On this day: August 25

Events on August 25

• 450 Marcian is proclaimed Eastern Roman emperor at Hebdomon and marries empress Pulcheria. Wikipedia
• 1609 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers. Wikipedia
• 1609 Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers. Wikipedia
• 1630 Portuguese forces are defeated by the Kingdom of Kandy at the Battle of Randeniwela in Sri Lanka. Wikipedia
• 1823 American fur trapper Hugh Glass is mauled by a grizzly bear while on an expedition in South Dakota. Wikipedia
• 1835 The first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1912 The Kuomintang is founded for the first time in Peking. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: During the sack of Louvain in Belgium, German troops burned the town's Catholic university, destroying hundreds of medieval manuscripts. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary. Wikipedia
• 1920 Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends with the Red Army's defeat. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: The first Bombing of Berlin by the British Royal Air Force. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Japanese forces attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay during the New Guinea campaign. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1958 The world's first publicly marketed instant noodles, Chikin Ramen, are introduced by Taiwanese-Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando. Wikipedia
• 1960 The Games of the XVII Olympiad commence in Rome, Italy. Wikipedia
• 1980 Zimbabwe joins the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1981 Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1989 The NASA spacecraft Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune and provided definitive proof of the existence of the planet's rings. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1991 Belarus gains its independence from the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1991 Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 2005 Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in Florida. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia

Born on August 25

• 1530 Ivan the Terrible, Russian ruler (died 1584) Wikipedia
• 1707 Louis I of Spain (died 1724) Wikipedia
• 1744 Johann Gottfried Herder, German poet, philosopher, and critic (died 1803) Wikipedia
• 1767 Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French soldier and politician (died 1794) Wikipedia
• 1841 Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1917) Wikipedia
• 1845 Ludwig II of Bavaria, King of Bavaria (died 1886) Wikipedia
• 1850 Charles Richet, French physiologist and occultist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1882 Seán T. O'Kelly, Irish journalist and politician, 2nd President of Ireland (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1900 Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1905 Faustina Kowalska, Polish nun and saint (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1911 Võ Nguyên Giáp, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd Minister of Defence for Vietnam (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1912 Erich Honecker, German politician (died 1994) Wikipedia
• 1916 Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1918 Leonard Bernstein, American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1928 Herbert Kroemer, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1930 Sean Connery, Scottish actor and producer (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1949 Martin Amis, British novelist (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1958 Tim Burton, American director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1962 Taslima Nasrin, Bangladeshi author Wikipedia
• 1970 Claudia Schiffer, German model and fashion designer Wikipedia
• 1987 Blake Lively, American model and actress Wikipedia
• 1987 Amy Macdonald, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist Wikipedia

Died on August 25

• 79 Pliny the Elder, Roman commander and philosopher (born 23) Wikipedia
• 306 Saint Maginus, Christian hermit and martyr from Tarragona Wikipedia
• 383 Gratian, Roman emperor (born 359) Wikipedia
• 1776 David Hume, Scottish economist, historian, and philosopher (born 1711) Wikipedia
• 1819 James Watt, Scottish engineer and instrument maker (born 1736) Wikipedia
• 1822 William Herschel, German-English astronomer and composer (born 1738) Wikipedia
• 1867 Michael Faraday, English physicist and chemist (born 1791) Wikipedia
• 1900 Friedrich Nietzsche, German philologist, philosopher, and critic (born 1844) Wikipedia
• 1908 Henri Becquerel, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1852) Wikipedia
• 1916 Mary Tappan Wright, American novelist and short story writer (born 1851) Wikipedia
• 1976 Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 2012 Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (born 1930) Wikipedia
• 2018 John McCain, American politician (born 1936) Wikipedia
• 2026 Dolly Parton, American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist and businesswoman (born 1946) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Æbbe of Coldingham Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aredius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Genesius of Arles Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Genesius of Rome Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ginés de la Jara (or Genesius of Cartagena) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gregory of Utrecht Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joseph Calasanz Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Louis IX of France Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Ludovicus Baba Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Ludovicus Sasada Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Luis Sotelo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed María del Tránsito Cabanillas Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Emily de Vialar Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Menas of Constantinople Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Miguel de Carvalho Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Patricia of Naples Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Pedro Vásquez Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thomas de Cantilupe (or of Hereford) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: August 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Songun (North Korea) Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uruguay from Brazil in 1825. Wikipedia
• Soldier's Day (Brazil) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “August 25” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.