What happened in 1868

40 events　World 3, Japan 5, North America 11, Europe 13, Asia 1, Latin America 3, Africa 2, Oceania 2

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Highlights of 1868

World3

  • Jan 2British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries.
  • May 10Boshin War – Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, Japan: Forces of the Emperor Meiji resist the retreating troops of the Tokugawa shogunate.
  • Dec 4Battle of Hakodate begins in Japan.

Japan5

  • Jan 27Battle of Toba–Fushimi: forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied pro-Imperial forces of the Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa Domains clash near Fushimi, Kyoto, ending in a decisive victory for the Imperial forces (although in the January 28 naval Battle of Awa, the Shogunate is victorious against Satsuma).
  • Apr 11July – Fall of Edo: The Japanese city surrenders to Emperor Meiji. Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu submits to the Emperor.
  • Jul 4Battle of Ueno: Imperial Japanese troops defeat the Shōgitai (elite forces remaining loyal to the shōgun).
  • Oct 23The current Japanese era name is changed to the Meiji period. The Edo period ends.
  • Meiji RestorationThe Tokugawa shogunate ended and a new government centered on the emperor took over. Railways, the postal service, schools and conscription were adopted from the West within a few years.

North America11

  • Feb 24Impeachment of Andrew Johnson: Three days after his action to dismiss United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, the United States House of Representatives votes 126–47 in favor of a resolution to impeach Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, the first of three Presidents to be impeached by the full House. Johnson is later acquitted by the United States Senate.
  • Mar 23The University of California is founded in Oakland, California, when the Organic Act is signed into California law.
  • Mar 24The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed, in New York City.
  • Apr 1The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute is established in Hampton, Virginia.
  • Apr 29General William Tecumseh Sherman brokers the Treaty of Fort Laramie, between the federal government of the United States and the Plains Indians.
  • Jun 1The Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed, allowing the Navajo to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.
  • Jun 20Fort Fred Steele is established to protect what is at this time the western terminus of the Union Pacific Railway, near modern-day Sinclair, Wyoming.
  • Jul 1The cable-operated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway in Manhattan becomes the first elevated railway in the United States.
  • Sep 23Grito de Lares: Rebels (some 400–600 led by Ramón Emeterio Betances) in the town of Lares declare Puerto Rico independent; the local militia easily defeats them a week later.
  • Nov 31868 United States presidential election: Republican Ulysses S. Grant defeats Democrat Horatio Seymour.
  • Nov 27American Indian Wars – Battle of Washita River: In the early morning, United States Army Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer leads an attack on a band of Cheyenne living on reservation land with Chief Black Kettle, killing 103 Cheyenne.

Europe13

  • May 29The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Capital Punishment Amendment Act, thus ending public hanging.
  • Jun 2The first Trades Union Congress is held in Manchester, England.
  • Jun 10Mihailo Obrenović, Prince of Serbia, is assassinated in Košutnjak, Belgrade.
  • Aug 18The element later named as helium is first detected in the spectrum of the Sun's chromosphere, by French astronomer Jules Janssen, during a total eclipse in Guntur, British India, but is assumed to be sodium.
  • Aug 20Abergele rail disaster in Wales: An Irish Mail passenger train collides with 4 cargo trucks loaded with paraffin oil (more akin to modern kerosine); 33 are killed (the first major train disaster in Britain).
  • Sep 19Glorious Revolution in Spain begins against Queen Isabella II
  • Sep 24Croatian–Hungarian Settlement (,, ) is concluded, governing Croatia's political status in the Hungarian-ruled part of Austria-Hungary until 1918.
  • SepGlorious Revolution: Queen Isabella II of Spain is effectively deposed after Battle of Alcolea (1868) and sent into exile; she formally abdicates on June 25, 1870.
  • Oct 10Carlos Manuel de Céspedes declares a revolt against Spanish rule in Cuba, in an event known as El Grito de Yara or the Ten Years' War, initiating a war that lasts ten years (Cuba ultimately loses the war at a cost of 400,000 lives and widespread destruction).
  • Oct 25The Uspenski Cathedral, designed by Aleksey Gornostayev, is inaugurated in Helsinki, Finland.
  • Dec 9The world's first traffic signal lights are installed at the junction of Great George Street and Bridge Street in the London Borough of Westminster.
  • The Académie Julian, a major art school in Paris, France, that admits women, is established.
  • The Dortmunder Actien Brauerei is founded in Germany.

Asia1

  • Tata Group is founded by Jamsetji Tata as a trading company in India.

Latin America3

  • Feb 19In the Passage of Humaitá, a Brazilian naval force succeeds in dashing past a Paraguayan fortress on the River Paraguay, considered by some the turning point in the Paraguayan War.
  • Aug 13The 8.5–9.0 Arica earthquake strikes southern Peru, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing 25,000+ deaths and a destructive basin-wide tsunami, that affects Hawaii and New Zealand.
  • Dec 6Paraguayan War – Battle of Ytororó or Itororó: Field-Marshal Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias, leads 13,000 Brazilian troops against a Paraguayan fortified position of 5,000 troops.

Africa2

  • Apr 9Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia massacres at least 197 of his own people at Magdala. These are prisoners incarcerated, for the most part, for very trivial offenses, and are killed for requesting bread and water.
  • Apr 9Battle of Magdala: A British-Indian task force under Robert Napier inflicts 700 deaths and a crushing defeat on the army of Emperor Tewodros II; the British and Indians suffer 30 wounded, two of whom subsequently die. Tewodros commits suicide and Magdala is captured, ending the British Expedition to Abyssinia.

Oceania2

  • JunTītokowaru's War breaks out in the South Taranaki District of New Zealand's North Island between the Ngāti Ruanui Māori tribe and the New Zealand Government.
  • Sep 7Tītokowaru's War: Māori leader Tītokowaru defeats a New Zealand military force at Te Ngutu o Te Manu, North Island.