On This Day — 25 November
2000s
2009
Jeddah floods: Freak rains swamp the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during an ongoing Hajj pilgrimage. Three thousand cars are swept away and 122 people perish in the torrents, with 350 others missing.
2009 Jeddah floods
2008
Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and displacing 90,000 others while dealing the region the highest rainfall in nine decades.
Cyclone Nisha (2008)
2000
The 2000 Baku earthquake, with a Richter magnitude of 7.0 kills 26 people dead in Baku, Azerbaijan, being the strongest earthquake in the region in 158 years.
2000 Baku earthquake
1900s
1999
A five-year-old Cuban boy, Elián González, is rescued by fishermen while floating in an inner tube off the Florida coast.
Elián González
1992
The Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with effect from January 1, 1993.
Federal Assembly (Czechoslovakia)
1987
Typhoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 265 km/h (165 mph) and a surge that destroys entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm.
Typhoon Nina (1987)
1986
Iran–Contra affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
Iran–Contra affair
1986
The King Fahd Causeway is officially opened in the Persian Gulf.
King Fahd Causeway
1985
A Soviet Air Force Antonov An-12 is shot down near Menongue in Angola's Cuando Cubango Province, killing 21.
Soviet Air Forces
1984
Thirty-six top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Notting Hill
1981
Pope John Paul II appoints Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Pope John Paul II
1980
Sangoulé Lamizana, president of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Colonel Saye Zerbo.
Sangoulé Lamizana
1977
Former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., is found guilty by the Philippine Military Commission No. 2 and is sentenced to death by firing squad. He is later assassinated in 1983.
Ninoy Aquino
1975
Coup of 25 November 1975, a failed military coup d'état by Portuguese far-left activists seeking to hijack the Portuguese transition to democracy to establish a communist regime.
Coup of 25 November 1975
1975
Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.
Suriname
1973
Georgios Papadopoulos, head of the military Regime of the Colonels in Greece, is ousted in a hardliners' coup led by Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannidis.
Georgios Papadopoulos
1970
In Japan, author Yukio Mishima and one compatriot commit ritualistic seppuku after an unsuccessful coup attempt.
Yukio Mishima
1968
The Old Student House in Helsinki, Finland is occupied by a large group of University of Helsinki students.
Old Student House, Helsinki
1963
State funeral of John F. Kennedy; after lying in state at the United States Capitol, a Requiem Mass takes place at Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle and the President is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
State funeral of John F. Kennedy
1960
The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated.
Mirabal sisters
1958
French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
French Sudan
1952
Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End after a premiere in Nottingham, UK. It will become the longest continuously running play in history.
Agatha Christie
1952
Korean War: After 42 days of fighting, the Battle of Triangle Hill ends in a Chinese victory. American and South Korean units abandon their attempt to capture the "Iron Triangle".
Korean War
1950
The Great Appalachian Storm of 1950 impacts 22 American states, killing 353 people, injuring over 160, and causing US$66.7 million in damages (1950 dollars).
Great Appalachian Storm of 1950
1947
Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
McCarthyism
1947
New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
Statute of Westminster 1931
1943
World War II: Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina is re-established at the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
1941
World War II: HMS Barham is sunk by a German torpedo.
World War II
1936
In Berlin, Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, agreeing to consult on measures "to safeguard their common interests" in the case of an unprovoked attack by the Soviet Union against either nation.
Berlin
1931
Wilhelm Schäfer leaves the Nazi Party and hands over the Boxheim Documents to the Frankfurt police.
Nazi Party
1926
The deadliest November tornado outbreak in U.S. history kills 76 people and injures more than 400.
List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
1918
Vojvodina, formerly Austro-Hungarian crown land, proclaims its secession from Austria-Hungary to join the Kingdom of Serbia.
Vojvodina
1917
World War I: German forces defeat Portuguese army of about 1,200 at Negomano on the border of modern-day Mozambique and Tanzania.
World War I
1915
Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
Albert Einstein
1912
Românul de la Pind, the longest-running newspaper by and about Aromanians prior to World War II, ceases its publications.
Românul de la Pind
1908
A fire breaks out on SS Sardinia as it leaves Malta's Grand Harbour, resulting in the ship's grounding and the deaths of at least 118 people.
SS Sardinia (1888)
1905
Prince Carl of Denmark arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway.
Haakon VII
1800s
1876
American Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack the sleeping village of Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife at the headwaters of the Powder River.
American Indian Wars
1874
The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the Panic of 1873.
Greenback Party
1864
American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.
Confederate Army of Manhattan
1863
American Civil War: Battle of Missionary Ridge: Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg at Missionary Ridge in Tennessee.
American Civil War
1839
A cyclone slams into south-eastern India. An estimated 300,000 deaths resulted from the disaster.
1839 Coringa cyclone
1833
A massive undersea earthquake, estimated magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, rocks Sumatra, producing a massive tsunami all along the Indonesian coast.
1833 Sumatra earthquake
1826
The Greek frigate Hellas arrives in Nafplion to become the first flagship of the Hellenic Navy.
Greek frigate Hellas
Before 1800
1795
Partitions of Poland: Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and is exiled to Russia.
Partitions of Poland
1783
American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City, three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
American Revolutionary War
1759
An earthquake hits the Mediterranean destroying Beirut and Damascus and killing 30,000–40,000.
1759 Near East earthquakes
1758
French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control. Later, Fort Pitt will be built nearby and grow into modern Pittsburgh.
French and Indian War
1755
King Ferdinand VI of Spain grants royal protection to the Beaterio de la Compañia de Jesus, now known as the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary.
Ferdinand VI
1678
Trunajaya rebellion: After a long and logistically challenging march, the allied Mataram and Dutch troops successfully assault the rebel stronghold of Kediri.
Trunajaya rebellion
1667
A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha in the Caucasus, killing 80,000 people.
1667 Shamakhi earthquake
1596
The Cudgel War begins in Finland (at the time part of Sweden), when peasants rebel against the imposition of taxes by the nobility.
Cudgel War
1510
Portuguese conquest of Goa: Portuguese naval forces under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque, and local mercenaries working for privateer Timoji, seize Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate, resulting in 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule.
Portuguese conquest of Goa
1491
The siege of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, ends with the Treaty of Granada.
Granada War
1487
Elizabeth of York is crowned Queen Consort of England.
Elizabeth of York
1400
King Minkhaung I becomes king of Ava.
Minkhaung I
1343
A tsunami, caused by an earthquake in the Tyrrhenian Sea, devastates Naples and the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, among other places.
Tsunami
1177
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Châtillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem
1120
The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin, son and heir of Henry I of England.
White Ship disaster
1034
Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots, dies. His grandson, Donnchad, son of Bethóc and Crínán of Dunkeld, inherits the throne.
Malcolm II of Scotland
-571
Servius Tullius, king of Rome, celebrates the first of his three triumphs for his victory over the Etruscans.
Servius Tullius