July 25



Events

Up to 1900 
285  Diocletian appoints Maximian as his Roman co-ruler.
306  Constantine I is elected Emperor by his troops.
315  The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome.
864  The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings 
1261  The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.
1278  The Battle of Algeciras results in a victory for the Emirate of Granada.
1467  Battle of Molinella: First battle in Italy in which guns are used extensively.
1536  Sebastian de Belalcazar founds the city of Santiago de Cali in Colombia in his search for El Dorado.
1538  The city of Guayaquil in present-day Ecuador is founded.
1547  King Henry II of France is crowned.
1554  Mary I of England marries Philip II of Spain.
1567  Caracas is founded.
1593  Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
1603  James VI of Scotland is crowned joint king of Scotland and England.
1668  The magnitude 8.5 Shandong earthquake causes 43,000 to 50,000 deaths in Shandong during the Qing Dynasty, making it the largest historical earthquake in Eastern China.
1797  Horatio Nelson loses over 300 men  and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife.
1814  War of 1812: Battle of Lundy's Lane.
1824  Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua.
1868  Wyoming becomes a United States Territory.
1869  The daimyo begin returning their land holdings to the Emperor of Japan as part of the Meiji Restoration.
1893  The Corinth Canal in Greece is used for the first time.
1898  Spanish-American War: The US invades Puerto Rico.

1901  2000 
1909  Louis Blériot flies across the English Channel.
1917  Robert Borden introduces the first income tax in Canada.
1920  France captures Damascus.
1925  The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established.
1934  The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.
1935  A flooding disaster in China kills around 200,000 people.
1940  World War II: General Henri Guisan orders the Swiss army to resist German invasion and makes surrender illegal.
1942  World War II: The Norwegian Manifesto calls for non-violent resistance against the Nazis.
1943  Benito Mussolini is removed from office by his own Italian Grand Council. He is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
1944  World War II: Operation Spring - Canada's military suffers its deadliest day of the war, as 500 soldiers are killed, with around 1,000 injured.
1951  The legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is protected under Turkish law.  
1952  Puerto Rico introduces a constitution.
1956  Near Nantucket Island, Italian Ocean liner Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51 people.
1957  Tunisia becomes a Republic, with Habib Bourguiba as President.
1961  John F. Kennedy says that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO.
1965  Bob Dylan goes electric as he plugs in at the Newport Folk Festival.
1969  An earthquake in China kills around 3,000 people.
1973  Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched.
1976  The Viking 1 space probe takes the famous "Face on Mars" photograph.
1978  Louise Brown, the first test tube baby, is born in Oldham, England.
1984  Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to go on a space walk.
1992  The 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona begin.
1993  Saint James Church massacre in Kenilworth, Cape Town.
1994  Israel and Jordan end their state of war, which had existed since 1948.
1995  A gas bottle explodes at Saint Michel station of Line B on Paris' regional rail network, killing 8 people.
1996  In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.
1997  K. R. Narayanan becomes President of India.
1999  Lance Armstrong wins the first the seven consecutive Tour de France titles that have been struck from the record in 2012 following doping revelations.
2000  Air France Flight 4590, a concorde supersonic jet, crashes shortly after take-off near Paris, killing all 109 people on board, and 4 on the ground.

From 2001 
2002  A. P. J. Abdul Kalam becomes President of India.
2007  Pratibha Patil becomes the first female President of India.
2010  WikiLeaks releases 90,000 internal reports on the US involvement in the War in Afghanistan.
2012  Pranab Mukherjee becomes President of India.
2013  Tunisian opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi is shot dead, leading to many protests in the country.
2017  Ram Nath Kovind becomes President of India.
2018  A bomb attack occurs in the city of Quetta, Pakistan, killing 31 people, on the country's election day. Former cricketer Imran Khan's party declares victory in the vote.
2018  The discovery of a lake of liquid water under Mars' southern polar ice cap is announced.
2019  Beji Cad Essebsi, President of Tunisia, dies aged 92 while still in office; Mohamed Ennaceur becomes Interim President until elections can be held.
2019  Several Western European countries and cities record their hottest-ever temperatures.
2019  Over 150 people die when their boat sinks off Libya.

Births

Up to 1900 
975  Thietmar of Merseburg, bishop, historian and writer (d. 1018)
1016  Casimir I the Restorer, Duke of Poland (d. 1058)
1109  King Afonso I of Portugal (d. 1185)
1261  Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1312)
1336  Albert, Count of Holland (d. 1404)
1404  Philip I, Duke of Brabant (d. 1430)
1421  Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (d. 1461)
1562  Kato Kiyomasa, Japanese daimyo and samurai (d. 1611)
1654  Agostino Steffani, Italian diplomat and composer (d. 1728)
1657  Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, German composer (d. 1714)
1658  Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll (d. 1703)
1683  Pieter Langendijk, Dutch dramatist and poet (d. 1756)
1704  August Gottlieb Spangenberg, theologian (d. 1792)
1711  Lorenz Christoph Mizler, German physician, mathematician and writer (d. 1778)
1746  Infanta Benedita of Portugal (d. 1829)
1750  Henry Knox, American general (d. 1806)
1753  Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires, 10th Spanish Viceroy of River Plate (d. 1810)
1775  Anna Harrison, shortest-serving First Lady of the United States (d. 1864)
1797  Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1889)
1799  David Douglas, botanist, plant collector, explorer (d. 1834)
1839  Francis Garnier, French captain and explorer (d. 1873)
1844  Thomas Eakins, artist (d. 1916)
1848  Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1930)
1848  Ottokar Kernstock, poet (d. 1928)
1860  Princess Louise Margaret, Duchess of Connaught (d. 1917)
1867  Max Dauthendey, German writer (d. 1918)
1870  Maxfield Parrish, illustrator (d. 1966)
1876  Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium (d. 1965)
1878  Masaharu Anesaki, Japanese philosopher and specialist in religious studies (d. 1949)
1882  George S. Rentz, American captain (d. 1942)
1883  Alfredo Casella, Italian composer (d. 1947)
1884  Martin L. Davey, 53rd Governor of Ohio (d. 1946)
1884  Davidson Black, anthropologist (d. 1934)
1886  Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Swedish big-game hunter (d. 1946)
1886  Hans von Blixen-Finecke, Swedish horse rider (d. 1917)
1894  Walter Brennan, Academy Award-winning actor (d. 1974)
1894  Gavrilo Princip, assassin of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1918)
1895  Yvonne Printemps, French actress and singer (d. 1977)
1896  Jack Perrin, American actor and stuntman (d. 1967)

1901  1950 
1902  Eric Hoffer, philosopher (d. 1983)
1905  Elias Canetti, Bulgarian writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1994)
1905  Masazo Nonaka, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2019)
1906  Johnny Hodges, saxophonist (d. 1970)
1907  Karl Höller, composer (d. 1987)
1908  Bill Bowes, English cricketer (d. 1987)
1915  Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., older brother of John F. Kennedy (d. 1944)
1917  Fritz Honegger, Swiss politician (d. 1999)
1918  Nan Grey, American actress (d. 1993)
1920  Rosalind Franklin, British scientist (d. 1958)
1921  Paul Watzlawick, American psychologist (d. 2007)
1921  Adolph Herseth, American trumpeter (d. 2013)
1923  Maria Gripe, Swedish writer (d. 2007)
1923  Estelle Getty, American actress (d. 2008)
1924  Frank Church, American politician (d. 1984)
1925  Richard Kadison, American mathematician (d. 2018)
1926  Beatriz Segall, Brazilian actress (d. 2018)
1927  Jimmy Binning, Scottish footballer
1927  Daniel Ceccaldi, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
1927  Sadiq Hussein Qureshi, Pakistani politician, 10th Governor of Punjab (d. 2000)
1929  Somnath Chatterjee, Indian politician (d. 2018)
1929  Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1995)
1929  Manuel Olivencia, Spanish lawyer and economist (d. 2018)
1930  Maureen Forrester, Canadian contralto (d. 2010)
1930  Herbert Scarf, American economist and academic (d. 2015)
1932  Paul J. Weitz, American astronaut (d. 2016)
1933  Jukka Virtanen, Finnish television presenter, film director, screenwriter and songwriter (d. 2019)
1934  Don Ellis, American trumpeter and composer (d. 1978)
1934  Claude Zidi, French director and screenwriter
1935  Barbara Harris, American actress (d. 2018)
1935  Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi businessman (d. 2017)
1935  Gilbert Parent, Canadian politician
1935  Lars Werner, Swedish politician (d. 2013)
1937  Colin Renfrew, archeology professor
1941  Marco Lucioni, Italian painter
1941  Raul Ruiz, Chilean movie director (d. 2011)
1941  Emmett Till, American teenager, murder victim (d. 1955)
1941  Nate Thurmond, American basketball player (d. 2016)
1941  Manny Charlton, Spanish-Scottish guitarist
1943  Erika Steinbach, German politician
1943  Jim McCarty, English singer and musician
1946  Nicole Farhi, French fashion designer and sculptor
1946  Rita Marley, Jamaican-Cuban singer
1947  Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, Argentine politician and former President
1948  Peggy Fleming, American figure skater

1951  1975 
1951  Verdine White, American bass player and producer (Earth, Wind & Fire)
1953  Robert Zoellick, former World Bank President
1954  Paul Hegarty, Scottish footballer and manager
1954  Jürgen Trittin, German politician
1954  Walter Payton, American football player (d. 1999)
1954  Sheena McDonald, Scottish broadcaster
1955  Iman Abdulmajid, Somali-born model
1957  Mark Hunter, English politician
1958  Thurston Moore, American musician (Sonic Youth)
1958  Alexei Filippenko, American astrophysicist
1959  Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer (d. 2014)
1959  Anatoly Onoprienko, Ukrainian serial killer (d. 2013)
1960  Alain Robidoux, Canadian snooker player
1963  Denis Coderre, Canadian politician, 44th Mayor of Montreal
1963  Julian Hodgson, Welsh-English chess player
1964  Anne Applebaum, American writer and journalist
1964  Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, former President of Somalia
1965  Marty Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965  Ileana Douglas, American actress, director, screenwriter and producer
1967  Magdalena Forsberg, Swedish biathlete
1967  Matt LeBlanc, American actor
1967  Chuck Paugh, American record company owner
1969  Annastacia Palaszczuk, Australian politician, 39th Premier of Queensland
1970  Ernesto Alterio, Argentine-Spanish actor
1970  Eric Jacobson, American puppeteer
1973  Hu Jia, Chinese activist
1973  Dani Davey, American singer
1973  Kevin Phillips, English footballer
1975  Jean-Claude Darcheville, French footballer
1975  Jody Craddock, English footballer

From 1976 
1976  Tera Patrick, American pornographic actress
1977  Kenny Thomas, American basketball player
1978  Louise Brown, first baby conceived through IVF
1978  Gerard Warren, American football player
1979  Amy Adams, American singer, American Idol 3 contestant
1979  Ali Carter, English snooker player
1979  Ariane Hingst, German footballer
1979  Stefanie Hertel, German yodeler
1980  Cha Du-Ri, South Korean footballer
1981  Yuichi Komano, Japanese footballer
1982  Brad Renfro, American actor (d. 2008)
1983  Nenad Krstic, Serbian basketball player
1985  Nelson Piquet, Jr., Brazilian racing driver
1985  James Lafferty, American actor
1985  Hugo Rodallega, Colombian footballer
1986  Hulk, Brazilian footballer
1986  Barbara Meier, German model
1986  Robert Dietrich, German ice hockey player (d. 2011)
1987  Michael Welch, American actor
1988  Anthony Stokes, Irish footballer
1988  Paulinho, Brazilian footballer
1988  Heather Marks, Canadian model
1990  Wakaso Mubarak, Ghanaian footballer
1991  Toni Duggan, English footballer
2000  Preston Bailey, American actor
2000  Ellie Soutter, English snowboarder (d. 2018)

Deaths

Up to 1900 
306  Constantius Chlorus, Roman Emperor (b. 250)
1034  Constance of Arles, Queen of France (b. 986)
1195  Herrad of Landsberg, German abbess and writer
1409  King Martin I of Sicily (b. 1374)
1471  Thomas a Kempis, choir master and mystic (b. 1380)
1492  Pope Innocent VIII (b. 1432)
1564  Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1503)
1572  Isaac Luria, Ottoman rabbi and mystic (b. 1534)
1608  Pomporio Nenna, Italian composer (b. 1556)
1790  Johann Bernhard Basedow, German theologian, writer and philanthropist (b. 1724)
1790  William Livingston, American politician, 1st Governor of New Jersey (b. 1723)
1794  André Chénier, Greek-French poet (b. 1762)
1794  Jean-Antoine Roucher, French poet (b. 1745)
1794  Friedrich von der Trenck, Prussian aristocrat and adventurer (b. 1726) 
1826  Kondraty Ryleyev, Russian poet and revolutionary (b. 1795)
1831  Maria Agati Szymanowska, Polish composer and pianist (b. 1789)
1834  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet (b. 1772)
1843  Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor (b. 1766)
1846  Louis Bonaparte, King of the Netherlands (b. 1778)
1861  Jonas Furrer, Swiss politician (b. 1805)
1863  El Pipila, Mexican national hero (b. 1782)
1866  Floride Calhoun, 4th Second Lady of the United States (b. 1792)
1887  Henry Mayhew, English writer and journalist (b. 1812)
1899  Niklaus Riggenbach, Swiss engineer (b. 1817)

1901  2000 
1934  Engelbert Dollfuss, Chancellor of Austria (b. 1892)
1938  Franz I, Prince of Liechtenstein (b. 1853)
1942  Fred Englehart, American triple jumper (b. 1879)
1945  Malin Craig, American general (b. 1875)
1945  Kurt Gerstein, German military officer (b. 1905)
1962  Nelle Wilson Reagan, mother of Ronald Reagan (b. 1883)
1963  Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist (b. 1877)
1969  Otto Dix, German artist (b. 1891)
1973  Louis Stephen St. Laurent, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1882)
1976  John C. Slater, American physicist and chemist (b. 1900)
1980  Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
1983  Alberto Ginastera, Argentine composer (b. 1916)
1984  Big Mama Thornton, American singer (b. 1926)
1986  Vincente Minnelli, American movie director (b. 1903)
1988  Judith Barsi, American child actress (b. 1978)
1991  Lazar Kaganovich, Soviet politician (b. 1893)
1992  Alfred Drake, American actor and singer (b. 1914)
1993  Nan Grey, American actress (b. 1918)
1995  Charlie Rich, American singer and musician (b. 1932)
1996  Howard Vernon, Swiss actor (b. 1914)
1997  Ben Hogan, American golfer (b. 1912)
2000  Rudi Fassnacht, German football manager (b. 1934)

From 2001 
2002  Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian existentialist philosopher (b. 1917)
2002  Johannes Joachim Degenhardt, German cardinal (b. 1926)
2003  Erik Brann, American singer and guitarist (Iron Butterfly) (b. 1950)
2003  John Schlesinger, English-American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2005  Albert Mangelsdorff, German trombonist (b. 1928)
2007  Bernd Jakubowski, German footballer (b. 1952)
2008  Randy Pausch, American professor of Computer Science (b. 1960)
2009  Harry Patch, British supercentenarian and World War I veteran (b. 1898)
2011  Michael Cacoyannis, Cypriot movie director and producer (b. 1922)
2011  Jeret Peterson, American skier (b. 1981)
2013  Mohamed Brahmi, Tunisian political activist (b. 1955)
2013  Bernadette Lafont, French actress (b. 1938)
2013  Walter De Maria, American sculptor (b. 1935)
2014  Bel Kaufman, German-born American teacher and writer (b. 1911)
2014  Carlo Bergonzi, Italian tenor (b. 1924)
2015  R. S. Gavai, Indian politician, Governor of Bihar and Kerala (b. 1929)
2016  Tim LaHaye, American Christian minister and writer (b. 1926)
2016  Halil Inalcik, Turkish historian (b. 1916)
2016  Jerzy Bahr, Polish diplomat (b. 1944)
2016  Artur Correia, Portuguese footballer (b. 1950)
2016  Bülent Eken, Turkish footballer (b. 1923)
2016  Arundhati Ghose, Indian diplomat (b. 1939)
2016  Tom Peterson, American television personality (b. 1930)
2017  Gretel Bergmann, German-American high jumper (b. 1914)
2017  Michael Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
2017  Barbara Sinatra, American fashion model (b. 1927)
2017  Billy Joe Walker Jr., American musician, record producer and songwriter (b. 1952)
2017  Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Australian musician (b. 1971)
2017  Hywel Bennett, Welsh actor (b. 1944)
2018  Vakhtang Balavadze, Georgian freestyle wrestler (b. 1927)
2018  Sergio Marchionne, Italian executive (b. 1952)
2018  Guy Molinari, American politician (b. 1928)
2018  György Szepesi, Hungarian radio presenter, journalist and sports executive (b. 1922)
2018  Ellie Soutter, English snowboarder (b. 2000)
2019  Beji Caid Essebsi, President of Tunisia (b. 1926)
2019  Jesper Juul, Danish writer and therapist (b. 1948)
2019  Jorma Kinnunen, Finnish javelin thrower (b. 1941)
2019  Pierre Péan, French journalist and writer (b. 1938)

Observances 
 Feast of Saint James (Christianity)
 National Day of Galicia, Spain
 Republic Day (Tunisia)
 Commonwealth Constitution Day (Puerto Rico)

Days of the year