On May 25:
1085 Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo, Spain back from the Moors.
1420 Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
1521 The Diet of Worms ended when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
1659 Richard Cromwell resigned as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England.
1738 A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ended the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
1787 In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convened a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States. George Washington presided.
1803 Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and philosopher, was born (d. 1882).
1809 Chuquisaca Revolution: a group of patriots in Chuquisaca (modern day Sucre) revolted against the Spanish Empire, starting the South American Wars of Independence.
1865 In Mobile, Alabama, 300 were killed when an ordnance depot exploded.
1878 Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, American entertainer, was born (d. 1949).
1878 Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore opened at the Opera Comique in London.
1892 Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav resistance leader and later president, was born (d. 1980).
1895 Playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde was convicted of “committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons” and sentenced to serve two years in prison.
1913 Richard Dimbleby, British journalist and broadcaster, was born (d. 1965).
1914 The United Kingdom’s House of Commons passed the Home Rule Act for devolution in Ireland.
1921 Hal David, American lyricist and songwriter, was born.
1925 John T. Scopes was indicted for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
1927 Robert Ludlum, American writer was born (d. 2001).
1933 Basdeo Panday, 5th Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, was born.
1936 Tom T. Hall, American singer and songwriter, was born.
1936 The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins.
1938 Raymond Carver, American writer, was born (d. 1988).
1938 Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante caused 313 deaths.
1939 Ian McKellen, English actor, was born.
1940 World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk began.
1946 The parliament of Transjordan made Abdullah I of Jordan their king.
1953 At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducted its first and only nuclear artillery test.
1953 The first public television station in the United States officially began broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
1955 A night time F5 tornado struck f Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273.
1955 First ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition.
1959 Julian Clary, British television personality, was born.
1961 Apollo program: John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a “man on the moon” before the end of the decade.
1962 The Old Bay Line, the last overnight steamboat service in the United States, went out of business.
1963 In Addis Ababa, the Organisation of African Unity was established.
1966 Explorer 32 launched.
1966 The first prominent DaZiBao during the Cultural Revolution in China was posted at Peking University.
1978 Bastion Point protestors were evicted.
1979 American Airlines Flight 191: A McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashed during takeoff at O’Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.
1979 Six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared from the street just two blocks away from his New York home, prompting an International search for the child, and causing President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25th as National Missing Children’s Day (in 1983).
1981 In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council was created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
1982 HMS Coventry wassunk during the Falklands War.
1985 Bangladesh was hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which killed approximately 10,000 people.
2000 Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdrew its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978.
2001 Erik Weihenmayer became the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2002 A train crash in Tenga, Mozambique killed 197 people.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.