1878

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: Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire.
• January 17 - Battle of Plovdiv: Russian troops defeat the Turks.
• January 23 - Benjamin Disraeli orders the 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 an armistice at Adrianople.
• February 2 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
• February 8 - The 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 occur 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 regains its independence from the 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 a British proposal to lay the San Stefano treaty before a European congress.
• March 27 - In anticipation of 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 - The Tokyo Stock Exchange is established
• June 4 - Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains the nominal title.
• June 10 - The League of Prizren is established.
• June 12 - July 12 - The Congress of Berlin convenes to discuss 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 is found later with a taunting poem inside.
• August 9 - The Wallingford Tornado of 1878, the deadliest tornado in Connecticut history, destroys the town of Wallingford, killing 34 people and injuring 70 or more.
• 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 - The first assassination attempt is made against Umberto I of Italy.
• November 21 - The Second Afghan War commences when the British attack Ali Masjid in the Khyber Pass.

Undated

• Yellow fever in Mississippi Valley kills over 13,000.
• U.S. arbitration rejects Argentine claims to Paraguay's part of the Chaco region.
• Otto von Bismarck abandons his Kulturkampf.
• Otto von Bismarck forces through legislation outlawing the Social Democrats.

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
• Grimsby Town FC then known as Grimsby Pelham
• Geiger (Corporation) initially known as Geiger Brothers.
• The West Bromwich Albion F.C. plays their first match.

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
Byzantine calendar 7386 – 7387
Chinese calendar 丁丑年十一月廿八日
(4514/4574-11-28) 戊寅年十二月初八日
(4515/4575-12-8)
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, unverified claimant to be world's oldest person (d. 2007)
• May 10 - Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1929)
• May 25 - Bill Robinson, African American 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)