1870

Events in 1870 37

• 1801 – 1870 David Farragut (1801-1870) Died 14 August 1870, aged 69 David Farragut, the first admiral of the United States Navy, died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 14 August 1870. He rose to fame during the American Civil War for his victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay, reputedly urging his fleet onward with the order 'damn the torpedoes.' He was the US Navy's first vice admiral and first full admiral.
• 1802 – 1870 Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) Died 5 December 1870, aged 68 Alexandre Dumas, the French novelist and playwright behind The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, died at his son's home in Puys, France, on 5 December 1870. His historical adventure novels made him one of the most widely read authors of the nineteenth century. He died as Prussian troops advanced through the region.
• 1803 – 1870 Prosper Merimee (1803-1870) Died 23 September 1870, aged 67 Prosper Merimee, the French writer best known for the novella Carmen, later adapted into Bizet's opera, died in Cannes on 23 September 1870. He was also a noted historian and one of France's pioneering advocates for the preservation of historic monuments. He served as a senator during the Second Empire.
• 1807 – 1870 Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) Died 12 October 1870, aged 63 Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, died in Lexington, Virginia, on 12 October 1870. After the war he served as president of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University. He remains one of the most studied and debated military figures in American history.
• 1812 – 1870 Alexander Herzen (1812-1870) Died 21 January 1870, aged 57 Alexander Herzen, the Russian writer and thinker often called the father of Russian socialism, died in Paris on 21 January 1870. His memoir My Past and Thoughts and his exile journal Kolokol shaped generations of Russian radical thought. He spent much of his life in Western European exile after the failed revolutions of 1848.
• 1812 – 1870 Charles Dickens English novelist Dickens depicted Victorian society in novels like Oliver Twist, highlighting poverty and social injustice.
• 1841 – 1870 Frederic Bazille (1841-1870) Died 28 November 1870, aged 29 Frederic Bazille, a French painter associated with the early Impressionist circle including Monet and Renoir, was killed in action at Beaune-la-Rolande during the Franco-Prussian War on 28 November 1870. He had helped finance and support his fellow Impressionist painters before his death. His promising career was cut short at age 29.
• 1870 – 1933 Adolf Loos (1870-1933) Died 23 August 1933, aged 62 Austrian architect and pioneer of modernism who attacked decorative architecture in his essay Ornament and Crime. His buildings include the Looshaus in Vienna.
• 1870 – 1938 Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870-1938) Died 9 July 1938, aged 68 Cardozo was an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court and one of the most influential American common-law judges.
• 1870 – 1965 Bernard Baruch (1870-1965) Died 20 June 1965, aged 94 Bernard Baruch was an American financier and statesman who advised several US presidents on economic and foreign policy, including as US representative to the UN Atomic Energy Commission. He coined the term "Cold War" in a 1947 speech. He died at his home in New York City on 20 June 1965.
• 1870 – 1947 Christian X of Denmark (1870-1947) Died 20 April 1947, aged 76 Christian X was King of Denmark from 1912 and King of Iceland until 1944. During the German occupation he became a symbol of Danish resistance through his daily rides through Copenhagen. His son Frederick IX succeeded him.
• 1870 – present Corticeira Amorim The Cork World Leader Portugal produces over 50% of the world’s cork, with this company at its heart.
• 1870 – 1938 Ernst Barlach (1870-1938) Died 24 October 1938, aged 68 Barlach was a German Expressionist sculptor and playwright. The Nazis condemned his work, and many of his public memorials were removed.
• 1870 – 1902 Frank Norris (1870-1902) Died 25 October 1902, aged 32 Norris was an American novelist associated with literary naturalism, best known for "McTeague" and "The Octopus: A Story of California," a novel about railroad power over wheat farmers. He died suddenly of complications from appendicitis at age 32.
• 1870 Heinrich Schliemann Begins Excavating Troy Amateur archaeologist starts digging at Hisarlik German businessman and amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann began excavations at the mound of Hisarlik in Ottoman Anatolia in 1870, seeking the site of ancient Troy. His work, though crude by later standards, uncovered multiple layers of ancient settlement. The dig made Homeric Troy a subject of serious archaeological inquiry.
• 1870 – 1953 Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) Died 16 July 1953, aged 82 Hilaire Belloc was a Franco-English writer and historian known for his light verse, essays, and Catholic apologetics, as well as his close collaboration and friendship with G. K. Chesterton. He was also a Member of Parliament earlier in his career. His prolific output spanned poetry, travel writing, and polemical history.
• 1870 – 1953 Ivan Bunin (1870-1953) Died 8 November 1953, aged 83 Ivan Bunin was a Russian writer and the first Russian author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in 1933. He lived much of his later life in exile in France after opposing the Bolshevik Revolution. His work is noted for its precise, lyrical prose depicting pre-revolutionary Russian life.
• 1870 – 1950 Jan Smuts (1870-1950) Died 11 September 1950, aged 80 Jan Smuts was a South African statesman and military leader who served twice as prime minister and helped draft the charters of the League of Nations and the United Nations. He was a trusted ally of Britain during both World Wars. He died at his farm near Pretoria.
• 1870 – 1942 Jean Perrin (1870-1942) Died 17 April 1942, aged 71 Jean Perrin was a French physicist whose experiments on Brownian motion confirmed that atoms and molecules exist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1926 and helped found the CNRS. He fled occupied France and died in New York.
• 1870 – 1922 Marie Lloyd (1870-1922) Died 7 October 1922, aged 52 Marie Lloyd, one of the most popular British music hall performers of her era, died in London days after collapsing on stage during a performance. Known for songs laced with innuendo, she was a defining figure of Victorian and Edwardian popular entertainment. Her funeral drew huge crowds of mourners.
• 1870 – 1930 Miguel Primo de Rivera (1870-1930) Died 16 March 1930, aged 60 Spanish general who ruled Spain as dictator from 1923 to 1930 under King Alfonso XIII. He died in Paris less than two months after resigning.
• 1870 Standard Oil Company Founded John D. Rockefeller incorporates his oil refining business John D. Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, and partners incorporated the Standard Oil Company in Ohio on 10 January 1870. The company rapidly expanded to dominate the American oil refining industry. It would later be broken up under antitrust law in 1911.
• 1870 Fifteenth Amendment Ratified US Constitution bars racial discrimination in voting The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on 3 February 1870, prohibiting federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It was the last of the three Reconstruction amendments following the Civil War. Enforcement would remain contested for nearly a century.
• 1870 Hiram Revels Sworn In as US Senator First African American to serve in the US Congress Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as a United States Senator on 25 February 1870, becoming the first African American to serve in the US Congress. He filled the seat once held by Jefferson Davis. His term lasted about one year.
• 1870 – 1924 Lenin Russian Revolution leader Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, establishing the Soviet state and the foundation for communist rule in Russia.
• 1870 – 1924 Vladimir Lenin Founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (April 22, 1870 – January 21, 1924) was the founder of the Soviet state and leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. He led Soviet Russia from 1917 and the Soviet Union from its formation in 1922 until his death in 1924.
• 1870 Manitoba Becomes a Canadian Province The Manitoba Act creates Canada's fifth province The Manitoba Act took effect on 15 July 1870, creating the province of Manitoba and admitting it into the Canadian Confederation. The act followed negotiations with Louis Riel's provisional government after the Red River Resistance. It guaranteed land and language rights for the Metis population.
• 1870 First Vatican Council Declares Papal Infallibility Catholic dogma affirms the pope's teaching authority The First Vatican Council approved the dogma of papal infallibility on 18 July 1870, holding that the pope cannot err when defining doctrine on faith or morals in his official capacity as head of the Church. The council was suspended weeks later when Italian troops captured Rome. It marked a defining moment in modern Catholic doctrine.
• 1870 Franco-Prussian War Begins France declares war on Prussia France declared war on Prussia on 19 July 1870 after tensions over the Hohenzollern candidacy for the Spanish throne and the Ems Dispatch. The conflict pitted France against Prussia and its German allies. Prussian victories led to the collapse of the French Second Empire within weeks.
• 1870 Elementary Education Act Passed in England Forster's Act establishes England's first state school system The British Parliament passed the Elementary Education Act on 9 August 1870, establishing local school boards empowered to build and fund schools for children aged five to twelve. Known as Forster's Act, it laid the foundation for a national system of elementary education in England and Wales. Attendance was not yet compulsory nationwide.
• 1870 Red River Resistance Ends Wolseley Expedition reaches Fort Garry A Canadian military expedition led by Garnet Wolseley reached Fort Garry on 24 August 1870, ending the Red River Resistance led by Louis Riel. Riel fled before the troops arrived, having already secured Manitoba's entry into Confederation. The episode remains central to Metis and Canadian history.
• 1870 – 1952 Maria Montessori Educational Pioneer Physician and educator best known for the philosophy of education that bears her name.
• 1870 Battle of Sedan Napoleon III captured, French army destroyed Prussian and German forces decisively defeated the French Army of Chalons at Sedan on 1-2 September 1870. Emperor Napoleon III surrendered and was taken prisoner along with over 100,000 troops. The defeat triggered the collapse of the French Second Empire two days later.
• 1870 Proclamation of the Third French Republic Napoleon III's empire falls, republic declared in Paris Following the capture of Napoleon III at Sedan, republicans in Paris declared the end of the Second Empire and proclaimed the Third Republic on 4 September 1870. A Government of National Defense took power to continue the war against Prussia. The new republic would endure until 1940.
• 1870 HMS Captain Capsizes Experimental Royal Navy warship sinks with heavy loss of life The Royal Navy turret ship HMS Captain capsized in a gale off Cape Finisterre on 7 September 1870, killing nearly 480 officers and crew. The disaster exposed a fatal design flaw: the ship's low freeboard left it dangerously unstable under sail. It prompted a rethink of Royal Navy ship design.
• 1870 Siege of Paris Begins Prussian forces encircle the French capital German forces surrounded Paris on 19 September 1870, beginning a siege that would last over four months. Parisians endured food shortages, resorting to eating zoo animals, while the city attempted to communicate by hot air balloon. The siege ended with France's surrender in January 1871.
• 1870 Capture of Rome Rome as Capital Italian troops entered Rome, ending the temporal power of the Pope and making Rome the capital of a unified Italy.