1870s.html



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Events and Trends

Technology

• The prototype telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, but other versions were invented earlier by other people, Antonio Meucci.
• A version of the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison, but other versions were invented earlier by other people.
• The phonograph is invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison.

Science

• Ludwig Boltzmann statistically defined thermodynamic entropy.

War, peace and politics

• Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) resulted in the collapse of the Second French Empire and in the formation of both the French Third Republic and the German Empire.
• The Anglo-Zulu War lasted from 11 January 1879 - 4 July 1879.
• The Third Carlist War (1872-1876) was the last Carlist War in Spain.
• The British Empire continued to grow; this decade marked the beginning of the New Imperialism
• Bulgaria and Romania declared independence following a war against the Ottoman Empire.
• Passive resistance was used to prevent the confiscation of Māori land at Parihaka in New Zealand
• The German Empire and Alliance System emerged.

Literature and Arts

• Jules Verne (France) publishes Around The World in Eighty Days
• In the United States, continuation of post-Civil War reconstruction until its conclusion under President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877

• Jeanne Calment, born 1875, would eventually become the longest-living human being in recorded history. She lived until 1997, at the age of 122. She still holds the record as of 2008.

• Atlas Bear goes extinct.

World Leaders

• Emperor Franz Josef (Austria-Hungary)
• Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald (Canada)
• Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie (Canada)
• Tongzhi Emperor (China)
• Guangxu Emperor (China)
• Emperor Wilhelm I (German Empire)
• Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (German Empire)
• King Victor Emmanuel II (Italy)
• King Umberto I (Italy)
• Emperor Meiji (Japan)
• Pope Pius IX
• Pope Leo XIII
• Emperor Alexander II (Russia)
• King Alfonso XII (Spain)
• Queen Victoria (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)
• Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)
• Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)
• President Ulysses S. Grant (United States)
• President Rutherford B. Hayes (United States)
• Nasser-al-Din Shah of Qajar dynasty (Persia)