defeat Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi, thus establishing British dominance in the Sudan.

1918:

DROCOURT-QUEANT, effective dates for battle honour begin (to 3 Sept 18)

1918:

VC won by A/Sgt Arthur George Knight, `10th Battalion, CEFm Villers-lez-Cagnicourt (near Arras), France (posthumous)

1918:

VC won by Capt Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson, MC, Canadian Army Medical Corps attached to the 75th Battalion, CEF, Drocourt-Queant Support Line, France

1918:

VC won by L/Cpl William Henry Metcalf, MM, 16th Battalion, CEF, Arras, France

1918:

VC won by LCol Cyrus Wesley Peck, DSO, 16th Battalion, CEF, Villers-lez-Cagnicourt, France

1918:

VC won by Pte Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney, DCM, MM, 38th Battalion, CEF, Drocourt-Queant Line, France (posthumous)

1918:

VC won by Pte John Francis Young, 87th Battalion, CEF, Dury-Arras Sector, France

1939:

Following the invasion of Poland, Freie Stadt Danzig Danzig (now Gda?sk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.

1939:

RCAF authorized to recruit to full establishment

1942:

The Royal Canadian Infantry Corps is authorized: Ducimus (We lead)

1945:

Japanese and allies sign surrender agreement aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay

1945:

Vietnam declares its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).

1945:

World War II ends: The final official surrender of Japan was accepted by General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz aboard the battleship USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay.

1998:

A United Nations court finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide, marking the first time that the 1948 law banning genocide is enforced.

31BC:

Roman Civil War: Battle of Actium - Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.