What happened in 1864

World5

• Mar 14Rossini's Petite messe solennelle is first performed, by twelve singers, two pianists and a harmonium player in a mansion in Paris.
• May 9Danish-Prussian War (Second Schleswig War): Battle of Heligoland – The Danish navy gains a tactical victory over those of Austria and Prussia, near the island of Heligoland. It is the last significant naval battle fought by squadrons of wooden ships, and also the last involving Denmark.
• Jun 18The January Uprising ends in the defeat of Polish forces.
• Jun 18The Decree of Extended Freedom of Trade introduces complete freedom of trade in Sweden.
• Sep 28The International Workingmen's Association is founded in London.

Japan1

• Sep 5Bombardment of Shimonoseki: An American, British, Dutch and French alliance engages the powerful feudal Japanese warlord or daimyō Lord Mōri Takachika, of the Chōshū clan, based in Shimonoseki, Japan.

North America50

• FebAmerican Civil War:
• MarAmerican Civil War:
• Apr 12American Civil War: Battle of Fort Pillow – Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers who surrender at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
• MayAmerican Civil War:
• Jun 12Battle of Cold Harbor – General Ulysses S. Grant pulls his troops from their positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia, and moves south.
• Jun 15Arlington National Cemetery is established in the United States, when of the grounds of Robert E. Lee's home (Arlington House) are officially set aside as a military cemetery, by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
• JulAmerican Civil War:
• Oct 2American Civil War: First Battle of Saltville – Union forces attack Saltville, Virginia, but are defeated by Confederate troops.
• Oct 9American Civil War: Battle of Tom's Brook – Union cavalrymen in the Shenandoah Valley defeat Confederate forces at Tom's Brook, Virginia.
• Oct 28American Civil War: Second Battle of Fair Oaks – Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia, after failing to breach the Confederate defenses around Richmond, Virginia.
• Nov 4American Civil War: Battle of Johnsonville – At Johnsonville, Tennessee, troops under the command of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest bombard a Union supply base with artillery, and destroy millions of dollars' worth of material.
• Nov 30American Civil War: Second Battle of Franklin – The Confederate Army of Tennessee, led by General Hood, mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee (Hood loses 6 generals and almost a third of his troops).
• NovAmerican Civil War:
• Dec 4American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea – At Waynesboro, Georgia, forces under Union General Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops, led by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler, from interfering with Union General Sherman's campaign of destroying a wide swath of the South, on his march to Savannah; Union forces suffer more than 3 times the casualties as the Confederates, however.
• Dec 15American Civil War: Battle of Nashville – Union forces decisively defeat the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

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Europe14

• Feb 15Heineken Brewery is founded in the Netherlands.
• FebJohn Wisden publishes The Cricketer's Almanack for the year 1864 in England; it will go on to become the major annual cricket reference publication.
• Apr 18Danish-Prussian War (Second Schleswig War) – Battle of Dybbøl: The Prussian army, fielding 10,000 men, defeats the Danish defending army of 9,200 at Dybbøl Mill, after an artillery bombardment from April 7–18.
• May 2Under terms of the Treaty of London, the United Kingdom voluntarily cedes control of the United States of the Ionian Islands to the Kingdom of Greece.
• May 4Société Générale, a major financial group in France, is founded.
• Jun 5In Marseille, Notre-Dame de la Garde, the city's most famous landmark, is consecrated.
• Jun 19American Civil War: Battle of Cherbourg – Confederate States Navy CSS Alabama is sunk in a single-ship action with USS Kearsarge, in the English Channel off the coast of the Cotentin Peninsula, France.
• Jun 29Second Schleswig War: The Battle of Als is won by the Prussians under General Herwarth von Bittenfeld, who occupy the island of Als after crossing the Alssund, between the village of Sottrupskov and the Sandbjerg Estate, by night. Of 9,000 Danish troops stationed there, a third are killed, wounded or captured.
• Jul 4The University of Bucharest in Romania is founded.
• Aug 22The First Geneva Convention, for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, is signed in Geneva by 12 European states, under the auspices of the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded (predecessor of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement).
• Sep 16Pope Pius IX establishes the Diocese of Gozo.
• Oct 30The Second Schleswig War is concluded. Denmark renounces all claim to Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg, which come under Prussian and Austrian administration.
• Dec 8Syllabus errorum: Pope Pius IX condemns theological liberalism as an error, and claims the supremacy of Roman Catholic Church authority over civil society. He also condemns rationalism and socialism.
• Dec 8The Clifton Suspension Bridge across the River Avon (Bristol) in England, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and completed as a memorial to him, opens to traffic.

USSR / Russia1

• Nov 20The judicial reform of Alexander II is launched in the Russian Empire.

Asia3

• Apr 15Choe Je-u, founder of the Donghak Movement, is executed by beheading for sedition, at Daegu, Korea.
• Jul 19The Third Battle of Nanking climaxes, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom capital of Nanking falls to an assault by Imperial Qing dynasty forces, in the last major action of the Taiping Rebellion in China. There are probably more than a million troops in the battle, and the Taiping army sustains at least 100,000 dead.
• The first Quanjude Peking Roast Duck restaurant opens on Qianmen Street in Peking, China.

Latin America4

• Aug 10An undeclared Uruguayan War begins, when Uruguay refuses an ultimatum from the Empire of Brazil.
• Oct 12Uruguayan War: Forces of the Empire of Brazil invade Uruguay, in support of Venancio Flores' Colorado Party.
• Nov 12Hostilities in the Paraguayan War open, with the Paraguayan ship Tacuarí capturing the Brazilian Marquês de Olinda, in the Paraguay River.
• Dec 13Paraguayan War: Paraguay formally declares war on the Empire of Brazil, in support of the Uruguayan National Party. The war continues to 1870, with around 300,000 Paraguayan deaths.