Year '1878' ('
MDCCCLXXVIII') was a
common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the
Gregorian calendar (or a
common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower
Julian calendar).
Events of 1878
January - March
★ January -
Cleopatra's Needle arrives in London
★
January 9 -
Humbert I becomes
King of Italy
★
January 5 -
Battle of Shipka Pass IV
★
January 17 -
Battle of Plovdiv
★
January 23 -
Benjamin Disraeli orders British fleet to the
Dardanelles
★
January 24 - The revolutionary
Vera Zasulich shoots at
Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of
Saint Petersburg.
★
January 28 - ''
The Yale News'' becomes the first daily, college
newspaper in the
United States.
★
January 31 - Turkey agrees to
armistice at
Adrianople
★
February 2 -
Greece declares war on
Turkey.
★
February 8 - British fleet enters Turkish waters and anchors off
Istanbul - Russia threatens to occupy Istanbul but does not carry out the threat
★
February 11
★
★ First US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms.
★
★ First weekly Weather report published in UK
★
February 18 - The
Lincoln County War begins in
Lincoln County, New Mexico
★
February 19 - The
phonograph is patented by
Thomas Edison
★
February 20 -
Pope Leo XIII succeeds
Pope Pius IX as the 256th
pope.
★
February 24 - Anti-Russian demonstrations in
Hyde Park, London
★
February 28 -
Mississippi State University is created by the
Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi)
★
March 3
★
★
Bulgaria regained its independence from
Ottoman Empire.
★
★ The
Treaty of San Stefano concludes the
Russo-Turkish War
★
March 24 - The
UK frigate ''Eurydice'' sinks, killing 300.
★
March 25 - Russia rejects British proposal to lay San Stefano treaty before European congress
★
March 27 - In anticipation with war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes the reserves and calls up Indian troops to
Malta
April - June
★
April 20 - The
Stawell Gift is run for the first time.
★
May 15 -
Tokyo Stock Exchange established
★
June 4 -
Cyprus Convention: The
Ottoman Empire cedes
Cyprus to the
United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
★
June 10 -
League of Prizren is established
★
June 12-
July 12 -
Congress of Berlin about the
Ottoman Empire
★
June 22 -
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld leaves
Karlskrona on a voyage that will make him the first to navigate the
Northern Sea Route, a shipping lane from the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific Ocean along the
Siberian coast.
July - September
★
July 13 - The
Treaty of Berlin makes
Serbia,
Montenegro and
Romania completely independent
★
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 will be found later with a taunting
poem inside.
★
September 3 - Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat ''
Princess Alice'' collides with the ''
Bywell Castle'' in the
River Thames.
★
September 20 -
The Hindu founded
October - December
★
October 1 -
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
★
October 14 - The worlds first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at
Bramall Lane in
Sheffield
★
October 15 - The
Edison General Electric Company begins operation.
★
October 17 -
John A. Macdonald returns to office as
Prime Minister of Canada.
★
November 17 - First assassination attempt against
Umberto I of Italy.
★
November 21 -
Second Afghan War commences when the British attack
Ali Masjid in the
Khyber Pass.
★
November 29 - Kahua, the chief of
Jaluits in the
Marshall Islands, declares himself king of the
Ralik Islands
Undated
★
The Buchan School was founded on the
Isle of Man.
★ Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club, the team that would become
Manchester United, was founded.
★
Yellow fever in
Mississippi Valley - over 13,000 dead
★ US arbitration rejects
Argentinean claims to
Paraguay's part of
Chaco region
★
West Bromwich Albion F.C. play their first match.
★
Everton Football Club, then known as St Domingo, formed
Births
January - June
★
January 6 -
Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d.
1967)
★
January 12 -
Ferenc Molnár, author (d.
1952)
★
January 20 -
Ruth St. Denis, dancer (d.
1968)
★
January 25 -
Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d.
1975)
★
February 1 -
Milan Hodža, Slovak politician, champion of regional integration in Europe (d.
1944)
★
February 2 -
Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect (d.
1955)
★
February 5 -
André Citroën, French automobile manufacturer (d.
1935)
★
February 8 -
Martin Buber, Austrian philosopher (d.
1965)
★
February 14 -
Hirota Koki,
Prime Minister of Japan (d.
1948)
★
February 21 -
The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), multi-origined spiritual leader and founder of
Auroville in
India (d.
1973)
★
February 26 -
Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d.
1930)
★
February 28 -
Pierre Fatou,
French mathematician (d.
1929)
★
March 4
★
★
Egbert Van Alstyne, United States songwriter and pianist (d.
1951)
★
★
Peter D. Ouspensky, Russian philosopher (d.
1947)
★
★
Arishima Takeo, Japanese novelist, short-story writer and essayist (d.
1923)
★
March 16 -
Clemens August Graf von Galen, German Catholic cardinal (d.
1946)
★
March 22 -
Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete (d.
1919)
★
March 31 -
Jack Johnson, American boxer (d.
1946)
★
April 6 -
Erich Mühsam, German author (d.
1934)
★
April 24 -
Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (d.
1958)
★
April 28
★
★
Lionel Barrymore, American actor (d.
1954)
★
★
Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (d.
1951)
★
May 3 -
Cruz Hernandez, Oldest Living Person (disputed) (d.
2007)
★
May 10 -
Gustav Stresemann,
Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1929)
★
May 25 -
Bill Robinson, Tap Dancer (d.
1949)
★
May 26 -
Isadora Duncan, American dancer (d.
1927)
★
May 28 -
Paul Pelliot, French sinologist (d.
1945)
★
June 1 -
John Masefield, English poet and novelist (d.
1967)
★
June 3 -
Barney Oldfield, American automobile racer and pioneer (d.
1946)
★
June 5 -
Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (d.
1923)
July - December
★
July 4 -
George M. Cohan, American singer, dancer, composer, actor, and writer (d.
1942)
★
July 22 -
Janusz Korczak (
Henryk Goldszmit), Polish-Jewish children's author, pediatrician, and child pedagogist (possibly born in
1879) (d.
1942)
★
July 24 -
Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (d.
1957)
★
August 10 -
Alfred Döblin, German writer (d.
1957)
★
August 28 -
George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1976)
★
August 31 -
Frank Jarvis, American athlete (d.
1933)
★
September 5 -
Robert von Lieben, Austrian physicist (d.
1913)
★
September 13 -
Matilde Moisant, American pilot (d.
1964)
★
September 20 -
Upton Sinclair, American writer (d.
1968)
★
September 22 -
Yoshida Shigeru,
Prime Minister of Japan (d.
1967)
★
September 24 -
C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (d.
1947)
★
October 1 -
Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher and economist (d.
1950)
★
October 16 -
Maxey Long, American athlete (d.
1959)
★
November 1 -
Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1959)
★
November 14 -
Leopold Staff, Polish poet (d.
1957)
★
November 17 -
Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (d.
1939)
★
November 26 -
Marshall "Major" Taylor, American cyclist (d.
1932)
★
December 18 -
Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (d.
1953)
★
December 25
★
★
Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race driver and automobile builder (d.
1941)
★
★
Joseph Schenck, Russian-born film executive (d.
1961)
★
December 28 -
Nikolai Bryukhanov, Soviet statesman and political figure who served as People's Commissar of Finances (d.
1938)
★
December 31 -
Elizabeth Arden, Canadian-born beautician and cosmetics entrepreneur (d.
1966)
★
December 31 -
Horacio Quiroga, Argentina's writer was born in Salto, Uruguay (d.
1937)
: ''See also .''
Deaths
January - June
★
January 9 - King
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b.
1820)
★
January 18 -
Antoine César Becquerel, French scientist (b.
1788)
★
February 7 -
Pope Pius IX (b.
1792)
★
February 11 -
Gideon Welles, American politician (b.
1802)
★
February 19 -
Charles-Francois Daubigny, French painter (b.
1817)
★
February 26 -
Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer (b.
1818)
★
March 8 -
Archduke Franz Karl of Austria (b.
1802)
★
April 8 -
Henrietta Treffz, soprano, first wife of
Johann Strauss II (b.
1818)
★
April 12 -
William Marcy Tweed, American politician (b.
1823)
★
April 25 -
Anna Sewell, English author (b.
1820)
★
May 28 -
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b.
1792)
★
June 6
★
★
Robert Stirling, Scottish clergyman and inventor (b.
1790)
★
★
Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers, Marshal of France (b.
1795)
★
★
Porter Rockwell, Mormon bodyguard (b.
1815)
★
June 12
★
★
George V of Hanover (b.
1819)
★
★
Hendrik Jut, murderer (b.
1851)
July - December
★
July 1 -
Catherine Winkworth, translator of hymns (b.
1827)
★
July 17 -
Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b.
1812)
★
August 30 -
James Geiss, English businessman (b.
1820)
★
November 28 -
Orson Hyde, American religious leader (b.
1805)
★
December 10 -
Henry Wells, American businessman (b.
1805)
★
December 14 -
Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine (b.
1843)
: ''See also .''
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