25 April History
- 1590 - The Sultan of Morocco launches a successful attack to capture Timbuktu.
- 1644 - The Ming Chongzhen emperor commits suicide by hanging himself.
- 1707 - At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeat the Anglo-Portugese forces.
- 1719 - Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe is published in London.
- 1792 - The guillotine is first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.
- 1859 - Work begins on the Suez Canal in Egypt.
- 1862 - Admiral Farragut occupies New Orleans, Louisiana.
- 1864 - After facing defeat in the Red River Campaign, Union General Nathaniel Bank returns to Alexandria, Louisiana.
- 1867 - Tokyo is opened for foreign trade.
- 1882 - French commander Henri Riviere seizes the citadel of Hanoi in Indochina.
- 1898 - The United States declares war on Spain.
- 1915 - Australian and New Zealand troops land at Gallipoli in Turkey.
- 1925 - General Paul von Hindenburg takes office as president of Germany.
- 1926 - In Iran, Reza Kahn is crowned Shah and chooses the name "Pehlevi."
- 1926 - Puccini's opera Turandot premiers at La Scala in Milan with Arturo Toscanini conducting.
- 1938 - A seeing eye dog is used for the first time.
- 1945 - U.S. and Soviet forces meet at Torgau, Germany on Elbe River.
- 1951 - After a three day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment is annihilated on "Gloucester Hill," in Korea.
- 1953 - The magazine Nature publishes an article by biologists Francis Crick and James Watson, describing the "double helix" of DNA.
- 1956 - Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" goes to number one on the charts.
- 1959 - The St. Lawrence Seaway–linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes–opens to shipping.
- 1960 - The first submerged circumnavigation of the Earth is completed by a Triton submarine.
- 1962 - A U.S. Ranger spacecraft crash lands on the Moon.
- 1971 - The country of Bangladesh is established.
- 1980 - President Jimmy Carter tells the American people about the hostage rescue disaster in Iran.
- 1982 - In accordance with the Camp David agreements, Israel completes a withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula.
- 1990 - Violeta Barrios de Chamorro begins a six year term as Nicaragua's president.
25 April Birthdays
- 1214 - Louis IX, king of France (1226-1270).
- 1284 - Edward II, king of England (1307-1327).
- 1599 - Oliver Cromwell, lord protector of England (1653-1658).
- 1873 - Howard R. Garis, children's writer.
- 1873 - Walther de la Mare, poet and novelist (Memoir of a Midget, Come Hither).
- 1874 - Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist, inventor of the radio.
- 1892 - Maud Hart Lovelace, children's author.
- 1908 - Edward R. Murrow, war correspondent and newscaster.
- 1912 - Gladys L. Presley, mother of Elvis Presley.
- 1914 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., novelist (Raintree Country).
- 1917 - Ella Fitzgerald, American singer.