October 25 in History

Bolshevik Red Guards occupied key positions throughout Petrograd on the night of October 25, 1917 (November 7 on the Gregorian calendar), seizing telegraph offices, bridges, and the State Bank before storming the Winter Palace. The Provisional Government collapsed with barely a fight: the famous 'storming' was largely unopposed. Kerensky had already fled. Lenin declared Soviet power that night at the Second Congress of Soviets. The Bolsheviks immediately issued decrees on peace and land redistribution. When the democratically elected Constituent Assembly met in January 1918 and refused to rubber-stamp Bolshevik decrees, Lenin dissolved it after a single day. Russia's brief experiment with democracy lasted 13 hours. A civil war between Reds and Whites followed, lasting until 1922 and killing millions.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf, fought over four days beginning October 23, 1944, was the largest naval battle in history. It involved 367 ships, 1,800 aircraft, and nearly 200,000 personnel across four separate engagements spread over 100,000 square miles of the Philippine Sea. Japan committed virtually every remaining warship in a desperate gamble to destroy the American landing force at Leyte. The plan nearly worked: Admiral Kurita's Center Force broke through San Bernardino Strait and surprised a group of escort carriers, sinking one before inexplicably turning back. Japan lost 26 warships, including the super-battleship Musashi. The battle also saw the first organized use of kamikaze attacks, as Japanese pilots deliberately crashed their planes into American ships. Japan's navy effectively ceased to exist as a fighting force.

The United Nations General Assembly voted 76 to 35 on October 25, 1971, to seat the People's Republic of China and expel the Republic of China (Taiwan). The vote, on Resolution 2758, ended 22 years of U.S. efforts to keep Taiwan in the UN. The PRC immediately took China's permanent seat on the Security Council with its veto power. Taiwan's delegation walked out before the final vote. The change reflected a shifting global reality: dozens of newly independent nations in Africa and Asia recognized Beijing, and the U.S. itself was secretly negotiating Nixon's upcoming visit to China. Taiwan lost diplomatic recognition from most nations over the following decade. Today, only 13 countries and the Holy See formally recognize the Republic of China. Taiwan has never been readmitted to the UN.

The United States and six Caribbean nations invaded Grenada on October 25, 1983, six days after a military coup overthrew and executed Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. The operation, codenamed Urgent Fury, deployed 7,600 American troops alongside token forces from Jamaica, Barbados, and other island states. Resistance came primarily from about 600 Cuban construction workers and military advisors. The invasion lasted three days. Nineteen American soldiers were killed, along with 25 Cubans and 45 Grenadians. Reagan cited the protection of 600 American medical students on the island as justification, though the students later gave mixed accounts of whether they felt threatened. The UN General Assembly condemned the invasion 108 to 9. The operation restored the pre-coup government and expelled all Cuban personnel.

Henry V's exhausted, starving English army of roughly 6,000 men faced a French force of 12,000 to 36,000 at Agincourt on October 25, 1415. Rain had turned the recently plowed field into a quagmire. French knights in heavy armor charged through the mud and were cut down by English longbowmen firing 70,000 arrows per minute. The mud was so deep that fallen knights couldn't rise and drowned under the weight of subsequent charges. Henry ordered prisoners executed when a counterattack threatened his baggage train, a controversial decision even by medieval standards. French casualties exceeded 6,000 killed, including three dukes, five counts, and 90 barons. English losses were roughly 400. The victory gave Henry the leverage to negotiate the Treaty of Troyes, which named him heir to the French throne.