On this day: November 25

Events on November 25

• 1034 After Malcolm II of Scotland died at Glamis, Duncan, the son of his second daughter, rather than Macbeth, the son of his eldest daughter, inherited the throne to become the King of Scots. Wikipedia
• 1120 The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin, son and heir of Henry I of England. Wikipedia
• 1177 Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Châtillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard. Wikipedia
• 1491 Reconquista: The Granada War was effectively brought to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Granada between Castile-Aragon and the Emirate of Granada. Wikipedia
• 1510 Adil Shahi–Portuguese conflicts: Afonso de Albuquerque, the governor of Portuguese India, led an armada to conquer Goa. Wikipedia
• 1678 Trunajaya rebellion: After a series of difficult marches, allied Mataram and Dutch troops successfully assaulted the rebel stronghold of Kediri in eastern Java. Wikipedia
• 1759 The second of two strong earthquakes struck the Levant and destroyed all the villages in the Beqaa Valley. Wikipedia
• 1783 American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City, three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Wikipedia
• 1795 Stanisław II Augustus, the last king of Poland, was forced to abdicate after the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: Confederate forces were defeated at the Battle of Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee, opening the door to the Union's invasion of the Deep South. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1885 Banff National Park, the oldest national park in Canada, was established as the Banff Hot Springs Reserve. Wikipedia
• 1901 Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 premiered in Munich. Wikipedia
• 1905 Prince Carl of Denmark arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway. Wikipedia
• 1917 World War I: German troops invaded Portuguese East Africa in an attempt to escape superior British forces to the north and resupply from captured Portuguese materiel. Wikipedia
• 1936 Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, agreeing that, if the Soviet Union attacked one of them, they would consult each other on what measures to take to "safeguard their common interests". Wikipedia
• 1940 The de Havilland Mosquito, one of the most successful military aircraft in the Second World War, made its first flight. Wikipedia
• 1947 McCarthyism: Executives from movie studios agreed to blacklist ten screenwriters and directors who were jailed for refusing to give testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee. Wikipedia
• 1951 The left-wing Japanese novelist Wataru Kaji disappeared, leading to a government inquiry in which CIA involvement was investigated; Kaji stated he was kidnapped and held against his will by intelligence officers, which the United States denied. Wikipedia
• 1952 Korean War: After 42 days of fighting, the Battle of Triangle Hill ended as American and South Korean units abandoned their attempt to capture the "Iron Triangle". Wikipedia
• 1960 Three of the four Mirabal sisters, who opposed the dictatorship of military strongman Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, were beaten and strangled to death. Wikipedia
• 1970 After failing to instigate a military coup to restore the powers of the Emperor of Japan, author Yukio Mishima and a member of his militia committed ritual suicide. Wikipedia
• 1975 Upon Suriname's independence from the Netherlands, Johan Ferrier became its first president. Wikipedia
• 1981 A group of Conservative members of Parliament wrote a letter outlining their opposition to the economic policy of Margaret Thatcher, leading to speculation over a split from the party. Wikipedia
• 1984 Band Aid, a supergroup consisting of more than 30 leading British and Irish pop musicians, recorded the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Wikipedia
• 2013 English-Irish boy band One Direction released their third studio album Midnight Memories which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became the best-selling album of 2013. Wikipedia

Born on November 25

• 1562 Lope de Vega, Spanish playwright and poet (died 1635) Wikipedia
• 1609 Henrietta Maria of France, Queen Consort of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1669) Wikipedia
• 1638 Catherine of Braganza, Queen Consort of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1705) Wikipedia
• 1814 Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (died 1878) Wikipedia
• 1835 Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist (died 1919) Wikipedia
• 1844 Karl Benz, German engineer and businessman, founded Mercedes-Benz (died 1929) Wikipedia
• 1845 José Maria de Eça de Queirós, Portuguese-French journalist and author (died 1900) Wikipedia
• 1870 Maurice Denis, French painter of Les Nabis movement (died 1943) Wikipedia
• 1881 Pope John XXIII (died 1963) Wikipedia
• 1887 Nikolai Vavilov, Russian botanist and geneticist (died 1943) Wikipedia
• 1895 Anastas Mikoyan, Soviet politician, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (died 1978) Wikipedia
• 1895 Ludvík Svoboda, Czech general and politician, 8th President of Czechoslovakia (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1900 Rudolf Höss, German SS officer, commandant of Auschwitz, convicted war criminal (died 1947) Wikipedia
• 1914 Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player and coach (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1915 Augusto Pinochet, Chilean general and politician, 30th President of Chile (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1923 Mauno Koivisto, Finnish banker and politician, 9th President of Finland (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1926 Poul Anderson, American author (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1971 Christina Applegate, American actress Wikipedia
• 1981 Xabi Alonso, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1984 Gaspard Ulliel, French actor (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1986 Katie Cassidy, American actress Wikipedia
• 2002 Pedri, Spanish footballer Wikipedia

Died on November 25

• 1185 Pope Lucius III (born 1097) Wikipedia
• 1885 Alfonso XII of Spain (born 1857) Wikipedia
• 1885 Thomas A. Hendricks, American lawyer and politician, 21st Vice President of the United States (born 1819) Wikipedia
• 1950 Johannes V. Jensen, Danish author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1873) Wikipedia
• 1956 Alexander Dovzhenko, Ukrainian-Russian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1959 Gérard Philipe, French actor (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 1968 Upton Sinclair, American novelist, critic, and essayist (born 1878) Wikipedia
• 1970 Yukio Mishima, Japanese author, actor, and director (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 1974 U Thant, Burmese lawyer and diplomat, 3rd Secretary-General of the United Nations (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 1974 Nick Drake, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1948) Wikipedia
• 1997 Hastings Banda, Malawian physician and politician, 1st President of Malawi (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 2005 George Best, Northern Irish footballer (born 1946) Wikipedia
• 2016 Fidel Castro, Communist leader of Cuba, and revolutionary (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2020 Diego Maradona, Argentinian football player (born 1960) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Catherine of Alexandria and its related observances Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elizabeth of Reute Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Isaac Watts (Lutheran Church and Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: James Otis Sargent Huntington (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: November 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women Wikipedia
• Roses Revolution Day, against obstetric violence Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “November 25” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/November 25” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “November 25” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for November 25 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.