1860s

1860s

Events and trends

Alfred Nobel creates dynamite in Germany
James Clerk Maxwell publishes his equations that quantify the relationship between electricity and magnetism, and shows that light is a form of electromagnetic radiation
Gregor Mendel formulates Mendel's laws of inheritance, the basis for genetics
Dimitri Mendeleev develops the periodic table

Italian Unification under King Victor Emmanuel II. Wars for expansion and national unity continue until the incorporation of the Papal States (March 17, 1861 - September 20, 1870).
American Civil War fought between the remaining United States of America under President Abraham Lincoln and the self-declared Confederate States of America under President Jefferson Davis (April 12, 1861 - April 9, 1865). Beginning of the Reconstruction era under President Andrew Johnson (1865 - 1869).
French occupation of Mexico (1863 - 1867). Replacement of President of Mexico Benito Juárez (1861 - 1863) at first with Juan Nepomuceno Almonte (1863 - 1864) and then by Emperor Maximilian of Mexico (1864 - 1867). Benito Juárez eventually manages to recover his position (1867 - 1872).
Meiji Restoration in Japan (1866 - 1869). Tokugawa Yoshinobu, 15th and last of the Tokugawa shoguns loses control to the Meiji Emperor. A series of reforms follows. The samurai class fails to survive while the Daimyo turn to politics.
The Dominion of Canada is created by the British North America Act
President of the United States Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, April 15, 1865.
Florence Nightingale founds school for nurses in 1860.
On 18 October 1860 the first Convention of Peking formally ended the Second Opium War.

In Catholicism, reaction against higher criticism and the liberal movement in Europe
The Football Association is formed in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, paving the way for Association football to become the world's predominant spectator sport
The Seventh-day Adventist Church becomes officially established in 1863 in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Bahá'u'lláh declares his station as "One who was made Manifest", in the Garden of Ridván, as foretold by the Báb. Bahá'ís see this as the beginning date of the Bahá'í Faith.
The Christian Mission, later renamed The Salvation Army, is co-founded by William and Catherine Booth in London, England in 1865.