1848 CE

1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most failed in their immediate aims, they significantly altered the political and philosophical landscape and had major ramifications throughout the rest of the century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 3 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of the independent African Republic of Liberia.source
February 2 – Mexican–American War: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – Mexico cedes virtually all of what becomes the Southwestern United States to the U.S. The unincorporated California Territory becomes a provisional official possession; it is never organized by the United States Congress as a territory, but directly passes the requirements for statehood in 1850.source
February 21 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto (Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei) in London.source
March 4 – Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will later represent the first constitution of the Regno d'Italia.source
March 11 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.source
March 13 – Prince Klemens von Metternich gives up office as State Chancellor and Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire.source
March 22 – The Republic of San Marco comes into existence in Venice.source
April 27 – The second abolition of slavery in France and its colonies initiated by Victor Schœlcher.source
May 15 – 40,000 Romanians meet at Câmpia Libertății in Blaj, to protest Transylvania becoming a part of Hungary.source
May 18 – The 'Frankfurt Parliament' (Nationalversammlung), the first German National Assembly, opens in Frankfurt.source
May 19 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of February 2, ending the Mexican–American War, is ratified by the Mexican government.source
June 21 – Wallachian Revolution of 1848: The Proclamation of Islaz is made public, and a Romanian revolutionary government led by Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell is created.source
July 3 – Governor-General Peter von Scholten emancipates all remaining slaves in the Danish West Indiessource
August 14 – American President James K. Polk annexes the Oregon Country, and renames it the Oregon Territory as part of the United States.source
August 17 – The Independent Republic of Yucatán officially unites with Mexico, in exchange for Mexican help in suppressing a revolt by the indigenous Maya population.source
August 28 – Louisy Mathieu becomes the first black member to join the French Parliament, as a representative of Guadeloupe.source
September 12 – One of the successes of the Revolutions of 1848, the Swiss Federal Constitution, patterned on the Constitution of the United States, enters into force, creating a federal republic, and one of the first modern democratic states in Europe.source
October 2 – The National Defence Committee (Országos Honvédelmi Bizottmány), led by Lajos Kossuth, becomes the executive power in Hungary, after the resignation of the Lajos Batthyány government.source
November 3 – A new Constitution of the Netherlands (drafted by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke), severely limiting the power of the monarchy and introducing representative democracy, is proclaimed.source
November 4 – France ratifies a new constitution. The French Second Republic is set up, ending the state of temporary government.source
November 7 – 1848 United States presidential election: Whig Zachary Taylor of Louisiana defeats Democrat Lewis Cass of Michigan, in the first U.S. presidential election held in every state on the same day.source
December 2 – Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicates in favour of his nephew, Franz Joseph I, who will serve as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary and Bohemia, until his death in 1916.source
December 10 – Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte is elected first president of the French Second Republic.source
December 20 – President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte takes his oath of office in front of the French National Assembly.source

Conflict & Security

March 2 – The March Unrest breaks out in Sweden.source
March 18 – At a Berlin barricade, fighting between revolutionaries and royalist forces marks the culmination of the German revolutions of 1848–49. As a result, King Frederick William IV of Prussia is forced to appoint a liberal government.source
April 18 – The Second Anglo-Sikh War breaks out in the Punjab.source
May 15 – Radicals invade the French Chamber of Deputies.source
June 17 – The Austrian army bombards Prague, and crushes a working-class revolt.source
June 22 – The French government dissolves the national workshops in Paris, giving the workers the choice of joining the army or going to workshops in the provinces. The following day, the June Days Uprising begins in response.source
June – The Serbians from Vojvodina start a rebellion against the Hungarian government.source
July 26 – The Matale Rebellion breaks out against British rule in Sri Lanka.source
July 29 – Young Irelander Rebellion: A nationalist revolt in County Tipperary, against British rule, is put down by the Irish Constabulary.source
September 10 – The Austrian commander Karl von Urban makes the first stand against the Revolution in Hungary, assembling in his headquarters in Năsăud hundreds of delegates from all districts of the Principality of Transylvania. As a result, 918 communities in the region distance themselves from the Revolution.source
September 11 – The Croatian army of Josip Jelačić, encouraged in secret by the Habsburg government, crosses the Drava River and attacks Hungary, with the goal of ending the revolution in that country.source
September 25 – The Hungarian king and Habsburg emperor Ferdinand V refuses to recognise the Hungarian government, led by Lajos Batthyány. The Batthyány government resigns and the National Defence Committee is formed, which is a temporary crisis government, totally independent from Vienna, under the leadership of Lajos Kossuth.source
September 29 – Battle of Pákozd: The Hungarian revolutionary army, led by János Móga, defeats the Croatian army of Josip Jelačić, forcing him to retreat towards Vienna.source
October 3 – General Anton Puchner, commander of the Austrian armies of Transylvania, declares insurrection against Hungary, and, together with Karl von Urban in the north and the Romanian insurgents led by Avram Iancu, attacks and chases away the Hungarian armed forces occupying Transylvania.source
October 24 – Romanian bands massacre 640 Hungarian civilians at the town of Zlatna, Transylvania. The massacre continues into 1849.source
October 30 – Battle of Schwechat: Hungarian forces which crossed the Austrian border, in order to unite with the Viennese revolutionaries, are defeated by the imperial army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz and Josip Jelačić.source
October 31 – Vienna is occupied by the imperial forces led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, who crushes the revolution here.source
November 13 – At the Battle of Gherla, the Austrian commander Karl von Urban wins a victory with his force of 3.000 against the 12.000-strong Hungarian Revolutionary Army led by Manó Baldacci, the Hungarian commander-in-chief in Transylvania.source
November 17 – Karl von Urban liberates Klausenburg (Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár), the capital of the Principality of Transylvania, during the Hungarian Revolutionary War.source
November 24 – At the Battle of Des, Karl von Urban, with 1.500 men, defeats a Hungarian army of 10.000 led by Katona Miklós.source
December 6 – The Austrian imperial army, led by Franz Schlik, attacks Hungary.source
December 25 – Hungarian forces, led by Józef Bem, enter Kolozsvár (Cluj), after defeating the Austrian armies in northern Transylvania.source
December 30 – Battle of Mór: The imperial army, led by Josip Jelačić, defeats the Hungarian army, led by Mór Perczel.source
John C. Frémont is court-martialed on grounds of mutiny and disobeying orders. The verdict is set aside by U.S. President James K. Polk, but Frémont retires to California Territory.source

Exploration & Expansion

March 23 – The settlement of Dunedin, New Zealand is founded, with the arrival of settlers from Scotland on board the John Wickliffe.source
April 25 – Captain Francis Crozier and Commander James Fitzjames of the Royal Navy deposit the final formal record ever recovered from the Franklin Expedition in a cairn on King William Island, after deserting their ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, with their surviving 105 crew members on April 22 to attempt to march to the mainland of North America.source
August 6 – HMS Daedalus reports a sighting of a sea serpent.source
December 16 – The main Austrian imperial forces, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, cross the Hungarian border.source
December 18 – Punta Arenas, the first major settlement in the Strait of Magellan, is founded.source
The city of Joensuu is founded in North Karelia, Finland by Czar Nicholas I of Russia.source
Admiral Nevelskoy demonstrates that the Strait of Tartary is a strait.source

Religion & Belief

February 17 – John Bird Sumner is nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
April 29 – Pope Pius IX publishes an allocution announcing his refusal to support Piedmont-Sardinia in its war with Austria, and dispelling hopes that he might serve as ruler of a pan-Italian republic. The allocution, by which Pius is seen to withdraw his moral support for the Italian unification movement, is a key first step in the soon-to-be crushing reaction against the revolutions of 1848.source
June 2–12 – The Prague Slavic Congress brings together members of the Pan-Slavism movement.source
November 24 – Pope Pius IX flees Rome in disguise for Naples.source

Economy & Finance

March 7 – Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris, predecessor of European bank BNP Paribas, is founded by decree of the French Provisional Government.source
April 3 – The Chicago Board of Trade is founded by 82 Chicago merchants and business leaders.source
Watch brand Omega is founded by Louis Brandt in Switzerland.source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 31 – In the United States:source
April 10 – The Illinois and Michigan Canal is completed.source
July 11 – Waterloo railway station in London opens.source
September 13 – Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives a 3-foot-plus iron rod being driven through his head.source
October 28 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Barcelona–Mataró railroad route (the first to be constructed in the Iberian Peninsula) is inaugurated.source
Richard Wagner begins writing the libretto that will become Der Ring des Nibelungen ("The Ring of the Nibelung").source
Construction of the Washington Monument begins in Washington, D.C.source

Science & Discovery

May 3 – The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire.source
September 16 – William Cranch Bond and William Lassell discover Hyperion, Saturn's moon.source

Health & Medicine

July – The Public Health Act establishes Boards of Health across England and Wales, the nation's first public health law, giving cities broad authority to build modern sanitary systems.source
November 1 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, the Boston Female Medical School (which later merges with Boston University School of Medicine), opens.source

Crime & Justice

February 23 – French Revolution of 1848: François Guizot, Prime Minister of France, resigns; 52 people from the Paris mob are killed by soldiers guarding public buildings.source
April 10 – A Chartist 'Monster Rally' is held in Kennington Park London, headed by Feargus O'Connor. A petition demanding the franchise is presented to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.source

Disasters & Accidents

August 24 – The U.S. barque Ocean Monarch is burnt out off the Great Orme, North Wales, with the loss of 178, chiefly emigrants.source

Climate & Environment

January 12 – Sicilian revolution of 1848: The Palermo rising erupts in Sicily against the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.source
Great Famine (Ireland) (1845–52).source

Culture & Society

January 24 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California.source
February 2 – John Henry Newman founds the first Oratory in the English-speaking world, when he establishes the Birmingham Oratory at 'Maryvale', Old Oscott, England.source
March 15 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian young revolutionary intellectuals, led by Sándor Petőfi, Mór Jókai and others, called the Márciusi Ifjak (Young men of March) organize peaceful mass demonstrations in Pest, forcing the city's Habsburg authorities to accept the 12 Points: the Hungarian claim for freedom and self-determination within the Habsburg Empire. On the same day, Lajos Kossuth and representatives of the Diet of Hungary go to Vienna, and force the emperor and Hungarian king Ferdinand I of Austria to accept Hungarian claims for self-determination within the empire.source
March 18 – The Boston Public Library is founded by an act of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts.source
March 29 – Queen's College, London, founded, the world's first school to award academic qualifications to young women.source
May 13 – "Maamme", the national anthem of Finland written by German composer Fredrik Pacius and Finnish poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, was performed for the first time.source
May 30 – The Prudential Mutual Assurance Investment and Loan Association is established at Hatton Garden in London (England) to provide loans to professional and working people, origin of the multinational life insurance and financial services group.source
June 24 – Anne Brontë published her final novel and her best-selling work, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.source
July 19 – Seneca Falls Convention: The 2-day women's rights convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York; "Bloomers" are introduced.source
July 26 – The University of Wisconsin–Madison is founded.source
August 19 – California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States that there is a gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).source
September 26 – The University of Ottawa is founded in Canada as the College of Bytown, a Roman Catholic institution.source
October 18 – Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life, is published anonymously in London.source
December 20 – Slavery is abolished in Réunion (this day is celebrated every year from 1981).source
The Shaker song "Simple Gifts" is written by Joseph Brackett in Alfred, Maine.source
Rhodes College is founded in Clarksville, Tennessee, as the Masonic University of Tennessee.source
The University of Mississippi admits its first students.source
Geneva College (Pennsylvania) is founded as Geneva Hall in Northwood, Logan County, Ohio.source

Births

February 18 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (d. 1933)source
February 24 – Andrew Inglis Clark, Australian jurist and politician (d. 1907)source
March 18 – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, daughter of Queen Victoria (d. 1939)source
March 19 – Wyatt Earp, American lawman and gunfighter (d. 1929)source
March 29 – Aleksey Kuropatkin, Russian general, Imperial Russian Minister of War (d. 1925)source
April 7 – Randall Davidson, British Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)source
June 7 – Dolores Jiménez y Muro, Mexican revolutionary and educator (d. 1925)source
June 7 – Paul Gauguin, French artist (d. 1903)source
July 18 – W. G. Grace, English cricketer (d. 1915)source
July 25 – Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1930)source
August 6 – Susie Taylor, African American nurse and first nurse in the Black Army (d. 1912)source
August 19 – Gustave Caillebotte, French painter (d. 1894)source
September 4 – Lewis Howard Latimer, African-American inventor (d. 1928)source
November 8 – Gottlob Frege, German logician (d. 1925)source

Deaths

January 20 – Christian VIII, King of Denmark (b. 1786)source
February 23 – John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States, son of John Adams and Abigail Adams (b. 1767)source
April 8 – Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797)source
July 4 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer, diplomat (b. 1768)source
August 3 – Edward Baines, British newspaperman, politician (b. 1774)source
August 7 – Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (b. 1779)source
August 8 – Puran Appu, Sri Lankan hero who led the Matale rebellion against the British (b. 1812)source
August 12 – George Stephenson, English locomotive pioneer (Locomotion No. 1 & Rocket) (b. 1781)source
August 30 – Simon Willard, celebrated American horologist (b. 1753)source
September 24 – Branwell Brontë, English painter, poet, brother of novelists Charlotte, Emily and Anne (b. 1817)source
November 24 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1779)source
December 1 – Kyokutei Bakin, Japanese author (b. 1767)source
December 18 – Bernard Bolzano, Bohemian mathematician, logician, philosopher and theologian (b. 1781)source
December 19 – Emily Brontë, English author (b. 1818)source