On a morning that began like any ordinary day 25 years ago, the face of the world changed within hours. Planes hijacked by members of al-Qaeda headed toward their targets, turning towering buildings into walls of flames and smoke before they collapsed in clouds of dust and debris.
On Sept. 11, 2001, two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York, while a third struck the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the hijackers. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, making it one of the deadliest days in modern American history.
These photographs document the attacks, from the planes striking the towers to their collapse and the devastation that followed, as well as the rescue efforts on the ground—a day that changed the United States and the world, leaving its impact for decades to come.
The lower Manhattan skyline is shown in the Aug. 30, 2001, photo, with the World Trade Center towers at center. Both towers were destroyed Sept. 11, 2001, when two commercial airliners, hijacked by terrorists, crashed into each tower. Both towers later collapsed, killing thousands.
Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175, left, flies toward the World Trade Center twin towers shortly before slamming into the south tower, left, as the north tower burns following an earlier attack by a hijacked airliner in New York City Sept. 11, 2001. The stunning aerial assaults on the huge commercial complex where more than 40,000 people worked on an ordinary day were part of a coordinated attack aimed at the nation’s financial heart. They destroyed one of America’s most dramatic symbols of power and financial strength and left New York reeling.
Then President George W. Bush listens as White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informs him of a second plane hitting the World Trade Center while Bush was conducting a reading seminar at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., Sept. 11, 2001.
The World Trade Center south tower, left, is engulfed in flames after being struck by hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 as the north tower burns following an earlier attack by a hijacked airliner in New York City.
People look out of the burning north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City Sept. 11, 2001. Both towers were hit by planes crashing into the buildings. Shortly after this photo was taken this tower fell. It was the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.
The World Trade Center south tower falls to the ground early Sept. 11, 2001. Both towers collapsed after planes smashed into the buildings.
A man with a fire extinguisher walks through rubble after the collapse of the north tower. The man was shouting as he walked looking for victims who needed assistance. Both towers collapsed after being hit by hijacked passenger planes.
The north tower of New York’s World Trade Center dissolves in a cloud of dust and debris soon after being struck by hijacked airliners, Sept. 11, 2001. The pictures were taken from across the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Emergency personnel tend to injured people in Liberty Park, New Jersey after two hijacked commercial planes slammed into the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center Sept. 11, 2001, causing both 110-story landmarks to collapse.
The remains of the World Trade Center after the collapse Sept.11, 2001.
This photo taken on Sept. 11, 2001, shows Edward Fine covering his mouth as he walks through dust and debris following the collapse of one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
A firefighter walks amid rubble near the base of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York on Sept.11, 2001.
A man walks in the street near the World Trade Center towers in New York City, early Sept. 11, 2001. Both towers were hit by planes that crashed into the buildings, which collapsed shortly after.
In this file photo, a police officer walks with others covered in dust during the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, New York on Sept. 11, 2001.
In this U.S. Navy file photo taken on Sept. 15, 2001, and released on Sept. 18, 2001, a New York City fireman yells for assistance at the site of the destroyed twin towers of the World Trade Center, in lower Manhattan, New York.
Smoke pours from the southwest corner of the Pentagon after a hijacked commercial airliner crashed into the building Sept. 11, 2001.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, left, returns with an aide to his Pentagon office Sept.11, 2001, after surveying damage from the hijacked American Airlines flight that crashed into the building.
This Sept. 14, 2001, image shows extensive damage at the Pentagon crash site in Washington, where a highjacked American Airlines flight slammed into the building Sept. 11, 2001. The terrorist attack caused extensive damage to the west face of the building and followed similar attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.
Then President George W. Bush talks on the phone with New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani and Gov. Sept.11, 2026, will mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept.11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Investigative personnel search the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 looking for debris and evidence, including the plane’s flight recorder, Sept.12, 2001, in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
A woman visits a mural established in memory of those who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, around the perimeter of the construction site in New York, Sept. 10, 2011.
A guest pauses at among names at the edge of the south reflecting pool at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
