July 25
is the 206th day (207th in
leap years) of the year in the
Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining.
*
306 -
Constantine I proclaimed
Roman emperor by his troops.
*
864 -
Edict of Pistres of
Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the
Vikings*
1261 - The city of
Constantinople is recaptured by
Nicaean forces under the command of
Michael VIII Palaeologus, thus re-establishing the
Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines also succeed in capturing
Thessalonica and the rest of the
Latin Empire.
*
1536 -
Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of
El Dorado found the City of
Santiago de Cali*
1547 -
Henry II (France) crowned*
1567 - Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day
Caracas, the capital city of
Venezuela.
*
1593 -
Henry IV of France publicly converts from
Protestantism to
Roman Catholicism.
*
1603 -
James VI of Scotland is crowned first king of
Great Britain*
1693 - Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, actual
Sabinas Hidalgo,
Nuevo León,
México.
*
1722 -
Three Years War begins along
Maine and
Massachusetts border.
*
1758 -
French and Indian War: The island battery at
Fortress Louisbourg in
Nova Scotia is silenced and all
French warships are destroyed or taken.
*
1759 - French and Indian War: In
Western New York, British forces capture
Fort Niagara from French, who subsequently abandon
Fort Rouillé.
*
1797 -
Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of
Tenerife Island (
Spain).
*
1799 - At
Aboukir in
Egypt,
Napoleon I of France defeats 10,000
Ottomans under
Mustafa Pasha.
*
1814 -
War of 1812:
Battle of Lundy's Lane - Reinforcements arrive near
Niagara Falls for General Riall's
British and
Canadian force, and bloody, all-night battle with
Jacob Brown's
Americans commences at 18.00; Americans retreat to
Fort Erie.
*
1824 -
Guanacaste annexes
Costa Rica from
Nicaragua.
*
1853 -
Joaquin Murietta, famous
Californio bandit known as "Robin Hood of El Dorado", is killed.
*
1861 -
American Civil War: The
Crittenden-Johnson Resolution is passed by the
U.S. Congress stating that the war is being fought to preserve the
Union and not to end
slavery.
*
1866 - The
U.S. Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of
General of the Army (now called "5-star general") Lieutenant General
Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank.
*
1868 -
Wyoming becomes a
United States territory.
*
1869 - The Japanese
daimyō begin returning their land holdings to the
emperor as part of the
Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional
Japanese Date: June 17, 1869)
*
1894 - The
First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship.
*
1897 - Writer
Jack London sails to join the
Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories.
*
1898 - The
United States invasion of
Puerto Rico begins with U.S. troops landing at harbor of
Guánica, Puerto Rico.
*
1907 -
Korea becomes a
protectorate of
Japan.
*
1908 -
Ajinomoto is born.
Kikunae Ikeda of the
Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in
Konbu soup stock is
monosodium glutamate (MSG) and patents a process for manufacturing it.
*
1909 -
St. Louis Bleriot makes the first flight across the
English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine (
Calais to
Dover in 37 minutes).
*
1917 - Sir
Thomas Whyte introduces the first
income tax in
Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
*
1920 -
Telecommunications: first transatlantic two-way
radio broadcast.
*
1925 -
Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established.
*
1934 -
Nazis assassinate
Austrian Chancellor
Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.
*
1943 -
World War II:
Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by his own
Italian Grand Council and is replaced by
Pietro Badoglio.
*
1944 - World War II:
Operation Spring - One of the bloodiest days for
Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.
*
1946 -
Operation Crossroads: An
atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of
Bikini atoll.
* 1946 - At Club 500 in
Atlantic City, New Jersey,
Dean Martin and
Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a
comedy team.
*
1952 - The U.S. territory of
Puerto Rico adopts a constitution approved by the U.S. Congress
*
1956 - 45 miles south of
Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner
SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the
SS Stockholm in heavy
fog, killing 51.
*
1958 - The
African Regroupment Party (PRA) holds its first congress in
Cotonou.
*
1965 -
Newport Folk Festival:
Bob Dylan goes electric.
*
1969 -
Vietnam War: US President
Richard Nixon declares the
Nixon Doctrine stating that the
United States now expects its
Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This was the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war.
*
1973 -
Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.
*
1976 - The first performance of the
Philip Glass opera Einstein on the Beach*
1977 - A supposed
thunderbird is reported attacking a boy named Marlon Lowe.
*
1978 - The first so-called
test-tube baby,
Louise Brown, was born.
*
1984 -
Salyut 7 Cosmonaut
Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a
space walk.
*
1989 -
Rock/
Hip-hop trio
The Beastie Boys release the classic
Paul's Boutique.*
1990 - Comedian
Roseanne Barr grabs her crotch and spits on the ground when performing the "
Star-Spangled Banner" at a
San Diego Padres baseball game.
*
1993 -
Israel launches a massive attack against
Lebanon in what the Israelis call
Operation Accountability and the Lebanese call
Seven-Day War. The
St James Church massacre - Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa
*
1994 -
Israel and
Jordan sign the
Washington Declaration which formally ends the
state of war that has existed between the nations since
1948.
*
1995 - A gas bottle
exploded in station
Saint Michel of line B of the
RER (
Paris regional train network). 8 were killed and 80 wounded.
*
1997 -
K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as
India's 10th president and the first
Dalit— formerly called
untouchable— to hold this office.
*
1998 - The
United States Navy commissions the aircraft carrier
USS Harry S. Truman and puts her into service.
*
1999 -
Lance Armstrong wins his first
Tour de France.
*
2000 -
Air France Flight 4590, a
Concorde supersonic passenger jet, F-BTSC, crashes just after takeoff from
Paris killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground.
*
2004 -
Lance Armstrong makes history, winning his 6th consecutive
Tour de France.
*
1016 -
Casimir I, Duke of Poland (d.
c. 1058)
*
1109 - King
Afonso I of Portugal (d.
1185)
*
1336 -
Albert, Count of Holland (d.
1404)
*
1404 -
Philip I, Duke of Brabant (d.
1430)
*
1421 -
Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (d.
1461)
*
1562 -
Kato Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord and samurai (d.
1611)
*
1653 -
Agostino Steffani, Italian diplomat and composer (d.
1728)
*
1658 -
Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, Scottish privy councillor (d.
1703)
*
1750 -
Henry Knox, American general in the
American Revolution (d.
1806)
*
1799 -
David Douglas, Scottish botanist, plant collector, explorer (d.
1834)
*
1839 -
Francis Garnier, French explorer (d.
1873)
*
1844 -
Thomas Eakins, American artist (d.
1916)
*
1848 -
Arthur Balfour, 33rd
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d.
1930)
*
1867 -
Alexander Rummler, American painter (d.
1959)
*
1867 -
Max Dauthendey, German writer (d.
1918)
*
1870 -
Maxfield Parrish, American illustrator (d.
1966)
*
1883 -
Alfredo Casella, Italian composer (d.
1947)
*
1884 -
Davidson Black, Canadian anthropologist (d.
1934)
*
1886 -
Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Swedish big-game hunter (d.
1946)
*
1894 -
Walter Brennan, American actor (d.
1974)
* 1894 -
Gavrilo Princip, Serbian nationalist- assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand (
1914) (d.
1918)
*
1901 -
Lila Lee, American actress (d.
1973)
*
1902 -
Eric Hoffer, American philosopher (d.
1983)
*
1905 -
Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born writer,
Nobel Prize Laureate (d.
1994)
*
1906 -
Johnny Hodges, American saxophonist (d.
1970)
*
1907 -
Varlam Shalamov, Russian writer (d.
1982)
*
1908 -
Bill Bowes, English cricketer (d.
1987)
*
1918 -
Jane Frank (born
Jane Babette Schenthal), American artist (d.
1986)
*
1920 -
Rosalind Franklin, English scientist (d.
1958)
*
1923 -
Estelle Getty, American actress
*
1926 -
Whitey Lockman, baseball player
*
1928 -
Keter Betts, American jazz bassist (d.
2005)
*
1929 -
Somnath Chatterjee, Indian politician
*
1930 -
Maureen Forrester, Canadian contralto
*
1935 -
Barbara Harris, American actress
*
1936 -
Glenn Murcutt, Australian architect
*
1937 -
Colin Renfrew, English archeologist
*
1941 -
Emmett Till, Victim of internationally recognized hate crime(d.
1955)
*
1943 -
Jim McCarty, English musician (
The Yardbirds)
*
1946 -
Rita Marley, Jamaican-Cuban singer
*
1954 -
Walter Payton, American football player (d.
1999)
*
1955 -
Iman Abdulmajid, Somali model
*
1958 -
Thurston Moore, American musician (
Sonic Youth)
*
1960 -
Alain Robidoux, Canadian snooker player
*
1963 -
Julian Hodgson, English chess player
*
1965 -
Illeana Douglas, American actress
*
1967 -
Matt LeBlanc, American actor
* 1967 -
Chuck Paugh, American record company owner
*
1973 -
Dani Filth, English singer (
Cradle of Filth)
* 1973 -
Kevin Phillips, English footballer
* 1973 -
Michael C. Williams, American actor
*
1977 -
Kenny Thomas, American basketball player
*
1978 -
Louise Brown, first test tube baby
* 1978 -
Gerard Warren, American football player
*
1979 -
Amy Adams, American singer
*
1979 -
Allister Carter, professional Snooker player
*
1980 -
Diam's, French female rapper
*
1982 -
Brad Renfro, American actor
*
1985 -
Nelson Angelo Piquet, Brazilian race car driver
* 1985 -
James Lafferty, American actor (
One Tree Hill)
*
1987 -
Nathan Lawrence, American actor
* 1987 -
Michael Welch, American actor
*
1988 -
Heather Marks, Canadian supermodel
*
306 -
Constantius Chlorus,
Roman Emperor (b.
250)
*
1409 - King
Martin I of Sicily*
1492 -
Pope Innocent VIII (b.
1432)
*
1616 -
Andreas Libavius, German physician and chemist (b.
1550)
*
1643 -
Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, English statesman (b.
1584)
*
1676 -
François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac, French writer (b.
1604)
*
1681 -
Urian Oakes, English-born President of Harvard University (b.
1631)
*
1790 -
Johann Bernhard Basedow, German education reformer (b.
1723)
* 1790 -
William Livingston,
Governor of New Jersey (b.
1723)
*
1791 -
Isaac Low, American Continental Congressman (b.
1735)
*
1794 -
André Chénier, French writer (b.
1762)
*
1826 -
Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleyev, Russian poet and revolutionary (b.
1795)
*
1834 -
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet (b.
1772)
*
1842 -
Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (b.
1766)
*
1843 -
Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor (b.
1766)
*
1853 -
Joaquin Murieta, California outlaw
*
1861 -
Jonas Furrer, Swiss Federal Councilor (b.
1805)
*
1887 -
John Taylor, American religious leader (b.
1808)
*
1934 -
François Coty, French perfume manufacturer (b.
1874)
* 1934 -
Engelbert Dollfuss,
Chancellor of Austria (assassinated) (b.
1892)
* 1934 -
Nestor Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist (b.
1889)
*
1963 -
Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist (b.
1877)
*
1971 -
Leroy Robertson, American composer (b.
1896)
*
1973 -
Louis Stephen St. Laurent, 12th
Prime Minister of Canada (b.
1882)
*
1980 -
Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian poet, singer, and actor (b.
1938)
*
1986 -
Vincente Minnelli, American film director (b.
1903)
*
1988 -
Judith Barsi, American actress (b.
1978)
*
1996 -
Howard Vernon, Swiss actor (b.
1914)
*
1997 -
Ben Hogan, American golfer (b.
1912)
*
1998 -
Tal Farlow, American jazz guitar virtuoso. (b.
1921)
*
2003 -
Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical engineer (b.
1912)
* 2003 -
John Schlesinger, British film director (b.
1926)
*
2005 -
Albert Mangelsdorff, German jazz trombonist (b.
1928)
*
Roman festivals -
Furinalia*
Galicia (Spain) - National Day (
Día da Pátria Galega).
*
Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least 7 saints:
**St.
James the Great, the patron saint of
Spain.
**St.
Christopher**St.
Cucufas/Cougat
**St.
Nissen**St.
Thea**St.
Valentine**St. Paul
*
Costa Rica - Anniversary of the Annexation of
Guanacaste Province
*
Cuba - Eve of Revolution Day
*
Mexico - Anniversary of the Foundation of
Santiago de Querétaro*
Puerto Rico -
Constitution Day (1952)
*
Tunisia -
Republic Day (1957)
*
Virgin Islands -
Hurricane Supplication Day*
Inca - festival in honor of
Ilyap'a*
Ebernoe Horn Fair,
Sussex,
England*
BBC: On This DayJuly 24 -
July 26 -
June 25 -
August 25 --
listing of all days
