Did you know
In 1912, The Kuomintang is founded for the first time in Peking. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.
August 25 in History
1912 — The Kuomintang is founded for the first time in Peking
August 25 spans 60 recorded events across recorded history, from 766 to 2017. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
60 events
766 – 2017
Today in history
More major events on August 25
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1835 The first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon. Source
- 1985 Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 crashes near Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport in Auburn, Maine, killing all eight people on board including peace activist and child actress Samantha Smith. Source
- 1945 Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Chinese Communist Party kill U.S. intelligence officer John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War. Source
Did you know
The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
Did you know
It was the sole ruling party of Mainland China from 1928 to 1949 until its relocation to Taiwan, and in Taiwan ruled under martial law until 1987. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.
Did you know
The KMT is a centre-right to right-wing party and the largest in the Pan-Blue Coalition, one of Taiwan's two main political groups. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.
Did you know
Its primary rival is the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the largest party in the Pan-Green Coalition. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
766
Emperor Constantine V humiliates nineteen high-ranking officials, after discovering a plot against him.
He executes the leaders, Constantine Podopagouros and his brother Strategios.
1248
The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
Municipality in Overijssel, Netherlands
1258
Regent George Mouzalon and his brothers are killed during a coup headed by the aristocratic faction under Michael VIII Palaiologos, paving the way for its leader to ultimately usurp the throne of the Empire of Nicaea.
Byzantine official (c. 1220 – 1258)
1270
Philip III, although suffering from dysentery, becomes King of France following the death of his father Louis IX, during the Eighth Crusade.
His uncle, Charles I of Naples, is forced to begin peace negotiations with Muhammad I al-Mustansir, Hafsid Sultan of Tunis.
1537
The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
Oldest regiment of the British Army
1543
António Mota and a few companions become the first Europeans to visit Japan.
Portuguese explorer ([[floruit|fl.]] 1543)
1580
War of the Portuguese Succession: Spanish victory at the Battle of Alcântara brings about the Iberian Union.
European conflict from 1580 to 1583
1609
Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
Italian physicist and astronomer (1564–1642)
1630
Portuguese forces are defeated by the Kingdom of Kandy at the Battle of Randeniwela in Sri Lanka.
Kingdom on the island of Sri Lanka from 1469 to 1815
1758
Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
Global war among European powers (1756–1763)
1814
War of 1812: On the second day of the Burning of Washington, British troops torch the Library of Congress, United States Treasury, Department of War, and other public buildings.
1812–1815 conflict in North America
1823
American fur trapper Hugh Glass is mauled by a grizzly bear while on an expedition in South Dakota.
American fur trapper and frontiersman (1783–1833)
1825
The Thirty-Three Orientals declare the independence of Uruguay from Brazil.
1820s revolutionary group in the Empire of Brazil; founders of modern Uruguay
1835
The first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.
Fake series in the New York newspaper ''The Sun'' in 1835
1875
Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 21 hours and 45 minutes.
British swimmer (1848–1883)
1883
France and Viet Nam sign the Treaty of Huế, recognizing a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin.
Government of France from 1870 to 1940
1894
Kitasato Shibasaburō discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet.
Japanese physician and bacteriologist (1853–1931)
1904
1914
World War I: Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary.
Global conflict from 1914 to 1918
1914
World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is deliberately destroyed by the German Army.
Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts are lost.
1916
1920
Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends with the Red Army's defeat.
20th-century conflict between Poland and Russia
1933
The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.
Earthquake centered in Sichuan Province, China
1933
Nazi Germany and the Zionist Federation of Germany signed the Haavara Agreement.
The agreement was a major factor in breaking the anti-Nazi boycott of 1933 and facilitated Jewish emigration from Germany and into British Mandate of Palestine.
1939
The Irish Republican Army carries out the 1939 Coventry bombing in which five civilians were killed.
Paramilitary organisations in Ireland
1939
The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the UK promises to defend Poland in case of invasion by a foreign power.
Polish state from 1918 to 1939
1940
World War II: The first Bombing of Berlin by the British Royal Air Force.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
1941
World War II: Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran: The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union jointly stage an invasion of the Imperial State of Iran.
1941 conflict of World War II
1942
World War II: Second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons; a Japanese naval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned back by an Allied air attack.
World War II carrier battle in the Pacific Theater
1942
World War II: Battle of Milne Bay: Japanese marines assault Allied airfields at Milne Bay, New Guinea, initiating the Battle of Milne Bay.
Battle of World War II
1944
World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
Military battle during World War II on 19 August 1944
1945
Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Chinese Communist Party kill U.S.
intelligence officer John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War.
1945
The August Revolution ends as Emperor Bảo Đại abdicates, ending the Nguyễn dynasty.
1945 uprising ending the Vietnamese monarchy
1948
The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing: "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
American investigative committee (1938–1975)
1950
To avert a threatened strike during the Korean War, President Truman orders Secretary of the Army Frank Pace to seize control of the nation's railroads.
American governmental official and businessman
1958
The world's first publicly marketed instant noodles, Chikin Ramen, are introduced by Taiwanese-Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando.
Noodles sold in a precooked and dried block with flavoring
1960
The Games of the XVII Olympiad commence in Rome, Italy.
Multi-sport event in Rome, Italy
1961
President Jânio Quadros of Brazil resigns after just seven months in power, initiating a political crisis that culminates in a military coup in 1964.
President of Brazil in 1961
1967
George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, is assassinated by a former member of his group.
American neo-Nazi activist (1918–1967)
1980
The last performance of the Jahrhundertring at the Bayreuth Festival receives ovations of 45 minutes.
1976 production of Wagner's Ring cycle
1981
Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
NASA space probe launched in 1977
1985
Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 crashes near Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport in Auburn, Maine, killing all eight people on board including peace activist and child actress Samantha Smith.
1985 aviation accident
1989
Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the last planet in the Solar System at the time, due to Pluto being within Neptune's orbit from 1979 to 1999.
NASA space probe launched in 1977
1989
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404, carrying 54 people, disappears over the Himalayas after takeoff from Gilgit Airport in Pakistan.
The aircraft was never found.
1991
1991
The Battle of Vukovar begins.
An 87-day siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serb paramilitary forces, between August and November 1991 (during the Croatian War of Independence).
1991
Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux.
Finnish and American software engineer (born 1969)
1997
Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill policy at the Berlin Wall.
Leader of East Germany in 1989
2001
American singer Aaliyah and several members of her entourage are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, Bahamas.
American singer (1979–2001)
2003
NASA successfully launches the Spitzer Space Telescope into space.
American space and aeronautics agency
2005
2006
Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko is sentenced to nine years imprisonment for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion.
Prime Minister of Ukraine from 1996 to 1997
2010
A Filair Let L-410 Turbolet crashes on approach to Bandundu Airport, killing 20.
Airline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
2011
Fifty-two people are killed during an arson attack caused by members of the drug cartel Los Zetas.
Attack by Mexican criminal organization Los Zetas
2012
Voyager 1 spacecraft enters interstellar space, becoming the first man-made object to do so.
NASA space probe launched in 1977
2017
Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2004.
Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 2017
2017
Conflict in Rakhine State (2016–present): One hundred seventy people are killed in at least 26 separate attacks carried out by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, leading to the governments of Myanmar and Malaysia designating the group as a terrorist organisation.
Armed conflict in western Myanmar