July 25
July 25 is the 206th day of the year (207th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 159 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
- 285 – Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler.
- 306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops.
- 315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum at Rome to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge.
- 864 – The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings.
- 1139 – Battle of Ourique: The Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques.
- 1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.
- 1536 – Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of El Dorado founds the city of Santiago de Cali.
- 1538 – The city of Guayaquil is founded by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana and given the name Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil.
- 1547 – Henry II of France is crowned.
- 1554 – Mary I marries Philip II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral
- 1567 – Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.
- 1593 – Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
- 1603 – James VI of Scotland is crowned as king of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into personal union. Political union would occur in 1707.
- 1609 – The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking; the survivors go on to found a new colony there.
- 1693 – Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, México.
- 1722 – Dummer's War begins along the Maine-Massachusetts border.
- 1755 – British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians. Thousands of Acadians are sent to the British Colonies in America, France and England. Some later move to Louisiana, while others resettle in New Brunswick.
- 1758 – Seven Years' War: the island battery at Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia is silenced and all French warships are destroyed or taken.
- 1759 – French and Indian War: in Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
- 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war's last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by preliminary peace agreement.
- 1788 – Wolfgang Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550).
- 1792 – The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French Royal Family is harmed.
- 1795 – The first stone of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is laid.
- 1797 – Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain).
- 1799 – At Aboukir in Egypt, Napoleon I of France defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha.
- 1814 – War of 1812: Battle of Lundy's Lane – reinforcements arrive near Niagara Falls for General Riall's British and Canadian forces and a bloody, all-night battle with Jacob Brown's Americans commences at 18.00; the Americans retreat to Fort Erie.
- 1824 – Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua.
- 1837 – The first commercial use of an electric telegraph is successfully demonstrated by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone on 25 July 1837 between Euston and Camden Town in London.
- 1853 – Joaquin Murietta, the famous Californio bandit known as "Robin Hood of El Dorado", is killed.
- 1861 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.
- 1866 – The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the five-star rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank.
- 1868 – Wyoming becomes a United States territory.
- 1869 – The Japanese daimyō begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869).
- 1893 – The Corinth Canal in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece is used for the first time.
- 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship.
- 1898 – After over two months of sea-based bombardment, the United States invasion of Puerto Rico begins with U.S. troops led by General Nelson Miles landing at harbor of Guánica, Puerto Rico.
- 1908 – Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it.
- 1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from (Calais to Dover) in 37 minutes.
- 1915 – RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker becomes the first British military aviator to earn the Victoria Cross, for defeating three German two-seat observation aircraft in one day, over the Western Front.
- 1917 – Sir Robert Borden introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
- 1920 – Telecommunications: the first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast takes place.
- 1920 – France captures Damascus.
- 1925 – Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established.
- 1934 – The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.
- 1940 – General Guisan orders the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and makes surrender illegal.
- 1942 – Norwegian Manifesto calls for nonviolent resistance to the Nazis.
- 1943 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by his own Italian Grand Council and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
- 1944 – World War II: Operation Spring – one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war: 1,500 casualties, including 500 killed.
- 1946 – Operation Crossroads: an atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini atoll.
- 1946 – At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team.
- 1952 – The U.S. non-incorporated colonial territory of Puerto Rico adopts a constitution of local-limited powers, approved by the United States Congress in contravention of then-current international law.
- 1956 – 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51.
- 1957 – The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed.
- 1958 – The African Regroupment Party (PRA) holds its first congress in Cotonou.
- 1959 – SR-N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours.
- 1961 – In a speech John F. Kennedy emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO.
- 1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric as he plugs in at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.
- 1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This is the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war.
- 1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.
- 1976 – Viking program: Viking 1 takes the famous Face on Mars photo.
- 1978 – The Cerro Maravilla incident occurs.
- 1978 – Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" is born.
- 1979 – Another section of the Sinai Peninsula is peacefully returned by Israel to Egypt.
- 1983 – Black July: 37 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners.
- 1984 – Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.
- 1993 – Israel launches a massive attack against Lebanon in what the Israelis call Operation Accountability, and the Lebanese call Seven-Day War.
- 1993 – The Saint James Church massacre occurs in Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa.
- 1994 – Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, which formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948.
- 1995 – A gas bottle explodes in Saint Michel station of line B of the RER (Paris regional train network). Eight are killed and 80 wounded.
- 1996 – In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.
- 2000 – Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde supersonic passenger jet, F-BTSC, crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground.
- 2007 – Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president.
- 2010 – Wikileaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.
Births
- 1016 – Casimir I, Duke of Poland (d. c. 1058)
- 1109 – Afonso I of Portugal (d. 1185)
- 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 – Katō Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord (d. 1611)
- 1653 – Agostino Steffani, Italian diplomat (d. 1728)
- 1658 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, Scottish privy councillor (d. 1703)
- 1683 – Pieter Langendijk, Dutch dramatist and poet (d. 1756)
- 1750 – Henry Knox, American general (d. 1806)
- 1753 – Santiago de Liniers, viceroy of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (d. 1810)
- 1797 – Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge (d. 1889)
- 1799 – David Douglas, Scottish botanist (d. 1834)
- 1839 – Francis Garnier, French explorer (d. 1873)
- 1844 – Thomas Eakins, American artist (d. 1916)
- 1848 – Arthur Balfour, 33rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1930)
- 1860 – Princess Louise Margaret, Duchess of Connaught (d. 1917)
- 1867 – Max Dauthendey, German writer (d. 1918)
- 1867 – Alexander Rummler, American painter (d. 1959)
- 1870 – Maxfield Parrish, American illustrator (d. 1966)
- 1882 – George S. Rentz, Navy Chaplain, Navy Cross (d. 1942)
- 1883 – Alfredo Casella, Italian composer (d. 1947)
- 1886 – Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Swedish big-game hunter (d. 1946)
- 1894 – Walter Brennan, American actor (d. 1974)
- 1894 – Gavrilo Princip, Serbian assassin (d. 1918)
- 1895 – Yvonne Printemps, French actress and singer (d. 1977)
- 1896 – Jack Perrin, American actor (d. 1967)
- 1901 – Ruth Krauss, American author
- 1901 – Lila Lee, American actress (d. 1973)
- 1902 – Eric Hoffer, American philosopher (d. 1983)
- 1905 – Elias Canetti, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1994)
- 1905 – Denys Watkins-Pitchford, writer and illustrator (d. 1990)
- 1907 – Johnny Hodges, American saxophonist (d. 1970)
- 1908 – Bill Bowes, English cricketer (d. 1987)
- 1908 – Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Indian musician (d. 2003)
- 1908 – Jack Gilford, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1914 – Woody Strode, American actor and decathlete (d. 1994)
- 1916 – Lucien Saulnier, Quebec politician (d. 1989)
- 1917 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1990)
- 1918 – Jane Frank, American artist (d. 1986)
- 1920 – Jean Carmet, French actor (d. 1994)
- 1920 – Rosalind Franklin, English scientist (d. 1958)
- 1921 – Lionel Terray, French mountaineer (d. 1965)
- 1923 – Estelle Getty, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Maria Gripe, Swedish writer (d. 2007)
- 1924 – Frank Church, American politician (d. 1984)
- 1924 – Scotch Taylor, Former South African cricketer (d. 2004)
- 1925 – Jerry Paris, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1925 – Benny Benjamin, Motown session drummer (d. 1969)
- 1926 – Whitey Lockman, American baseball player
- 1927 – Daniel Ceccaldi, French actor (d. 2003)
- 1927 – Midge Decter, American journalist and author
- 1927 – Sadiq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani politician (d. 2000)
- 1928 – Keter Betts, American jazz bassist (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Dolphy, Filipino comedian and actor
- 1928 – Mario Montenegro, Filipino actor (d. 1988)
- 1928 – Nils Taube, Estonian-born British fund manager (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Somnath Chatterjee, Indian communist leader
- 1929 – Eddie Mazur, Canadian hockey player (d. 1995)
- 1930 – Murray Chapple, Former New Zealand cricketer (d. 1985)
- 1930 – Maureen Forrester, Canadian contralto
- 1930 – Alice Parizeau, Polish-born Quebec writer and essayist (d. 1990)
- 1930 – Annie Ross, British jazz singer
- 1934 – Don Ellis, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1978)
- 1934 – Claude Zidi, French film director and screenwriter
- 1935 – Barbara Harris, American actress
- 1935 – Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi arms merchant
- 1935 – John Robinson, American football coach
- 1935 – Larry Sherry, American baseball player (d. 2006)
- 1935 – Lars Werner, Swedish communist leader
- 1936 – Gerry Ashmore, British racing driver
- 1936 – Glenn Murcutt, Australian architect
- 1937 – Colin Renfrew, English archeologist
- 1941 – Peter Suschitzky, Polish-British cinematographer
- 1941 – Manny Charlton, rock guitarist
- 1941 – Nate Thurmond, American basketball player
- 1941 – Emmett Till, American murder victim (d. 1955)
- 1942 – Bruce Woodley, Australian musician (The Seekers)
- 1943 – Jim McCarty, English musician (The Yardbirds)
- 1943 – Erika Steinbach, German politician
- 1945 – Donna Theodore, Broadway and television singer
- 1946 – John Gibson, American media host
- 1946 – José Areas, Nicaraguan percussionist
- 1946 – Rita Marley, Jamaican-Cuban singer (I Threes)
- 1948 – Steve Goodman, American folk singer/songwriter (d. 1984)
- 1950 – Mark Clarke (musician), British musician, bass player and singer
- 1951 – Jack Thompson, American activist and former lawyer
- 1951 – Verdine White, American musician (Earth, Wind & Fire)
- 1952 – Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portuguese architect.
- 1953 – Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank
- 1954 – Walter Payton, American football player (d. 1999)
- 1954 – Ken Greer, pedal steel guitarist (Red Rider)
- 1954 – Jochem Ziegert, German footballer
- 1954 – Lynne Frederick, British Actress (d. 1994)
- 1955 – Iman Abdulmajid, Somali model
- 1955 – Randall Bewley, American guitarist
- 1955 – Kike Elomaa, Finnish bodybuilder
- 1955 – Tom McCamus, Canadian actor
- 1957 – Steve Podborski, Canadian downhill ski racer
- 1958 – Thurston Moore, American musician (Sonic Youth)
- 1958 – Alex Filippenko, American astrophysicist
- 1959 – Anatoly Onoprienko, Ukrainian serial Killer
- 1960 – Alain Robidoux, Canadian snooker player
- 1961 – Bobbie Eakes, American actress
- 1961 – Katherine Kelly Lang, American actress
- 1961 – Hugo Teufel III, 2nd Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security
- 1962 – Doug Drabek, American baseball player
- 1963 – Denis Coderre, French Canadian politician
- 1963 – Julian Hodgson, English chess player
- 1964 – Breuk Iversen, American designer and writer
- 1965 – Illeana Douglas, American actress
- 1965 – Marty Brown (singer), country singer
- 1966 – Maureen Herman, American bassist
- 1966 – Lynda Lemay, French Canadian singer
- 1966 – Christine C. Quinn, American politician
- 1967 – Matt LeBlanc, American actor
- 1967 – Wendy Raquel Robinson, American actress
- 1967 – Tommy Skjerven, Norwegian football referee
- 1968 – Rudi Bryson, Former South African cricketer
- 1969 – Jon Barry, American basketball player
- 1971 – Chloë Annett, British actress
- 1971 – Roger Creager, American country music singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Tracy Murray, American basketball player
- 1971 – Billy Wagner, American baseball player
- 1973 – David Denman, American actor
- 1973 – Dani Filth, British singer (Cradle of Filth)
- 1973 – Mur Lafferty, American podcaster and writer
- 1973 – Kevin Phillips, English footballer
- 1973 – Michael C. Williams, American actor
- 1974 – Jay R. Ferguson, American actor
- 1974 – Kenzo Suzuki, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1975 – Jody Craddock, English footballer
- 1975 – Jean-Claude Darcheville, French footballer
- 1976 – Tera Patrick, American pornographic actress
- 1976 – Jovica Tasevski-Eternijan, Macedonian poet
- 1976 – Javier Vázquez, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1977 – Kenny Thomas, American basketball player
- 1978 – Louise Brown, World's first test tube baby
- 1978 – Gerard Warren, American football player
- 1979 – Amy Adams, American singer
- 1979 – Allister Carter, English professional snooker player
- 1980 – Diam's, French rapper
- 1980 – Shawn Riggans, American baseball player
- 1980 – Toni Vilander, Finnish racing driver
- 1980 – Scott Waldrom, New Zealand All Black rugby player
- 1981 – Conor Casey, American soccer player
- 1981 – Constantinos Charalambidis, Greek-Cypriot footballer
- 1981 – Jani Rita, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1982 – Norbert Lemcke, German footballer
- 1982 – Brad Renfro, American actor (d. 2008)
- 1982 – Monde Zondeki, South African cricketer
- 1983 – Nenad Krstic, Serbian basketball player
- 1984 – Loukas Mavrokefalidis, Greek basketball player
- 1985 – James Lafferty, American actor
- 1985 – Jasmine Lennard, English model
- 1985 – Gaël Clichy, French footballer
- 1985 – Nelson Piquet, Jr., Brazilian race car driver
- 1986 – Barbara Meier, German model
- 1986 – Ahtyba Rubin, American football player
- 1986 – Abraham Guié Guié, Ivorian footballer
- 1986 – Givanildo Vieira de Souza, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Michael Welch, American actor
- 1988 – Sarah Geronimo, Filipina actress and singer
- 1988 – Heather Marks, Canadian model
- 1988 – Anthony Stokes, Irish footballer
- 1989 – Noel Callahan, Canadian actor
- 1989 – Francisco Ferreira, Portuguese journalist
- 1990 – Andi Eigenmann, Filipina actress
- 2000 – Preston Bailey, American actor--
Deaths
- 306 – Constantius Chlorus, Roman Emperor (b. 250)
- 1409 – King Martin I of Sicily
- 1471 – Thomas à Kempis, German priest and mystic (b. 1380)
- 1472 – Charles of Artois, Count of Eu, French military leader (b. 1394)
- 1492 – Pope Innocent VIII (b. 1432)
- 1572 – Isaac Luria, Jewish mystic (b. 1534)
- 1616 – Andreas Libavius, German physician and chemist (b. 1550)
- 1643 – Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, English statesman (b. 1584)
- 1676 – François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac, French writer (b. 1604)
- 1681 – Urian Oakes, English-born President of Harvard University (b. 1631)
- 1790 – Johann Bernhard Basedow, German education reformer (b. 1723)
- 1790 – William Livingston, Governor of New Jersey (b. 1723)
- 1791 – Isaac Low, American Continental Congressman (b. 1735)
- 1794 – André Chénier, French writer (b. 1762)
- 1826 – Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleyev, Russian poet and revolutionary (b. 1795)
- 1834 – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet (b. 1772)
- 1842 – Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (b. 1766)
- 1843 – Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor (b. 1766)
- 1853 – Joaquin Murieta, California outlaw
- 1861 – Jonas Furrer, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1805)
- 1865 – "James Barry", military surgeon, first female Briton to become a qualified medical doctor
- 1866 – Floride Calhoun, Second Lady of the United States (b. 1792)
- 1887 – John Taylor, American religious leader (b. 1808)
- 1934 – François Coty, French perfume manufacturer (b. 1874)
- 1934 – Engelbert Dollfuss, Chancellor of Austria (assassinated) (b. 1892)
- 1952 – Herbert Murrill, English composer (b. 1909)
- 1959 – Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Polish-born Chief Rabbi of Ireland and of Israel (b. 1888)
- 1962 – Thibaudeau Rinfret, Canadian jurist and Chief Justice (b. 1879)
- 1963 – Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist (b. 1877)
- 1967 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Greek painter (b. 1878)
- 1971 – Leroy Robertson, American composer (b. 1896)
- 1973 – Louis Stephen St. Laurent, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1882)
- 1980 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian poet, singer, and actor (b. 1938)
- 1982 – Hal Foster, Canadian-American cartoonist (Prince Valiant) (b. 1892)
- 1984 – Bryan Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1913)
- 1984 – Big Mama Thornton, American singer (b. 1926)
- 1986 – Vincente Minnelli, American film director (b. 1903)
- 1988 – Judith Barsi, American actress (b. 1978)
- 1989 – Steve Rubell, American night club owner (b. 1943)
- 1992 – Alfred Drake, American actor and singer (b. 1914)
- 1995 – Charlie Rich, American rock/soul/country musician (b. 1932)
- 1997 – Ben Hogan, American golfer (b. 1912)
- 1998 – Tal Farlow, American jazz guitarist (b. 1921)
- 1998 – Evangelos Papastratos, Greek businessman (b. 1910)
- 2000 – Rudi Faßnacht, German football manager (b. 1934)
- 2002 – Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian existentialist philosopher (b. 1917)
- 2003 – Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical engineer (b. 1912)
- 2003 – Erik Brann, American musician (Iron Butterfly) (b. 1950)
- 2003 – John Schlesinger, British film director (b. 1926)
- 2004 – John Passmore, Australian philosopher (b. 1914)
- 2005 – Albert Mangelsdorff, German jazz trombonist (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Carl Brashear, first African-American U.S Navy Master Diver (b. 1931)
- 2006 – Ezra Fleischer, Romanian dissident, later Israeli writer (b. 1928)
- 2007 – Bernd Jakubowski, German goalkeeper (b. 1952)
- 2007 – Jesse Marunde, American strongman competitor (b. 1979)
- 2008 – Randy Pausch, American professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, known for his "Last Lecture" (b. 1960)
- 2008 – Tracy Hall, American inventor (b. 1919)
- 2008 – Jeff Fehring, Australian rules footballer (b. 1955)
- 2009 – Harry Patch, British supercentenarian and World War I veteran (b. 1898)
- 2009 – Vernon Forrest, Professional boxer, 2-division world champion (b. 1971)
- 2009 – Alexis Cohen, American Idol contestant (unsuccessful), viral phenomenon (b. 1984)
- 2009 – Yasmin Ahmad, Malaysian film director, writer and scriptwriter (b. 1958)
- 2010 – Redford White, Filipino comedian (b. 1955)
- 2011 – Mihalis Kakogiannis, Cypriot filmmaker (b. 1922)
Holidays and observances
External links