Centuries:
18th century – 19th century – 20th century
Decades:
1840s 1850s 1860s – 1870s – 1880s 1890s 1900s
Years:
1875 1876 1877 – 1878 – 1879 1880 1881
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.
- 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 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, an Indian newspaper, is founded.
- September 30 – The ship Priscilla arrives in Hawaii from Funchal, Madeira, marking the beginning of the Portuguese immigration to the Hawaiian Islands (1878-1913).
October – December
- October 1 – Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
- October 14 – The world’s first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield
- 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.
Undated
Foundations:
- The Buchan School, Isle of Man.
- Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club, the team that would become Manchester United
- Everton Football Club, then known as St Domingo
- 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.
- Grimsby Town FC then known as Grimsby Pelham
Births
1878 in other calendars
Gregorian calendar
1878
MDCCCLXXVIII
Ab urbe condita
2631
Armenian calendar
1327
ԹՎ ՌՅԻԷ
Bahá'í calendar
34 – 35
Berber calendar
2828
Buddhist calendar
2422
Burmese calendar
1240
Chinese calendar
4514/4574-11-28
(丁丑年十一月廿八日)
— to —
4515/4575-12-8
(戊寅年十二月初八日)
Coptic calendar
1594 – 1595
Ethiopian calendar
1870 – 1871
Hebrew calendar
5638 – 5639
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat
1933 – 1934
- Shaka Samvat
1800 – 1801
- Kali Yuga
4979 – 4980
Holocene calendar
11878
Iranian calendar
1256 – 1257
Islamic calendar
1294 – 1296
Japanese calendar
Meiji 11
(明治11年)
Korean calendar
4211
Thai solar calendar
2421
January – June
- January 6 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
- January 12 – Ferenc Molnár, author (d. 1952)
- 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 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)
Julie Manet – French painter (d. 1966)
November 17 – Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (d. 1939)
- 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)
Deaths
January – June
- January 8 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet (b. 1821)
- 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)
- July 23 – Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, Bohemian pathologist, philosopher and politician (b. 1804)
- August 30 – James Geiss, English businessman (b. 1820)
- November 16 – Princess Marie of Hesse dies aged for of diptheria. A disease which at the time the majority of her family suffered, and which her mother Alice of the United Kingdom succumbed to a month later.
- November 20 – William Thomas (Islwyn), Welsh poet (b. 1832)
- 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)
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1878”