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1779 Hendrik Merkus, Baron de Kock (25 May 1779 â 12 April 1845) was a Dutch general and nobleman who served in the Batavian Navy as Lieutenant Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1826 to 1830. He also was Minister of the Interior of the Netherlands from 1836 to 1841.
1781 Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este (25 April 1781 â 5 November 1850) was the third son of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este and of his wife Princess Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d’Este, last member and heiress of the House of Este. For much of the Napoleonic Wars he was in command of the Austrian army.
1826 Danilo I PetroviÄ-NjegoÅ¡ (Serbian Cyrillic: Ðанило I ÐеÑÑовиÑ-ÐегоÑ; 25 May 1826 â 13 August 1860), was ruling Prince of Montenegro, from 1851 to 1860. Beginning of his reign marked the transition of Montenegro from an archaic form of government (Prince-Bishopric) into a secular Principality. He became involved in a war with the Ottoman Empire in 1852, the Porte claiming jurisdiction in Montenegro, and the boundaries between the two countries were not defined until 1858. Danilo, with the help of his elder brother, Voivode Mirko, defeated the Ottomans at Ostrog in 1853 and in the Battle of Grahovac in 1858. The town of Danilovgrad is named after him.
1856 Louis Félix Marie François Franchet d’Espèrey (25 May 1856 â 8 July 1942) was a French general during World War I. As commander of the large Allied army based at Salonika, he conducted the successful Macedonian campaign, which caused the collapse of the Southern Front and contributed to the armistice.
1889 Johann Günther Lütjens (25 May 1889 â 27 May 1941) was a German admiral whose military service spanned more than thirty years and two world wars. Lütjens is best known for his actions during World War II and his command of the battleship Bismarck during its foray into the Atlantic Ocean in 1941. In its aftermath, the episode entered into naval legend.
1913 Heinz “Pritzl” Bär (May 25, 1913 – Apr 28, 1957) was a German Luftwaffe flying ace who served throughout World War II in Europe. Bär flew more than one thousand combat missions, and fought in the Western, Eastern and Mediterranean theatres. On 18 occasions he survived being shot down, and according to records in the German Federal Archives, he claimed to have shot down 228 enemy aircraft and was credited with 208 aerial victories, 16 of which were in a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.
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