Directory

1866 CE

Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of St Petersburg. Bedrich Smetana's comic opera The Bartered Bride premiered in Prague. The Ruse–Varna railway line (the first railway in Bulgaria) officially opens.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • March 13 – The United States Congress overwhelmingly passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first federal legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans; U.S. President Andrew Johnson vetoes the bill on March 27, and Congress overrides the veto on April 9.source
  • April 8 – The kingdoms of Italy and Prussia form an alliance against the Austrian Empire.source
  • May 16 – The United States Congress approves the minting of a nickel 5-cent coin (nickel), eliminating its predecessor, the half dime.source
  • June 8 – The Parliament of Canada meets for the first time in Ottawa.source
  • June 22 – In Sweden, the Riksdag of the Estates votes to replace itself by an elected two-chamber Riksdag.source
  • July 10 – Reconstruction Treaty with Choctaw & Chickasaw, completing the abolition of slavery in the United States; see also Choctaw freedmen.source
  • July 13 (July 1 Old Style) – The first Constitution of Romania is issued.source
  • July 24 – Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.source
  • July 25 – The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the four-star rank of General of the Army (later reestablished as a five-star rank); Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank.source
  • August 23 – The Treaty of Prague formally ends the Austro-Prussian War. The German Federation is abolished (with the Duchy of Limburg and Luxemburg controlled by the Netherlands), the Habsburgs vow not to interfere in any reorganisation of Germany under Prussian leadership and cede Veneto.source
  • September 20 – The Kingdom of Prussia formally annexes the Kingdom of Hanover and King George V of Hanover goes into exile.source
  • October 12 – The Treaty of Vienna ends the war between Austria and Italy; it formalizes the annexation of Venetia by Italy.source
  • October 22 – The office of State President of the South African Republic is created by constitutional amendment approved at a session of the Volksraad.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 6 – Ottoman troops clash with supporters of Maronite leader Youssef Bey Karam, at St. Doumit in Lebanon; the Ottomans are defeated.source
  • February 7 – Battle of Abtao: A Spanish naval squadron fights a combined Peruvian-Chilean fleet, at the island of Abtao, in the Chiloé Archipelago of southern Chile.source
  • April 4 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of St Petersburg.source
  • May 1–3 – The Memphis massacre: a rebellion with a series of violent racial events.source
  • May 2 – Battle of Callao: Peruvian defenders fight the Spanish fleet.source
  • May 7 – Student Ferdinand Cohen-Blind makes a failed attempt to assassinate Otto von Bismarck in Unter den Linden in Berlin.source
  • May 24 – Battle of Tuyutí: 32,000 soldiers of the Triple Alliance defeat 24,000 Paraguayan soldiers few miles north of the Paraná, Argentina, in the Paraguayan War, with 16,000 casualties.source
  • June 2 – Fenian forces skirmish with Canadian militia at the battles of Ridgeway and Fort Erie.source
  • June 14 – The Austro-Prussian War ("Seven Weeks War") begins when the Austrians and most of the medium-size German states declare war on Prussia.source
  • June 20 – The Kingdom of Italy declares war on Austria.source
  • June 27–29 – Battle of Langensalza: The Prussians defeat the Hanoverian army.source
  • July 3 – Battle of Königgrätz: the Prussian army under King Wilhelm and Helmuth von Moltke defeats the Austrian army of Ludwig von Benedek, leading to a decisive Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War.source
  • July 20 – Austro-Prussian War: Naval Battle of Lissa – The Austrian fleet under Wilhelm von Tegetthoff defeats the Italian fleet of Carlo di Persano.source
  • July 22 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Blumenau – Austrians defend Bratislava against the Prussian army, concluding the fighting in the war.source
  • September 22 – Paraguay successfully defends Curupayty against the Triple Alliance in the Paraguayan War, killing more than 5,000 while sustaining just about 50 casualties.source
  • Federalist revolts occur in Argentina.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 26 – The Calaveras Skull is discovered in California. Purported to be evidence of humans in North America during the Pliocene epoch, it turns out to be a hoax.source
  • October 14 – French troops under the command of Rear Admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze land at Ganghwa Island, Korea, as part of a punitive expedition against that kingdom for the execution of French Jesuit priests. It is the first military contact between Korea and a Western force.source
  • Erasmus Jacobs discovers the 21.25 carat g Eureka Diamond near Hopetown on the banks of the Orange River in the Cape of Good Hope.source

Religion & Belief

  • June 11 – The Agra High Court is established (later shifted to the Allahabad High Court).source

Economy & Finance

  • May 10 – London bank Overend, Gurney and Company collapses, precipitating Panic of 1866.source
  • Magirus, as predecessor of a major worldwide commercial vehicles manufacturing brand, Iveco, is founded in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.source
  • Foundation of the predecessors of Nestlé S.A., the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • July 27 – The successfully completes laying the transatlantic telegraph cable between Valentia Island, Ireland, and Heart's Content, Newfoundland, permanently restoring a communications link.source
  • November 7 – The Ruse–Varna railway line (the first railway in Bulgaria) officially opens.source
  • The Minneapolis Milling Company, predecessor of General Mills, builds its own mills.source

Science & Discovery

  • March 31 – A total lunar eclipse occurs.source
  • June 5 – Calculations indicate Pluto (not known at this time) reaches its only aphelion (furthest point from the Sun) between 1618 and August 2113.source
  • Marcus Jastrow arrives in the United States to become rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia.source
  • Alfred Nobel invents dynamite in Germany.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 13 – The first daylight bank robbery in United States history during peacetime takes place in Liberty, Missouri. This is considered to be the first robbery committed by Jesse James and his gang, although James's role is disputed.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 12 – British auxiliary steamer sinks in a storm in the Bay of Biscay, on passage from the Thames to Australia, with the loss of 244 people, and only 19 survivors.source
  • December 12– Oaks explosion: The worst mining disaster in England kills 383 miners and rescuers.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 26 – Volcanic eruption in the Santorini caldera begins.source
  • The Famine of 1866–68 begins in Finland.source

Culture & Society

  • January 1 – The last issue of the abolitionist magazine The Liberator is published.source
  • January 1 – Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee.source
  • January 12 – The Royal Aeronautical Society is formed as The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain in London, the world's oldest such society.source
  • January 18 – Wesley College, Melbourne, is established.source
  • April 10 – The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh.source
  • May 26 – First production of the comic opera Cox and Box by F. C. Burnand and Arthur Sullivan at Moray Lodge, Kensingtonsource
  • May 30 – Bedrich Smetana's comic opera The Bartered Bride premiered in Prague.source
  • July 5 – Princess Helena, third daughter of Queen Victoria, marries Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein.source
  • July 28 – The Metric Act of 1866 becomes law and legalizes the standardization of weights and measures in the United States.source
  • September – The Great Tea Race of 1866 ends in London, narrowly won by the clipper ship Taeping.source
  • December 18 – The College of Wooster is founded in Ohio.source
  • The recommendations of the state Girls' School Committee of 1866 result in a series of progressive reforms in women's rights in Sweden.source

Births

  • January 15 – Horatio Dresser, American New Thought religious leader and writer (d. 1954)source
  • January 29 – Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)source
  • February 9 – George Ade, American writer, newspaper columnist and playwright (d. 1944)source
  • March 21 – Wakatsuki Reijirō, 25th and 28th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1949)source
  • April 3 – J. B. M. Hertzog, Boer General and 3rd Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1942)source
  • May 22 – Charles F. Haanel, American New Thought author and businessman (d. 1949)source
  • June 26 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English financier of Egyptian excavations (d. 1923)source
  • July 28 – Beatrix Potter, English children's author (Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-Duck) (d. 1943)source
  • August 14 – Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Russian novelist, poet and religious thinker (d. 1941)source
  • September 21 – Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1936)source
  • September 21 – H. G. Wells, English writer (d. 1946)source
  • September 25 – Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1945)source
  • December 11 – Ada Baker, Australian soprano, singing teacher and vaudeville star (d. 1949)source
  • December 16 (December 4 O.S.) – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born painter (d. 1944)source

Deaths

  • January (date unknown) – Thomas Baldwin Marsh, American religious leader (b. 1799)source
  • March 4 – Alexander Campbell, Irish/U.S. founder of the Disciples of Christ (b. 1788)source
  • March 6 – William Whewell, English scientist, philosopher and historian of science (b. 1794)source
  • March 9 – Jakob Joseph Matthys, Swiss Catholic priest (b. 1802)source
  • March 24 – Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Queen of France (b. 1782)source
  • April 1 – Elizabeth Jesser Reid, English social reformer, founder of Bedford College (b. 1789)source
  • April 4 – William Dick, founder of Edinburgh Veterinary College (b. 1793)source
  • April 7 – Johann Sedlatzek, German flautist (b. 1789)source
  • April 12 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English Member of Parliament and developer (b. 1801)source
  • June 7 – Chief Sealth, Native American for whom Seattle is named (b. c. 1786)source
  • June 17 – Lewis Cass, American military officer, politician, and statesman (b. 1782)source
  • August 1 – John Ross, long-serving principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, of natural causes, in Washington D. C. (born 1790 in Cherokee Nation East).source
  • September 30 – Per Gustaf Svinhufvud af Qvalstad, treasurer of Tavastia province, manor host, and paternal grandfather of President of Finland P. E. Svinhufvud (b. 1804)source
  • October 18 – Manuel Bulnes, Chilean general and politician, President of Chile (b. 1799)source