1871
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.jpg) The German Empire was founded in January 1871, after the joint victory of the German states in the Franco-Prussian War |
Events
- January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the south German states, aside from Austria, unite into a single nation state, known as the German Empire. The King of Prussia is declared the first German Emperor as Wilhelm I of Germany, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. Constitution of the German Confederation comes into effect.
- March 21 – Otto von Bismarck becomes the first Chancellor of the German Empire.
- March 26 – The Paris Commune is formally established in France.
- April 20 – U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Civil Rights Act of 1871.
- May 10 – The Treaty of Frankfurt is signed, confirming the frontiers between Germany and France. The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine are transferred from France to Germany.
- May 21– French government troops enter Paris to overthrow the Commune, beginning "Bloody Week" (Semaine sanglante).
- May 27 – French government troops massacre Communards from Belleville, at Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
- May 28 – Paris Commune falls to French government forces.
- June 1 – Bombardment of the Selee River Forts: Koreans attack two United States Navy warships.
- June 10 – United States expedition to Korea: Captain McLane Tilton leads 109 members of the United States Marine Corps in a punitive naval attack on the Han River forts on Ganghwa Island in Korea, resulting in 250 Koreans dying and diplomatic failure to "open up" Korea.
- June 29 – Trade unions are legalized in the United Kingdom by the Trade Union Act 1871.
- August 31 – Adolphe Thiers becomes President of the French Republic.
- September 3 – New York City residents, tired of the corruption of the "Tammany Hall" political machine and "Boss" William M. Tweed, its "Grand Sachem", meet to form the 'Committee of Seventy' to reform local politics.
- October 12 – The Criminal Tribes Act is enacted by the British Raj in India, naming over 160 communities as "Denotified Tribes", allegedly habitually criminal (it will be repealed in 1949, after Indian independence).
- Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall is arrested for bribery, ending his grip on New York City.
- c. November – The South Improvement Company is formed in Pennsylvania by John D. Rockefeller and a group of major United States railroad interests, in an early effort to organize and control the American petroleum industry.
- November 7 – The London–Australia telegraph cable is brought ashore at Darwin.[1]
- November 10 – Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh-born correspondent for the New York Herald, locates missing Scottish explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and greets him by saying, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
- December 10 – German chancellor Otto von Bismarck tries to ban Catholics from the political stage, by introducing harsh laws concerning the separation of church and state.
Date unknown
- In South Africa
- Gold is discovered at Pilgrim's Creek in the Pilgrim's Rest area.
- A 83.50 carats (16.700 g) diamond is discovered, resulting in a diamond rush, and the town of New Rush springs up; Colonial Commissioners arrive there on November 17.