Events on January 25 54
Year 750
In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to overthrow of the dynasty.
Year 1348
A strong earthquake strikes the South Alpine region of Friuli in modern Italy, causing considerable damage to buildings as far away as Rome.
Year 1575
Luanda, the capital of Angola, is founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.
Year 1704
The Battle of Ayubale results in the destruction of most of the Spanish missions in Florida.
Year 1765
Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands at the southern tip of South America, is founded.
Year 1787
Shays's Rebellion: The rebellion's largest confrontation, outside the Springfield Armory, results in the killing of four rebels and the wounding of twenty.
Year 1791
The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and splits the old Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
Year 1858
The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding processional.
Year 1909
Richard Strauss's opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
Year 1915
Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
Year 1924
The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, in the French Alps, inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.
Year 1932
Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese National Revolutionary Army begins its defense of Harbin.
Year 1937
The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves to CBS television, where it remains until September 18, 2009.
Year 1941
Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
Year 1944
Florence Li Tim-Oi is ordained in China, becoming the first woman Anglican priest.
Year 1947
Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device", the first ever electronic game.
Year 1960
The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the "payola" scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accept money for playing particular records.
Year 1961
In Washington, D.C., President John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.
Year 1964
Blue Ribbon Sports is founded by University of Oregon track and field athletes, which would later become Nike.
Year 1969
Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight against the military dictatorship, taking with him ten machine guns and 63 rifles.
Year 1971
Charles Manson and three female "Family" members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.
Year 1979
Pope John Paul II starts his first official papal visits outside Italy to The Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Year 1986
The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.
Year 1993
Five people are shot outside the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Two are killed and three wounded.
Year 1995
The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.
Year 1998
During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.
Year 1998
A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.
Year 2003
Invasion of Iraq: A group of people leave London, England, for Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields, intending to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations.
Year 2006
Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza is arrested in connection with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women.
Year 2011
The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins throughout the country, marked by street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes.
Year 2013
At least 50 people are killed and 120 people are injured in a prison riot in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
Year 2015
A clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in the Philippines killing 44 members of Special Action Force (SAF), at least 18 from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.