1880
| File:Decade.png ( 1880s: ) 1880 link | |
|---|---|
 The Russian Okhrana is founded. The Tsarist secret police, notorious for its use of agents provocateurs, killed maybe 26,000 people extra-judicially in its 37 years existence. | |
| Government changes in the UK and US |
By 1880, the UK was sending over 6,500 tons of opium every year to China.[1]
Events
- February – The journal Science is first published in the United States, with financial backing from Thomas Edison.
- February 2 - The first successful shipment of frozen mutton from Australia arrives in London, aboard the SS Strathleven.
- April 18 – 1880 United Kingdom general election: William Ewart Gladstone defeats Benjamin Disraeli, to become Prime Minister for the second time.[2]
- April 19 – The Prime Minister of Sweden, Louis De Geer, resigns over the defeat of a defense reform bill in the country's Riksdag; he is succeeded by Count Arvid Posse (1880–1883).
- June 29 – France annexes Tahiti.
- July 22 – Abdur Rahman Khan becomes Emir of Afghanistan.
- July 27 – Second Anglo-Afghan War – Battle of Maiwand: Afghan troops under Ayub Khan defeat British and Indian forces, under Brigadier General George Burrows.
- October 1 – German company Munich Re is founded in Munich.
- November 2 – U.S. presidential election, 1880: James Garfield defeats Winfield S. Hancock.
- December 30 – The Transvaal becomes a republic, and Paul Kruger becomes its first president.
Date unknown
- Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza signs a treaty of protection with the chief of the large Teke tribe, and begins to establish a French protectorate on the north bank of the Congo River.