On this day: October 25

Events on October 25

• 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
• 1415 Hundred Years' War: Henry V of England, with his lightly armoured infantry and archers, defeats the heavily armoured French cavalry in the Battle of Agincourt. Wikipedia
• 1760 George III became King of Great Britain and Ireland, succeeding his grandfather George II. Wikipedia
• 1760 King George III succeeds to the British throne on the death of 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
• 1868 The Uspenski Cathedral, designed by Aleksey Gornostayev, is inaugurated in Helsinki, Finland. Wikipedia
• 1875 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B♭ minor, Op. 23 premieres in Boston, Massachusetts, with Benjamin Johnson Lang as conductor and Hans von Bülow as soloist. 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
• 1927 The Italian cruise liner SS Principessa Mafalda sank when a propeller shaft broke and fractured the hull, resulting in 314 deaths. Wikipedia
• 1932 George Lansbury became the leader of the opposition British Labour Party. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Heinrich Himmler orders a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a loosely organized youth culture in Nazi Germany that had assisted army deserters and others to hide from the Third Reich. 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
• 1945 Fifty years of Japanese administration of Taiwan formally ends when the Republic of China assumes control. 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
• 1971 The People's Republic of China replaces the Republic of China at the United Nations. 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
• 2001 Microsoft releases Windows XP, which becomes one of Microsoft's most successful operating systems. Wikipedia
• 2010 A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes off Indonesia's Mentawai Islands, triggering a tsunami that kills at least 400 people. Wikipedia
• 2010 Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that lasted over a month. Wikipedia
• 2022 At 49 days, Liz Truss concluded the shortest tenure as prime minister of the United Kingdom. Wikipedia

Born on October 25

• 1759 Maria Feodorovna, Russian wife of Paul I of Russia (died 1828) Wikipedia
• 1759 William Grenville, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1834) Wikipedia
• 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
• 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
• 1921 Michael I of Romania (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1924 Earl Palmer, American Hall of Fame drummer (died 2008) 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
• 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

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 2026-10-09 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.