April 25th in History

404 BC - Peloponnesian War: Lysander's Spartan Armies defeated the Athenians and the war ends.

1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.

1707 - The Habsburg army is defeated by Bourbon army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.

1792 - La Marseillaise (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.

1859 - British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.

1861 - American Civil War: The Union Army arrives in Washington, D.C.

1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States declares war on Spain.

1915 - World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins—The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian, British, French and New Zealand troops begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.

1916 - Easter Rebellion: The United Kingdom declares martial law in Ireland.

1916 - Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at Anzac Cove.

1945 - Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two, a milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe.

1945 - The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini tries to escape. This day is taken as symbolic of the Liberation of Italy.

1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" describing the double helix structure of DNA.

1972 - Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.

1975 - As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.

1986 -His Majesty King Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.

2005 - Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.

Famous Birthdays

1214 - Louis IX of France

1228 - Conrad IV of Germany,  King of Jerusalem (Conrad II), King of Sicily (Conrad I)

1284 - Edward II of England

1599 - Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1843 - Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

1897 - Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood

1900 - Gladwyn Jebb, diplomat, Acting Secretary-General of the United Nations

1918 - Gerard Henri de Vaucouleurs, astronomer

1925 - Kay E. Kuter, actor

1932 - William Roache, actor

1941 - HRH Princess Muna al-Hussein

1945 - Björn Ulvaeus, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1955 - Zev Siegl, businessman, co-founded Starbucks

1964 - Hank Azaria, actor, voice actor, director and comedian

1969 - Renée Zellweger, actress

1974 - HRH Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou - member of the Royal House of Bourbon, and one of the current pretenders to the defunct French throne as Louis XX

1977 - Marguerite Moreau, actress


1980 - Daniel MacPherson, actor

1982 - Marco Russo, footballer

1984 - Melonie Diaz, actress

1989 - Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, 11th Panchen Lama (the Panchen Lama is the highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama)