1866 | Political Events
Political Events
Washington demands removal of French forces from Mexico February 12 (see 1865). Having failed to gain U.S. recognition, the emperor Maximilian sends his wife, Carlota (originally Charlotte), to seek aid from Pope Pius IX and Napoleon III, but the daughter of Belgium's king soon finds that her husband's cause is hopeless (see 1867).
The bodies of 2,011 unidentified Civil War soldiers are buried in a mass grave at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. A granite sarcophagus calls the entombed a "noble army of martyrs," all were killed in battles in the nearby Manassas area, but it has been impossible to determine who fought on which side (one third of the war's casualties were never identified) (see Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, 1921).
Mexican War hero and 1852 presidential candidate Winfield Scott dies at West Point May 29 at age 79; former U.S. secretary of war Lewis Cass at Detroit June 17 at age 83; former U.S. Navy commander (and governor pro tem of California) Robert F. Stockton at his native Princeton, New Jersey, October 7 at age 71.
Radical Republicans sweep the mid-term elections in November despite efforts by President Johnson to rally support for his southern Reconstruction policies (see 1865). He has called the radical Republicans "disunionists" in a February 22 speech and denounced that faction's leaders, Congress has passed a Freedmen's Bureau Bill in February and a Civil Rights Bill in April over his vetoes, Southerners say Johnson has usurped states' rights, and his proposals to give emancipated slaves full rights as citizens have caused convulsions in the South while making even many northerners uncomfortable (see 1867).
Prussia declares a general amnesty that permits fugitives from the repression that followed the 1848 revolution and the 1849 republican uprising to return home without fear of reprisal, even if they have been condemned to death in their absence.
Europe goes to war for 7 weeks beginning June 16 as Prussian minister-president Count Otto von Bismarck-Schönhausen, now 51, orders General Edwin Hans Karl, Freiherr von Manteuffel, 57, to launch an attack on Austrian forces from Schleswig (see Convention of Badgastein, 1865). Bismarck has formed an alliance with the new kingdom of Italy, whose royal family wants to drive the Austrians out of Venetia; Bavaria sides with Austria, and the war soon widens as French, Austrian, Hanoverian, Italian, and Prussian forces engage in combat for supremacy in Central Europe, fighting in three theaters with railroads and telegraphic communications playing an important part for the first time in a European war as they did in the American Civil War.
The (second) Battle of Custozza June 24 pits an 80,000-man Italian army against 60,000 Austrians 12 miles southwest of Verona. Archduke Albrecht defeats Gen. Alfonso di La Marmora's columns piecemeal as they emerge from the hills and drives them back across the Mincio River into Lombardy before they can be deployed, killing and wounding 3,800 and taking 4,300 prisoners; Austrian casualties total 4,600, killed and wounded.
Prussia demands that Hanover remain unarmed and neutral but that country's George V refuses June 29. Now 55, the king lost the sight of one eye in an accident when still a boy and has been totally blind since 1833. Prussia annexes Hanover in September.
The Battle of Sadowa (Königgrätz) July 3 ends in a stunning defeat for 271,000 Hapsburg troops—one Saxon and seven Austrian corps plus four cavalry divisions. Standing erect and firing muzzle-loaders, the Austrian and Saxon infantrymen are easy targets for the Prussian infantrymen of Helmuth Karl Bernhard, Graf von Moltke, 66, who are equipped with breech-loading needle guns that can be discharged from prone positions and fire three to four times faster (see technology, 1848). Austrian Field Marshal Ludwig von Benedek, 62, is able to disengage and withdraw south of the Elbe, but his slightly outnumbered army has sustained major casualties: 13,000 killed, 18,393 wounded, 13,000 taken prisoner, and 174 guns captured. Some 40 French soldiers are killed or wounded and 20,000 taken prisoner; Prussian casualties total 1,935 killed, 7,237 wounded, 3,573 captured. The Austrian artillery has proved superior, and the Prussians will upgrade their artillery in the next few years as they try to gain recognition and respect that will give them authority equal to that of Britain.
Austrian forces defeat Italians on both land and sea, but Venetia (including Venice) is ceded to Italy July 3 (it was ceded earlier by Austria to France).
Italian statesman Luigi C. Farini dies at Quarto August 1 at age 53.
The Treaty of Prague August 23 ends the 7-week European war, terminates the Germanic Confederation of 1815, and incorporates Hanover, Electoral Hesse, Frankfurt, and Nassau into Prussia, which excludes Austria from territory north of the Main.
A Cretan insurrection against Ottoman rule fails to gain any direct support from the Greek prime minister Aléxandros Koumoundhouros (see 1861). He does try to make anti-Turkish alliances with Egypt, Serbia, Montenegro, and Romania (see 1868).
The first king of Romania is recognized October 24 by the Ottoman sultan Abdul Aziz and begins a reign that will continue until 1914 (although Romania will not obtain full independence until 1878). Conservatives and Liberals who want a foreign prince have kidnapped Alexander Guza and forced him to abdicate, a new constitution has been introduced in July based on the liberal but undemocratic Belgian charter of 1831, Prince Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, 27, has been proclaimed king of Wallachia and Moldavia, and he has arrived at Bucharest after traveling incognito across Austria.
France withdraws her troops from Rome in December.
Japan's shōgun Iemochi Tokugawa dies of beriberi in August at age 20 as forces favoring a restoration of power to the emperor increase in strength (see 1865); Iemochi's regent Keiki Tokugawa, now 28, finally gains the shōgunate that he was denied in 1858 and makes efforts to gain French support. Son of the late reformer Nariaki Tokugawa of Mito, Keiki wants to restore the imperial power and will reign only briefly as Yoshinobu Tokugawa—the nation's last shōgun. Samurai swordsman Ryoma Sakamoto, 30, has been conspiring with other rebels against the Tokugawa shogunate and persuades leaders of the Satsuma clan to end their historical enmity toward the rival Chōshu clan; one of the first Japanese to wear Western boots and to take his bride on a wedding trip, Sakamoto forges the Satsuma-Chōshu Alliance, uniting the country's two large feudal domains (hans), and when the shōgunate tries to block foreign aid to the Chōshu he obtains Satsuma assistance to obtain British arms for the Chōshu (see Meiji Restoration, 1867).
Korea's king Kojong and his father begin vigorous implementation of a xenophobic policy aimed at expelling French and U.S. missionaries from the country (see 1864). China's Qing dynasty officials do not interfere (see 1882).
Peru declares war on Spain and defeats the Spanish fleet off Callao with help from her allies (see 1865). Spanish intervention ceases, and Madrid will make no further efforts to reassert hegemony over any of its former American colonies, but the treaty formally ending hostilities will not be signed until 1879.
Coalition forces devastate Paraguay, slaughtering much of her army, but lose 4,000 men September 22 when they attack an entrenched position at Curupaití (see 1865; 1867).
Former U.S. Navy officer and California governor Robert F. Stockton dies at his native Princeton, New Jersey, October 7 at age 71, having served as president of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Co. that he helped to found in 1846.