On This Day: 25 October

25 October in world history

• 2023A mass shooting occurs in two locations in Lewiston, Maine. 18 people are killed and 13 more injured.
• 2010Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that lasted over a month.
• 1999A Learjet 35 crashes in Mina near Aberdeen, South Dakota, killing all six people on board, including PGA golfer Payne Stewart and golf course designer Bruce Borland.
• 1990The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic declares its sovereignty from the Soviet Union.
• 1989The first leg of the 1989 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira is held at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal.
• 1971The People's Republic of China replaces the Republic of China at the United Nations.
• 1968A Fairchild F-27 crashes into Moose Mountain while on approach to Lebanon Municipal Airport in Lebanon, New Hampshire, killing 32 people.
• 1950The People's Volunteer Army ambushed the South Korean II Corps at the Battle of Onjong, and elsewhere engaged the 1st Infantry Division at the Battle of Unsan, marking China's entry into the Korean War.
• 1945Fifty years of Japanese administration of Taiwan formally ends when the Republic of China assumes control.
• 1944World War II: Heinrich Himmler orders a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a loosely organized youth culture in Nazi Germany that had assisted army deserters and others to hide from the Third Reich.
• 1929Following a series of similar actions against other sculptures, hundreds of students at Armstrong College in Newcastle tarred and feathered Statue of Industry, created by the college's master of sculpture Herbert Maryon.
• 1924The Daily Mail published the Zinoviev letter, a hoax purported to be a directive from Moscow to increase communist agitation.
• 1911The Xinhai Revolution spreads to Guangzhou, where the Qing general Fengshan is assassinated by the Chinese Assassination Corps.
• 1875Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B♭ minor, Op. 23 premieres in Boston, Massachusetts, with Benjamin Johnson Lang as conductor and Hans von Bülow as soloist.
• 1864American Civil War: During Price's Missouri Expedition, Union troops defeated Sterling Price's Confederate army in three successive battles: Marais des Cygnes, Mine Creek, and Marmiton River.
• 1616Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog left a plate on an island in Shark Bay, the oldest-known artefact of European exploration in Australia still in existence.
• 1415Hundred Years' War: The army of Henry V of England, consisting mostly of archers, unexpectedly defeated the numerically superior French cavalry at the Battle of Agincourt on Saint Crispin's Day.
• 1147Reconquista: Forces under Afonso I of Portugal captured Lisbon from the Moors after a four-month siege in one of the few Christian victories during the Second Crusade.

Born on 25 October

• 1943Roy Lynes, English keyboardist and singer
• 1941Helen Reddy, Australian-American singer-songwriter and actress (died 2020)
• 1928Marion Ross, American actress
• 1897Karl Olivecrona, Swedish lawyer and philosopher (died 1980)
• 1886Karl Polanyi, Austro-Hungarian economist and historian (died 1964)
• 1858Take Ionescu, Romanian politician, diplomat, journalist and lawyer (died 1922)

Died on 25 October

• 2012Jaspal Bhatti, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1955)India
• 2003Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian spiritual leader and philosopher (born 1920)India
• 1989Mary McCarthy, American novelist and critic (born 1912)
• 1292Robert Burnell, Lord Chancellor of England

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 25 October in history?

2023: A mass shooting occurs in two locations in Lewiston, Maine. 18 people are killed and 13 more injured. 2010: Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that lasted over a month. 1999: A Learjet 35 crashes in Mina near Aberdeen, South Dakota, killing all six people on board, including PGA golfer Payne Stewart and golf course designer Bruce Borland. 1990: The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic declares its sovereignty from the Soviet Union.

Which famous people were born on 25 October?

Roy Lynes, English keyboardist and singer (1943); Helen Reddy, Australian-American singer-songwriter and actress (died 2020) (1941); Marion Ross, American actress (1928); Karl Olivecrona, Swedish lawyer and philosopher (died 1980) (1897).

Which day is observed on 25 October?

Armed Forces Day (Romania); Day of the Basque Country (Basque Country); Republic Day (Kazakhstan); Retrocession Day and the memorial day for the Battle of Guningtou ( Taiwan); Sovereignty Day (Slovenia).