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HISTORY & TIMELINE
25 March

A journey through
25 March in history

From Christiaan Huygens’s discovery of Saturn’s largest moon in 1655 to the assassination of King Faisal in 1975, 25 March has seen the world’s first passenger railway service, Brazil’s first constitution, the opening of the first tunnel under a river and the founding treaty of the European Union. This timeline follows the date across three centuries.

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JUMP THROUGH TIME
III
A CHANGING WORLD

Early Modern Era

Exploration, political change, scientific development and expanding global connections.

1655
Christiaan Huygens, painted by Caspar Netscher in 1671.Christiaan Huygens, painted by Caspar Netscher in 1671.Image: Caspar Netscher · Public domain
science · Global

Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan

On 25 March 1655 the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, looking through a telescope he had built with his brother Constantijn, spotted a moon circling Saturn. It was the first moon of Saturn to be found. Now called Titan, it is Saturn’s largest moon and the only moon known to have a thick atmosphere. In 2005 a European probe named after Huygens landed on its surface.

Source: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: Huygens discovers Luna Saturni ↗
IV
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The 1800s

Industry, empire, invention, reform and a century of enormous transformation.

1807
William Wilberforce, painted by Anton Hickel in 1794.William Wilberforce, painted by Anton Hickel in 1794.Image: Anton Hickel · Public domain
world · Global

Britain abolishes its slave trade

On 25 March 1807 King George III gave his assent to the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. From 1 May, British ships could no longer carry enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. The Commons had passed it by 283 votes to 16 after a campaign of twenty years led by William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and formerly enslaved writers such as Olaudah Equiano. The act ended the trade, not slavery itself: some 800,000 people remained enslaved in British colonies until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. The Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron was later sent to intercept slave ships of other nations.

Source: UK Parliament: Parliament abolishes the slave trade ↗
1807
A horse-drawn tram on the Swansea and Mumbles Railway in 1897.A horse-drawn tram on the Swansea and Mumbles Railway in 1897.Image: Unknown photographer · Public domain
science · Europe

The first fare-paying railway passengers

On the Oystermouth Railway, built to carry limestone along the shore of Swansea Bay in Wales, a horse-drawn carriage began carrying paying passengers for the first time, after Benjamin French paid the company £20 for the right to run it for a year. It is regarded as the world’s first passenger railway service. The line, later the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, closed in 1960.

Source: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Coflein: Mumbles Railway / Oystermouth Railway ↗
1811
Shelley writing Prometheus Unbound, a posthumous portrait by Joseph Severn, 1845.Shelley writing Prometheus Unbound, a posthumous portrait by Joseph Severn, 1845.Image: Joseph Severn · Public domain
culture · Europe

Shelley is expelled from Oxford

On 25 March 1811 University College, Oxford, expelled the 18-year-old Percy Bysshe Shelley and his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg. They had published a pamphlet, The Necessity of Atheism, and sent it to bishops and the heads of colleges. Called before the college, Shelley refused to answer questions about it or to disown it. He went on to become one of the great Romantic poets, and the college, which once expelled him, now houses a memorial to him.

Source: Bodleian Libraries, Shelley’s Ghost: Bicentenary of Shelley’s expulsion from Oxford ↗
1821
Bishop Germanos of Patras blesses the flag of the revolution, painted by Theodoros Vryzakis in 1865.Bishop Germanos of Patras blesses the flag of the revolution, painted by Theodoros Vryzakis in 1865.Image: Theodoros Vryzakis · Public domain
world · Europe

The Greek War of Independence

Greeks celebrate 25 March 1821 as the start of their war of independence against the Ottoman Empire. By tradition, Bishop Germanos of Patras raised the flag of revolt at the monastery of Agia Lavra on that day, the Feast of the Annunciation, the date the secret society Filiki Eteria had chosen for the rising. In fact fighting had already broken out in the Danubian principalities in February and in parts of the Peloponnese. After years of war, and the intervention of Britain, France and Russia, Greece won its independence in 1830. 25 March is a national holiday in Greece and Cyprus.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: War of Greek Independence ↗
1824
Pedro I, first emperor of Brazil.Pedro I, first emperor of Brazil.Image: Simplício Rodrigues de Sá · Public domain
politics · Americas

Brazil’s first constitution

Emperor Pedro I, who had dissolved Brazil’s constituent assembly the year before, imposed a constitution of his own on the newly independent empire. It kept strong powers for the monarch and made Catholicism the state religion. It lasted until 1891, longer than any other of Brazil’s constitutions.

Source: Presidency of the Republic of Brazil (Planalto): Constituição Política do Império do Brasil, 1824 ↗
1843
A model of Marc Brunel's tunnelling shield at the Brunel Museum, Rotherhithe.A model of Marc Brunel’s tunnelling shield at the Brunel Museum, Rotherhithe.Image: Dunks58 at English Wikipedia · Public domain
science · Europe

The Thames Tunnel opens

On 25 March 1843 the Thames Tunnel opened between Rotherhithe and Wapping in London, the first tunnel known to have been built successfully under a navigable river. Marc Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel had spent 18 years on it, digging behind an iron shield that protected the miners from collapse. About a million people walked through it in its first 15 weeks. It became a railway tunnel in 1869 and still carries London Overground trains.

Source: Historic England: ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’ ↗
V
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The 1900s

War and peace, technological leaps, social change, politics, sport and popular culture.

1911
A newspaper photograph of an inside staircase of the Asch Building after the fire, 1911.A newspaper photograph of an inside staircase of the Asch Building after the fire, 1911.Image: Kheel Center · CC BY 2.0
world · Americas

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

Late on the afternoon of Saturday 25 March 1911, fire broke out on the eighth floor of the Asch Building in New York, where the Triangle Waist Company made women’s blouses. Doors had been locked and the only fire escape collapsed. 146 workers died, most of them young Italian and Jewish immigrant women. Public anger led New York to pass more than 30 new laws on fire safety and working conditions, and helped build the modern labour movement. The building, now part of New York University, still stands.

Source: Cornell University ILR School: The Triangle Factory Fire ↗
1957
A banner marking the treaty's 60th anniversary on the Berlaymont, the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels, 2017.A banner marking the treaty’s 60th anniversary on the Berlaymont, the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels, 2017.Image: Masterdeis · CC BY-SA 4.0
politics · Europe

Six nations sign the Treaty of Rome

On 25 March 1957, on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed two treaties. One created the European Economic Community, the other the European Atomic Energy Community. The EEC set out to build a common market, with goods, people, services and money moving freely between its members. It came into being on 1 January 1958 and grew, over the following decades, into today’s European Union.

Source: European Parliament: Treaty of Rome ↗
RESEARCH

Sources & Further Reading

Selected authoritative references supporting the events on this page.

WHY THESE MOMENTS?

Significance before volume

This page is not the longest possible list of events. It is a chronological journey through 25 March, where each entry is chosen for historical significance, human interest and reliability.

Facts are checked against authoritative museums, archives, universities and reference works. Where sources disagree, the page says so.

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