February 25Birthdays & History

On this day: February 25 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 138Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.Europe
2. 628Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.Middle East
3. 1705George Frideric Handel's opera Nero premieres in Hamburg.Europe
4. 1836Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for his revolver firearm.North America
5. 1843Lord George Paulet occupies the Kingdom of Hawaii in the name of Great Britain in the Paulet affair.North AmericaEurope
6. 1870Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress.North AmericaAfrica
7. 1875Guangxu Emperor of Qing dynasty China begins his reign, under Empress Dowager Cixi's regency.Asia
8. 1912Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.Europe
9. 1916World War I: In the Battle of Verdun, a German unit captures Fort Douaumont, keystone of the French defences, without a fight.Europe
10. 1918World War I: German forces capture Tallinn to virtually complete the occupation of Estonia.Europe
11. 1921Georgian capital Tbilisi falls to the invading Russian forces after heavy fighting and the Russians declare the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.Europe
12. 1932Adolf Hitler, having been stateless for seven years, obtains German citizenship when he is appointed a Brunswick state official by Dietrich Klagges, a fellow Nazi. As a result, Hitler is able to run for Reichspräsident in the 1932 election.Europe
13. 1933Launch of the USS Ranger at Newport News, Virginia. It is the first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be commissioned by the US Navy.North America
14. 1939As part of British air raid precautions, the first of 2.5 million Anderson shelters is constructed in a garden in Islington, north London.Europe
15. 1941The outlawed Communist Party of the Netherlands organises a general strike in German-occupied Amsterdam to protest against Nazi persecution of Dutch Jews.Europe
16. 1947The formal abolition of Prussia is proclaimed by the Allied Control Council, the Prussian government having already been abolished by the Preußenschlag of 1932.Europe
17. 1947Soviet NKVD forces in Hungary abduct Béla Kovács—secretary-general of the majority Independent Smallholders' Party—and deport him to the USSR in defiance of Parliament. His arrest is an important turning point in the Communist takeover of Hungary.Europe
18. 1948In a coup d'état led by Klement Gottwald, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia takes control of government in Prague to end the Third Czechoslovak Republic.Europe
19. 1951The first Pan American Games are officially opened in Buenos Aires by Argentine President Juan Perón.North AmericaLatin America
20. 1956In his speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, denounces Stalin.Europe
21. 1980The government of Suriname is overthrown by a military coup led by Dési Bouterse.Latin America
22. 1986People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines' first female president.Asia
23. 1991Disbandment of the Warsaw Pact at a meeting of its members in Budapest.Europe
24. 1994American-Israeli extremist Baruch Goldstein commits a mass shooting at the Cave of the Patriarchs mausoleum, leaving 29 dead and over 100 injured before he is disarmed and beaten to death by survivors.North AmericaMiddle East
25. 1999Alitalia Flight 1553 crashes at Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport in Genoa, Italy, killing four.Europe
26. 2009Soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including 57 army officials.Asia
27. 2009Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 crashes during landing at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands, primarily due to a faulty radio altimeter, resulting in the death of nine passengers and crew including all three pilots.Middle EastEurope
28. 2015At least 310 people are killed in avalanches in northeastern Afghanistan.Asia
29. 2016Three people are killed and fourteen others injured in a series of shootings in the small Kansas cities of Newton and Hesston.North America
30. 2026Four people are killed and several more are injured when Cuban Border Guard Troops confront and open fire on a US-registered speedboat violating Cuban waters.Latin AmericaNorth America

Source: Wikipedia "February 25" / CC BY-SA 4.0