Today in History, April 25th
On April 25, 1915, Allied troops including Australians and New Zealanders landed at Gallipoli. Plus the Suez Canal and the Torgau link-up.
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April 25 is best known as the day in 1915 when Allied troops, including Australians and New Zealanders, landed on Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula in World War I. The date also saw ground broken for the Suez Canal in 1859 and American and Soviet troops meet at Torgau, Germany, in 1945.
The big story: The Landings at Gallipoli (1915)
Early in World War I, Russia asked Britain for help against Ottoman attacks in the Caucasus. The Allies had no troops to spare for Russia, so they looked for another way in: seize the Dardanelles strait and open a sea route to their ally through the Black Sea. A naval attack on March 18, 1915, failed. On April 25, British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops went ashore on the Gallipoli Peninsula instead. They met stubborn resistance, with some of the best-trained Ottoman defenders under Mustafa Kemal, the officer later known as President Atatürk. The Allies gained little ground. A fresh landing at Suvla Bay in August did not break the deadlock, and the last troops withdrew on January 8, 1916. Allied casualties reached about 250,000. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, was discredited by the failure. He resigned and went to France to command an infantry battalion.
More events on April 25
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1719 | Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe was published (Old Style). It drew partly on the real island ordeal of sailor Alexander Selkirk. |
| 1859 | Ferdinand de Lesseps struck a ceremonial pickax blow at Port Said, Egypt, to begin building the Suez Canal. |
| 1901 | New York became the first state to require license plates. Owners made their own from materials like wood and leather. |
| 1945 | American and Soviet troops linked up at Torgau, cutting Germany in two. |
| 1945 | President Harry Truman was briefed on the Manhattan Project, the secret effort to build an atomic bomb. |
| 1950 | The Boston Celtics picked Duquesne’s Chuck Cooper, the first African American selected in the NBA draft. |
| 1959 | The St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened, linking the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. |
| 1974 | The NFL adopted overtime for regular-season games to cut down on ties. |
| 2014 | To save money, Flint, Michigan, switched its water supply to the Flint River, exposing residents to lead-contaminated water. |
| 2015 | A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal. It and its aftershocks killed nearly 9,000 people. |
Born on April 25
- 1874: Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor of radio telegraphy and Nobel Prize winner in physics.
- 1908: Edward R. Murrow, American broadcast journalist.
- 1917: Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer, born in Newport News, Virginia.
- 1940: Al Pacino, American actor.
Sources
- Allies begin invasion of Gallipoli, History.com
- This Day in History: April 25, History.com
- On This Day: April 25, Britannica
- Saint Lawrence Seaway, Britannica
- Guglielmo Marconi, Britannica
- Edward R. Murrow, Britannica
- Ella Fitzgerald, Britannica
- Al Pacino, Britannica
