On this day: October 25

Events on October 25

• 473 Emperor Leo I acclaims his grandson Leo II as Caesar of the East Roman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1147 Reconquista: Forces under Afonso I of Portugal captured Lisbon from the Moors after a four-month siege in one of the few Christian victories during the Second Crusade. Wikipedia
• 1415 Hundred Years' War: The army of Henry V of England, consisting mostly of archers, unexpectedly defeated the numerically superior French cavalry at the Battle of Agincourt on Saint Crispin's Day. Wikipedia
• 1616 Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog left a plate on an island in Shark Bay, the oldest-known artefact of European exploration in Australia still in existence. Wikipedia
• 1760 George III became King of Great Britain and Ireland, succeeding his grandfather George II. Wikipedia
• 1854 Crimean War: The ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade was decisively repelled by Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: During Price's Missouri Expedition, Union troops defeated Sterling Price's Confederate army in three successive battles: Marais des Cygnes, Mine Creek, and Marmiton River. Wikipedia
• 1911 The Xinhai Revolution spreads to Guangzhou, where the Qing general Fengshan is assassinated by the Chinese Assassination Corps. Wikipedia
• 1917 Old Style date of the October Revolution in Russia. Wikipedia
• 1920 Irish playwright and politician Terence MacSwiney died after a hunger strike in Brixton Prison, bringing the Irish struggle for independence to international attention. Wikipedia
• 1924 The Daily Mail published the Zinoviev letter, a hoax purported to be a directive from Moscow to increase communist agitation. Wikipedia
• 1927 The Italian cruise liner SS Principessa Mafalda sank when a propeller shaft broke and fractured the hull, resulting in 314 deaths. Wikipedia
• 1929 Following a series of similar actions against other sculptures, hundreds of students at Armstrong College in Newcastle tarred and feathered Statue of Industry, created by the college's master of sculpture Herbert Maryon. Wikipedia
• 1944 Heinrich Himmler ordered a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a nonconformist youth group that assisted army deserters and others hiding from the Nazis. Wikipedia
• 1944 USS Tang, the U.S. Navy submarine credited with sinking more ships than any other American submarine, sank when it was struck by its own torpedo. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The final attempt of the Imperial Japanese Navy to win the war climaxes at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Wikipedia
• 1950 The People's Volunteer Army ambushed the South Korean II Corps at the Battle of Onjong, and elsewhere engaged the 1st Infantry Division at the Battle of Unsan, marking China's entry into the Korean War. Wikipedia
• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: Adlai Stevenson shows the United Nations Security Council reconnaissance photographs of Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba. Wikipedia
• 1973 Egypt and Israel accept United Nations Security Council Resolution 339. Wikipedia
• 1983 The United States and its Caribbean allies invade Grenada, six days after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several of his supporters are executed in a coup d'état. Wikipedia
• 1990 The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic declares its sovereignty from the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 2001 Windows XP, one of the most popular and widely used versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, was released for retail sale. Wikipedia
• 2010 Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that lasted over a month. Wikipedia
• 2010 A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes off Indonesia's Mentawai Islands, triggering a tsunami that kills at least 400 people. Wikipedia
• 2022 At 49 days, Liz Truss concluded the shortest tenure as prime minister of the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 2023 A mass shooting occurs in two locations in Lewiston, Maine. 18 people are killed and 13 more injured. Wikipedia

Born on October 25

• 1767 Benjamin Constant, Swiss-French philosopher and politician (died 1830) Wikipedia
• 1800 Thomas Babington Macaulay, English poet, historian, and politician, Secretary at War (died 1859) Wikipedia
• 1806 Max Stirner, German philosopher and author (died 1856) Wikipedia
• 1811 Évariste Galois, French mathematician and theorist (died 1832) Wikipedia
• 1825 Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer and educator (died 1899) Wikipedia
• 1827 Marcellin Berthelot, French chemist and politician (died 1907) Wikipedia
• 1838 Georges Bizet, French pianist and composer (died 1875) Wikipedia
• 1877 Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1881 Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1888 Richard E. Byrd, American admiral and pilot (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1895 Levi Eshkol, Ukrainian-Israeli soldier and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Israel (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1913 Klaus Barbie, German SS captain (died 1991) Wikipedia
• 1921 Michael I of Romania (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1931 Annie Girardot, French actress and singer (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1964 Kevin Michael Richardson, American voice actor and singer Wikipedia
• 1971 Elif Şafak, French-Turkish journalist, author, and academic Wikipedia
• 1975 Zadie Smith, English author and academic Wikipedia
• 1984 Katy Perry, American singer-songwriter and actress Wikipedia
• 1985 Ciara, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1989 Mia Wasikowska, Australian actress Wikipedia
• 1997 Federico Chiesa, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 2000 Dominik Szoboszlai, Hungarian footballer Wikipedia

Died on October 25

• 625 Pope Boniface V Wikipedia
• 1154 Stephen, King of England Wikipedia
• 1400 Geoffrey Chaucer, English philosopher, poet, and author (born c. 1343) Wikipedia
• 1495 John II of Portugal (born 1455) Wikipedia
• 1647 Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (born 1608) Wikipedia
• 1760 George II of Great Britain (born 1683) Wikipedia
• 1938 Alfonsina Storni, Swiss-Argentinian poet and author (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1945 Robert Ley, German politician (born 1890) Wikipedia
• 1956 Risto Ryti, Finnish lawyer, politician and Governor of the Bank of Finland; 5th President of Finland (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1973 Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian runner (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 1976 Raymond Queneau, French poet and author (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 1993 Vincent Price, American actor (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 2002 Richard Harris, Irish actor and singer (born 1930) Wikipedia
• 2016 Carlos Alberto Torres, Brazilian football player and manager (born 1944) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day (Romania) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bernat Calbó (Bernard of Calvo) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Boniface I Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Canna Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Carlo Gnocchi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Crysanthus and Daria (Western Christianity) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Crispin and Crispinian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fructus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gaudentius of Brescia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Goeznovius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Minias of Florence Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mar Nestorius (in the Nestorian churches) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Tabitha (Dorcas) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Tegulus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: The Six Welsh Martyrs and companions (in Wales) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: The Hallowing of Nestorius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: October 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of the Basque Country (Basque Country) Wikipedia
• Republic Day (Kazakhstan) Wikipedia
• Retrocession Day and the memorial day for the Battle of Guningtou ( Taiwan) Wikipedia
• Sovereignty Day (Slovenia) Wikipedia
• Thanksgiving Day (Grenada) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “October 25” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/October 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 “October 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 October 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.