August 25
August 25 is the 237th day of the year (238th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 128 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
- 1248 - The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
- 1537 - The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
- 1580 - Battle of Alcântara. Spain defeats Portugal.
- 1609 - Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
- 1758 - Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
- 1768 - James Cook begins his first voyage.
- 1814 - Washington, D.C. is burned and White House is destroyed by British forces during the War of 1812.
- 1825 - Uruguay declares its independence from Brazil.
- 1830 - The Belgian Revolution begins.
- 1835 - The New York Sun perpetrates the Great Moon Hoax.
- 1894 - Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet.
- 1898 - 700 Greeks and 15 Englishmen are slaughtered by the Turks in Heraklion, Greece.
- 1910 - Yellow Cab is founded.
- 1912 - The Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party, is founded.
- 1916 - The United States National Park Service is created.
- 1920 - Polish-Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends. The Red Army is defeated.
- 1921 - The first skirmishes of the Battle of Blair Mountain occur.
- 1933 - The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.
- 1942 - World War II: second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. A Japanese naval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned-back by an Allied air attack, losing one destroyer and one transport sunk, and one light cruiser heavily damaged.
- 1944 - World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
- 1945 - Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Communist Party of China kill Baptist missionary John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War.
- 1948 - The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing: "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
- 1950 - President Harry Truman orders the US Army to seize control of the nation's railroads to avert a strike.
- 1981 - Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn
- 1989 - Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist Prime Minister in Central and Eastern Europe.
- 1989 - Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the outermost planet in the Solar System.
- 1989 - Mayumi Moriyama becomes Japan's first female cabinet secretary.
- 1991 - Belarus declares its independence from the Soviet Union
- 1991 - Linux was born when Linus Torvalds sent off the email announcing his project to create a new operating system.
- 1991 - The Battle of Vukovar has begun. An 87-day siege of an Croatian city by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serbian paramilitary forces, between August-November 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence.
- 1997 - Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill Berlin Wall policy.
- 2003 - The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko).
Births
- 1530 - Tsar Ivan IV of Russia (d. 1584)
- 1561 - Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer (d. 1632)
- 1624 - François de la Chaise, French confessor of Louis XIV of France (d. 1709)
- 1662 - John Leverett the Younger, American educator (d. 1724)
- 1719 - Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo, French painter (d. 1795)
- 1724 - George Stubbs, British painter (d. 1806)
- 1741 - Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian (d. 1792)
- 1744 - Johann Gottfried Herder, German writer (d. 1803)
- 1767 - Antoine Louis Léon de Richebourg de Saint-Just, French revolutionary and writer (d. 1794)
- 1786 - King Ludwig I of Bavaria (d. 1868)
- 1796 - James Lick, American land baron (d. 1876)
- 1802 - Nikolaus Lenau, Austrian poet (d. 1850)
- 1803 - Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, the Duque de Caxias, Brazilian military leader
- 1819 - Allan Pinkerton, American private detective (d. 1884)
- 1836 - Bret Harte, American writer (d. 1902)
- 1841 - Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss medical researcher; Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917)
- 1845 - King Ludwig II of Bavaria (d. 1886)
- 1867 - James W. Gerard, American jurist and diplomat (d. 1951)
- 1868 - Nikolaos Levidis, Greek shooter
- 1882 - Seán T. O'Kelly, Irish politician (d. 1966)
- 1893 - Henry Trendley Dean, American dental researcher (d. 1962)
- 1898 - Helmut Hasse, German mathematician (d. 1975)
- 1898 - Arthur Wood, England cricketer (d. 1973)
- 1900 - Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist; Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
- 1902 - Stefan Wolpe, German-born composer (d. 1972)
- 1903 - Arpad Elo, American chess writer (d. 1992)
- 1905 - Faustina Kowalska, Polish mystic (d. 1938)
- 1906 - Jim Smith, England cricketer (d. 1979)
- 1909 - Ruby Keeler, Canadian singer and actress (d. 1993)
- 1909 - Michael Rennie, English actor (d. 1971)
- 1911 - Vo Nguyen Giap (Võ Nguyên Giáp), Vietnamese general and statesman
- 1912 - Erich Honecker, East German politician (d. 1994)
- 1913 - Walt Kelly, American cartoonist (d. 1973)
- 1913 - Don DeFore, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1915 - Walter Trampler, American violist (d. 1997)
- 1916 - Van Johnson, American actor
- 1916 - Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist; Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003)
- 1916 - Saburo Sakai, Japanese aviator (d. 2000)
- 1917 - Mel Ferrer, Cuban-American actor, film director and film producer (d. 2008)
- 1918 - Leonard Bernstein, American conductor and composer (d. 1990)
- 1918 - Richard Greene, English actor (d. 1985)
- 1919 - George Wallace, American politician (d. 1998)
- 1921 - Monty Hall, Canadian-born game show host
- 1921 - Brian Moore, Irish-born writer (d. 1999)
- 1921 - Bryce Mackasey, Canadian politician (d. 1999)
- 1925 - Thea Astley, Australian writer, (d. 2004)
- 1927 - Althea Gibson, American tennis player (d. 2003)
- 1928 - Herbert Kroemer, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1928 - Darrell Johnson, American baseball player (d. 2004)
- 1930 - Sean Connery, Scottish actor
- 1930 - Graham Jarvis, Canadian actor (d. 2003)
- 1930 - Bruce Allpress, New Zealand actor
- 1931 - Hal Fishman, Los Angeles based local news anchor. (d. 2007)
- 1931 - Regis Philbin, American television host
- 1933 - Wayne Shorter, American jazz musician
- 1933 - Tom Skerritt, American actor
- 1934 - Lise Bacon, French Canadian politician
- 1934 - Eddie Ilarde, Filipino disk jockey, television host, and Senator
- 1935 - Charles Wright, American poet
- 1938 - David Canary, American actor
- 1938 - Frederick Forsyth, English author
- 1939 - John Badham, American film director
- 1940 - José Van Dam, Belgian baritone
- 1944 - Anthony Heald, American actor
- 1944 - Conrad Black, newspaper magnate
- 1944 - Jacques Demers, Canadian hockey coach
- 1946 - Rollie Fingers, American baseball player
- 1946 - Charles Ghigna (Father Goose), American poet and Children's Author
- 1946 - Charlie Sanders, American football player
- 1949 - Martin Amis, English novelist
- 1949 - John Savage, American actor
- 1949 - Gene Simmons, Israeli-born musician (Kiss)
- 1949 - Fariborz Lachini, Canadian-Iranian composer
- 1950 - Charles Fambrough, American jazz musician
- 1951 - Rob Halford, English singer (Judas Priest)
- 1951 - Bill Handel, American radio personality
- 1952 - Geoff Downes, English keyboardist (Buggles, Yes, Asia)
- 1952 - Duleep Mendis, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1954 - Elvis Costello, English musician
- 1955 - Vijayakanth, Tamil actor and politician
- 1956 - Henri Toivonen, Finnish rally driver (d.1986)
- 1957 - Sikander Bakht, Pakistani cricketer
- 1958 - Tim Burton, American film director
- 1958 - Christian LeBlanc, American actor
- 1960 - Ashley Crow, American actress
- 1961 - Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer and actor
- 1961 - Joanne Whalley, British actress
- 1962 - David Packer, American actor
- 1962 - Vivian Campbell, Irish musician (Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Dio)
- 1962 - Shahid Mahboob, Pakistani cricketer
- 1963 - James Backhouse, British artist
- 1964 - Maxim Kontsevich, Russian mathematician
- 1964 - Blair Underwood, American actor
- 1964 - Vassilios Kotronias, Greek chess grandmaster
- 1964 - Marti Noxon, American television writer and producer
- 1965 - Mia Zapata, American singer (The Gits) (d. 1993)
- 1965 - Sanjeev Sharma, Indian cricketer
- 1966 - Albert Belle, American Major League Baseball player
- 1966 - Derek Sherinian, American keyboardist
- 1966 - Robert Maschio, American Actor ("The Todd" in Scrubs)
- 1967 - Jeff Tweedy, American singer (Wilco)
- 1968 - Rafet El Roman, Turkish singer and composer
- 1968 - Yuri Mitsui, Japanese actress, model and racing driver
- 1968 - Stuart Murdoch, Scottish musician (Belle & Sebastian)
- 1968 - Takeshi Ueda, Japanese singer and composer
- 1968 - Rachael Ray, American chef and television personality
- 1968 - Spider One, American musician (Powerman 5000)
- 1969 - Cameron Mathison, Canadian actor
- 1969 - Vivek Razdan, Indian cricketer
- 1970 - Robert Horry, American basketball player
- 1970 - Jo Dee Messina, American country music singer
- 1970 - Claudia Schiffer, German model
- 1971 - Mike Lockwood, professional wrestler (d. 2003)
- 1971 - Thalia Sodi, Mexican actress and singer
- 1972 - Marvin Harrison, American football player
- 1973 - Fatih Akin, Turkish-German film director
- 1973 - Olavi Mikkonen, Swedish heavy metal guitarist (Amon Amarth)
- 1974 - Eric Millegan, American actor
- 1974 - Dave Luza, Dutch comedian
- 1974 - Pablo Ozuna, Dominican baseball player
- 1975 - Jeremy Horn, American MMA Fighter
- 1976 - Alexander Skarsgård, Swedish actor
- 1976 - Javed Qadeer, Pakistani cricketer
- 1977 - Sophie Cadieux, Quebec actress
- 1977 - Diego Corrales, American boxer (d. 2007)
- 1977 - Jonathan Togo, American actor
- 1978 - Kel Mitchell, American actor
- 1979 - Marlon Harewood, English footballer
- 1980 - Neal Musser, American baseball player
- 1981 - Rachel Bilson, American actress
- 1981 - Clare Oliver, Australian cancer activist (d. 2007)
- 1983 - James Righton, English musician (Klaxons)
- 1983 - James Rossiter, British racing driver
- 1983 - Janet Chow, Canadian/Chinese beauty pageant contestant
- 1987 - Stacey Farber, Canadian actress
- 1987 - Blake Lively, American actress
- 1987 - Justin Upton, American baseball player
- 1987 - James Wesolowski, Australian footballer
- 1987 - Liu Yifei, Chinese actress and singer
- 1988 - Angela Park, Brazilian/American golfer
- 1988 - Raymond Quinn, English singer
- 1992 - Miyabi Natsuyaki, Japanese singer
- 1993 - Jennifer Docherty, WHO THE HELL KEEPS TAKING ME OFF THIS THING?!?!?!
- 1994 - Josh Flitter, American actor
- 1997 - Holly Gibbs, English actress
- 1998 - China Anne McClain, American actress
Deaths
- 383 - Gratian, Roman Emperor (b. 359)
- 471 - Gennadius I, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 458)
- 1192 - Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1142)
- 1270 - King Louis IX of France (b. 1214)
- 1282 - Thomas Cantilupe, English saint (b. ca 1218)
- 1330 - Sir James Douglas, Scottish soldier (b. 1286)
- 1482 - Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI of England (b. 1429)
- 1554 - Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English politician (b. 1473)
- 1632 - Thomas Dekker, English dramatist (b. ca. 1572)
- 1650 - Richard Crashaw, English poet (b. ca. 1613)
- 1688 - Henry Morgan, Welsh privateer (b. ca. 1635)
- 1699 - King Christian V of Denmark (b. 1646)
- 1711 - Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey, English politician
- 1742 - Carlos Seixas, Portuguese composer (b. 1704)
- 1774 - Niccolò Jommelli, Italian composer (b. 1714)
- 1776 - David Hume, Scottish philosopher and historian (b. 1711)
- 1792 - Jacques Cazotte, French writer (b. 1719)
- 1822 - William Herschel, German-born astronomer (b. 1738)
- 1867 - Michael Faraday, English scientist (b. 1791)
- 1900 - Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (b. 1844)
- 1900 - Kuroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
- 1904 - Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter (b. 1836)
- 1904 - William Hall, Canadian Royal Naval sailor (b. 1827)
- 1908 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1852)
- 1924 - Mariano Álvarez, Filipino general (b. 1818)
- 1925 - Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (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 intelligence officer and missionary (b. 1918)
- 1950 - Earl Caddock, professional wrestler (b. 1888)
- 1956 - Alfred Kinsey, American research biologist (b. 1894)
- 1965 - Moonlight Graham, American baseball player
- 1967 - Stanley Bruce, eighth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1883)
- 1967 - Paul Muni, Polish actor (b. 1895)
- 1967 - George Lincoln Rockwell, American Nazi Party leader (b. 1918)
- 1968 - Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (b. 1910)
- 1971 - Ted Lewis, American musician and entertainer (b. 1890)
- 1976 - Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1900)
- 1979 - Stan Kenton, American musician and bandleader (b. 1911)
- 1980 - Gower Champion, American dancer, actor, and choreographer (b. 1919)
- 1984 - Truman Capote, American author (b. 1924)
- 1984 - Waite Hoyt, American baseball player (b. 1899)
- 1984 - Viktor Chukarin, Soviet gymnast (b. 1921)
- 1985 - Samantha Smith, American social activist (b. 1972)
- 1990 - Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (b. 1903)
- 1999 - Rob Fisher, English musician (b. 1956)
- 2000 - Carl Barks, American cartoonist (b. 1901)
- 2000 - Jack Nitzsche, American record producer (b. 1937)
- 2001 - Aaliyah, American singer and actress (b. 1979)
- 2001 - Carl Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)
- 2001 - Ken Tyrrell, former race driver and founder of Tyrrell Racing (b. 1924)
- 2001 - Philippe Léotard, French actor and singer (b. 1940)
- 2002 - Dorothy Hewett, Australian writer (b. 1923)
- 2005 - Peter Glotz, German politician (b. 1939)
- 2007 - Ray Jones, English footballer (b. 1988)
- 2008 - Kevin Duckworth, American basketball player (b. 1964)
- 2008 - Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian mountaineer (b. 1959)
Holidays and observances
- Roman festivals - Opiconsivia held in honor of Ops.
- Roman Catholic Saints - Genesius of Arles, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Joseph Calasanz.
- Uruguay - National Day (independence from Brazil in 1825).