1830 – 1840s

Events in the 1830s 17

• 1566 – 1839 Wars & Stagnation (1566–1839) The period from Suleiman's death to the Tanzimat reforms spans 273 years of gradual but accelerating decline punctuated by moments of recovery. The failed siege of Vienna (1683) marks the definitive end of Ottoman expansion in Europe; the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699) begins the long territorial retreat. Russia emerges as the empire's most dangerous enemy, fighting six wars and pushing the Ottoman frontier steadily south. The Janissaries -- once the empire's elite force -- become a conservative political force that murders reforming sultans. The empire earns its 19th-century epithet: 'the sick man of Europe.'
• 1749 – 1832 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German writer and statesman Goethe wrote Faust and shaped German literature through poetry, drama, and philosophical writings that defined European Romanticism.
• 1801 – 1835 Vincenzo Bellini Bel canto opera master Italian composer whose lyrical operas Norma and La Sonnambula are the pinnacle of the bel canto style, admired by Chopin and Wagner.
• 1830 – 1886 Christina Rossetti English poet Rossetti wrote devotional and lyrical poetry exploring love, faith, and mortality.
• 1831 Faraday — electromagnetic induction Moving magnets generate electricity — the electric generator In 1831, Michael Faraday of London discovered that a changing magnetic field induces an electric current in a nearby conductor — the principle of electromagnetic induction. This led directly to the invention of the electric generator and transformer. Faraday also introduced the concept of the electromagnetic field, which Maxwell later formalised mathematically. Together, Faraday and Maxwell gave us the electrical civilisation.
• 1832 – 1883 Édouard Manet Impressionism · France Édouard Manet (January 23, 1832 – April 30, 1883) was a French painter who bridged Realism and Impressionism. His Olympia and Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe caused scandal but opened the door to modern art.
• 1832 – 1888 Louisa May Alcott Author of Little Women American novelist, Civil War nurse, abolitionist and suffragist. Raised among the Concord Transcendentalists, she wrote thrillers under a pen name before Little Women made her one of the best-selling authors of her century.
• 1833 – 1897 Johannes Brahms Late Romantic master German composer whose four symphonies, two piano concertos and German Requiem represent the pinnacle of absolute music in the Romantic era.
• 1834 – 1917 Edgar Degas Impressionism · France Edgar Degas (July 19, 1834 – September 27, 1917) was a French Impressionist painter celebrated for his depictions of dancers, bathers and café scenes. He was a master of pastel and a pioneer of photography-influenced composition.
• 1835 – 1921 Camille Saint-Saëns French Romantic composer French composer of the Carnival of the Animals, Organ Symphony and the opera Samson et Dalila. One of the most versatile composers of the 19th century.
• 1835 – 1910 Mark Twain American writer and humorist Twain wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, using satire to critique society and capture American life.
• 1838 – 1839 Schleiden and Schwann — cell theory All living things are made of cells In 1838-1839, Matthias Schleiden (plants) and Theodor Schwann (animals) independently proposed that all living organisms are composed of cells and that the cell is the fundamental unit of life. Virchow added in 1855 that all cells come from pre-existing cells. Cell theory is one of the three pillars of modern biology alongside evolution and genetics.
• 1838 – 1875 Georges Bizet French opera composer French composer best known for his opera Carmen, one of the most performed operas in the repertoire, which he completed shortly before his death at 36.
• 1839 – 1842 First Opium War Britain forces China to open — the century of humiliation begins Britain went to war with China to force it to continue accepting opium imports from British India, which China had banned. The technologically superior British fleet defeated China decisively. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking ceded Hong Kong to Britain, opened five treaty ports, and paid a massive indemnity. It was the first of the "unequal treaties" that humiliated China and began what Chinese call the "century of humiliation" lasting until 1949.
• 1839 – 1922 Reform & Collapse (1839–1922) The final 83 years of Ottoman history are the most dramatic -- a race between modernisation and disintegration that the empire ultimately loses. The Tanzimat reforms (1839-1876) attempt to create a modern centralised state with equal rights for all subjects. The Constitutional period (1876, 1908) produces two parliaments. But the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) strip the empire of nearly all its European territory; the First World War (1914-1918) destroys it; the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) kills over a million people; and Ataturk's War of Independence (1919-1922) produces the Turkish Republic from the ruins. The sultanate is abolished on 1 November 1922.
• 1839 – 1906 Paul Cézanne Post-Impressionism · France Paul Cézanne (January 19, 1839 – October 22, 1906) was a French Post-Impressionist whose geometric approach to form and colour became the bridge between 19th-century Impressionism and 20th-century Cubism. Picasso called him the father of us all.
• 1839 – 1881 Modest Mussorgsky Russian nationalist composer Russian composer of the nationalist school, known for Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on Bald Mountain, often orchestrated by Ravel.