On This Day — 25 April
2000s
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.
2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting
2015
At least 8,962 are killed in Nepal after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.
April 2015 Nepal earthquake
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.
Flint water crisis
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.
Death and state funeral of Boris Yeltsin
2005
The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
Obelisk of Axum
2005
A seven-car commuter train derails and crashes into an apartment building near Amagasaki Station in Japan, killing 107, including the driver.
Amagasaki derailment
2005
Bulgaria and Romania sign the Treaty of Accession 2005 to join the European Union.
Bulgaria
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.
March for Women's Lives (2004)
1900s
1990
Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.
Violeta Chamorro
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.
Cold War
1983
Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
Pioneer 10
1982
Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
Israel
1981
More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant
1980
One hundred forty-six people are killed when Dan-Air Flight 1008 crashes near Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Dan-Air Flight 1008
1974
Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime.
Carnation Revolution
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.
Vietnam War
1961
Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
Robert Noyce
1960
The United States Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
USS Triton (SSRN-586)
1959
The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
St. Lawrence Seaway
1954
The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Solar cell
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.
Francis Crick
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.
Korean War
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.
World War II
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.
Liberation Day (Italy)
1945
United Nations Conference on International Organization: Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.
United Nations Conference on International Organization
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.
Lapland War
1944
The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
UNCF
1938
U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
Supreme Court of the United States
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.
Nazi Germany
1920
At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class "A" League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
San Remo conference
1916
Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC Cove.
Anzac Day
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.
World War I
1901
New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
Vehicle registration plates of New York
1800s
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.
Spanish–American War
1892
Véry bombing during the Ère des attentats (1892–1894).
Véry bombing
1882
French and Vietnamese troops clash in Tonkin, when Commandant Henri Rivière seizes the citadel of Hanoi with a small force of marine infantry.
French Third Republic
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.
Battle of Marks' Mills
1862
American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
American Civil War
1859
British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
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.
Governor General of Canada
1846
Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War.
Thornton Affair
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.
Charles Fremantle
1808
Dano-Swedish War of 1808–1809: The Battle of Trangen takes place at Trangen in Flisa, Hedemarkens Amt, between Swedish and Norwegian troops.
Dano-Swedish War (1808–1809)
Before 1800
1792
Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
Highwayman
1792
"La Marseillaise" (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
La Marseillaise
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.
Battle of Almansa
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.
Transition from Ming to Qing
1607
Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
Eighty Years' War
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.
House of York
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.
Disfigurement
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.
Battle of Bagrevand
-404
Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.
Lysander