1860 – 1870s

Events in the 1860s 28

• 1603 – 1868 Edo period Tokugawa peace, isolation and a flourishing culture For over two and a half centuries the Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo (Tokyo), enforcing rigid social order and near-total isolation from the outside world (sakoku). The long peace allowed cities, commerce and a vibrant popular culture to flourish — kabuki theatre, ukiyo-e woodblock prints and haiku poetry.
• 1798 – 1863 Eugène Delacroix Romanticism · France Eugène Delacroix (April 26, 1798 – August 13, 1863) was the leader of French Romanticism whose vibrant colour and dynamic compositions influenced the Impressionists. Liberty Leading the People is an enduring icon of revolution.
• 1803 – 1869 Hector Berlioz Romantic orchestral innovator French Romantic composer who revolutionised orchestration with his Symphonie fantastique and expanded the scope of the orchestra to unprecedented scale.
• 1809 – 1865 Abraham Lincoln 16th President — saved the Union, abolished slavery Abraham Lincoln (Feb 12, 1809 – Apr 15, 1865) was the 16th President 1861-1865. He led the Union through the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and was assassinated at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.
• 1820 – 1865 Laws of thermodynamics Energy is conserved and entropy always increases The first law of thermodynamics (energy is conserved, Joule and Mayer, 1840s) and the second law (entropy of a closed system always increases, Clausius, 1865) were the most fundamental laws of physics discovered in the 19th century. They explained the limits of steam engines, showed that perpetual motion machines are impossible, and introduced the concept of entropy — disorder that only ever increases in a closed system.
• 1850 – 1864 Taiping Rebellion The deadliest civil war in history — 20–30 million dead The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led by Hong Xiuquan who believed himself Jesus's brother, controlled much of southern China from 1850 to 1864. The conflict killed an estimated 20–30 million people — more than World War I — making it the deadliest civil war in history. The Qing dynasty suppressed the rebellion with foreign help but emerged fatally weakened.
• 1860 – 1911 Gustav Mahler Late Romantic symphonist Austrian composer and conductor whose vast symphonies — especially the 5th, 9th and Das Lied von der Erde — pushed the Romantic symphony to its limits.
• 1861 – 1865 Pasteur and Koch — germ theory of disease Microorganisms cause infectious diseases Louis Pasteur of France demonstrated in the 1860s that fermentation and putrefaction are caused by microorganisms, and that disease can be caused by specific bacteria (germ theory). Robert Koch of Germany then identified the specific bacteria responsible for anthrax (1876), tuberculosis (1882), and cholera (1883). Germ theory replaced the miasma theory, transformed medicine, and led directly to antiseptics, vaccines, and antibiotics.
• 1861 – 1865 Lincoln presidency 16th President — led Union through Civil War Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President from March 4, 1861 until his assassination on April 15, 1865. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), freeing slaves in Confederate states, and guided the nation through its greatest crisis.
• 1862 – 1918 Claude Debussy Impressionist composer French composer whose Clair de Lune, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and La Mer created a new musical language based on colour and atmosphere.
• 1863 – 1944 Edvard Munch Expressionism · Norway Edvard Munch (December 12, 1863 – January 23, 1944) was a Norwegian Expressionist painter whose The Scream is one of the most iconic images in Western art. His emotionally raw work was a major influence on German Expressionism.
• 1864 Maxwell — electromagnetic theory of light Light is an electromagnetic wave — electricity, magnetism and light unified In 1864, James Clerk Maxwell of Edinburgh published his equations describing the electromagnetic field, showing that oscillating electric and magnetic fields travel as waves at the speed of light. He concluded that light itself is an electromagnetic wave. Maxwell's four equations unified electricity, magnetism, and optics into a single theory — the greatest unification in physics between Newton and Einstein, and the foundation of radio, radar, television, and wireless communication.
• 1864 – 1876 Maxwell, Bell and the telephone signal Electromagnetic waves carry information — telecommunications born Maxwell's 1864 equations predicted that electromagnetic waves could carry information through space. Alexander Graham Bell's 1876 telephone transmitted the human voice electrically for the first time. These two developments together established the principle that information can be encoded in electromagnetic signals — the foundation of all modern telecommunications.
• 1864 – 1949 Richard Strauss Late Romantic & modern composer German composer known for his tone poems — Also sprach Zarathustra, Till Eulenspiegel — and operas Salome, Der Rosenkavalier and Elektra.
• 1864 – 1901 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Post-Impressionism · France Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (November 24, 1864 – September 9, 1901) was a French Post-Impressionist painter who captured the nightlife of Montmartre with vivid immediacy. His posters for the Moulin Rouge defined the Art Nouveau aesthetic.
• 1865 Mendel — genetics and inheritance Pea plant experiments reveal the laws of heredity In 1865, Gregor Mendel of Brno published his observations from ten years of breeding pea plants, demonstrating that traits are inherited in discrete units (now called genes) following predictable mathematical ratios. Mendel's laws of segregation and independent assortment were ignored for 35 years until rediscovered in 1900, whereupon they founded modern genetics and were later reconciled with Darwin's evolution.
• 1865 – present Nokia Nokia — founded in 1865 as a wood pulp mill on the banks of the Nokianvirta river in Finland — is one of the most dramatic corporate transformation stories in history. From paper to rubber boots to cables to consumer electronics to mobile phones, Nokia reinvented itself repeatedly. At its peak in 2000 it was the most valuable company in Europe and accounted for 4% of Finland's entire GDP. Its collapse after the iPhone's arrival and its sale of the mobile division to Microsoft in 2013 is one of the great corporate falls. Today Nokia survives as a major telecommunications infrastructure company.
• 1865 Nokia founded as paper mill Fredrik Idestam founds a wood pulp mill on the Nokianvirta river in southern Finland in 1865, naming it Nokia Ab after the river. The mill produces paper for the rapidly expanding Finnish printing industry. A second mill follows in 1868. The Nokia name comes from the river, which may derive from the Finnish word for the dark, furry European mink once native to the riverbanks. The connection between a 19th-century Finnish paper mill and the mobile phone that will define an era is almost impossible to imagine.
• 1865 – 1957 Jean Sibelius Finnish national composer Finnish composer whose Finlandia, Violin Concerto and 7 symphonies made him a national hero and one of the defining voices of late Romanticism.
• 1865 – 1936 Rudyard Kipling English writer and poet Kipling wrote The Jungle Book and explored themes of empire, duty, and adventure.
• 1866 – 1946 H. G. Wells English science fiction writer Wells pioneered science fiction with works like The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds.
• 1866 – 1944 Wassily Kandinsky Abstract Art · Russia Wassily Kandinsky (December 16, 1866 – December 13, 1944) was a Russian painter widely credited with creating the first purely abstract works. He believed colour and form could express spiritual and emotional states independent of subject matter.
• 1867 – 1912 Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito) Reign 1867–1912 — Japan becomes a modern power Emperor Meiji reigned as Japan transformed from a feudal state under the shogunate into a major imperial power. The Meiji era saw the 1889 constitution, rapid industrialisation, and military victories over China (1895) and Russia (1905) that announced Japan's arrival on the world stage.
• 1868 – present Little Women The March sisters, 1868 to today Louisa May Alcott's novel of the four March sisters, published in two parts in 1868 and 1869 and never out of print since — adapted for stage, film, television, opera and anime.
• 1869 Mendeleev — periodic table Chemical elements arranged by atomic weight reveal a pattern In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev of St Petersburg arranged the 63 known chemical elements in order of atomic weight and found a repeating pattern of properties. His periodic table predicted the existence and properties of several undiscovered elements — gallium, scandium, and germanium — all subsequently found. The periodic table remains the central organising framework of chemistry and one of the greatest intellectual achievements in science.
• 1869 – 1948 Gandhi Non-violent resistance Mahatma Gandhi led India's independence movement through non-violent civil disobedience. His philosophy inspired civil rights movements worldwide.
• 1869 – 1948 Mahatma Gandhi Leader of non-violent independence struggle Mohandas K. Gandhi led India's independence movement through the philosophy of satyagraha — non-violent civil disobedience — mobilising millions in campaigns such as the 1930 Salt March. Revered as the father of the nation, he was assassinated in 1948, months after independence.
• 1869 – 1954 Henri Matisse Fauvism · France Henri Matisse (December 31, 1869 – November 3, 1954) was a French painter and sculptor who led the Fauvist movement. Renowned for his bold colour and fluid draughtsmanship, he is considered alongside Picasso as the most important artist of the 20th century.