On This Day — 25 August
2000s
2017
Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2004.
Hurricane Harvey
2017
Conflict in Rakhine State (2016–present): One hundred seventy people are killed in at least 26 separate attacks carried out by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, leading to the governments of Myanmar and Malaysia designating the group as a terrorist organisation.
Conflict in Rakhine State (2016–present)
2012
Voyager 1 spacecraft enters interstellar space, becoming the first man-made object to do so.
Voyager 1
2011
Fifty-two people are killed during an arson attack caused by members of the drug cartel Los Zetas.
2011 Monterrey casino attack
2010
A Filair Let L-410 Turbolet crashes on approach to Bandundu Airport, killing 20.
Filair
2006
Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko is sentenced to nine years imprisonment for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion.
Pavlo Lazarenko
2005
Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in Florida.
Hurricane Katrina
2003
NASA successfully launches the Spitzer Space Telescope into space.
NASA
2001
American singer Aaliyah and several members of her entourage are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, Bahamas.
Aaliyah
1900s
1997
Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill policy at the Berlin Wall.
Egon Krenz
1991
Belarus gains its independence from the Soviet Union.
Belarus
1991
The Battle of Vukovar begins. An 87-day siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serb paramilitary forces, between August and November 1991 (during the Croatian War of Independence).
Battle of Vukovar
1991
Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux.
Linus Torvalds
1989
Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the last planet in the Solar System at the time, due to Pluto being within Neptune's orbit from 1979 to 1999.
Voyager 2
1989
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404, carrying 54 people, disappears over the Himalayas after takeoff from Gilgit Airport in Pakistan. The aircraft was never found.
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404
1985
Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 crashes near Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport in Auburn, Maine, killing all eight people on board including peace activist and child actress Samantha Smith.
Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808
1981
Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
Voyager 2
1980
Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
Zimbabwe
1980
The last performance of the Jahrhundertring at the Bayreuth Festival receives ovations of 45 minutes.
Jahrhundertring
1967
George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, is assassinated by a former member of his group.
George Lincoln Rockwell
1961
President Jânio Quadros of Brazil resigns after just seven months in power, initiating a political crisis that culminates in a military coup in 1964.
Jânio Quadros
1960
The Games of the XVII Olympiad commence in Rome, Italy.
1960 Summer Olympics
1958
The world's first publicly marketed instant noodles, Chikin Ramen, are introduced by Taiwanese-Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando.
Instant noodles
1950
To avert a threatened strike during the Korean War, President Truman orders Secretary of the Army Frank Pace to seize control of the nation's railroads.
Frank Pace
1948
The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing: "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
House Un-American Activities Committee
1945
Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Chinese Communist Party kill U.S. intelligence officer John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War.
Victory over Japan Day
1945
The August Revolution ends as Emperor Bảo Đại abdicates, ending the Nguyễn dynasty.
August Revolution
1944
World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
Liberation of Paris
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.
Battle of the Eastern Solomons
1942
World War II: Battle of Milne Bay: Japanese marines assault Allied airfields at Milne Bay, New Guinea, initiating the Battle of Milne Bay.
Battle of Milne Bay
1941
World War II: Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran: The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union jointly stage an invasion of the Imperial State of Iran.
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
1940
World War II: The first Bombing of Berlin by the British Royal Air Force.
World War II
1939
The Irish Republican Army carries out the 1939 Coventry bombing in which five civilians were killed.
Irish Republican Army
1939
The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the UK promises to defend Poland in case of invasion by a foreign power.
Second Polish Republic
1933
The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.
1933 Diexi earthquake
1933
Nazi Germany and the Zionist Federation of Germany signed the Haavara Agreement. The agreement was a major factor in breaking the anti-Nazi boycott of 1933 and facilitated Jewish emigration from Germany and into British Mandate of Palestine.
Nazi Germany
1920
Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends with the Red Army's defeat.
Polish–Soviet War
1916
The United States National Park Service is created.
National Park Service
1914
World War I: Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary.
World War I
1914
World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is deliberately destroyed by the German Army. Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts are lost.
Sack of Louvain
1912
The Kuomintang is founded for the first time in Peking.
Kuomintang
1904
Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Liaoyang begins.
Russo-Japanese War
1800s
1894
Kitasato Shibasaburō discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet.
Kitasato Shibasaburō
1883
France and Viet Nam sign the Treaty of Huế, recognizing a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin.
French Third Republic
1875
Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 21 hours and 45 minutes.
Matthew Webb
1835
The first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.
Great Moon Hoax
1830
The Belgian Revolution begins.
Belgian Revolution
1825
The Thirty-Three Orientals declare the independence of Uruguay from Brazil.
Thirty-Three Orientals
1823
American fur trapper Hugh Glass is mauled by a grizzly bear while on an expedition in South Dakota.
Hugh Glass
1814
War of 1812: On the second day of the Burning of Washington, British troops torch the Library of Congress, United States Treasury, Department of War, and other public buildings.
War of 1812
Before 1800
1758
Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
Seven Years' War
1630
Portuguese forces are defeated by the Kingdom of Kandy at the Battle of Randeniwela in Sri Lanka.
Kingdom of Kandy
1609
Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
Galileo Galilei
1580
War of the Portuguese Succession: Spanish victory at the Battle of Alcântara brings about the Iberian Union.
War of the Portuguese Succession
1543
António Mota and a few companions become the first Europeans to visit Japan.
António Mota
1537
The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
Honourable Artillery Company
1270
Philip III, although suffering from dysentery, becomes King of France following the death of his father Louis IX, during the Eighth Crusade. His uncle, Charles I of Naples, is forced to begin peace negotiations with Muhammad I al-Mustansir, Hafsid Sultan of Tunis.
Philip III of France
1258
Regent George Mouzalon and his brothers are killed during a coup headed by the aristocratic faction under Michael VIII Palaiologos, paving the way for its leader to ultimately usurp the throne of the Empire of Nicaea.
George Mouzalon
1248
The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
Ommen
766
Emperor Constantine V humiliates nineteen high-ranking officials, after discovering a plot against him. He executes the leaders, Constantine Podopagouros and his brother Strategios.
Constantine V