Year 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1878

January - March

January - Cleopatra's Needle.

• January - Cleopatra's Needle arrives in London
• January 9 - Humbert I becomes King of Italy
• January 5 - Battle of Shipka Pass IV
• January 17 - Battle of Plovdiv
• January 23 - Benjamin Disraeli orders British fleet to the Dardanelles
• January 24 - The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg.
• January 28 - The Yale News becomes the first daily, college newspaper in the United States.
• January 31 - Turkey agrees to armistice at Adrianople
• February 2 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
• February 8 - British fleet enters Turkish waters and anchors off Istanbul - Russia threatens to occupy Istanbul but does not carry out the threat
• February 18 - The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico
• February 19 - The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison
• February 20 - Pope Leo XIII succeeds Pope Pius IX as the 256th pope.
• February 24 - Anti-Russian demonstrations in Hyde Park, London
• February 28 - Mississippi State University is created by the Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi)
• March 3
  • Bulgaria regains its independence from Ottoman Empire.
  • The Treaty of San Stefano concludes the Russo-Turkish War
• March 24 - The UK frigate Eurydice sinks, killing 300.
• March 25 - Russia rejects British proposal to lay San Stefano treaty before European congress
• March 27 - In anticipation of war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes the reserves and calls up Indian troops to Malta

April - June

• April 20 - The Stawell Gift is run for the first time.
• May 15 - Tokyo Stock Exchange established
• June 4 - Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
• June 10 - League of Prizren is established
• June 12 - July 12 - Congress of Berlin about the Ottoman Empire
• June 22 - Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld leaves Karlskrona on a voyage that will make him the first to navigate the Northern Sea Route, a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Siberian coast.

July - September

• July 13 - The Treaty of Berlin makes Serbia, Montenegro and Romania completely independent
• July 26 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
• August 9 - The Wallingford Tornado of 1878, the deadliest tornado in Connecticut history, destroys the town of Wallingford, killing 34 people and injuring 70 or more.
• September 3 - Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.
• September 20 - The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, is founded.
• September 30 - The ship Priscilla arrives in Hawaii from Funchal, Madeira, marking the beginning of the Portuguese immigration to the Hawaiian Islands (1878-1913).

October - December

• October 1 - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
• October 14 - The world's first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield
• October 17 - John A. Macdonald returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.
• November 17 - First assassination attempt against Umberto I of Italy.
• November 21 - Second Afghan War commences when the British attack Ali Masjid in the Khyber Pass.

Undated

• Yellow fever in Mississippi Valley - over 13,000 dead
• US arbitration rejects Argentine claims to Paraguay's part of Chaco region
• Otto von Bismarck abandons Kulturkampf.
• Otto von Bismarck forces through a law outlowing Social Democrats.

Foundations:

• The Buchan School, Isle of Man.
• Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club, the team that would become Manchester United
• Everton Football Club, then known as St Domingo
• West Bromwich Albion F.C. play their first match.
• Grimsby Town FC then known as Grimsby Pelham
• Geiger (Corporation) initially known as Geiger Brothers.

Births

January - June

• January 6 - Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
• January 12 - Ferenc Molnár, author (d. 1952)
• January 25 - Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975)
• February 1 - Milan Hodža, Slovak politician, champion of regional integration in Europe (d. 1944)
• February 2 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect (d. 1955)
• February 5 - André Citroën, French automobile manufacturer (d. 1935)
• February 8 - Martin Buber, Austrian philosopher (d. 1965)
• February 14 - Hirota Koki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
• February 21 - The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), multi-origined spiritual leader and founder of Auroville in India (d. 1973)
• February 26 - Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d. 1930)
• February 28 - Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929)
• March 4
  • Egbert Van Alstyne, United States songwriter and pianist (d. 1951)
  • Peter D. Ouspensky, Russian philosopher (d. 1947)
  • Arishima Takeo, Japanese novelist, short-story writer and essayist (d. 1923)
• March 16 - Clemens August Graf von Galen, German Catholic cardinal (d. 1946)
• March 22 - Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete (d. 1919)
• March 31 - Jack Johnson, American boxer (d. 1946)
• April 6 - Erich Mühsam, German author (d. 1934)
• April 24 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (d. 1958)
• April 28
  • Lionel Barrymore, American actor (d. 1954)
  • Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (d. 1951)
• May 3 - Cruz Hernandez, unverified claimant to be world's oldest person (d. 2007)
• May 10 - Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1929)
• May 25 - Bill Robinson, Tap Dancer (d. 1949)
• May 26 - Isadora Duncan, American dancer (d. 1927)
• May 28 - Paul Pelliot, French sinologist (d. 1945)
• June 1 - John Masefield, English poet and novelist (d. 1967)
• June 3 - Barney Oldfield, American automobile racer and pioneer (d. 1946)
• June 5 - Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1923)

July - December

• July 4 - George M. Cohan, American singer, dancer, composer, actor, and writer (d. 1942)
• July 24 - Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (d. 1957)
• August 10 - Alfred Döblin, German writer (d. 1957)
• August 28 - George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1976)
• August 31 - Frank Jarvis, American athlete (d. 1933)
• September 5 - Robert von Lieben, Austrian physicist (d. 1913)
• September 13 - Matilde Moisant, American pilot (d. 1964)
• September 20 - Upton Sinclair, American writer (d. 1968)
• September 22 - Yoshida Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1967)
• September 24 - C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (d. 1947)
• October 1 - Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher and economist (d. 1950)
• October 16 - Maxey Long, American athlete (d. 1959)
• November 1 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1959)
• November 14 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (d. 1957)
  • Julie Manet - French painter (d. 1966)
• November 17 - Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (d. 1939)
• December 18 - Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (d. 1953)
• December 25
  • Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race driver and automobile builder (d. 1941)
  • Joseph Schenck, Russian-born film executive (d. 1961)
• December 28 - Nikolai Bryukhanov, Soviet statesman and political figure who served as People's Commissar of Finances (d.1938)
• December 31 - Elizabeth Arden, Canadian-born beautician and cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 1966)
• December 31 - Horacio Quiroga, Argentina's writer was born in Salto, Uruguay (d. 1937)

Deaths

January - June

• January 8 - Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet (b. 1821)
• January 9 - King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b. 1820)
• January 18 - Antoine César Becquerel, French scientist (b. 1788)
• February 7 - Pope Pius IX (b. 1792)
• February 11 - Gideon Welles, American politician (b. 1802)
• February 19 - Charles-Francois Daubigny, French painter (b. 1817)
• February 26 - Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer (b. 1818)
• March 8 - Archduke Franz Karl of Austria (b. 1802)
• April 8 - Henrietta Treffz, soprano, first wife of Johann Strauss II (b. 1818)
• April 12 - William Marcy Tweed, American politician (b. 1823)
• April 25 - Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
• May 28 - John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
• June 6
  • Robert Stirling, Scottish clergyman and inventor (b. 1790)
  • Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers, Marshal of France (b. 1795)
  • Porter Rockwell, Mormon bodyguard (b. 1815)
• June 12
  • George V of Hanover (b. 1819)
  • Hendrik Jut, murderer (b. 1851)

July - December

• July 1 - Catherine Winkworth, translator of hymns (b. 1827)
• July 17 - Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812)
• July 23 - Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, Bohemian pathologist, philosopher and politician (b. 1804)
• August 30 - James Geiss, English businessman (b. 1820)
• November 16 - Princess Marie of Hesse dies aged for of diptheria. A disease which at the time the majority of her family suffered, and which her mother Alice of the United Kingdom succumbed to a month later.
• November 20 - William Thomas (Islwyn), Welsh poet (b. 1832)
• November 28 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (b. 1805)
• December 10 - Henry Wells, American businessman (b. 1805)
• December 14 - Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine (b. 1843)

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