On this Day in History - April 25 Ground Broken for Suez Canal

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Apr 25, 1859: Ground broken for Suez Canal

At Port Said, Egypt, ground is broken for the Suez Canal, an artificial waterway intended to stretch 101 miles across the isthmus of Suez and connect the Mediterranean and the Red seas. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat who organized the colossal undertaking, delivered the pickax blow that inaugurated construction.  

Artificial canals have been built on the Suez region, which connects the continents of Asia and Africa, since ancient times. Under the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, a channel connected the Bitter Lakes to the Red Sea, and a canal reached northward from Lake Timsah as far as the Nile River. These canals fell into disrepair or were intentionally destroyed for military reasons. As early as the 15th century, Europeans speculated about building a canal across the Suez, which would allow traders to sail from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea, rather than having to sail the great distance around Africa's Cape of Good Hope.  

The first serious survey of the isthmus occurred during the French occupation of Egypt at the end of the 18th century, and General Napoleon Bonaparte personally inspected the remains of an ancient canal. France made further studies for a canal, and in 1854 Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former French consul to Cairo, secured an agreement with the Ottoman governor of Egypt to build a canal. An international team of engineers drew up a construction plan, and in 1856 the Suez Canal Company was formed and granted the right to operate the canal for 99 years after completion of the work.  

Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was done by hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced laborers. Later, European workers with dredgers and steam shovels arrived. Labor disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed construction, and the Suez Canal was not completed until 1869--four years behind schedule. On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was officially inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III. Ferdinand de Lesseps would later attempt, unsuccessfully, to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. He died in 1894.  

When it opened, the Suez Canal was only 25 feet deep, 72 feet wide at the bottom, and 200 to 300 feet wide at the surface. Consequently, fewer than 500 ships navigated it in its first full year of operation. Major improvements began in 1876, however, and the canal soon grew into the one of the world's most heavily traveled shipping lanes. In 1875, Great Britain became the largest shareholder in the Suez Canal Company when it bought up the stock of the new Ottoman governor of Egypt. Seven years later, in 1882, Britain invaded Egypt, beginning a long occupation of the country. The Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 made Egypt virtually independent, but Britain reserved rights for the protection of the canal.  

After World War II, Egypt pressed for evacuation of British troops from the Suez Canal Zone, and in July 1956 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal, hoping to charge tolls that would pay for construction of a massive dam on the Nile River. In response, Israel invaded in late October, and British and French troops landed in early November, occupying the canal zone. Under pressure from the United Nations, Britain and France withdrew in December, and Israeli forces departed in March 1957. That month, Egypt took control of the canal and reopened it to commercial shipping.  

Ten years later, Egypt shut down the canal again following the Six Day War and Israel's occupation of the Sinai peninsula. For the next eight years, the Suez Canal, which separates the Sinai from the rest of Egypt, existed as the front line between the Egyptian and Israeli armies. In 1975, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat reopened the Suez Canal as a gesture of peace after talks with Israel. Today, an average of 50 ships navigate the canal daily, carrying more than 300 million tons of goods a year.













Apr 25, 1983: Andropov writes to U.S. student 

On this day in 1983, the Soviet Union releases a letter that Russian leader Yuri Andropov wrote to Samantha Smith, an American fifth-grader from Manchester, Maine, inviting her to visit his country. Andropov's letter came in response to a note Smith had sent him in December 1982, asking if the Soviets were planning to start a nuclear war. At the time, the United States and Soviet Union were Cold War enemies.  

President Ronald Reagan, a passionate anti-communist, had dubbed the Soviet Union the "evil empire" and called for massive increases in U.S. defense spending to meet the perceived Soviet threat. In his public relations duel with Reagan, known as the "Great Communicator," Andropov, who had succeeded longtime Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1982, assumed a folksy, almost grandfatherly approach that was incongruous with the negative image most Americans had of the Soviets.  

Andropov's letter said that Russian people wanted to "live in peace, to trade and cooperate with all our neighbors on the globe, no matter how close or far away they are, and, certainly, with such a great country as the United States of America." In response to Smith's question about whether the Soviet Union wished to prevent nuclear war, Andropov declared, "Yes, Samantha, we in the Soviet Union are endeavoring and doing everything so that there will be no war between our two countries, so that there will be no war at all on earth." Andropov also complimented Smith, comparing her to the spunky character Becky Thatcher from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain.  

Smith, born June 29, 1972, accepted Andropov's invitation and flew to the Soviet Union with her parents for a visit. Afterward, she became an international celebrity and peace ambassador, making speeches, writing a book and even landing a role on an American television series. In February 1984, Yuri Andropov died from kidney failure and was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko. The following year, in August 1985, Samantha Smith died tragically in a plane crash at age 13.





















Apr 25, 1781: Cornwallis retreats from Guilford Courthouse 

On this day in 1781, British General Lord Charles Cornwallis retreats to Wilmington, North Carolina, after being defeated at Guilford Courthouse by 4,500 Continental Army soldiers and militia under the command of American Major General Nathanael Greene.  

With Cornwallis' defeat, the British task of defending North Carolina fell to a young Irish-born nobleman, Francis, Lord Rawdon, an officer of marked ability, who went on to execute an unlikely victory over Greene at Hobkirk's Hill, a ridge just north of Camden, North Carolina.  

Rawdon, who was being provided information on the Continentals' movements by British Loyalists, learned of the movements of General Greene and his troops. A deserter from the Continental Army informed Rawdon about the precarious supply situation of the Continental Army, and the commander sprung into action. Although outnumbered by a Continental Army of 1,174 men to Rawdon's 800 British troops, the British managed to surprise Greene and the Continentals at Hobkirk's Hill. Although casualties were approximately the same on each side, the British won a tactical victory, taking the field. Greene retreated, but managed to save his supplies and artillery, while Rawdon and the British fell back to Charleston, South Carolina.  

Upon his return to England, King George III honored Lord Rawdon with his own peerage as Baron Rawdon in March 1783. Six years later, Rawdon added his mother's surname, Hastings, to his own. With his father's death in 1793, Rawdon-Hastings became the second earl of Moira. He served as the governor general of India beginning in 1813. Proving his military and diplomatic prowess, he gained Nepal, Marathas and Singapore for the crown. These successes led to yet another new title, the marquess of Hastings.





















Apr 25, 1945: Americans and Russians link up, cut Germany in two         

On this day in 1945, eight Russian armies completely encircle Berlin, linking up with the U.S. First Army patrol, first on the western bank of the Elbe, then later at Torgau. Germany is, for all intents and purposes, Allied territory.  

The Allies sounded the death knell of their common enemy by celebrating. In Moscow, news of the link-up between the two armies resulted in a 324-gun salute; in New York, crowds burst into song and dance in the middle of Times Square. Among the Soviet commanders who participated in this historic meeting of the two armies was the renowned Russian Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov, who warned a skeptical Stalin as early as June 1941 that Germany posed a serious threat to the Soviet Union. Zhukov would become invaluable in battling German forces within Russia (Stalingrad and Moscow) and without. It was also Zhukov who would demand and receive unconditional surrender of Berlin from German General Krebs less than a week after encircling the German capital. At the end of the war, Zhukov was awarded a military medal of honor from Great Britain.















Apr 25, 1972: North Vietnamese Army close to cutting South Vietnam in two

Hanoi's 320th Division drives 5,000 South Vietnamese troops into retreat and traps about 2,500 others in a border outpost northwest of Kontum in the Central Highlands. This was part of the ongoing North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive, also known as the "Easter Offensive," which included an invasion by 120,000 North Vietnamese troops. The offensive was based on three objectives: Quang Tri in the north, Kontum in the Central Highlands, and An Loc in the south--just 65 miles north of Saigon. If successful, the attack at Kontum would effectively cut South Vietnam in two across the Central Highlands, giving North Vietnam control of the northern half of South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese defenders were able to hold out and prevent this from happening. 















Apr 25, 1719: Robinson Crusoe is published

Daniel Defoe's fictional work The Life and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is published. The book, about a shipwrecked sailor who spends 28 years on a deserted island, is based on the experiences of shipwreck victims and of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who spent four years on a small island off the coast of South America in the early 1700s.  

Like his hero Crusoe, Daniel Defoe was an ordinary, middle-class Englishman, not an educated member of the nobility like most writers at the time. Defoe established himself as a small merchant but went bankrupt in 1692 and turned to political pamphleteering to support himself. A pamphlet he published in 1702 satirizing members of the High Church led to his arrest and trial for seditious libel in 1703. He appealed to powerful politician Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, who had him freed from Newgate prison and who hired him as a political writer and spy to support his own views. To this end, Defoe set up the Review, which he edited and wrote from 1704 to 1713. It wasn't until he was nearly 60 that he began writing fiction. His other works include Moll Flanders (1722) and Roxana (1724). He died in London in 1731, one day before the 12th anniversary of Robinson Crusoe's publication.  

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

1185 - Sea battle at Dan-no-ura: Minamoto Yoritomo beats Taira-family

1449 - Anti-pope Felix V resigns

1507 - Geographer Martin Waldseemuller 1st used name America

1541 - -26) Liege flooded after heavy down pour

1604 - Count Maurits' army lands at Cadzand

1607 - Battle at Gibraltar: Dutch fleet beats Spanish/Portuguese fleet

1614 - Amsterdam Bank of Loan forms

1626 - Battle at the Dessauer bridge: Monarch Albrecht von Wallenstein beats Earl of Mansfeld

1660 - English Convention Parliament meets & votes to restore Charles II

1678 - French troops conquer Ypres

1684 - Patent granted for thimble

1707 - Battle of Almansa; Franco-Spanish forces defeat British and Portuguese

1719 - Daniel Defoes publishes "Robinson Crusoe"

1747 - Prince Willem V appointed viceroy of Zealand

1792 - Guillotine first used in France, executes highwayman Nicolas J Pelletier

1829 - Charles Fremantle arrives in the HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.

1846 - Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.

1849 - The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.

1850 - Paul Julius Reuter, use 40 pigeons to carry stock market prices

Novelist Daniel DefoeNovelist Daniel Defoe 1859 - Ground broken for Suez Canal

1861 - Battle of Lavaca, TX

1861 - American Civil War: The Union Army arrives to reinforce Washington, D.C.

1862 - Capture of New Orleans LA by the Union under Flag Officer Farragut

1864 - Battle of Marks' Mill, Arkansas (Camden Expedition)

1867 - Tokyo opens for foreign trade

1875 - Latest date for measurable snow in NYC (3")

1876 - Chicago Cubs 1st NL game, beats Louisville 4-0 (1st NL shutout)

1881 - 250,000 Germans petition to bar foreign Jews from entering Germany

1881 - French troops occupy Algeria & Tunisia

1886 - Sigmund Freud opens practice at Rathausstrasse 7, Vienna

1891 - Pres Benjamin Harrison visits SF

1896 - Fight in Central Dance Hall starts fire (Cripple Creek Colorado)

1896 - Sidney Jones & Harry Greenbacks musical premieres in London

1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States declares state of war on Spain effective from 21st April.

Father of Psychology Sigmund FreudFather of Psychology Sigmund Freud 1901 - Erve Beck hits American League's 1st home run

1901 - New York becomes 1st state requiring auto license plates ($1 fee)

1901 - In last of 9th, Detroit Tigers, trailing by 13-4, score 10 runs to win one of greatest comebacks in baseball (1st game in Detroit)

1902 - Erwin Harvey becomes 1st Cleveland ballplayer (Cleveland Bronchos) to have six hits in one game

1904 - NY Yankee Jack Chesbro's 1st of 41 wins this year

1905 - Latest day of 1st-class cricket in an Aust season (NSW v Qld)

1905 - Whites win right to vote in South Africa

1915 - 78,000 ANZAC troops land at Gallipoli

1925 - Paul von Hindenburg elected president of Germany

1926 - Giacomo Puccini's opera "Turandot" premieres in Milan

1926 - Persian cossack officer Reza Chan crowns himself Shah Palawi

1927 - Spain routes 20,000 soldiers to Morocco (uprising Rifkabylen)

1928 - Buddy, a German Shepherd, becomes 1st guide dog for a US citizen Morris Frank

1932 - Rose Franken's "Another Language" premieres in NYC

1933 - NY Yankee Russ Van Atta shuts out Washington Senators 16-0

Composer Giacomo PucciniComposer Giacomo Puccini 1933 - US & Canada drop Gold Standard

1941 - Operation Merkur: Hitler orders conquest of Kreta

1942 - Luftwaffe bombs Bath

1943 - The Demyansk Shield for German troops in commemoration of Demyansk Pocket is instituted.

1944 - United Negro College Fund incorporates

1945 - 45 countries convene UN Conference on Intl Organization in SF

1945 - Allied air raid on Surabaja, Java

1945 - British troops reach Grebbe line Neth

1945 - Clandestine Radio 1212, used to hoax Nazi Germany's final transmission

1945 - Last Boeing B-17 attack against Nazi Germany

1945 - Red army completely surrounds Berlin

1945 - US & Soviet forces meet at Torgau Germany on Elbe River

1946 - "Exposition Flyer" rammed at Napierville Illinois, killing 48

1946 - Christopher Fry's "Phoenix too Frequent" premieres in London

1947 - Lou Thesz beats Whipper Watson in St Louis, to become wrestling champ

Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler 1947 - Trial against WW II mayor of Amsterdam Edward Voete begins

1949 - Friedrich Durrenmatt's "Romulus der Grosse" premieres in Basel

1949 - Michael Brown, rocker (Left Bank-Don't Walk Away Renee)

1950 - Ambon (proclaims RMS (Republik Maluku Selatan)

1950 - Chuck Cooper becomes 1st black to play in NBA

1952 - 6th NBA Championship: Minneapolis Lakers beat NY Knicks, 4 games to 3

1952 - American Bowling Congress approves use of an automatic pinsetter

1952 - German "Country" Bathe-Wurttemberg forms

1953 - Scientists identify DNA

1954 - Bell labs announces 1st solar battery (NYC)

1954 - British raid Nairobi Kenya (25,000 Mau Mau suspects arrested)

1954 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island atmospher

1954 - WDEF TV channel 12 in Chattanooga, TN (CBS) begins broadcasting

1956 - Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" goes #1

1956 - Noel Coward's musical "South Sea Bubble" premieres in London

Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis PresleySinger & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley 1957 - 1st experimental sodium nuclear reactor operated

1957 - Ibrahim Hashim forms Jordanian government

1957 - WUHY TV channel 35 in Philadelphia, PA (PBS) begins broadcasting

1959 - St Lawrence Seaway linking Atlantic, Great Lakes opens to shipping

1960 - 1st submerged circumnavigation of Earth completed (Triton)

1961 - "Young Abe Lincoln" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC for 27 perfs

1961 - France performs nuclear test at Reggane Proving Grounds Algeria

1961 - Mercury/Atlas rocket lifted off with an electronic mannequin

1961 - Premier Moise Tsjombe of Katanga arrested in Congo

1961 - Robert Noyce patents integrated circuit

1961 - Unmanned Mercury test explodes on launch pad

1962 - Cleve sends Harry Chiti to Mets for a player to be named later, on

1962 - Lion & Tiger Veldt at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is dedicated

1962 - US Ranger spacecraft crash lands on Moon

1962 - US resumes above ground nuclear testing, at Christmas Island

1962 - June 15 the Mets send Chiti back to Cleveland

1964 - Stanley Cup: Toronto Maple Leafs beat Detroit Red Wings, 4 games to 3

1965 - 19th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 1

1965 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Pensacola Golf Invitational

1966 - Drunk driver kills 10 children in Asse Belgium

1967 - Abortion legalized in Colorado

1967 - Britain grants internal self-government to Swaziland

1967 - Jules Feiffer's "Little Murders" premieres in NYC

1968 - "Half a Sixpence" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 512 performances

1969 - 5,400th & last episode of BBC Radio serial "The Dales" (formerly "Mrs Dale's Diary" )

1970 - "Park" closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 5 performances

1970 - Freda Payne releases "Band of Gold"

1970 - Melanie releases "Lay Down"

1971 - About 200,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march on Washington

1971 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Burdine's Golf Invitational

1971 - US canal rights in Nicaragua & rights to Corn Islands expire

1971 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1972 - Hans-Werner Grosse glides 907.7 miles (1,461 km) in an AS-W-12

1973 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1974 - Chancellor Willy Brandt sect Gunther Guillaume found to be a spy

1974 - Leo Tindemans forms Belgium government

1974 - Marcello Caetano overthrown in Portugal (Carnation revolution)

1974 - NFL moves goal posts & adopts sudden-death playoff

1975 - 1st Boeing Jetfoil revenue service, Hong Kong to Macao

1975 - Mario Soares' Socialist Party wins Portugal's free election

1975 - USSR performs underground nuclear test

1975 - West German embassy blown-up in Stockholm Sweden

1976 - Elections in Vietnam for a National Assembly to reunite the country

1976 - India all out for 97 v West Indies

1976 - Jan Stephenson wins LPGA Birmingham Golf Classic

1976 - Portugal adopts constitution

1976 - Cub centerfielder Rick Monday rescues US flag from 2 fans trying to set it on fire

1977 - Cin Reds tie record of 12 runs in 5th inning beating Braves 23-9

1977 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1978 - Phillie Phanatic makes 1st appearance

1978 - Supreme Court rules pension plans can't require women to pay more

1979 - "Rock 'n Roll High Schools" premieres

1979 - Peace treaty between Israel & Egypt goes into effect

1980 - A's manager Billy Martin restrained by umpires from attacking a fan

1980 - Announcement of Jimmy Carter hostage rescue bungle in Iran

1980 - Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Wayne Webb

1980 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1981 - Mariners mgr Maury Wills is suspended for 2 games after ordering Seattle's grounds crew to enlarge batter's boxes by one foot

1981 - More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.

1982 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1982 - In accordance with Camp David, Israel completes Sinai withdrawal

1982 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Orlando Lady Golf Classic

1982 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1982 - Yanks fire manager Bob Lemon & replaces him with Gene Michael

1983 - "Nightline" expands from ½ hour to a full hour

1983 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

1983 - Portugal's Soares' Partido Socialista wins parliamentary election

1983 - Yuri Andropov invites US schoolgirl Samantha Smith to USSR

1983 - Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.

1984 - Rock group Wings disbands

1984 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1985 - "Big River" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC for 1005 performances

1985 - Flyers 2-Isles 6-Patrick Div Finals-Flyers hold 3-1 lead

NHL all-time top scorer Wayne GretzkyNHL all-time top scorer Wayne Gretzky 1985 - For 2nd time, Wayne Gretzky, scores 7 goals in a Cup game

1985 - Roger Miller's musical "Big River," premieres in NYC

1985 - West German Parliament ruled it illegal to deny the holocaust

1986 - ETA bomb attacks Madrid killing 5

1986 - Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.

1988 - "Nightline" goes on location to Jerusalem Israel

1988 - John Demjanjuk (Ivan the Terrible), sentenced to death in Jerusalem

1988 - NASA launches space vehicle S-211

1989 - Mike Tyson gets a speeding ticket for drag racing in Albany NY

1989 - Penguin Mario Lemuix ties NHL playoff record of 4 goals in 1st period

1990 - 25th Academy of Country Music Awards: Clint Black & Kathy Mattea win

1990 - Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by shuttle Discovery

1990 - Violeta Barrios de Chamorro begins a 6 year term as Nicaragua's pres

1991 - "Grand Hotel" closes at Beck Theater NYC after 1018 performances

1991 - Lisa Olson brings suit against NFL NE Patriots for sexual harassment

Country Singer Roger MillerCountry Singer Roger Miller 1991 - Lucy Simon & Marsha Norman's musical premieres in NYC

1992 - "Shimada" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 4 performances

1992 - Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Marc McDowell

1993 - "Blood Brothers" opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 839 performances

1993 - Russia elects Boris Yeltsin leader

1994 - 14" of snow in Southern Calif

1994 - Bomb attack on taxi stand in Johannesburg, 10 killed

1994 - Fishing boat with school children capsize at Lanaka Syria, 46 killed

1994 - King Azlan Shah of Malaysia resigns

1994 - Mexican businessman & billionaire Angel Losada kidnap

1994 - Tsutomu Hata elected premier of Japan

1995 - "Month in the Country" opens at Roundabout Theater NYC for 79 perfs

1995 - 16th Emmy Sports Award presentation

1996 - "Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk" opens at Ambassador Theater NYC

1997 - Seattle Mariner Ken Griffey Jr hits his 250th HR

Russian President Boris YeltsinRussian President Boris Yeltsin 2005 - The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.

2005 - Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.

2005 - 107 die in Amagasaki rail crash in Japan.

2007 - Boris Yeltsin's funeral - the first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.

2011 - At least 300 people killed in deadliest tornado outbreak in the Southern United States since the 1974 Super Outbreak.

2012 - The United Kingdom dips back into recession after the economy shrank 0.2% in the first quarter of 2012

2013 - The United Kingdom reopens its embassy in Somalia after 22 years

2013 - Kansas City Chiefs select Eric Fisher as the first NFL draft pick

2013 - 38 people are killed in a psychiatric hospital fire in Ramensky, Russia

1590 - The Sultan of Morocco launched his successful attack to capture Timbuktu.   1644 - The Ming Chongzhen emperor committed suicide by hanging himself.   1684 - A patent was granted for the thimble.   1707 - At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeated the Anglo-Portugese.   1792 - The guillotine was first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.   1831 - The New York and Harlem Railway was incorporated in New York City.   1846 - The Mexican-American War ignited as a result of disputes over claims to Texas boundaries. The outcome of the war fixed Texas' southern boundary at the Rio Grande River.   1859 - Work began on the Suez Canal in Egypt.   1860 - The first Japanese diplomats to visit a foreign power reached Washington, DC. They remained in the U.S. capital for several weeks while discussing expansion of trade with the United States.   1862 - Union Admiral Farragut occupied New Orleans, LA.   1864 - After facing defeat in the Red River Campaign, Union General Nathaniel Bank returned to Alexandria, LA.   1867 - Tokyo was opened for foreign trade.   1882 - French commander Henri Riviere seized the citadel of Hanoi in Indochina.   1898 - The U.S. declared war on Spain. Spain had declared war on the U.S. the day before.   1901 - New York became the first state to require license plates for cars. The fee was $1.   1915 - During World War I, Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Gallipoli in Turkey in hopes of attacking the Central Powers from below. The attack was unsuccessful.   1925 - General Paul von Hindenburg took office as president of Germany.   1926 - In Iran, Reza Kahn was crowned Shah and choose the name "Pehlevi."   1928 - A seeing eye dog was used for the first time.   1938 - "Your Family and Mine," a radio serial, was first broadcast.   1940 - W2XBS (now WCBS-TV) in New York City presented the first circus on TV.   1945 - U.S. and Soviet forces met at Torgau, Germany on Elbe River.   1945 - Delegates from about 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.   1952 - After a three-day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment was annihilated on "Gloucester Hill," in Korea.   1953 - U.S. Senator Wayne Morse ended the longest speech in U.S. Senate history. The speech on the Offshore Oil Bill lasted 22 hours and 26 minutes.   1953 - Dr. James D. Watson and Dr. Francis H.C. Crick suggested the double helix structure of DNA.   1954 - The prototype manufacture of the first solar battery was announced by the Bell Laboratories in New York City.   1957 - Operations began at the first experimental sodium nuclear reactor.   1959 - St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping. The water way connects the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.   1961 - Robert Noyce was granted a patent for the integrated circuit.   1962 - The U.S. spacecraft, Ranger, crashed on the Moon.   1967 - Colorado Governor John Love signed the first law legalizing abortion in the U.S. The law was limited to therapeutic abortions when agreed to, unanimously, by a panel of three physicians.   1971 - The country of Bangladesh was established.   1974 - Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar was overthrown in a military coup.   1976 - Portugal ratified a constitution. It was first revised on October 30, 1982.   1980 - In Iran, a commando mission to rescue hostages was aborted after mechanical problems disabled three of the eight helicopters involved. During the evacuation, a helicopter and a transport plan collided and exploded. Eight U.S. servicemen were killed. The mission was aimed at freeing American hostages that had been taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. The event took place April 24th Washington, DC, time.   1982 - In accordance with Camp David agreements, Israel completed its Sinai withdrawal.   1983 - Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the U.S. schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.   1983 - The Pioneer 10 spacecraft crossed Pluto's orbit, speeding on its endless voyage through the Milky Way.   1984 - In France, over one million people demonstrated to show they favored the decentralization of education.   1984 - David Anthony Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy, was found dead of a drug overdose in a hotel room.   1985 - "Big River (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)" opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on Broadway in New York City.   1987 - In Washington, DC, 100,000 people protested the U.S. policy in Central America.   1987 - Peter O'Toole opened in "Pygmalion" on Broadway.   1988 - In Israel, John "Ivan the Terrible" Demjanuk was sentenced to death as a Nazi war criminal.   1990 - Sandinista rule ended in Nicaragua.   1990 - The U.S. Hubble Space Telescope was placed into Earth's orbit. It was released by the space shuttle Discovery.   1992 - Islamic forces in Afghanistan took control of most of the capital of Kabul following the collapse of the Communist government.   1996 - The main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel.   1998 - U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on was questioned by Whitewater prosecutors on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.   2003 - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader and ex-wife of former President Nelson Mandela, was sentenced to four years in prison for her conviction on fraud and theft charges. She was convicted of 43 counts of fraud and 25 of theft of money from a women's political league.   2007 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 13,000 for the first time.



1901 New York became the first state to require license plates on cars. 1915 British, Australian, and New Zealand forces landed at Gallipoli. 1928 The first seeing eye dog was presented to Morris S. Frank. 1945 Delegates met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations. 1953 The Francis Crick and James Watson article describing the double helix of DNA is published in the magazine Nature. 1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping. 1990 Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was inaugurated as president of Nicaragua. 1992 Islamic forces took over most of Kabul, Afghanistan after the Soviet-controlled government collapsed. 2003 The Georgia legislature voted to scrap the "Confederate flag" design from its state flag.


The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/apr25.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory