THUNDER BAY – HISTORY – On January 25 in history: Several significant World War II events happened on this day. First the Battle of the Bulge in 1945 ended. The battle was a major last gasp German offensive that broke through Allied lines in the Arden woods. The German goal was to split the Allied forces and make a breakout for the coast of Europe.
The German advance was halted by Allied soldiers working in difficult winter weather conditions.
In 1955 on this day in history, the former Soviet Union formally declared an end to the state of war with Germany.
Significant Events in History from Wikipedia
- 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.
- 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to overthrow of the dynasty.
- 1348 – A strong earthquake strikes the South Alpine region of Friuli in modern Italy, causing considerable damage to buildings as far away as Rome.
- 1494 – Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
- 1515 – Coronation of Francis I of France.
- 1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
- 1554 – Founding of São Paulo city, Brazil.
- 1573 – Battle of Mikatagahara: In Japan, Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.
- 1575 – Luanda, the capital of Angola, is founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.
- 1704 – The Battle of Ayubale results in the destruction of most of the Spanish missions in Florida.
- 1755 – Moscow University is established on Tatiana Day.
- 1765 – Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands at the southern tip of South America, is founded.
- 1787 – Shays’ Rebellion: The rebellion’s largest confrontation, outside the Springfield Armory, results in the killing of four rebels and the wounding of twenty.
- 1791 – The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and splits the old Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.
- 1792 – The London Corresponding Society is founded.
- 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 recessional.
- 1879 – The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.
- 1881 – Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
- 1890 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
- 1909 – Richard Strauss’s opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
- 1915 – Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
- 1918 – Ukraine declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.
- 1924 – The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, in the French Alps, inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.
- 1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese National Revolutionary Army begins its defense of Harbin.
- 1937 – The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves to CBS television, where it remains until Sept. 18, 2009.
- 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.
- 1942 – World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
- 1944 – Florence Li Tim-Oi is ordained in China, becoming the first woman Anglican priest.
- 1945 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends.
- 1946 – The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.
- 1947 – Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device”, the first ever electronic game.
- 1949 – At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented.
- 1955 – The Soviet Union ends the state of war with Germany.
- 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.
- 1961 – In Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.
- 1969 – Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight against the military dictatorship, taking with him ten machine guns and 63 rifles.
- 1971 – Charles Manson and three female “Family” members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.
- 1971 – Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda’s president.
- 1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first official papal visits outside Italy to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
- 1980 – Mother Teresa is honored with India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna
- 1981 – Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, is sentenced to death.
- 1986 – The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.
- 1990 – Avianca Flight 52 crashed into Cove Neck, New York due to fuel exhaustion.
- 1993 – Five people are shot outside the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Two are killed and three wounded.
- 1994 – The Clementine space probe launches.
- 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.
- 1996 – Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the USA.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1999 – A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.
- 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.
- 2004 – Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
- 2005 – A stampede at the Mandhradevi temple in Maharashtra, India kills at least 258.
- 2006 – Three independent observing campaigns announce the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb through gravitational microlensing, the first cool rocky/icy extrasolar planet around a main-sequence star.
- 2006 – Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza is arrested in connection with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women.
- 2010 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into Mediterranean Sea. All 90 passengers and crew were killed.
- 2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins in Egypt, with a series of street demonstrations, marches, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes inCairo, Alexandria, and throughout other cities in Egypt.
- 2013 – At least 50 people are killed and 120 people are injured in a prison riot in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
