• 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor
• 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II
• 1336 – Four thousand defenders of Pilenai commit mass suicide rather than be taken captive by the Teutonic Knights.
• 1797 – Colonel William Tate and his force of 1000–1500 soldiers surrender after the Last invasion of Britain.
• 1831 – Battle of Olszynka Grochowska, part of Polish November Uprising against Russian Empire.
• 1836 – Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for the Colt revolver.
• 1843 – Lord George Paulet occupies the Kingdom of Hawaii in the name of Great Britain in the Paulet Affair (1843).
• 1848 – Provisional government in revolutionary France, by Louis Blanc’s motion, guarantees workers’ rights.
• 1856 – A Peace conference opens in Paris after the Crimean War.
• 1866 – Miners in Calaveras County, California, discover what is now called the Calaveras Skull – human remains that supposedly indicated that man, mastodons, and elephants had co-existed.
• 1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress.
• 1875 – Guangxu Emperor of Qing dynasty China begins his reign, under Empress Dowager Cixi’s regency.
• 1901 – J. P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.
• 1912 – Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.
• 1916 – World War I: The Germans capture Fort Douaumont during the Battle of Verdun.
• 1918 – German occupation of Estonia during World War I: Pernau, Reval, and Pskov are captured.
• 1919 – Oregon places a one cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.
• 1921 – Tbilisi, capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, is occupied by Bolshevist Russia.
• 1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a broadcast license for television from the Federal Radio Commission.
• 1932 – Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, which allows him to run in the 1932 election for Reichspräsident.
• 1933 – The USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be designed from the start of construction as an aircraft carrier.
• 1939 – The first of 2​¹⁄₂ million Anderson air raid shelters appeared in North London.
• 1941 – February strike: In the occupied Amsterdam, a general strike is declared in response to increasing anti-Jewish measures instituted by the Nazis.
• 1947 – The formal abolition of Prussia is proclaimed by the Allied Control Council. The Prussian government had already been abolished by the Preußenschlag of 1932.
• 1948 – Cold War: The Communist Party takes control of government in Czechoslovakia and the period of the Third Republic ends.
• 1951 – The first Pan American Games were officially opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina by President Juan Perón.
• 1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is made premier of Egypt.
• 1956 – Cold War: In his speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union denounces the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin.
• 1964 – North Korean Prime Minister Kim Il-sung calls for the removal of feudalistic land ownership aimed at turning all cooperative farms into state-run ones.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: One hundred thirty-five unarmed citizens of Hà My village in South Vietnam’s Qu?ng Nam Province are killed and buried en masse by South Korean troops in what would come to be known as the Hà My massacre.
• 1980 – The government of Suriname is overthrown by a military coup led by Dési Bouterse.
• 1986 – People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines’ first woman president.
• 1987 – Southern Methodist University’s football program is the first college football program to be banned from competition by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions.
• 1991 – Gulf War: An Iraqi scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 U.S. Army Reservists from Pennsylvania.
• 1991 – Cold War: The Warsaw Pact is abolished.
• 1992 – Khojaly massacre: About 613 civilians are killed by Armenian armed forces during the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
• 1994 – Mosque of Abraham massacre: In the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshippers and injuring 125 more before being subdued and beaten to death by survivors.
• 1997 – Yi Han-yong, a North Korean defector, was murdered by unidentified assailants in Bundang, South Korea.
• 2009 – Soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including 57 army officials.
• 2009 – Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 crashed 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.
• 2015 – At least 310 people are killed in avalanches in northeastern Afghanistan.
• 2016 – Three people are killed and fourteen others injured in a series of shootings in the small Kansas cities of Newton and Hesston.

Births on February 25

• 1259 – Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso III of Portugal and Urraca of Castile (d. 1321)
• 1337 – Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1383)
• 1475 – Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, last male member of the House of York (d. 1499)
• 1540 – Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English aristocrat and courtier (d. 1614)
• 1543 – Sharaf Khan Bidlisi, Emir of Bitlis (d. 1603)
• 1591 – Friedrich Spee, German poet and author (d. 1635)
• 1643 – Ahmed II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1695)
• 1663 – Peter Anthony Motteux, French-English author, playwright and translator (d. 1718)
• 1670 – Maria Margarethe Kirch, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1720)
• 1682 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist and pathologist (d. 1771)
• 1707 – Carlo Goldoni, Italian playwright and composer (d. 1793)
• 1714 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, French lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of France (d. 1792)
• 1728 – John Wood, the Younger, English architect, designed the Royal Crescent (d. 1782)
• 1752 – John Graves Simcoe, English-Canadian general and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (d. 1806)
• 1755 – François René Mallarmé, French lawyer and politician (d. 1835)
• 1778 – José de San Martín, Argentinian general and politician, 1st President of Peru (d. 1850)
• 1806 – Emma Catherine Embury, American author and poet (d. 1863)
• 1809 – John Hart, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of South Australia (d. 1873)
• 1812 – Carl Christian Hall, Danish lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1888)
• 1816 – Giovanni Morelli, Italian historian and critic (d. 1891)
• 1833 – John St. John, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Kansas (d. 1916)
• 1841 – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter and sculptor (d. 1919)
• 1842 – Karl May, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1912)
• 1845 – George Reid, Scottish-Australian lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1918)
• 1855 – Cesário Verde, Portuguese poet and author (d. 1886)
• 1856 – Karl Gotthard Lamprecht, German historian and academic (d. 1915)
• 1856 – Mathias Zdarsky, Czech-Austrian skier, painter, and sculptor (d. 1940)
• 1857 – Robert Bond, Canadian politician; first Prime Minister of Newfoundland (d. 1927)
• 1860 – William Ashley, English historian and academic (d. 1927)
• 1865 – Andranik, Armenian general (d. 1927)
• 1866 – Benedetto Croce, Italian philosopher and politician (d. 1952)
• 1869 – Phoebus Levene, Russian-American biochemist and physician (d. 1940)
• 1873 – Enrico Caruso, Italian-American tenor; the most popular operatic tenor of the early 20th century and the first great recording star. (d. 1921)
• 1877 – Erich von Hornbostel, Austrian musicologist and scholar (d. 1935)
• 1881 – William Z. Foster, American union leader and politician (d. 1961)
• 1881 – Alexei Rykov, Russian politician, Premier of Russia (d. 1938)
• 1883 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (d. 1981)
• 1885 – Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (d. 1969)
• 1888 – John Foster Dulles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 52nd United States Secretary of State (d. 1959)
• 1890 – Myra Hess, English pianist and educator (d. 1965)
• 1894 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (d. 1969)
• 1898 – William Astbury, physicist and molecular biologist (d. 1961)
• 1901 – Vince Gair, Australian politician, 27th Premier of Queensland (d. 1980)
• 1901 – Zeppo Marx, American comedian (the youngest of the Marx Brothers) and theatrical agent (d. 1979)
• 1903 – King Clancy, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and coach; rated one of the 100 greatest NHL players (d. 1986)
• 1905 – Perry Miller, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1963)
• 1906 – Mary Coyle Chase, American journalist and playwright; author of Harvey (d. 1981)
• 1907 – Sabahattin Ali, Turkish journalist, author, and poet (d. 1948)
• 1908 – Mary Locke Petermann, cellular biochemist (d. 1975)
• 1908 – Frank G. Slaughter, American physician and author (d. 2001)
• 1910 – Millicent Fenwick, American journalist and politician (d. 1992)
• 1913 – Jim Backus, American actor and screenwriter; the voice of Mr. Magoo (d. 1989)
• 1913 – Gert Fröbe, German actor; title role in Goldfinger (d. 1988)
• 1917 – Anthony Burgess, English author, playwright, and critic (d. 1993)
• 1918 – Bobby Riggs, American tennis player; winner of three major titles, 1939–1941 (d. 1995)
• 1919 – Monte Irvin, American baseball player and executive (d. 2016)
• 1920 – Philip Habib, American academic and diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (d. 1992)
• 1921 – Pierre Laporte, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1970)
• 1921 – Andy Pafko, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
• 1922 – Molly Reilly, Canadian aviator (d. 1980)
• 1924 – Hugh Huxley, English-American biologist and academic (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Shehu Shagari, former President of Nigeria (d. 2018)
• 1925 – Lisa Kirk, American actress and singer (d. 1990)
• 1926 – Masatoshi Gündüz Ikeda, Japanese-Turkish mathematician and academic; noted for contributions to algebraic number theory (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Ralph Stanley, American bluegrass singer and banjo player; member of International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (d. 2016)
• 1928 – Paul Elvstrøm, Danish yachtsman; winner of four Olympic gold medals, 1948–1960 (d. 2016)
• 1928 – A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., prominent African-American civil rights advocate, author, and federal court judge (d. 1998)
• 1928 – Larry Gelbart, American author and screenwriter; creator and producer of M*A*S*H TV series (d. 2009)
• 1928 – Richard G. Stern, American author and academic (d. 2013)
• 1932 – Tony Brooks, English racing driver; six Formula One victories, second in 1959 World Championship
• 1932 – Faron Young, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist; member of Country Music Hall of Fame (d. 1996)
• 1934 – Tony Lema, American golfer; winner of the 1964 Open Championship (d. 1966)
• 1935 – Oktay Sinanoglu, Turkish physical chemist and molecular biophysicist; two-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2015)
• 1937 – Tom Courtenay, award-winning English actor
• 1937 – Bob Schieffer, American political author, journalist and TV interviewer
• 1938 – Herb Elliott, Australian 1500 metres runner; 1960 Olympic champion and world record holder
• 1938 – Farokh Engineer, Indian international cricketer; successful as batsman and wicketkeeper
• 1940 – Ron Santo, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2010)
• 1941 – David Puttnam, English film producer and academic
• 1943 – George Harrison, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and film producer; lead guitarist of The Beatles (d. 2001)
• 1944 – François Cevert, French racing driver (d. 1973)
• 1946 – Jean Todt, French racing driver and team manager; FIA President, 2009–2021
• 1947 – Lee Evans, American sprinter and athletics coach; two gold medals and world 400m record at 1968 Olympics
• 1949 – Amin Maalouf, Lebanese-French journalist and author
• 1950 – Francisco Fernández Ochoa, Spanish skier; 1972 Olympic slalom champion (d. 2006)
• 1950 – Neil Jordan, Irish film director, screenwriter and author
• 1950 – Néstor Kirchner, Argentinian politician; 51st President of Argentina, 2003–2007 (d. 2010)
• 1951 – Don Quarrie, Jamaican sprinter and coach; four Olympic medals and two world records
• 1952 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle road racing champion; holds record for most wins (26) at the Isle of Man TT (d. 2000)
• 1953 – José María Aznar, Spanish politician; Prime Minister of Spain, 1996–2004
• 1958 – Kurt Rambis, American basketball player and coach; four-time NBA Finals champion
• 1962 – Birgit Fischer, German kayaker; winner of eight Olympic gold medals
• 1963 – Paul O’Neill, American baseball player and sportscaster; five-time World Series champion
• 1967 – Ed Balls, British politician; Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
• 1968 – Oumou Sangaré, Grammy Award-winning Malian Wassoulou musician
• 1971 – Sean Astin, American actor, director and producer
• 1974 – Dominic Raab, British politician; First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
• 1981 – Park Ji-sung, South Korean footballer; the most successful Asian player with 19 career trophies
• 1982 – Flavia Pennetta, Italian tennis player; winner of the 2015 US Open
• 1988 – Tom Marshall, British photo colouriser and artist
• 1999 – Gianluigi Donnarumma, Italian international footballer; youngest goalkeeper to play for Italy

Deaths on February 25

• 806 – Tarasios, patriarch of Constantinople
• 891 – Fujiwara no Mototsune, Japanese regent (b. 836)
• 944 – Lin Ding, Chinese official and chancellor
• 1246 – Dafydd ap Llywelyn, Welsh king (b. 1212)
• 1321 – Beatrice d’Avesnes, consort of Henry VI, Count of Luxembourg
• 1495 – Sultan Cem, Ottoman politician (b. 1459)
• 1522 – William Lily, English scholar and educator (b. 1468)
• 1536 – Berchtold Haller, German-Swiss theologian and reformer (b. 1492)
• 1536 – Jacob Hutter, founder of the Hutterites
• 1547 – Vittoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara (b. 1490)
• 1558 – Eleanor of Austria (b. 1498)
• 1600 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish colonial industrialist and saint (b. 1502)
• 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1566)
• 1634 – Albrecht von Wallenstein, Austrian general and politician (b. 1583)
• 1655 – Daniel Heinsius, Flemish poet and scholar (b. 1580)
• 1682 – Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (b. 1639)
• 1710 – Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, French soldier and explorer (b. 1639)
• 1713 – Frederick I of Prussia (b. 1657)
• 1723 – Christopher Wren, English architect, designed St Paul’s Cathedral (b. 1632)
• 1756 – Eliza Haywood, English actress and poet (b. 1693)
• 1796 – Samuel Seabury, American bishop (b. 1729)
• 1798 – Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini, French poet and diplomat (b. 1716)
• 1805 – Thomas Pownall, English politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1722)
• 1819 – Francisco Manoel de Nascimento, Portuguese-French poet and educator (b. 1734)
• 1822 – William Pinkney, American politician and diplomat, 7th United States Attorney General (b. 1764)
• 1831 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German author and playwright (b. 1752)
• 1841 – Philip Pendleton Barbour, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 12th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1783)
• 1850 – Daoguang Emperor of China (b. 1782)
• 1852 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet and lyricist (b. 1779)
• 1865 – Otto Ludwig, German author, playwright, and critic (b. 1813)
• 1870 – Henrik Hertz, Danish poet and playwright (b. 1797)
• 1875 – Thomas Reynolds, English-Australian politician, 5th Premier of South Australia (b. 1818)
• 1877 – Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepalese ruler (b. 1816)
• 1878 – Townsend Harris, American merchant, politician, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Japan (b. 1804)
• 1888 – Josif Pancic, Serbian botanist and academic (b. 1814)
• 1899 – Paul Reuter, German-English journalist and businessman, founded Reuters (b. 1816)
• 1906 – Anton Arensky, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1861)
• 1910 – Worthington Whittredge, American painter and educator (b. 1820)
• 1911 – Friedrich Spielhagen, German author, theorist, and translator (b. 1829)
• 1912 – William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1852)
• 1914 – John Tenniel, English illustrator (b. 1820)
• 1915 – Charles Edwin Bessey, American botanist, author, and academic (b. 1845)
• 1916 – David Bowman, Australian politician (b. 1860)
• 1920 – Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy, French archaeologist and engineer (b. 1844)
• 1922 – Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (b. 1869)
• 1928 – William O’Brien, Irish journalist and politician (b. 1852)
• 1934 – Elizabeth Gertrude Britton, American botanist and academic (b. 1857)
• 1934 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (b. 1873)
• 1945 – Mário de Andrade, Brazilian author, poet, and photographer (b. 1893)
• 1950 – George Minot, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)
• 1953 – Sergei Winogradsky, Ukrainian-Russian microbiologist and ecologist (b. 1856)
• 1957 – Mark Aldanov, Russian author and critic (b. 1888)
• 1957 – Bugs Moran, American mob boss (b. 1893)
• 1963 – Melville J. Herskovits, American anthropologist and academic (b. 1895)
• 1964 – Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1887)
• 1964 – Hinrich Lohse, German politician (b. 1896)
• 1964 – Grace Metalious, American author (b. 1924)
• 1970 – Mark Rothko, Latvian-American painter and academic (b. 1903)
• 1971 – Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
• 1972 – Gottfried Fuchs, German-Canadian Olympic soccer player (b. 1889)
• 1975 – Elijah Muhammad, American religious leader (b. 1897)
• 1978 – Daniel James, Jr., American general and pilot (b. 1920)
• 1980 – Robert Hayden, American poet and academic (b. 1913)
• 1983 – Tennessee Williams, American playwright, and poet (b. 1911)
• 1996 – Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian-American physician and author (b. 1940)
• 1997 – Andrei Sinyavsky, Russian journalist and publisher (b. 1925)
• 1998 – W. O. Mitchell, Canadian author and playwright (b. 1914)
• 1999 – Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
• 2001 – A. R. Ammons, American poet and critic (b. 1926)
• 2001 – Donald Bradman, Australian international cricketer; holder of world record batting average (b. 1908)
• 2005 – Peter Benenson, English lawyer, founded Amnesty International (b. 1921)
• 2010 – Ihsan Dogramaci, Turkish pediatrician and academic (b. 1915)
• 2012 – Louisiana Red, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1932)
• 2015 – Harve Bennett, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1930)
• 2015 – Eugenie Clark, American biologist and academic; noted ichthyologist (b. 1922)
• 2020 – Dmitry Yazov, last Marshal of the Soviet Union (b. 1924)

Holidays and observance on February 25

Christian feast day

• Æthelberht of Kent
• Blessed Ciriaco María Sancha y Hervás
• Gerland of Agrigento
• John Roberts, writer and missionary
• Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani
• Saint Walpurga (she was canonised on 1 May and Walpurgis Night is celebrated 30 April)