On this day: September 25

Events on September 25

• 275 After the assassination of Aurelian, Tacitus was chosen by the Senate to succeed him as Roman emperor. Wikipedia
• 844 Viking expansion: A Viking fleet arrived near Seville, then part of the Emirate of Córdoba, and began a raid of the city that was eventually repelled by Muslim defenders. Wikipedia
• 867 Basil I is crowned Byzantine emperor in the Hagia Sophia after he murdered the previous emperor Michael III in the night before. Wikipedia
• 1396 Ottoman wars in Europe: Ottoman forces under Bayezid I defeated a Christian alliance led by Sigismund of Hungary near present-day Nikopol, Bulgaria. Wikipedia
• 1643 The House of Commons of England accepts the Solemn League and Covenant, which promises religious reforms in England and Ireland in exchange for support of Scottish troops against king Charles I in the First English Civil War. Wikipedia
• 1775 American Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen and a small force of American and Quebec militia failed to capture the city of Montreal from British forces. Wikipedia
• 1775 American Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen surrenders to British forces after attempting to capture Montreal in the Battle of Longue-Pointe during the invasion of Quebec. Wikipedia
• 1775 American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec sets off to join the American invasion. Wikipedia
• 1786 The mine of Huancavelica in the Peruvian Andes collapses, killing more than two hundred people. The event was a major setback for mercury production in the Spanish Empire. Wikipedia
• 1800 French Revolutionary Wars: After U.S. ships became involved, French forces abandoned their invasion of the Batavian island of Curaçao. Wikipedia
• 1906 Leonardo Torres Quevedo demonstrates the Telekino in the Bilbao Abra (Spain), guiding an electric boat from the shore with people on board, which was controlled at a distance over 2 km (1.2 mi), in what is considered to be the origin of modern wireless remote-control operation principles. Wikipedia
• 1915 World War I: The Second Battle of Champagne begins. Wikipedia
• 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Eighth Route Army gains a minor, but morale-boosting victory in the Battle of Pingxingguan. Wikipedia
• 1944 Second World War: British troops began their withdrawal from the Battle of Arnhem in the Netherlands, ending the Allies' Operation Market Garden in defeat. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Surviving elements of the British 1st Airborne Division withdraw from Arnhem via Oosterbeek. Wikipedia
• 1957 United States Army troops escorted nine students as Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas was integrated. Wikipedia
• 1962 The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria is formally proclaimed. Ferhat Abbas is elected President of the provisional government. Wikipedia
• 1969 The charter establishing the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is signed. Wikipedia
• 1981 Belize joins the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1983 In one of the largest prison escapes in British history, 38 Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners hijacked a meals lorry and broke out of HM Prison Maze in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Wikipedia
• 1985 Three civilians killed by alleged supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Larnaca yacht killings. Wikipedia
• 1990 The Ram Rath Yatra, a political–religious rally organised to erect a temple to the Hindu deity Rama on the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, began in the Indian state of Gujarat. Wikipedia
• 1992 NASA launches the Mars Observer. Eleven months later, the probe would fail while preparing for orbital insertion. Wikipedia
• 1997 NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-86 to the Mir space station. Wikipedia
• 1998 PauknAir Flight 4101, a British Aerospace 146, crashes near Melilla Airport in Melilla, Spain, killing 38 people. Wikipedia
• 2018 Bill Cosby is sentenced to three to ten years in prison for aggravated sexual assault. Wikipedia

Born on September 25

• 1599 Francesco Borromini, Swiss-Italian architect, designed the San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and Sant'Agnese in Agone (died 1667) Wikipedia
• 1644 Ole Rømer, Danish astronomer and instrument maker (died 1710) Wikipedia
• 1683 Jean-Philippe Rameau, French composer and theorist (died 1764) Wikipedia
• 1694 Henry Pelham, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1754) Wikipedia
• 1711 Qianlong Emperor of China (died 1799) Wikipedia
• 1862 Billy Hughes, English-Australian carpenter and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1952) Wikipedia
• 1866 Thomas Hunt Morgan, American biologist, geneticist, and embryologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1881 Lu Xun, Chinese author and critic (died 1936) Wikipedia
• 1896 Sandro Pertini, Italian journalist and politician, 7th President of Italy (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1897 William Faulkner, American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1962) Wikipedia
• 1903 Mark Rothko, Latvian-American painter and educator (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1906 Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian pianist and composer (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1929 Barbara Walters, American journalist, producer, and author (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1932 Adolfo Suárez, Spanish lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Spain (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1944 Michael Douglas, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1949 Pedro Almodóvar, Spanish director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1951 Mark Hamill, American actor, singer, and producer Wikipedia
• 1952 Christopher Reeve, American actor, producer, and activist (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1953 Richard Harvey, English mandolin player, keyboard player, and composer Wikipedia
• 1955 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1968 Will Smith, American actor, producer, and rapper Wikipedia
• 1969 Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress Wikipedia

Died on September 25

• 1066 Harald Hardrada, Norwegian king (born 1015) Wikipedia
• 1506 Philip I of Castile (born 1478) Wikipedia
• 1534 Pope Clement VII (born 1478) Wikipedia
• 1777 Johann Heinrich Lambert, Swiss mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (born 1728) Wikipedia
• 1828 Charlotta Seuerling, Swedish singer, harpsichord player, and composer (born 1783) Wikipedia
• 1958 John B. Watson, American psychologist and academic (born 1878) Wikipedia
• 1970 Erich Maria Remarque, German-Swiss author and translator (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 1971 Hugo Black, American captain, jurist, and politician, Associate Supreme Court Justice (born 1886) Wikipedia
• 1983 Leopold III of Belgium (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1986 Nikolay Semyonov, Russian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1987 Mary Astor, American actress (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 1991 Klaus Barbie, German SS captain, known as the "Butcher of Lyon" (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 2003 Franco Modigliani, Italian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2011 Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1940) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day or Revolution Day (Mozambique) Wikipedia
• Bangladeshi Immigration Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Abadir and Iraja and Companions (Coptic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aunarius (Aunacharius) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anathalon (Archdiocese of Milan) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cadoc Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ceolfrith Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cleopas Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Euphrosyne of Alexandria Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Finbarr Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fermin of Amiens Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Lancelot Andrewes (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sergius of Radonezh (repose) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 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.