25 August History
- 357 - Julian Caesar defeats the Alamanni at Strousbourg in Gaul.
- 1346 - Edward III of England defeats Philip VI's army at the Battle of Crecy in France.
- 1758 - The Prussian army defeats the invading Russians at the Battle of Zorndorf.
- 1765 - In protest over the stamp tax, American colonists sack and burn the home of Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson.
- 1830 - The "Tom Thumb" steam locomotive runs its famous race with a horse-drawn car. The horse wins because the engine, which had been ahead, breaks down.
- 1862 - Union and Confederate troops skirmish at Waterloo Bridge, Virginia, during the Second Bull Run Campaign.
- 1864 - Confederate General A.P. Hill pushes back Union General Winfield Scott Hancock from Reams Station where his army has spent several days destroying railroad tracks.
- 1875 - "Captain" Matthew Webb becomes the first man to swim across the English Channel.
- 1916 - The National Park Service is established as part of the Department of the Interior.
- 1921 - The United States, which never ratified the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, finally signs a peace treaty with Germany.
- 1925 - A. Phillip Randolph organizes the Sleeping Car Porters' Union.
- 1940 - The first parachute wedding ceremony is performed by Rev. Homer Tomlinson at the New York City World's Fair for Arno Rudolphi and Ann Hayward. The minister, bride and groom, best man, maid of honor and four musicians were all suspended from parachutes.
- 1941 - British and Soviet forces enter Iran, opening up a route to supply the Soviet Union.
- 1943 - The Allies complete the occupation of New Georgia.
- 1944 - Paris is liberated from German occupation by Free French Forces under General Jacques LeClerc.
- 1989 - NASA scientists receive stuning photographs of Neptune and its moons from Voyager 2.
25 August Birthdays
- 1913 - Walt Kelly, cartoonist who created the comic strip "Pogo."
- 1918 - Leonard Bernstein, conductor, composer and pianist.
- 1919 - George C. Wallace, governor of Alabama and presidential candidate.
- 1921 - Brian Moore, Irish novelist (The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne).
- 1927 - Althea Gibson, African American tennis player, the first to play at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon.
- 1930 - Sean Connery, Scottish actor famous for playing the character James Bond in the Ian Flemming movie series.
- 1933 - Wayne Shorter, jazz saxaphonist and composer.
- 1938 - Frederick Forsyth, author of thrillers (The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File).
- 1949 - Martin Amis, English novelist (Money, Time's Arow).