August 25

Events
Up to 1900
450 Pulcheria becomes Empress of the Byzantine Empire after her brother Theodosius II is killed during a hunting accident.
1248 The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, Archbishop of Utrecht.
1537 The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and second most senior, is founded.
1580 Battle of Alcantara: Spain defeats Portugal.
1609 Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
1718 New Orleans is founded by French settlers.
1758 Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
1768 James Cook begins his first voyage.
1778 Triglav in the Julian Alps, which is Slovenia's highest peak, is successfully climbed for the first time, by Lovrenc Willomitzer.
1810 Briton Paul Durand receives a patent for the tin can.
1825 Uruguay declares independence from Brazil.
1830 The Belgian Revolution begins.
1835 The New York Sun carries out the Great Moon Hoax.
1844 Australia's first synagogue is started in Melbourne.
1856 The Teatro Solis theatre opens in Montevideo, Uruguay.
1861 The Clayton Tunnel train crash in the UK kills 23 people and injures 176.
1875 Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to successfully swim across the English Channel, from Dover, England, UK to Calais, France.
1894 Kitasato Shibasaburo discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague.
1898 700 Greek civilians, 17 British guards and the British consul of Crete are killed by a Turkish mon in Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
1901 2000
1912 The Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) is founded.
1914 World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is deliberately destroyed by the German Army.
1916 The United States National Park Service is created.
1920 Polish-Soviet War: The Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends as the Red Army is defeated.
1927 Japanese destroyer Warabi sinks after a collision with the light cruiser Jintsu, killing 102 people.
1933 The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China, killing 9,000 people.
1938 Inauguration of the Obelisk of Montevideo on Uruguayan Independence Day.
1939 The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the United Kingdom promises to defend Poland in the case of invasion by a foreign power. Nazi Germany invades Poland just a week later, after which the United Kingdom and France both declare war on Germany on September 3.
1941 World War II: British and Soviet troops enter Iran.
1942 World War II: Battle of Milne Bay.
1944 World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
1945 Ten days after the Japanese surrender, armed supporters of the Communist Party of China kill American Baptist missionary John Birch. Some people on the American political right regard this as the start of the Cold War.
1945 Emperor Bao Dai of Vietnam resigns, leaving Ho Chi Minh in power.
1950 US President Harry Truman gets the army to take over the railways to stop a strike.
1956 Off Stockholm, Sweden, the wreck of the ship Vasa is found. It had sunk at the start of its first voyage in 1628.
1960 The 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, begin.
1961 President of Brazil Janio Quadros resigns after just seven months in power.
1975 Australian band, the Little River Band puts out its first recording, Curiosity Killed the Cat.
1980 Zimbabwe joins the UN.
1981 Voyager 2 approaches Saturn.
1988 Most of the old town of Lisbon, Portugal, is destroyed by fire.
1989 Mayumi Moriyama becomes Japan's first female cabinet secretary.
1989 Voyager 2 approaches Neptune.
1991 Belarus declares independence from the Soviet Union.
1991 Croatian War of Independence: The Battle of Vukovar begins, as an 87-day siege in the city of Vukovar begins, by the Yugoslav People's Army, supported by various Serbian paramilitary forces.
1991 Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what would become Linux.
1991 First flight of an Airbus A340.
1992 Siege of Sarajevo: The National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina is deliberately set on fire, with thousands of irreplaceable works being destroyed.
1995 First flight of an Airbus A319.
1997 Former leader of East Germany Egon Krenz is convicted of ordering a shoot-to-kill policy at the Berlin Wall.
From 2001
2001 Marriage of Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway and Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway.
2002 For the first time, in election for Chancellor of Germany, the main candidates face each other in a television debate. The election is mainly between then-incumbent Gerhard Schroder and his challenger Edmund Stoiber.
2003 The Delta II rocket launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida, sending the Spitzer space telescope into space.
2006 Because of difficult situation in East Timor, the UN sends an integrated mission there.
2012 The Voyager 1 spacecraft becomes the first man-made object to enter interstellar space. This occurs on the same day as the death of astronaut Neil Armstrong.
2013 At least 42 people are killed in bomb attacks in Iraq. On the same day, neighboring Syria announces it will allow UN weapons inspectors into the country, during its civil war.
2017 Riots in Northern India result in at least 36 deaths, after the rape conviction of religious leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
2017 Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas, causing several days of heavy rain and flooding. The city of Houston is among the places heavily flooded.
2018 Pope Francis visits the Republic of Ireland.
Births
Up to 1800
1530 Ivan IV of Russia ("Ivan the Terrible") (d. 1584)
1561 Philippe van Landsberge, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (d. 1632)
1635 Sir Henry Morgan, privateer (d. 1688)
1662 John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, politician and academic (d. 1724)
1691 Alessandro Galilei, Italian architect (d. 1737)
1707 King Louis I of Spain (d. 1724)
1724 George Stubbs, English painter (d. 1806)
1744 Johann Gottfried Herder, German writer (d. 1803)
1767 Antoine Louis Leon de Richebourg de Saint-Just, French revolutionary and writer (d. 1794)
1785 Adam Wilhelm Moltke, 1st Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1864)
1786 King Ludwig I of Bavaria (d. 1868)
1789 John Miers, English botanist and engineer (d. 1879)
1796 James Lick, California land baron (d. 1876)
1801 1900
1802 Nikolaus Lenau, Austrian poet (d. 1850)
1803 Luis Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias, Brazilian army officer, politician and monarchist (d. 1880)
1817 Marie-Eugenie de Jesus, French nun and saint (d. 1898)
1819 Allan Pinkerton, American private detective (d. 1884)
1822 Gardiner Greene Hubbard, American lawyer, philanthropist and 1st President of the National Geographic Society (d. 1897)
1829 Carlo Acton, Italian composer and concert pianist (d. 1909)
1836 Bret Harte, American writer (d. 1902)
1841 Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss doctor, won the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1917)
1845 King Ludwig II of Bavaria (d. 1886)
1850 Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist (d. 1935)
1850 Pavel Axelrod, Russian revolutionary (d. 1928)
1862 Louis Barthou, Prime Minister of France (d. 1934)
1865 Arthur Hinsley, Archbishop of Westminster (d. 1943)
1869 Tom Kiely, Irish athlete (d. 1951)
1871 Nils Eden, 15th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1945)
1879 John Randolph Bray, American animator (d. 1978)
1882 Sean T. O'Kelly, President of Ireland (d. 1966)
1889 Alexander Mair, Australian politician, 16th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1969)
1891 David Shimoni, Russian-Israeli poet and writer (d. 1956)
1894 Nick Winter, Australian triple jumper (d. 1955)
1895 Robert A. Hurley, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1968)
1898 Helmut Hasse, German mathematician (d. 1975)
1899 Guy Butler, British athlete (d. 1981)
1900 Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German scientist (d. 1981)
1901 1950
1902 Stefan Wolpe, composer (d. 1972)
1903 Arpad Elo, Hungarian-American chess player (d. 1992)
1905 Mary Faustina Kowalska, Polish nun, mystic and saint (d. 1938)
1909 Eileen Hiscock, British athlete (d. 1958)
1909 Ruby Keeler, Canadian singer and actress (d. 1993)
1909 Michael Rennie, British actor (d. 1971)
1910 Dorothea Tanning, American painter (d. 2012)
1911 Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnamese general and statesman (d. 2013)
1911 Vivi-Anne Hulten, Swedish figure skater (d. 2003)
1912 Erich Honecker, head of state of East Germany (d. 1994)
1913 Walt Kelly, American cartoonist (d. 1973)
1916 Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist (d. 2003)
1916 Van Johnson, American actor (d. 2008)
1917 Mel Ferrer, American actor (d. 2008)
1918 Leonard Bernstein, American conductor and composer (d. 1990)
1919 Ernst Barkmann, German tank commander (d. 2009)
1919 George Wallace, Governor of Alabama (d. 1998)
1921 Monty Hall, Canadian game show host (d. 2017)
1921 Brian Moore, Irish-born Canadian writer (d. 1999)
1923 Alvaro Mutis, Colombian writer (d. 2013)
1924 Allan Edwall, Swedish actor, director, composer and singer (d. 1997)
1924 Yasuzo Masumura, Japanese film director (d. 1986)
1925 Hilmar Hoffmann, German stage and film director, politician and academic (d. 2018)
1927 Althea Gibson, American tennis player (d. 2003)
1928 Herbert Kroemer, German physicist
1929 Gordon Sherwood, American composer
1930 Sir Sean Connery, Scottish actor
1931 Regis Philbin, American television host (d. 2020)
1931 Peter Gilmore, British actor (d. 2013)
1931 Cecil D. Andrus, 26th and 28th Governor of Idaho (d. 2017)
1932 Tomohiko Ikoma, Japanese footballer (d. 2009)
1933 Wayne Shorter, American jazz musician
1933 Tom Skerritt, American actor
1934 Zilda Arns, Brazilian pediatrician and aid worker (d. 2010)
1934 Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former President of Iran (d. 2017)
1935 Charles Wright, American poet
1936 Hugh Hudson, British movie director
1938 David Canary, American actor
1938 Frederick Forsyth, English writer
1939 John Bardon, English actor (d. 2014)
1939 John Badham, English-American movie director
1940 Jose Van Dam, Belgian baritone
1941 Marshall Brickman, screenwriter
1941 Mario Corso, Italian footballer
1941 Angelo Dominghini, Italian footballer
1942 Nathan Deal, 82nd Governor of Georgia, US
1942 Ivan Koloff, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2017)
1942 Howard Jacobson, English journalist, writer and broadcaster
1944 Anthony Heald, actor
1944 Pat Martino, American musician
1944 Conrad Black, Canadian newspaper magnate
1946 Rollie Fingers, American baseball player
1946 Charlie Sanders, American football player (d. 2015)
1949 Salif Keita, Malian singer-songwriter
1949 Martin Amis, British novelist
1949 John Savage, actor
1949 Gene Simmons, Israeli-born American bassist (Kiss)
1951 1975
1951 Rob Halford, English singer
1951 Robert Joseph Glass, artist
1952 Geoff Downes, English keyboardist, songwriter and producer
1952 Peter Wolf, singer and composer
1952 Vijayakanth, Indian actor and politician
1953 Maurizio Malvestiti, Italian bishop
1954 Jim Wallace, Scottish politician
1954 Elvis Costello, English musician
1956 Takeshi Okada, Japanese football manager
1956 Stig Strand, Swedish skier
1956 Henri Toivonen, Finnish rally driver (d. 1986)
1957 Sikander Bakht, Pakistani cricketer
1958 Tim Burton, American movie director, producer, and screenwriter
1959 Sonke Wortmann, German movie director
1960 Jonas Gahr Store, Norwegian politician
1961 Yutaka Ikeuchi, Japanese footballer
1961 Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer
1961 Joanne Whalley, British actress
1962 Viv Campbell, American guitarist (Def Leppard)
1962 Maris Bruziks, Latvian triple jumper
1963 Roberto Mussi, Italian footballer
1963 Miro Cerar, Slovenian politician, former Prime Minister of Slovenia
1964 Maxim Kontsevich, Russian mathematician
1964 Blair Underwood, actor
1964 Clive Myrie, British television news journalist
1965 Mia Zapata, American singer (d. 1993)
1965 Sanjeev Sharma, Indian cricketer
1966 Tracy-Ann Oberman, British actress
1966 Derek Sherinian, American keyboardist, composer and producer
1967 Tom Hollander, British actor
1968 Rafet El Roman, singer, composer
1968 Rachael Ray, American cook and television host
1968 Stuart Murdoch, Scottish singer and songwriter
1969 Catriona Matthew, Scottish golfer
1969 Cameron Mathison, Canadian actor
1970 Claudia Schiffer, German model
1971 Felix da Housecat, American DJ
1972 Marvin Harrison, American football player
1973 Ryuji Michiki, Japanese footballer
1973 Kang We-suck, South Korean activist
1973 Fatih Akin, German movie director
1974 Mario Jeckle, German computer scientist (d. 2004)
From 1976
1976 Alexander Skarsgaard, Swedish actor
1977 Jonathan Togo, American actor
1977 Andy McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 Ramil Safarov, Azrebaijani convicted murderer
1979 Marlon Harewood, English footballer
1979 Philipp Missfelder, German politician (d. 2015)
1980 Ryan Horn, writer and commentator
1981 Rachel Bilson, American actress
1985 Hendra Setiawan, Indonesian badminton player
1987 Velimir Jovanovic, Serbian footballer
1987 Liu Yifei, Chinese actress and singer
1987 Rona Nishliu, Kosovo-Albanian singer
1987 Blake Lively, American actress and model
1987 Amy MacDonald, Scottish singer
1988 Alexandra Burke, English singer
1989 Keegan Joyce, Australian actor
1989 Amber Le Bon, English model
1992 Miyabi Natsuyaki, Japanese actress and singer
1998 China Anne McClain, American actress and singer
1998 Abraham Mateo, Spanish actor and pop music singer
Deaths
Up to 1900
79 Pliny the Elder, Roman writer, naturalist, philosopher and military commander (b. 23)
383 Gratian, Roman Emperor (b. 359)
471 Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople
1192 Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1142)
1270 King Louis IX of France (b. 1214)
1482 Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI of England (b. 1429)
1632 Thomas Dekker, English playwright (b. 1572)
1688 Henry Morgan, Welsh privateer (b. 1635)
1699 King Christian V of Denmark (b. 1646)
1740 Prince Jean, Duke of Guise (b. 1874)
1742 Carlos Seixas, Portuguese composer (b. 1704)
1776 David Hume, Scottish philosopher and historian (b. 1711)
1779 Thomas Chittenden, 1st Governor of Vermont (b. 1730)
1792 Jacques Cazotte, French writer (b. 1719)
1819 James Watt, Scottish engineer and inventor (b. 1736)
1822 William Herschel, German-born astronomer (b. 1738)
1846 Giuseppe Acerbi, Italian traveler and naturalist (b. 1773)
1867 Michael Faraday, English scientist (b. 1791)
1886 Zinovios Valvis, Greek politician and Prime Minister (b. 1791)
1900 Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (b. 1844)
1900 Kiroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
1901 2000
1904 Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter (b. 1836)
1908 Henri Becquerel, French physicist (b. 1852)
1938 Aleksandr Kuprin, Russian writer (b. 1870)
1939 Babe Siebert, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1904)
1942 George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (b. 1902)
1945 John Birch, American Baptist missionary and intelligence officer (b. 1918)
1956 Alfred Kinsey, American research biologist (b. 1894)
1957 Leo Perutz, Austrian writer (b. 1882)
1967 Stanley Bruce, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1883)
1967 George Lincoln Rockwell, head of the American Nazi Party (b. 1918)
1970 Tachii Naito, Japanese architect and engineer (b. 1886)
1971 Ted Lewis, American singer and bandleader (b. 1890)
1976 Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer (b. 1900)
1979 Stan Kenton, American musician and bandleader (b. 1911)
1980 Gower Champion, American actor, director and choreographer (b. 1919)
1984 Truman Capote, American writer (b. 1924)
1984 Waite Hoyt, American baseball player (b. 1899)
1984 Viktor Chukarin, Soviet gymnast (b. 1921)
1985 Samantha Smith, American activist (b. 1972)
1988 Price Daniel, American politician, Governor of Texas (b. 1910)
1988 Art Rooney, American businessman (b. 1901)
1996 Reinhard Libuda, German footballer (b. 1943)
2000 Carl Barks, American cartoonist (b. 1901)
From 2001
2001 Philippe Leotard, French actor and singer (b. 1940)
2001 Aaliyah, American singer (b. 1979)
2006 Noor Hassanali, 2nd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1918)
2007 Raymond Barre, French politician (b. 1924)
2009 Mande Sidibe, Malian politician (b. 1940)
2009 Edward Kennedy, American politician (b. 1932)
2012 Neil Armstrong, American astronaut and first person to walk on the Moon (b. 1930)
2013 Gylmar dos Santos Neves, Brazilian footballer (b. 1930)
2013 William Froug, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1922)
2014 Alfredo Martini, Italian cyclist (b. 1921)
2014 Jason Curley, Australian musician (b. 1972)
2014 Marcel Masse, Canadian politician (b. 1936)
2015 Francis Sejersted, Norwegian history professor (b. 1936)
2016 Margaret Anstee, British diplomat (b. 1926)
2016 James Cronin, American physicist (b. 1931)
2016 Maria Eugenia, Portuguese actress (b. 1927)
2016 Justin du Fresne, New Zealand radio broadcaster (b. 1942)
2016 Warren Hinckle, American political journalist (b. 1938)
2016 Rodolfo Illanes, Bolivian politician (b. 1958)
2016 Marvin Kaplan, American actor (b. 1927)
2016 Sonia Rykiel, French fashion designer (b. 1930)
2016 Eddy Silitonga, Indonesian singer (b. 1949)
2017 Margaret Moser, American journalist (b. 1954)
2017 Rich Piana, American bodybuilder and internet personality (b. 1971)
2018 Lindsay Kemp, English choreographer and actor (b. 1938)
2018 John McCain, American politician, United States Senator for Arizona and former presidential candidate (b. 1936)
2018 Noam Sheriff, Israeli composer and conductor (b. 1935)
2019 Timothy Bell, Baron Bell, British advertising and public relations executive (b. 1941)
2019 Ferdinand Piech, Austrian businessman and engineer (b. 1937)
2019 Mona Lisa, Filipina actress (b. 1922)
2019 Vince Naimoli, American businessman (b. 1937)
2019 Anne Grete Preus, Norwegian rock singer and musician (b. 1957)
2019 Jerry Rook, American basketball player (b. 1943)
2019 Jafar Umar Thalib, Indonesian Islamic militant (b. 1961)
Observances
Independence Day (Uruguay)
Liberation Day (Paris)
Soldier's Day (Brazil)
Days of the year