| 25 August 1270 | France [political events] | Philip III succeeds to the French throne following the death of his father, King Louis IX of France. |
| 25 August 1530 | Russia [births and deaths] | Ivan IV (‘Ivan the Terrible’), Grand Prince of Moscow (1533–84), Tsar of Russia (1547–84), who waged war with Sweden and Livonia, and who is noted for executing at least 3,000 noblemen and boyars, born in Kolomenskoye, near Moscow, Russia (–1584). |
| 25 August 1758 | Prussia, Russia, Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Poland [Seven Years War (1754–62)] | The Battle of Zorndorf (in the Prussian province of Neumark) is fought between the Prussians, led by King Frederick II the Great, and Russian troops under the Russian general Count William Fermor. Here Frederick defeats the Russians: it is one of the bloodiest encounters of the Seven Years' War and Fermor withdraws by stages into Poland; Brandenburg Prussia is saved. |
| 25 August 1776 | Scotland [births and deaths] | David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, dies in Edinburgh, Scotland (65). |
| 25 August 1822 | England, Germany [births and deaths] | William Herschel, German-born English astronomer who discovered Uranus and developed a theory of stellar evolution, dies in Slough, Buckinghamshire, England (83). |
| 25 August 1825 | Uruguay, Brazil [decolonization] | Uruguay declares itself independent of Brazil. |
| 25 August 1867 | England [births and deaths] | Michael Faraday, English physicist and chemist whose work contributed to a basic understanding of electromagnetism, dies in Hampton Court, Surrey, England (76). |
| 25 August 1883 | Southeast Asia, France [colonization] | France proclaims a protectorate in Annam and Tonkin, in Southeast Asia. |
| 25 August 1900 | Germany [births and deaths] | Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher and critic, especially of Christianity, dies in Weimar, Thuringian States (55). |
| 25–27 August 1930 | Peru [political events] | Following a revolt by an army garrison, a military junta takes power in Peru and forces Augusto Leguía to resign the presidency. Colonel Luis Sánchez Cerro, leader of the original revolt, becomes president on 27 August after marching on the capital Lima. |
| 25 August 1976 | France [law and government] | Jacques Chirac resigns suddenly as prime minister of France and is succeeded by Raymond Barre. |
