1871

April - The Stockholms Handelsbank is founded. April 20 - United States President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Ku Klux Klan Act. May 4- The first MLB baseball game is played. May 10 - France surrenders, ending the Franco-Prussian War. May 11 - The first trial of the case of Tichborne Claimant begins in the London Court of Common Pleas. May 21-30 - French Third Republic: Government troops invade the Paris Commune and crush the rebellion. June 10 - Captain McLane Tilton leads 109 Marines in a naval attack on the Han River forts in Korea. June 18 -- The University Tests Act removes religious tests at Oxford, Cambridge and Durham universities.

[edit] July - September

July 20

British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada. C. W. Alcock proposes that "a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association", giving birth to the FA Cup.

August 29 - The abolition of the han system is carried out in Japan. August 31 - Adolphe Thiers becomes President of the French Republic. September - Whaling Disaster of 1871: 1,219 people abandon 33 whaling ships caught in the ice off the north coast of Alaska.

[edit] October - December

October 8 - Four major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Holland, Michigan, and Manistee, Michigan. The Great Chicago Fire is the most famous of these, leaving nearly 100,000 people homeless, although the Peshtigo Fire kills as many as 2,500 people, making it the deadliest fire in United States history. October 20 - The Royal Regiment of Artillery forms the first regular Canadian army units when they create 2 batteries of garrison artillery, which eventually becomes the Royal Canadian Artillery. October 27

The Comte de Chambord refuses to be crowned 'King Henry V of France' until France abandons its tricolour and returns to the old Bourbon flag. The Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall (Boss Tweed) is arrested.

November 5 - Wickenburg massacre: Six men travelling by stagecoach are murdered by the Yavapai. November 10 - Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and greets him by saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" November 17 - The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York. December 10 - German chancellor Otto von Bismarck tries to ban Catholics from the political stage by introducing harsh laws concerning the separation of church and state. December 19 - The city of Birmingham, Alabama (United States) is incorporated. December 25 - The Reading Football Club is formed. December 26 - Thespis, the first of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, premiÃ¨res. It does modestly well, but the two will not collaborate again for 4 years.

[edit] Undated

The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine are transferred from France to Germany. British trade unions are legalized. Heinrich Schliemann begins the excavation of Troy. Japan forms its own police force based on the French model. George Biddell Airy discovers that astronomical aberration is independent of the local medium. William M. Tweed serves his last year as the "Boss" of Tammany Hall. The Neath RFC is founded. Cary, North Carolina is named in honor of Samuel Fenton Cary. Harvard Summer School is founded. The Constitution of the German Empire abolishes all restrictions on Jewish marriage, choice of occupation, place of residence and property ownership. Exclusion from government employment and discrimination in social relations remain. The U.S. minister to China takes 5 warships to try to "open" Korea, but leaves after exchanges of fire result in 250 Koreans dead and the Korean government still unwilling to make concessions.