Diatonic.eu : 1860s
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1860s
Events and trends
Technology
The
First Transcontinental Railroad
in the USA was built in the six year period between 1863 and 1869.
Science
Alfred Nobel
creates
dynamite
in
Germany
James Clerk Maxwell
publishes his
equations
that quantify the relationship between electricity and magnetism, and shows that
light
is a form of
electromagnetic radiation
Gregor Mendel
formulates Mendel's laws of inheritance, the basis for
genetics
Dmitri Mendeleev develops the
periodic table
War, peace and politics
Italian unification
under King
Victor Emmanuel II
. Wars for expansion and national unity continue until the incorporation of the
Papal States
(March 17, 1861 - September 20, 1870).
American Civil War
fought between the remaining United States of America under
President
Abraham Lincoln
and the self-declared
Confederate States of America
under
President
Jefferson Davis
(April 12, 1861 - April 9, 1865). Beginning of the
Reconstruction
era under President Andrew Johnson (1865 - 1869).
French
occupation of
Mexico
(1863 - 1867). Replacement of
President of Mexico
Benito Juárez
(1861 - 1863) at first with
Juan Nepomuceno Almonte
(1863 - 1864) and then by Emperor
Maximilian of Mexico
(1864 - 1867).
Benito Juárez
eventually manages to recover his position (1867 - 1872).
Meiji Restoration
in Japan (1866 - 1869).
Tokugawa Yoshinobu
, 15th and last of the
Tokugawa shoguns
loses control to the
Meiji Emperor
. A series of reforms follows. The samurai class fails to survive while the
Daimyo
turn to
politics
.
The
Dominion
of
Canada
is created by the
British North America Act
President of the United States
Abraham Lincoln
is assassinated by
John Wilkes Booth
, April 15, 1865.
Florence Nightingale
founds school for nurses in 1860.
On 1860-10-18 the first
Convention of Peking
formally ended the
Second Opium War
.
Culture and religion
In
Catholicism
, reaction against
higher criticism
and the liberal movement in
Europe
The Football Association is formed in the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
, paving the way for
Association football
to become the world's predominant spectator sport
The
Seventh-day Adventist Church
becomes officially established in 1863 in
Battle Creek
, Michigan.
Bahá'u'lláh declares his station as "One who was made Manifest", in the Garden of
Ridván
, as foretold by the
Báb
.
Bahá'ís
see this as the beginning date of the
Bahá'í Faith
.
The Christian Mission, later renamed The
Salvation Army
, is co-founded by
William
and
Catherine Booth
in London,
England
in 1865.
Literature and Arts
Leo Tolstoy
publishes
War and Peace
.
Lewis Carroll
publishes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
World leaders
Emperor Franz Josef (Austria-Hungary)
Prime Minister Sir
John A. Macdonald
(
Canada
)
Emperor
Napoleon III
(
Second French Empire
)
King
Victor Emmanuel II
(
Italy
)
Pope Pius IX
Emperor Alexander II (
Russia
)
Queen
Isabella II
(
Spain
)
Queen
Victoria
(
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
)
Prime Minister
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
(
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
)
Prime Minister
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
(
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
)
Prime Minister
William Ewart Gladstone
(
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
)
President
James Buchanan
(United States)
President
Abraham Lincoln
(United States)
President Andrew Johnson (United States)
President
Jefferson Davis
(
Confederate States of America
)
President
Ulysses S. Grant
(United States)
Nasser-al-Din Shah
of
Qajar dynasty
(Persia)
Emperor
Kōmei
(Japan)
Emperor
Meiji
(Japan)
Emperor
Xianfeng
(
China
)
Emperor
Tongzhi
(China)
Links
1860s in fashion