April 25

Historic Events

2026

Shots are fired outside of the White House Correspondents' Dinner in the Washington Hilton where U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet are attending. One injury is reported and a suspect is taken into custody. ›

2015

At least 8,962 are killed in Nepal after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal. ›

2014

The Flint water crisis begins when officials at Flint, Michigan switch the city's water supply to the Flint River, leading to lead and bacteria contamination. ›

2007

Boris Yeltsin's funeral: The first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894. ›

2005

The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937. ›

2005

A seven-car commuter train derails and crashes into an apartment building near Amagasaki Station in Japan, killing 107, including the driver. ›

2005

Bulgaria and Romania sign the Treaty of Accession 2005 to join the European Union. ›

2004

The March for Women's Lives brings over one million protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion. ›

1990

Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position. ›

1983

Cold War: American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war. ›

1982

Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords. ›

1981

More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. ›

1980

One hundred forty-six people are killed when Dan-Air Flight 1008 crashes near Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands. ›

1974

Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime. ›

1972

Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive: The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum. ›

1961

Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit. ›

1959

The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping. ›

1954

The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories. ›

1953

Francis Crick and James Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" describing the double helix structure of DNA. ›

1951

Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong. ›

1945

World War II: United States and Soviet reconnaissance troops meet in Torgau and Strehla along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two. This would be later known as Elbe Day. ›

1945

World War II: Liberation Day (Italy): The National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy calls for a general uprising against the German occupation and the Italian Social Republic. ›

1945

United Nations Conference on International Organization: Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco. ›

1945

World War II: The last German troops retreat from Finnish soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military actions of the Second World War end in Finland. ›

1944

The United Negro College Fund is incorporated. ›

1938

U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law. ›

1933

Nazi Germany issues the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities limiting the number of Jewish students able to attend public schools and universities. ›

1915

World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles. ›

1898

Spanish–American War: The United States Congress declares that a state of war between the U.S. and Spain has existed since April 21, when an American naval blockade of the Spanish colony of Cuba began. ›

1892

Véry bombing during the Ère des attentats (1892–1894). ›

1882

French and Vietnamese troops clash in Tonkin, when Commandant Henri Rivière seizes the citadel of Hanoi with a small force of marine infantry. ›

1864

American Civil War: In the Battle of Marks' Mills, a force of 8,000 Confederate soldiers attacks 1,800 Union soldiers and a large number of wagon teamsters, killing or wounding 1,500 Union combatants. ›

1862

American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana. ›

1859

British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal. ›

1849

The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots. ›

1846

Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War. ›

1829

Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the British Empire. ›

1808

Dano-Swedish War of 1808–1809: The Battle of Trangen takes place at Trangen in Flisa, Hedemarkens Amt, between Swedish and Norwegian troops. ›

1792

Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine. ›

1792

"La Marseillaise" (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. ›

1707

A coalition of Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal is defeated by a Franco-Spanish army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession. ›

1644

Transition from Ming to Qing: The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng. ›

1607

Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar. ›

1464

A Yorkist army under the Baron Montagu defeats a Lancastrian army under the Duke of Somerset in the battle of Hedgeley Moor during the Wars of the Roses. ›

799

After mistreatment and disfigurement by the citizens of Rome, Pope Leo III flees to the Frankish court of king Charlemagne at Paderborn for protection. ›

775

The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over the South Caucasus is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and their remnants flee to the Byzantine Empire. ›

404 BC

Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion. ›