Some of the significant events which took place on August 25 taken from the leaf of History:

325 – Council of Nicaea ends with adoption of the Nicene Creed establishing the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

357 – Battle at Straatsburg: Julianus beats Alamannen, Chonodomarius caught.

1212 – Children’s crusade under Nicolas (10) reaches Genoa.

1248 – The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.

1330 – Antipope Nicholas V, having obtained assurance of pardon, presents a confession of his sins to Pope John XXII, at Avignon, who absolved him.

1425 – Countess Jacoba of Bavaria escapes from jail.

1499 – Battle at Sapienza: Turkish fleet beats Venetians.

1537 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.

1540 – Explorer Hernando de Alarcon travels up Colorado River.

1566 – Iconoclastic fury begins in Dutch province Utrecht.

1580 – Battle of Alcantara, Spain defeats Portugal.

1628 – Assault on sultan of Mantarams of Batavia.

1654 – Battle of Arras: Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, failed to take Arras and withdrew to Cambrai.

1689 – Battle at Charleroi: Spanish & English armies chase French.

1804 – Alicia Thornton becomes 1st woman jockey riding in York, England.

1814 – British forces destroy Library of Congress, containing 3,000 books (War of 1812).

1825 – Uruguay declares independence from Brazil (National Day).

1829 – President Jackson makes an offer to buy Texas, but Mexican government refuses.

1830 – Belgium revolts against Netherlands and begins the Belgian Revolution.

1835 – New York Sun publishes Moon hoax story about John Herschel.

1862 – US Secretary of War authorizes Gen Rufus Saxton to arm 5,000 slaves.

1864 – Combination rail & ferry service available from San Francisco to Alameda.

1875 – Captain Matthew Webb makes first observed and unassisted swim across English Channel (England-France 21 hours 45 minutes).

1886 –1st international polo meet (US vs England).

1890 – Would be start of England/Australia Test Cricket at Old Trafford washed out.

1916 – National Park Service: The National Park Service is established by Congress with the “National Park Service Organic Act” to protect areas designated as national parks and the National Register of Historic Places.

1923 – U.S.A. New Record Set: US Postal Service Aviators have set a new record to span the continent at 27 hours 14 minutes breaking the previous record set by Army Aviators last May. They are excited over the implications that they can provide a quicker service to customers throughout the nation.

1934 – The America Cup: America has reigned supreme in The America Cup 14 times since 1851 but this may well be the series when England takes the Cup back from its home in the New York Yacht Club. Sir Thomas Lipton spent over $5,000,000 dollars trying to win it back for England but failed each time but now there is a new British Challenger T.O.M. Sopwith in his steel yacht Endeavour which has been undefeated since it started its campaign, and the well informed believe he may well achieve what Sir Thomas Lipton could not.

1944 – WWII Paris Liberated: Paris is liberated after more than four years of Nazi occupation by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division and General Charles de Gaulle who had been the leader of the free French forces enters Paris the next day.

1945 – Great Britain Evacuees Home: After nearly 4 years away from home children are being reunited with parents, some who were evacuated to as far away as America, these children and parents will have a lot of catching up to do as well as adjusting back to a very different life. Many of the children were evacuated to rural areas in England and America and are going back to large cities.

1950 – President Harry S. Truman issues an executive order putting America’s railroads under the control of the U.S. Army, two days later in anticipation of a strike by railway workers Unions, The strike continued for 21 months at which time Unions agreed to the administrations terms and went back to work. 1956 – Egypt Suez Canal: President Nasser has come up with an alternative plan for the Suez canal offering guaranteed unimpeded shipping through the Suez canal in response to the demand for internationalization of the canal by 18 countries, the use of force is no longer on the agenda as all countries are now seeking a diplomatic solution to this problem.

1957 – Indian Polo team won the world cup.

1967 – American Nazi Party: George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi party has been shot and killed by a sniper at a shopping center in Arlington, Virginia. George Lincoln Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party in 1959 which was originally known as the World Union of Free Enterprise and National Socialists.

1967 – Beatles Study Transcendental Meditation: The Beatles Go to Bangor in Wales to study Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi prior to the time spent on a training course in Rishikesh, India in 1968 where much of their White Album was written.

1975 – The third Bruce Springsteen album “Born to Run” is released. The album turns Springsteen into a worldwide superstar and is considered to be in the top all-time 20 albums by most music critics. Side One “Born to Run” – Thunder Road, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, Night, Backstreets Side Two “Born to Run” – Born to Run, She’s the One, Meeting Across the River, Jungleland.

1977 – Edmund Hillary’s jet boats left Haldia port on its ‘ocean to sky’s expedition’ to the Himalayas from the river Ganges.

1989 – Voyager 2 Reaches Neptune: The unmanned Voyager 2 spacecraft has reached the Planet Neptune which is over two billion miles from Earth and sent back the first close-up pictures of Neptune and its satellite planets.

1991 – Linus Torvalds releases his first version of the Linux operating system kernel (0.01 of Linux) called ‘Freax’ in the makefile to the world and announces it through a Usenet posting on a newsgroup which could be found on the ftp server at the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). The Linux operating system is a Unix-like operating system kernel and is distributed under GNU General Public License. The original kernel was based on earlier work done by Richard Stallman on the GNU Project, started in 1984. The majority of the servers on the internet I.E. (where this site and millions of others) use Apache software that runs on top of the Linux kernel.

1992 – The Sun Newspaper has published a recorded telephone conversation with an unknown woman who may or may not be Diana the Princess of Wales talking to an unknown man about her unhappy marriage, They have now made the tape available on a 95 cents per minute telephone service and thousands are paying up to $22.00 to listen to the full recording.

1997 – Germany Egon Krenz Sentenced: The former East German leader, Egon Krenz, is found guilty of instigating a shoot-to-kill policy by border guards against people trying to flee East Germany and is sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.

2003 – India Bombay Car Bombing: Two powerful bombs planted in taxis, are exploded in busy Bombay areas, One outside the Taj Mahal Hotel in the major tourist area of Gateway of India, and the other at a busy jewelry market, both were during the busy lunchtime period killing at least 44 people and injuring nearly 150.

2004 – The US Census Bureau has released new figures which indicate 15.6% of the population of the United States do not have health insurance (45 million). The reasons range from companies providing less health insurance and vastly increased premiums for health insurance. One additional interesting statistic is that estimates put the number of those who declare bankruptcy due to medical debts at more than 60% of all bankruptcies (this figure does include those with Health Insurance but who could not afford the co-pay payments which are dependent on quality and level of the health insurance cover).

2005 – Katrina Makes First Landfall: Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in Florida between Hallandale Beach and Aventura, Florida Mid-Morning as a Category 1 hurricane sustained wind speeds of 125 mph, Storm Surge is about 5ft. The Hurricane leaves over 1 million without power and 12 dead.

2005 – Swaziland Tassels Removed: The king of Swaziland King Mswati III has ended the end of a sex ban when girls wore woolen tassels symbolizing chastity. The ban was in answer to the countries statistics with 40% of Swazi citizens being HIV positive.

2006 – Colombia First Legal Abortion: The first legal abortion in Colombia happened on this day. After months of legal battle the courts decided that abortion could be legal in the country in cases where the mother’s health is in danger, the pregnancy is a result of rape, or the fetus is severely deformed. The case was brought by an 11-year old girl who had been raped by her stepfather.

2007 – U.S.A. iPhone Unlocked: A teen in New Jersey has managed to unlock the iPhone which will allow buyers to use the iPhone on other networks other than the official AT&T network. AT&T and Apple have a joint agreement which means the iPhone can only be sold with an AT&T contract which means Apple receive an additional fee from AT&T and can sell the actual phone cheaper than is would be otherwise.

2008 – Italy Beauty Pageant for Nuns: An Italian priest announced plans for a beauty pageant for nuns. He asked nuns to send their pictures to him so that he may post them on the internet for web users to vote on. He hopes his project will end stereotypes of nuns being old and unattractive. His plans were cancelled only one day after the announcement because of criticism from his superiors.

2009 – South Korea successfully launched its first rocket into space. The rocket was carrying a satellite that was not put into the intended orbit. The South Korean government thus dubbed it as a “partial-success.”

2009 – United States Senator Edward Kennedy died on this day of brain cancer at the age of 77. Edward was the brother of assassinated US president John F. Kennedy and served as a Massachusetts senator for forty-seven years.

2011 – Senator Edward Kennedy Dies: Two days after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that shook the East coast struck near Mineral, Virginia, and an aftershock with a magnitude of 4.5 struck five miles south of the epicenter. The quake was the strongest of the aftershocks but there was no immediate damage reported.

2011 – Jobs Steps Down as Apple CEO: Steve Jobs announces his resignation of CEO of Apple, he has been fighting pancreatic cancer since 2004 and has been on medical leave since January of this year. Tim Cook who has been acting CEO during Steve Jobs Medical Leave was personally recommended by Jobs to take over as CEO.

2012 – Astronaut Neil Armstrong Dies: US Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, died at the age of eighty-two after complications from heart surgery. Armstrong had recently won the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award, and was described as a reluctant hero.

2013 – Train Crash in Mexico: At least five people died after a cargo train was derailed and then crashed in Southern Mexico. The cargo train was known for carrying Central American migrants who wanted to reach the United States. Another thirty-five people were injured, some of them seriously. There was also an unknown number of people trapped and authorities expected the death toll to rise.

2014 – Thailand’s junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in a military coup three months ago, officially assumed his new post as prime minister following an endorsement from the country’s monarch.

2015 – Kosovo and Serbia reached the agreement brokered in Brussels by EU foreign policy Chief Federica Mogherini on four areas including energy and telecoms.

2015 – North and South Korea agreed early today to end a military standoff that sparked an exchange of artillery fire and had ratcheted up tension on one of the world’s most heavily-fortified borders.

2016 – In Singapore the world’s first self-driving taxis, operated by autonomous vehicle software startup nuTonomy, began picking up passengers. Six modified Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electrics, carried a driver in front who is prepared to take back the wheel and a researcher in back who watches the car’s computers.

2017 – US President Donald Trump, in his first act of presidential clemency, pardoned controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted last month of criminal contempt for illegally targeting Hispanic immigrants.

2017 – In southern Somalia ten civilians, including three children, were killed in a raid by foreign and Somali forces on a farm in Barire village. The US Africa Command supported an operation by the Somali army in the area. On Aug 31 government officials said that blood money will be paid to the families of the victims.

2018 – The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abu Sayeed Orakzai (aka Abu Saad Erhabi), was killed late today in a strike on the group’s hideouts in Nangarhar province. Nine other members of the militant group were also killed in a joint ground and air operation by Afghan and foreign forces during raids on two Islamic State hideouts.