1878 CE

Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Shipka Pass IV – Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire. (February 19 O.S.) – Treaty of San Stefano signed between the Russian and Ottoman Empires following Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) provides for establishment of an autonomous Principality of Bulgaria (although not as large as originally envisaged). Russia however regards the treaty as a preliminary one only, refusing on March 25 a British proposal to lay it before a European congress, and matters are finally settled in July's Treaty of Berlin. The Christian Mission, co-founded by (the now) General William and Catherine Booth in London in 1865, has its name changed to The Salvation Army.

In the 1870s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

March 3 (February 19 O.S.) – Treaty of San Stefano signed between the Russian and Ottoman Empires following Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) provides for establishment of an autonomous Principality of Bulgaria (although not as large as originally envisaged). Russia however regards the treaty as a preliminary one only, refusing on March 25 a British proposal to lay it before a European congress, and matters are finally settled in July's Treaty of Berlin.source
May 14 – Paul Kruger leads a second deputation to the United Kingdom to demand the freedom of the South African Republic.South Africa source
May to November – Belgium participates in the Paris Universal Exhibition.Belgium source
June 4 – Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom, but retains the nominal title.source
June 13–July 13 – The Congress of Berlin convenes to discuss the Ottoman Empire.source
June 25 – The Kanak people of New Caledonia revolt against the French colonial government.source
July 13 – The Treaty of Berlin makes Serbia, Montenegro and Romania completely independent, confirms the autonomy of Bulgaria, makes Cyprus a British possession, and allows Austria-Hungary to garrison the Bosnia Vilayet.source
30 July – German federal election, 1878Germany source
September 17 – 1878 Canadian federal election: Sir John A. Macdonald and his Conservative Party are returned to power, defeating the incumbent Liberal Party, led by Alexander Mackenzie.source
September 17 – In the Nova Scotia election, Simon Hugh Holmes's Conservatives win a majority, defeating Philip Carteret Hill's Liberals.Canada source
13 October – Portuguese legislative election, 1878Portugal source
October 17 – John A. Macdonald returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.source
26 December - Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1878 that opened up Goa to British Raj.India source
U.S. arbitration rejects Argentine claims to Paraguay's part of the Chaco region.source
Walcha, New South Wales proclaimed a town.Australia source
New Zealand Cup winner: MaritanaNew Zealand source

Conflict & Security

January 5 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Shipka Pass IV – Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire.source
January 17 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Philippopolis – Russian troops defeat the Ottoman Empire.source
January 31 – Turkey agrees to an armistice at Adrianople.source
February 2 – Greece declares war on the Ottoman Empire.source
February 8 – The British fleet enters Turkish waters, and anchors off Istanbul; Russia threatens to occupy Istanbul, but does not carry out the threat.source
February 18 – The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico.source
February 24 – Anti-Russian demonstrations occur in Hyde Park, London.source
March 12 – Commander R.C. Dryer takes possession of the area surrounding Walvis Bay.South Africa source
12 March – Britain annexes Walvis Bay.United Kingdom source
March 27 – In anticipation of war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes British reserves, and calls up Indian troops to Malta.source
April 4 – The Gunfight at Blazer's Mill occurs in Lincoln County, New Mexico.United States source
May 11 - Hödel assassination attempt by anarchist Max Hödel targeting the German Kaiser, Wilhelm I.source
June 2 – Nobiling assassination attempt by anarchist Karl Nobiling targeting the German Kaiser, Wilhelm I.source
October 2 – The Buffalo Bisons of the International League defeat the National League champion Boston Red Caps behind the pitching of Pud Galvin to become Baseball's First Undisputed ChampionUnited States source
November 17 – The first assassination attempt is made against Umberto I of Italy by anarchist Giovanni Passannante, armed with a dagger. The King survives with a slight wound in one arm. Prime minister Benedetto Cairoli blocks the aggressor, receiving a leg injury.source
November 21 – The Second Anglo-Afghan War commences when the British attack Ali Masjid in the Khyber Pass.source
21 November – Syria–Lebanon campaign commences when the British attack Ali Masjid in the Khyber Pass.United Kingdom source
December 11 – The British present an ultimatum to the Zulu king Cetshwayo, triggering the Anglo-Zulu War.South Africa source
Otto von Bismarck abandons his Kulturkampf, and forces through legislation outlawing the Social Democrats.source
The 10-year Nauruan Tribal War breaks out.source
Jules Massenet - Le roi de LahoreFrance source
Vera Zasulich attempts to assassinate Fyodor Trepov (senior)Russia source

Exploration & Expansion

January 23 – Benjamin Disraeli orders the British fleet to the Dardanelles.source
April 16 – The Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland issues a declaration establishing a city of Kotka on the southern part of the islands from the old Kymi parish.source
10 June – Konrad Korzeniowski, the future novelist Joseph Conrad, sets foot on English soil for the first time, at Lowestoft from the SS Mavis.United Kingdom source
June 20 – The United States Coast Survey is renamed the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.source
June 22 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld leaves Karlskrona on a voyage that will make him the first man to navigate the Northern Sea Route, a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, along the Siberian coast.source
21 July - The Vega Expedition startsSweden source
15 August – Cape Eastern – East London to Landing Jetty, 1 mi 58 ch.South Africa source
August 26 – Uyedineniya Island is discovered in the Kara Sea, by Norwegian explorer Captain Edvard Holm Johannesen.source
September 30 – The ship Priscilla arrives in Hawaii from Funchal, Madeira, marking the beginning of the Portuguese immigration to the Hawaiian Islands (1878–1913).United States source
December - Chile dispatches a warship to Antofagasta.Chile source
European discovery of the Great Artesian Basin when a shallow bore near Bourke, New South Wales produced flowing water.Australia source
See Australian cricket team in New Zealand in 1877–78New Zealand source
A passenger ferry service is established between Bangor and Porthaethwy on the Menai Strait.Wales source

Religion & Belief

January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy.source
February 20 – Pope Leo XIII succeeds Pope Pius IX, as the 256th pope. His pontificate will last for 25 years.source
15 March – restoration of the Scottish hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, carried out on the instructions of the newly appointed Pope Leo XIII.Scotland source
March 17 – Emancipated U.S. slave and Baptist minister Rev. John Jasper first preaches his sermon "The Sun Do Move."source
May 23 - chartering of Bank of the City of Buenos Aires as the Monte de Piedad in a measure against the prevalence of usury in Buenos Aires (mostly targeting the growing wave of immigration in Argentina)Argentina source
7 August – the Christian Mission, co-founded by (the now) General William and Catherine Booth in London in 1865, has its name changed to The Salvation Army.United Kingdom source
August – Mission Covenant Church of Sweden is foundedSweden source
9 October – St Mary's Cathedral, Tuam (Church of Ireland) dedicated.Ireland source
December 25 – Stella Maris Church, Sliema on Malta becomes a parish, seceding from the Parish of St. Helen's in Birkirkara.source
West Bromwich Albion F.C., formed as West Bromwich Strollers F.C.source
Grimsby Town F.C., formed as Grimsby Pelham.source
Charles Soubre, The Departure of the Volunteers of Liège for Brussels (4 September 1830)Belgium source
Albert Augustus Pope's Pope Manufacturing Company begins producing the Columbia high-wheel bicycle outside Boston, signalling the beginning of a bicycle craze in the U.S.United States source
William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) – Llythyrau 'Rhen FfarmwrWales source

Economy & Finance

May 15 – The Tokyo Stock Exchange is established.source
November 26 – American-born artist James McNeill Whistler's libel case against English critic John Ruskin, over a review of the painting Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket (in which Whistler is described as "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face"), is decided in the High Court of Justice in London. Whistler wins a farthing in nominal damages and only half of the costs, leading to his bankruptcy, and alienates patrons.source
Geiger (corporation), formed as Geiger Brothers.source
8–9 January – "Black Wednesday", 300 senior public servants are sacked in Victoria by the government of Graham Berry as revenge against the Legislative Council, on the grounds that as the appropriation bill had not been passed in the council, they could not be paid.Australia source
National income - ₹3,960 millionIndia source
West coast shipping operator David Hutcheson & Co. passes wholly to control of David MacBrayne.Scotland source
Depression of 1873–79 (1873–1879)United States source
The prison system in Wales is nationalised and brought under centralised government control.Wales source

Technology & Infrastructure

8 January – The telephone is used for the first time in Australia in Melbourne.Australia source
January 28 – The world's First Telephone Exchange begins commercial operation in New Haven, Connecticut.source
2 February: Alois Lubecki makes the first telephone call in the country, between Dunedin and Milton. Later in the year the first public demonstration of the telephone is made with a call between Blenheim and Nelson.New Zealand source
February 19 – The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison.source
June 1 – The General Postal Union is renamed the Universal Postal Union (UPU).source
17 July – Swansea tramways are forced by legal action to return to horse-drawn operation after experimenting with steam locomotives.Wales source
September 12 – Cleopatra's Needle is erected beside the Thames in London, having arrived in England on January 21.source
6 December - The Phonograph is introduced in SwedenSweden source
December 7 – The United States territory of New Mexico is linked to the rest of the nation by railroad for the first time, as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway inaugurates a newly completed line through the Raton Pass.source
The telegraph service between Natal and Transvaal is opened.South Africa source
Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club, the team that will become Manchester United.source
Small town La Farge, Wisconsin, along the Kickapoo River.source
E. Remington and Sons, in the United States, introduce their No. 2 typewriter, the first with a shift key, enabling production of lower as well as upper case characters.source
Lester Allan Pelton produces the first operational Pelton wheel.source
Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard, as predecessor of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, a motorbike, helicopters, rolling stock and shipbuilding concern in Japan.source
The Great Wall construction Was finalizedChina source
The original Reykjanesviti structure was constructed.Iceland source
The Remington No. 2 typewriter, the first with a shift key enabling production of lower as well as upper case characters, is introduced.United States source

Science & Discovery

11 February – first weekly weather report published in the UK.United Kingdom source
9 May – The panserbatteri Helgoland is launched.Denmark source
October 14 – The world's first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at Bramall Lane, in Sheffield, England.source
22 November - The Metric system is introduced in SwedenSweden source
18 December – Joseph Swan of Newcastle announces his invention of an incandescent light bulb.United Kingdom source
3–9 July – The 11th Scandinavian Scientist Conference is held in Copenhagen.Denmark source
Elders' Widows' Fund (India) Act (British statute)India source
Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act (British statute)India source
William Crookes invents the Crookes tube which produces cathode rays.United Kingdom source

Health & Medicine

28 March – Stoke City F.C. move into their new stadium at the Victoria Ground, beating Talke Rangers 1–0 in a friendly in their first game there.United Kingdom source
June 18 – Posse Comitatus Act signed into law to limit the powers of the federal government of the United States in using the United States Army to enforce domestic policy within the U.S.United States source
July 12 – Yellow fever epidemic begins in New Orleans. It will eventually kill 4,500 people.United States source
19 October – First Anti-Socialist law passed by the German ReichstagGermany source
Yellow fever in the Mississippi Valley kills over 13,000.source
Anti-Chinese sentiment in British Columbia reaches a high point as the government bans Chinese workers from public works.Canada source
Dentists Act (British statute)India source
Public Health (Ireland) Act 1878 introduces laws regarding sanitary districts.Ireland source
Sophia Jex-Blake sets up in practice in Edinburgh as the city's first woman doctor.Scotland source

Crime & Justice

January 24 – Russian revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, Governor of Saint Petersburg.source
May 14 – Salem witchcraft trial, the last of its kind in the U.S., opens in Salem, Massachusetts.United States source
July 26 – In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box is found later with a taunting poem inside.United States source
15 August – Selina Wadge is hanged at Bodmin Jail for the murder of her son.United Kingdom source
October 27 – The Manhattan Savings Institution robbery occurs.source
26 November – James McNeill Whistler's libel case against critic John Ruskin over a review of the painting of the Thames Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket (in which Whistler is described as "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face") is decided in the High Court of Justice in London. Whistler wins a farthing in nominal damages and only half of the substantial costs.United Kingdom source
9 December – Ned Kelly and his gang lock 22 people in a storehouse on a sheep station near Euroa. The next day they rob Euroa's bank.Australia source
In Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine, the much studied stele of the Roman legionary Caius Largennius is discovered.source
Jacques Offenbach - Maître Péronilla / Madame FavartFrance source
New Zealand Derby winner: NatatorNew Zealand source
16–17 July – Spanish seaman Joseph Garcia, just released from Usk Prison, murders all 5 members of the Watkins family at Llangybi, Monmouthshire.Wales source

Disasters & Accidents

24 March – the Royal Navy frigate HMS Eurydice capsizes off the Isle of Wight, killing all but two of the 319 crew.United Kingdom source
May 2 – The Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis explodes, killing 18.source
May 2 – The Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota explodes, killing 18.United States source
31 May – the Imperial German Navy ironclad turret ship SMS Grosser Kurfürst is accidentally rammed and sunk by SMS König Wilhelm on manoeuvres off Folkestone with the loss of more than 275 crew (an event witnessed by Arthur Sullivan).United Kingdom source
June 1 – British clipper Loch Ard is wrecked off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria (Australia) with the loss of 52 lives and only 2 survivors.source
1 June – The clipper ship Loch Ard is wrecked at Mutton Bird Island, just off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria; 45 die, only two lives are saved.Australia source
7 June – an underground explosion at Wood Pit, Haydock, kills at least 189.United Kingdom source
September 3 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat SS Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.source
3 September – over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat SS Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.United Kingdom source
11 September – an underground explosion at Abercarn in Monmouthshire kills 268 coal miners.United Kingdom source
October 31 – A fire destroys the Eldkvarn gristmill in Stockholm, Sweden.source
December 18 – French passenger steamer Byzantin founders in the Dardanelles during a gale after collision with British SS Rinaldo, killing around 210 people, with only 14 crew of the Byzantin saved.source
18 December – French passenger steamer Byzantin founders in the Dardanelles during a gale after collision with British SS Rinaldo, killing around 210 people, with only 14 crew of the Byzantin saved.France source

Climate & Environment

August 9 – The Wallingford Tornado of 1878, the deadliest tornado in Connecticut history, destroys the town of Wallingford, killing 34 people and injuring more than 70.source
30 September: Great Flood of 1878, caused by the rapid melting of heavy winter snows in Central Otago, kills at least three people and destroys several bridges in Clutha and Southland.New Zealand source
Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–79China source
1878 – Krakatindur east of Hekla erupts. (Part of the East volcanic zone (EVZ))Iceland source

Culture & Society

January 28 – The Yale News becomes the first daily college newspaper in the U.S.source
February 23 – Gajanan Maharaj appears at Shegaon, Maharashtra.source
February 28 – Mississippi State University is created by the Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi).source
March 28 – Electric lights are first used at Westminster Palace.source
April 20 – The Stawell Gift sprint is run for the first time in Australia.source
22 April – The Stawell Gift is run for the first time on Easter Monday in April.Australia source
May 1–November 10 – Exposition Universelle, a world's fair, is staged in Paris. In June some parts of the city are first lit by 'Yablochkov candles' (arc lamps) and on June 30 the head of the Statue of Liberty goes on display there.source
May 25 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore debuts in London at the Opera Comique, with a first run of 571 performances.source
June 10 – The League of Prizren is officially founded "to struggle in arms to defend the wholeness of the territories of Albania".source
June 15 – Eadweard Muybridge produces the first sequence of stop-motion still photographs The Horse in Motion in California (a predecessor of silent film), demonstrating that all four feet of a galloping horse are off the ground at the same time.source
June – The New Brunswick election.Canada source
July 4 – A match race between champion thoroughbred racehorses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty draws more than 30,000 fans to Louisville, and inspires the folk song, "Molly and Tenbrooks".source
September 2 — Creighton University, a Jesuit university in Omaha, Nebraska, is founded.United States source
September 20 – The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, is founded.source
20 September – The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, was founded.India source
21 December – Princess Thyra of Denmark is wed to Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover in Copenhagen. The couple continue to Fredensborg Palace after the wedding ceremony.Denmark source
The Johns Hopkins University Press, America's oldest university press.source
Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina is published complete in book form in Moscow.source
Ipswich Town Football Club, formed as amateur club Ipswich A.F.C. They will not turn professional until 1936.source
22-25 August – Twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebrations of King Leopold II and Queen Marie-Henriette, including a parade of 23,000 school children on 23 August.Belgium source
Stieglitz Museum of Applied ArtsRussia source
Football – The Welsh Cup competition takes place for the first time, and is won by Wrexham.Wales source

Births

March 15 – Reza Shah, Shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and founder of the Pahlavi Dynasty.Iran source
March 16 – Clemens August Graf von Galen, German Catholic cardinal (died 1946)source
March 16 – Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (died 1944)source
March 31 – Jack Johnson, American boxer (died 1946)source
6 April – Carolina Beatriz Ângelo, physician (died 1911)Portugal source
June 5 – Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (died 1923)source
6 July - Marmaduke Grove (died 1954)Chile source
July 24 – Lord Dunsany, Irish author (died 1957)source
August 19 – Manuel L. Quezon, 2nd President of the Philippines (died 1944)source
September 9 – Sergio Osmeña, 4th President of the Philippines (died 1961)source
September 20 – Upton Sinclair, American writer (died 1968)source
November 7 – Lise Meitner, German-Austrian physicist, discoverer of nuclear fission (died 1968)source
November 7 – Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, Belarusian-born Orthodox rabbi (died 1953)source
November 23 – Ernest Joseph King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations (COMINCH-CNO) during World War II (died 1956)source
November 23 – Frank Pick, British transport administrator, designer (died 1941)source
December 10 – C. Rajagopalachari, Indian politician, freedom fighter (died 1972)source
December 18 – Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (died 1953)source
Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren, Mongolian independence leaderChina source

Deaths

January 8 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet (born 1821)source
January 8 – Gauchito Gil, legendary religious figure (born 1847)Argentina source
January 9 – King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (born 1820)source
February 7 – Pope Pius IX (born 1792)source
8 March – Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel, German classical scholar (born 1820)Germany source
March 27 – Sir George Gilbert Scott, English architect (born 1811)source
April 12 – William M. Tweed, American politician (born 1823)source
May 13 – Joseph Henry, American scientist (born 1797)source
May 14 – Ōkubo Toshimichi, Japanese samurai, later leader of the Meiji restoration (born 1830)source
May 28 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1792)source
June 5 – Ernst von Bibra, German scientist (born 1806)source
8 June - Rafael Valentín Valdivieso (born 1804)Chile source
June 12 – William Cullen Bryant, American poet, journalist and editor (born 1794)source
June 12 – George V of Hanover, deposed German king (born 1819)source
June 27 – Sidney Breese, U.S. senator from Illinois, 'father of the Illinois Central Railroad' (born 1800)source
July 23 – Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, Bohemian pathologist, philosopher and politician (born 1804)source
6 October – Daniel da Silva, mathematician (born 1814)Portugal source
December 14 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (born 1843)source