{"id":17514,"date":"2022-08-25T07:05:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T05:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=214204"},"modified":"2022-08-25T07:24:09","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T05:24:09","slug":"25-august-on-this-day-in-history","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/25-august-on-this-day-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"25 August: On this day in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Elinor Evans\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 25 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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25 August 1482\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Margaret of Anjou<\/a>, widow of the deposed King Henry VI<\/a>, died in Anjou aged 52. Captured by the Yorkists after the battle of Tewkesbury<\/a> in 1471 she had been ransomed and brought to France by King Louis XI.<\/p>\n

25 August 1609<\/h3>\n

Pisan physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope to a highly impressed Venetian senate after constructing it earlier that summer.<\/p>\n

25 August 1825<\/h3>\n

In the Brazilian province of Cisplatina, an elected assembly votes for the secession of what becomes the independent nation of Uruguay.<\/p>\n

25 August 1830:\u00a0An opera inspires revolution \u2013 and a new nation<\/h3>\n

A festival performance in Brussels sparks civil unrest<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Daniel Auber\u2019s opera The Mute Girl of Portici<\/em> is rarely performed these days, but its place in history will never fade. Very few operas can be said to have inspired a revolution and created a country.<\/p>\n

On the evening of 25 August 1830, the music-lovers of Brussels gathered at the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie for a performance of Auber\u2019s best-known work. It had been arranged to close a three-day festival celebrating 15 years under William I, King of the United Netherlands. Unfortunately, William was not a popular man.<\/p>\n

Although the formerly Austrian Netherlands had been merged with the former Dutch Republic after Napoleon\u2019s defeat in 1815, it was not a happy marriage. The Dutch had a stran- glehold on public life, while Catholics and French-speakers felt shut out. By summer 1830, tension was rising. In the run-up to the festival, activists put up posters in Brussels: \u201cMonday, the 23rd, fireworks; Tuesday, the 24th, illuminations; Wednesday, the 25th, revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exactly what happened that night remains murky, but there is no doubt that many opera-goers were prepared for trouble. When the singers struck up the second-act duet \u2018The Sacred Love of Country\u2019, the cheering was\u00a0so loud that they had to start again. And when one character sang the line \u2018To arms!\u2019, one paper reported that \u201cthe public could no longer be restrained. They acclaimed aria and actor, they booed the fifth act in order to stop the performance, and the delirious crowd [hurled itself] out of the hall \u2013 into history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chaos followed. As crowds surged through the streets, nationalists took possession of government buildings. They tore down the Dutch flag and replaced it with a tricolour in black, yellow and red. Although William sent his army to restore order, repression proved an utter failure. Just weeks later, the rebels\u2019 provisional government declared independence. They named their new country Belgium. | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

25 August 1841<\/h3>\n

Mary Hosford, Elizabeth Prall and Caroline Rudd became the first women to be awarded degrees when they graduated from Oberlin College, Ohio.<\/p>\n

25 August 1875:\u00a0Matthew Webb conquers the Channel<\/h3>\n

After a gruelling journey of more than 21 hours, Webb becomes the first man to swim the English Channel<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, Captain Matthew Webb is best remembered as the man whose face appeared on millions of Bryant and May matchboxes. To the Victorians, however, he was one of the great celebrities of the age: the first man ever to swim the English Channel.<\/p>\n

A former steamship captain in his late twenties, Webb was obsessed with swimming the Channel, training at Lambeth Baths and in the heavily polluted river Thames. With one unsuccessful attempt 12 days earlier behind him, on 24 August 1875 he made his way to the end of Dover\u2019s Admiralty Pier. There, having been rubbed all over in porpoise oil, he dived in, and with three boats bobbing alongside, began the long breaststroke swim to France.<\/p>\n

Although the French coast was only 18 nautical miles away, Webb\u2019s route lasted much longer. The strong current meant he effectively zigzagged across the Channel instead of heading directly across. At first, said one contemporary account, the water was \u201cas smooth as glass\u201d, but by 3am on the morning of the 25th an exhausted Webb had entered a patch of very rough sea. At one point he was even stung by a jellyfish, and had to be thrown a bottle of brandy to revive his spirits.<\/p>\n

By this stage he was heading for Sangatte, but more bad weather blew him off course. In the end, he waded \u2013 or more plausibly, staggered \u2013 ashore on the sands at Calais, having survived a journey of 21 hours and 45 minutes. He was hailed as nothing less than a national hero. | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

25 August 1944:\u00a0The Nazis are driven out of Paris<\/h3>\n

Allied forces liberate the French capital after four years of German occupation<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

By the middle of August 1944, the\u00a0Allied armies were at the gates of Paris. On the 19th, as German tanks roared down the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es, the first clashes broke out between the occupying forces and French Resistance fighters. Five days later, a company of nominally French \u2013 but actually mostly Spanish \u2013 troops broke through into the city centre, exchanging fire with the German defenders. The last battle for Paris was at hand, and Adolf Hitler<\/a>\u2019s instructions were clear. If the enemy attacked, the French capital must be destroyed. It \u201cmust not fall into the enemy\u2019s hand except lying in complete debris\u201d.<\/p>\n

But, despite the dictator\u2019s orders, Paris was not destroyed. Later, the German governor, Dietrich von Choltitz, wrote that he had deliberately disobeyed Hitler\u2019s orders because he knew the f\u00fchrer was insane, though it is more likely he was persuaded by the municipal council chairman Pierre Taittinger, (of champagne fame). In any case, by about 3.30pm on the 25th, von Choltitz had made up his mind. The Germans surrendered: the city was liberated.<\/p>\n

Later that day, in a victory address from the H\u00f4tel de Ville, France\u2019s provisional leader Charles de Gaulle\u00a0told his audience that Paris had been \u201cliberated by itself, liberated by its people with the help of the French armies, with the support and the help of all France\u201d.\nIt was a good line, but it was not quite true. After all, millions of French men and women had cooperated with the occupiers. And Paris had not really been liberated by the French, but by the Americans \u2013 and most embarrassingly of all, the British. | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

Browse more On this day in history<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n