- 306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops.
- 315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate Constantine I’s victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge.
- 677 – Climax of the Siege of Thessalonica by the Slavs in a three-day assault on the city walls.
- 864 – The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings.
- 1137 – Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Prince Louis, later King Louis VII of France, at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux.
- 1139 – Battle of Ourique: The Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques who is proclaimed King of Portugal.
- 1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.
- 1278 – The naval Battle of Algeciras takes place in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in a victory for the Emirate of Granada and the Maranid Dynasty over the Kingdom of Castile.
- 1467 – The Battle of Molinella: The first battle in Italy in which firearms are used extensively.
- 1536 – Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of El Dorado founds the city of Santiago de Cali.
- 1538 – The city of Guayaquil is founded by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana and given the name Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil.
- 1547 – Henry II of France is crowned.
- 1554 – Mary I marries Philip II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral.
- 1567 – Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.
- 1593 – Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
- 1603 – James VI of Scotland is crowned king of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into personal union. Political union would occur in 1707.
- 1609 – The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking; the survivors go on to found a new colony there.
- 1693 – Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Mexico.
- 1722 – Dummer’s War begins along the Maine-Massachusetts border.
- 1755 – British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians.
- 1759 – French and Indian War: In Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
- 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war’s last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by a preliminary peace agreement.
- 1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550).
- 1792 – The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French royal family is harmed.
- 1797 – Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain).
- 1799 – At Abu Qir in Egypt, Napoleon I of France defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha.
- 1814 – War of 1812: An American attack on Canada is repulsed.
- 1824 – Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua.
- 1837 – The first commercial use of an electrical telegraph is successfully demonstrated in London by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone.
- 1853 – Joaquin Murrieta, the famous Californio bandit known as the “Robin Hood of El Dorado”, is killed.
- 1861 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.
- 1866 – The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank.
- 1868 – The Wyoming Territory is established.
- 1869 – The Japanese daimyōs begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869).
- 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship.
- 1898 – In the Puerto Rican Campaign, the United States seizes Puerto Rico from Spain.
- 1908 – Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in kombu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it.
- 1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from Calais to Dover, England, United Kingdom in 37 minutes.
- 1915 – RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker becomes the first British pursuit aviator to earn the Victoria Cross.
- 1917 – Sir Robert Borden introduces the first income tax in Canada as a “temporary” measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
- 1925 – Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established.
- 1934 – The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.
- 1940 – General Henri Guisan orders the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and makes surrender illegal.
- 1942 – The Norwegian Manifesto calls for nonviolent resistance to the German occupation.
- 1943 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by the Grand Council of Fascism and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
- 1944 – World War II: Operation Spring is one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war.
- 1946 – Nuclear weapons testing: Operation Crossroads: An atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini Atoll.
- 1956 – Forty-five miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51.
- 1957 – The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed, under President Habib Bourguiba.
- 1958 – The African Regroupment Party (PRA) holds its first congress in Cotonou.
- 1961 – Cold War: In a speech John F. Kennedy emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO.
- 1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.
- 1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This is the start of the “Vietnamization” of the war.
- 1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched.
- 1976 – Viking program: Viking 1 takes the famous Face on Mars photo.
- 1978 – Puerto Rican police shoot two nationalists in the Cerro Maravilla murders.
- 1978 – Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF.
- 1979 – Another section of the Sinai Peninsula is peacefully returned by Israel to Egypt.
- 1983 – Black July: Thirty-seven Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners.
- 1984 – Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.
- 1993 – Israel launches a massive attack against Lebanon in what the Israelis call Operation Accountability, and the Lebanese call the Seven-Day War.
- 1993 – The Saint James Church massacre occurs in Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa.
- 1994 – Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, that formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948.
- 1995 – A gas bottle explodes in Saint Michel station of line B of the RER (Paris regional train network). Eight are killed and 80 wounded.
- 1996 – In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.
- 2000 – Concorde Air France Flight 4590 crashes at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, killing 113 people.
- 2007 – Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India’s first female president.
- 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.
- 2018 – As-Suwayda attacks: Coordinated attacks occur in Syria.
- 2019 – National extreme heat records set this day in the UK, Belgium and Germany during the July 2019 European heatwave.
Births on July 25
- 975 – Thietmar, bishop of Merseburg (d. 1018)
- 1016 – Casimir I the Restorer, duke of Poland (d. 1058)
- 1109 – Afonso I, king of Portugal (d. 1185)
- 1165 – Ibn Arabi, Andalusian Sufi mystic, poet, and philosopher (d. 1240)
- 1261 – Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1312)
- 1291 – Hawys Gadarn, Welsh noblewoman (d. 1353)
- 1336 – Albert I, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1404)
- 1394 – James I, king of Scotland (d. 1437)
- 1404 – Philip I, Duke of Brabant (d. 1430)
- 1421 – Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (d. 1461)
- 1450 – Jakob Wimpfeling, Renaissance humanist (d. 1528)
- 1486 – Albrecht VII, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1547)
- 1498 – Hernando de Aragón, Archbishop of Zaragoza (d. 1575)
- 1532 – Alphonsus Rodriguez, Jesuit lay brother and saint (d. 1617)
- 1556 – George Peele, English translator, poet, and dramatist (d. 1596)
- 1562 – Katō Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord (d. 1611)
- 1573 – Christoph Scheiner, German astronomer and Jesuit (d. 1650)
- 1581 – Brian Twyne, English archivist (d. 1644)
- 1605 – Theodore Haak, German scholar (d. 1690)
- 1633 – Joseph Williamson, English politician (d. 1701)
- 1654 – Agostino Steffani, Italian composer and diplomat (d. 1728)
- 1657 – Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, German composer (d. 1714)
- 1658 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, Scottish general (d. 1703)
- 1683 – Pieter Langendijk, Dutch playwright and poet (d. 1756)
- 1750 – Henry Knox, American general and politician, 1st United States Secretary of War (d. 1806)
- 1753 – Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires, French-Spanish captain and politician, 10th Viceroy of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (d. 1810)
- 1797 – Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1889)
- 1806 – Maria Weston Chapman, American abolitionist (d. 1885)
- 1839 – Francis Garnier, French captain and explorer (d. 1873)
- 1844 – Thomas Eakins, American painter, sculptor, and photographer (d. 1916)
- 1847 – Paul Langerhans, German pathologist, physiologist and biologist (d. 1888)
- 1848 – Arthur Balfour, Scottish-English lieutenant and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1930)
- 1857 – Frank J. Sprague, American naval officer and inventor (d. 1934)
- 1865 – Jac. P. Thijsse, Dutch botanist and conservationist (d. 1945)
- 1866 – Frederick Blackman, English physiologist and academic (d. 1947)
- 1867 – Max Dauthendey, German author and painter (d. 1918)
- 1867 – Alexander Rummler, American painter (d. 1959)
- 1869 – Platon, Estonian bishop and saint (d. 1919)
- 1870 – Maxfield Parrish, American painter and illustrator (d. 1966)
- 1875 – Jim Corbett, Indian hunter, environmentalist, and author (d. 1955)
- 1878 – Masaharu Anesaki, Japanese philosopher and scholar (d. 1949)
- 1882 – George S. Rentz, American commander (d. 1942)
- 1883 – Alfredo Casella, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1947)
- 1886 – Edward Cummins, American golfer (d. 1926)
- 1894 – Walter Brennan, American actor (d. 1974)
- 1894 – Gavrilo Princip, Bosnian Serb revolutionary (d. 1918)
- 1895 – Ingeborg Spangsfeldt, Danish actress (d. 1968)
- 1896 – Jack Perrin, American actor and stuntman (d. 1967)
- 1896 – Josephine Tey, Scottish author and playwright (d. 1952)
- 1901 – Ruth Krauss, American author and poet (d. 1993)
- 1901 – Mohammed Helmy, Egyptian physician and Righteous Among the Nations (d.1982)
- 1901 – Lila Lee, American actress and singer (d. 1973)
- 1902 – Eric Hoffer, American philosopher and author (d. 1983)
- 1905 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-Swiss novelist, playwright, and memoirist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- 1905 – Georges Grignard, French race car driver (d. 1977)
- 1905 – Denys Watkins-Pitchford, English author and illustrator (d. 1990)
- 1906 – Johnny Hodges, American saxophonist and clarinet player (d. 1970)
- 1908 – Bill Bowes, English cricketer (d. 1987)
- 1908 – Ambroise-Marie Carré, French priest and author (d. 2004)
- 1908 – Jack Gilford, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1914 – Woody Strode, American football player and actor (d. 1994)
- 1915 – S. U. Ethirmanasingham, Sri Lankan businessman and politician
- 1915 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1944)
- 1916 – Lucien Saulnier, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
- 1917 – Fritz Honegger, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 1999)
- 1918 – Jane Frank, American painter and sculptor (d. 1986)
- 1920 – Rosalind Franklin, English biophysicist, chemist, and academic (d. 1958)
- 1921 – Adolph Herseth, American soldier and trumpet player (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Lionel Terray, French mountaineer (d. 1965)
- 1923 – Estelle Getty, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Edgar Gilbert, American mathematician and theorist (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Maria Gripe, Swedish journalist and author (d. 2007)
- 1924 – Frank Church, American lawyer and politician (d. 1984)
- 1924 – Scotch Taylor, South African cricketer and hockey player (d. 2004)
- 1925 – Benny Benjamin, American R&B drummer (The Funk Brothers) (d. 1969)
- 1925 – Jerry Paris, American actor and director (d. 1986)
- 1925 – Dick Passwater, American race car driver
- 1925 – Jutta Zilliacus, Finnish journalist and politician
- 1926 – Whitey Lockman, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2009)
- 1926 – Bernard Thompson, British television producer and director (d. 1998)
- 1926 – Beatriz Segall, Brazilian actress (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Daniel Ceccaldi, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
- 1927 – Midge Decter, American journalist and author
- 1927 – Sadiq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani politician, 10th Governor of Punjab (d. 2000)
- 1927 – Jean-Marie Seroney, Kenyan activist and politician (d. 1982)
- 1928 – Dolphy, Filipino actor, singer, and producer (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Mario Montenegro, Filipino actor (d. 1988)
- 1928 – Nils Taube, Estonian-English businessman (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Judd Buchanan, Canadian businessman and politician, 36th Canadian Minister of Public Works
- 1929 – Somnath Chatterjee, Indian lawyer and politician, 14th Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 2018)
- 1929 – Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1995)
- 1930 – Murray Chapple, New Zealand cricketer and manager (d. 1985)
- 1930 – Maureen Forrester, Canadian actress and singer (d. 2010)
- 1930 – Alice Parizeau, Polish-Canadian journalist and criminologist (d. 1990)
- 1930 – Herbert Scarf, American economist and academic (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Annie Ross, Scottish-American singer and actress
- 1931 – James Butler, English sculptor and educator
- 1932 – Paul J. Weitz, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2017)
- 1934 – Don Ellis, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1978)
- 1934 – Claude Zidi, French director and screenwriter
- 1935 – Barbara Harris, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
- 1935 – Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi Arabian businessman (d. 2017)
- 1935 – Gilbert Parent, Canadian educator and politician, 33rd Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (d. 2009)
- 1935 – John Robinson, American football player and coach
- 1935 – Larry Sherry, American baseball player and coach (d. 2006)
- 1935 – Lars Werner, Swedish lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
- 1936 – Gerry Ashmore, English race car driver
- 1936 – Glenn Murcutt, English-Australian architect and academic
- 1937 – Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, English archaeologist and academic
- 1940 – Richard Ballantine, American-English journalist and author (d. 2013)
- 1941 – Manny Charlton, Spanish-born Scottish rock musician and songwriter
- 1941 – Nate Thurmond, American basketball player (d. 2016)
- 1941 – Emmett Till, American lynching victim (d. 1955)
- 1942 – Bruce Woodley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1943 – Jim McCarty, English singer and drummer
- 1943 – Erika Steinbach, Polish-German politician
- 1944 – Sally Beauman, English journalist and author (d. 2016)
- 1946 – José Areas, Nicaraguan drummer
- 1946 – Nicole Farhi, French fashion designer and sculptor
- 1946 – John Gibson, American radio host
- 1946 – Rita Marley, Cuban-Jamaican singer
- 1946 – P. Selvarasa, Sri Lankan politician
- 1946 – Ljupka Dimitrovska, Macedonian-Croatian pop singer (d. 2016)
- 1948 – Steve Goodman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
- 1950 – Mark Clarke, English singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1951 – Jack Thompson, American lawyer and activist
- 1951 – Verdine White, American bass player and producer
- 1952 – Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portuguese architect, designed the Estádio Municipal de Braga
- 1953 – Joseph A. Tunzi, Chicago based author, foremost expert on Elvis Presley
- 1953 – Robert Zoellick, American banker and politician, 14th United States Deputy Secretary of State
- 1954 – Ken Greer, Canadian guitarist, keyboard player, and producer
- 1954 – Sheena McDonald, Scottish journalist
- 1954 – Walter Payton, American football player and race car driver (d. 1999)
- 1954 – Jochem Ziegert, German footballer and manager
- 1955 – Iman, Somalian-English model and actress
- 1955 – Randall Bewley, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2009)
- 1956 – Andy Goldsworthy, English-Scottish sculptor and photographer
- 1956 – Frances Arnold, American scientist and engineer
- 1957 – Mark Hunter, English politician
- 1957 – Steve Podborski, Canadian skier
- 1958 – Alexei Filippenko, American astrophysicist and academic
- 1958 – Thurston Moore, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1959 – Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
- 1959 – Geoffrey Zakarian, American chef and author
- 1960 – Alain Robidoux, Canadian snooker player
- 1960 – Justice Howard, American photographer
- 1960 – Māris Martinsons, Latvian film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor
- 1962 – Carin Bakkum, Dutch tennis player
- 1962 – Doug Drabek, American baseball player and coach
- 1963 – Denis Coderre, Canadian politician, 44th Mayor of Montreal
- 1963 – Julian Hodgson, Welsh chess player
- 1964 – Anne Applebaum, American journalist and author
- 1964 – Tony Granato, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1964 – Breuk Iversen, American designer and journalist
- 1965 – Marty Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1965 – Illeana Douglas, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1965 – Dale Shearer, Australian rugby league player
- 1966 – Daryl Halligan, New Zealand rugby player and sportscaster
- 1966 – Maureen Herman, American bass player
- 1966 – Diana Johnson, English politician
- 1967 – Matt LeBlanc, American actor and producer
- 1967 – Ruth Peetoom, Dutch minister and politician
- 1967 – Tommy Skjerven, Norwegian footballer and referee
- 1968 – Rudi Bryson, South African cricketer
- 1968 – Shi Tao, Chinese journalist and poet
- 1969 – Jon Barry, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1969 – Annastacia Palaszczuk, Australian politician, 39th Premier of Queensland
- 1971 – Roger Creager, American singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Tracy Murray, American basketball player
- 1971 – Billy Wagner, American baseball player and coach
- 1972 – David Penna, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1973 – Dani Filth, English singer-songwriter
- 1973 – Kevin Phillips, English footballer
- 1973 – Igli Tare, Albanian footballer
- 1974 – Lauren Faust, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Julia Laffranque, Estonian lawyer and judge
- 1974 – Kenzo Suzuki, Japanese rugby player and wrestler
- 1975 – Jody Craddock, English footballer and coach
- 1975 – Jean-Claude Darcheville, Guianan-French footballer
- 1975 – El Zorro, Mexican wrestler
- 1975 – Brian Gibson, American bass player
- 1975 – Evgeni Nabokov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1976 – Marcos Assunção, Brazilian footballer
- 1976 – Jovica Tasevski-Eternijan, Macedonian poet and critic
- 1976 – Javier Vázquez, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
- 1977 – Kenny Thomas, American basketball player
- 1978 – Gerard Warren, American football player
- 1978 – Louise Brown, first human to be born via IVF
- 1979 – Ali Carter, English snooker player
- 1979 – Tom Lungley, English cricketer and umpire
- 1980 – Shawn Riggans, American baseball player
- 1980 – Toni Vilander, Finnish race car driver
- 1980 – David Wachs, American actor and producer
- 1980 – Scott Waldrom, New Zealand rugby player
- 1981 – Conor Casey, American soccer player
- 1981 – Constantinos Charalambidis, Cypriot footballer
- 1981 – Yūichi Komano, Japanese footballer
- 1981 – Mac Lethal, American rapper and producer
- 1981 – Jani Rita, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1982 – Brad Renfro, American actor and musician (d. 2008)
- 1982 – Jason Dundas, Australian TV host
- 1983 – Nenad Krstić, Serbian basketball player
- 1984 – Loukas Mavrokefalidis, Greek basketball player
- 1985 – James Lafferty, American actor and athlete
- 1985 – Nelson Piquet Jr., Brazilian race car driver
- 1985 – Hugo Rodallega, Colombian footballer
- 1986 – Abraham Gneki Guié, Ivorian footballer
- 1986 – Hulk, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Richard Bachman, American ice hockey player
- 1987 – Mitchell Burgzorg, Dutch footballer and rapper
- 1987 – Fernando, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Jax Jones, English DJ, singer and songwriter
- 1987 – Eran Zahavi, Israeli footballer
- 1988 – John Goossens, Dutch footballer
- 1988 – Tom Hiariej, Dutch footballer
- 1988 – Stacey Kemp, English skater
- 1988 – Paulinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1988 – Anthony Stokes, Irish footballer
- 1989 – Natalia Vieru, Russian basketball player
- 1990 – Thodoris Karapetsas, Greek footballer
- 1991 – Toni Duggan, English footballer
- 1992 – Sergei Simonov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2016)
- 1997 – Nat Butcher, Australian rugby league player
Deaths on July 25
- 306 – Constantius Chlorus, Roman emperor (b. 250)
- 885 – Ragenold, margrave of Neustria
- 1011 – Ichijō, emperor of Japan (b. 980)
- 1190 – Sibylla, queen of Jerusalem
- 1409 – Martin I, king of Sicily (b. 1376)
- 1471 – Thomas à Kempis, German priest and mystic
- 1472 – Charles of Artois, French nobleman (b. 1394)
- 1492 – Innocent VIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1432)
- 1564 – Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1503)
- 1572 – Isaac Luria, Ottoman rabbi and mystic (b. 1534)
- 1608 – Pomponio Nenna, Italian composer (b. 1556)
- 1616 – Andreas Libavius, German physician and chemist (b. 1550)
- 1643 – Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, English general and politician (b. 1584)
- 1681 – Urian Oakes, English-American minister and educator (b. 1631)
- 1790 – Johann Bernhard Basedow, German educator and reformer (b. 1723)
- 1790 – William Livingston, American soldier and politician, 1st Governor of New Jersey (b. 1723)
- 1791 – Isaac Low, American merchant and politician (b. 1735)
- 1794 – André Chénier, Greek-French poet and author (b. 1762)
- 1794 – Jean-Antoine Roucher, French poet and author (b. 1745)
- 1794 – Friedrich von der Trenck, Prussian adventurer and author (b. 1726)
- 1826 – Kondraty Ryleyev, Russian poet and publisher (b. 1795)
- 1831 – Maria Szymanowska, Polish composer and pianist (b. 1789)
- 1834 – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English philosopher, poet, and critic (b. 1772)
- 1842 – Dominique Jean Larrey, French physician and surgeon (b. 1766)
- 1843 – Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and engineer (b. 1766)
- 1861 – Jonas Furrer, Swiss lawyer and politician, President of the Swiss Confederation (b. 1805)
- 1865 – James Barry, English soldier and surgeon (b. 1799)
- 1887 – John Taylor, American religious leader, 3rd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1808)
- 1934 – François Coty, French businessman, founded Coty, Inc. (b. 1874)
- 1934 – Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian politician, 14th Chancellor of Austria (b. 1892)
- 1942 – Fred Englehardt, American triple jumper (b. 1879)
- 1952 – Herbert Murrill, English organist and composer (b. 1909)
- 1958 – Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (b. 1891)
- 1959 – Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Polish-born Irish rabbi and author (b. 1888)
- 1962 – Thibaudeau Rinfret, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 9th Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1879)
- 1963 – Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist and academic (b. 1877)
- 1966 – Frank O’Hara, American poet and critic (b. 1926)
- 1967 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Egyptian-Greek painter (b. 1878)
- 1971 – John Meyers, American swimmer and water polo player (b. 1880)
- 1971 – Leroy Robertson, American composer and educator (b. 1896)
- 1973 – Amy Jacques Garvey, Jamaican-American journalist and activist (b. 1895)
- 1973 – Louis St. Laurent, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1882)
- 1980 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1938)
- 1981 – Rosa A. González, Puerto Rican nurse, author, feminist, and activist (b. 1889)
- 1982 – Hal Foster, Canadian-American author and illustrator (b. 1892)
- 1984 – Bryan Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1913)
- 1984 – Big Mama Thornton, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
- 1986 – Vincente Minnelli, American director and screenwriter (b. 1903)
- 1988 – Judith Barsi, American child actress (b. 1978)
- 1989 – Steve Rubell, American businessman, co-owner of Studio 54 (b. 1943)
- 1991 – Lazar Kaganovich, Soviet politician (b. 1893)
- 1992 – Alfred Drake, American actor and singer (b. 1914)
- 1995 – Charlie Rich, American singer-songwriter (b. 1932)
- 1997 – Ben Hogan, American golfer (b. 1912)
- 1998 – Evangelos Papastratos, Greek businessman, co-founded Papastratos (b. 1910)
- 2000 – Rudi Faßnacht, German footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1934)
- 2002 – Abdel Rahman Badawi, Egyptian philosopher and poet (b. 1917)
- 2003 – Ludwig Bölkow, German engineer (b. 1912)
- 2003 – John Schlesinger, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2004 – John Passmore, Australian philosopher and academic (b. 1914)
- 2005 – Albert Mangelsdorff, German trombonist (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Ezra Fleischer, Romanian-Israeli poet and philologist (b. 1928)
- 2007 – Bernd Jakubowski, German footballer and manager (b. 1952)
- 2008 – Jeff Fehring, Australian footballer (b. 1955)
- 2008 – Tracy Hall, American chemist and academic (b. 1919)
- 2008 – Randy Pausch, American computer scientist and educator (b. 1960)
- 2009 – Vernon Forrest, American boxer (b. 1971)
- 2009 – Stanley Middleton, English author (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Harry Patch, English soldier (b. 1898)
- 2011 – Michael Cacoyannis, Cypriot-Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2012 – B. R. Ishara, Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Barry Langford, English director and producer (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Greg Mohns, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1950)
- 2012 – Franz West, Austrian painter and sculptor (b. 1947)
- 2013 – Walter De Maria, American sculptor, illustrator, and composer (b. 1935)
- 2013 – William J. Guste, American lawyer and politician (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Hugh Huxley, English-American biologist and academic (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Bel Kaufman, German-American author and academic (b. 1911)
- 2014 – Richard Larter, Australian painter and illustrator (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Jacques Andreani, French diplomat, French ambassador to the United States (b. 1929)
- 2015 – R. S. Gavai, Indian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor of Kerala (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Bob Kauffman, American basketball player and coach (b. 1946)
- 2017 – Michael Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
- 2018 – Sergio Marchionne, Italian-Canadian businessman(b. 1952)
- 2019 – Beji Caid Essebsi , 4th President and 9th Prime Minister of Tunisia (b. 1926)
Holidays and observances on July 25
- Christian feast day:
- Anne (Eastern Christianity)
- Christopher (Western Christianity)
- Cucuphas
- Glodesind
- James the Great (Western Christianity)
- John I Agnus
- Julian of Le Mans (translation)
- Magnerich of Trier
- July 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Father’s Day can fall, while July 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Sunday in July. (Dominican Republic)
- Earliest day on which National Tree Planting Day can fall, while July 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Sunday in July. (Australia)
- Earliest day on which Navy Day can fall, while July 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Sunday in July. (Russia)
- Guanacaste Day (Costa Rica)
- National Baha’i Day (Jamaica)
- National Day of Galicia (Galicia)
- Puerto Rico Constitution Day (Puerto Rico)
- Republic Day (Tunisia)