1871 | Political Events
Political Events
The German Empire proclaimed January 18 in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles inaugurates the Second Reich that will continue until November 1918 (the First Reich began in 955 by some accounts and was ended by Napoleon in 1806). Prussia's Wilhelm I is emperor, and the first chancellor is Count von Bismarck, who has joined the four German kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg with the five grand duchies, 13 duchies and principalities, and three free cities (Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck) that have kept Germany fragmented.
Paris capitulates to German troops January 28 after 4 months of bombardment (see 1870). Some guerrilla warfare continues, but the French assembly elects Louis Thiers, now 73, president of the Third Republic February 16 and he accepts a peace treaty March 1. Napoleon III is formally deposed March 1 by the French assembly, meeting at Bordeaux because a communist uprising has taken over Paris; the assembly declares Napoleon "responsible for the ruin, invasion, and dismemberment of France," he is released from the castle of Wilhelmshöhe near Cassel, where the Germans have held him prisoner, and he retires to England, arriving March 20 at Dover, where he is reunited with his wife, Eugénie. He devotes his efforts to teaching the Prince Imperial about French politics but will die early in 1873 (see Prince Louis, 1879).
The Commune of Paris is established in March. Troops sent by President Thiers to seize the Commune's cannon refuse to fire; they fraternize with the crowd, which sets fire to buildings, tears down monuments, and seizes Generals Lecomte and Thomas, who are executed along with hostages who include the archbishop Georges Darboy. Veteran general Gaston-Alexandre-Auguste, marquis de Gallifet, 41, suppresses the Commune at the end of May in a "Bloody Week" that sees 20,000 to 30,000 Parisians killed at the barricades, a death toll exceeding that in the Reign of Terror of 1793 to 1794 (Gallifet is a republican but his methods antagonize the political left). Women have joined with men in resisting Gallifet's forces; "History has no comparable example of such greatness," says Karl Marx May 30. ". . . [The Commune's] martyrs are enshrined forever in the great heart of the working class," but Paris is in ruins.
France and Germany sign a definitive peace treaty at Frankfurt May 10: France agrees to cede Alsace and part of Lorraine, pay the Germans a staggering 5 billion francs in reparations, and permit an army of occupation to remain on French soil until the indemnity is paid.
Spain's regency under Francisco Serrano y Domínguez ends January 2 following the installation of the Italian duke of Aosta as king with the title Amadeo I (see 1868; 1870; Don Carlos, 1872).
Former Chechen-Dagestan imam and resistance leader Shamil dies in March at Medina at age 72 (approximate), having made a pilgrimage to Mecca with permission from the Russian czar Aleksandr II.
Ottoman forces seize control of the Arabian province of Hasa (see 1891). The Ottoman grand vizier Mehmed Emin Ali dies at his native Constantinople September 7 at age 56, having played a major role in reorganizing the government and advocating friendship with France and Britain. He is succeeded by the reactionary Mahmud Nedim, 54, whose hostility to reform will permit the sultan Abdul Aziz to reverse the country's westernization and rule as absolute monarch (see 1872; Tanzimat, 1839).
Japan's new Meiji government persuades Takamori Saigo to join it and gives him command of a newly created 10,000-man Imperial Guard (see 1869). Supported for the first time by a reliable military force (organized along German lines), the imperial government abolishes feudal fiefs (han) by imperial decree August 29, substituting prefectures; Saigo is appointed to the Dajokan (Council of State), he works with Takayoshi Kido to implement the program, and by year's end all potential military opposition has been eliminated (see 1874; universal military service, 1872; Korea, Okinawa, 1873).
Statesman Tomomi Iwakura, now 45, heads a mission of leading Japanese government officials to Western countries, ostensibly to work on treaty revisions. Members of the mission split up into teams to study Western methods of administration, finance, law, and education (see 1873).
Basutoland is absorbed by Britain's Cape Colony, and Britain annexes the diamond mines of Kimberley (see 1868). The Orange Free State, the South African Republic, the western Griqua headed by Nicolaas Waterboer, and southern Tswana chiefs all lay claim to the diamond fields. Natal's lieutenant governor Robert W. Keate holds a special hearing on the matter in October; he finds in favor of Waterboer, who is persuaded to seek British protection against rival Afrikaans, and his territory is annexed as Griqualand West (see Rhodes, Barnato, 1880).
The Treaty of Washington signed May 8 refers settlement of the Canadian-U.S. border to the German emperor, refers settlement of claims against Britain for damage by the Confederate cruiser Alabama in the Civil War to an international commission at Geneva (see 1872), and provides for partial settlement of a dispute in the North Atlantic fishery. Negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, now 62, it provides for the first international arbitration in modern history (see 1877).
The New York Times begins running articles July 8 exposing the corruption of Boss Tweed and his Tammany Hall ring, whose members have brazenly cheated the citizenry of an estimated $200 million. Tweed is reelected chairman of Tammany's general committee and wins reelection as state senator in November, despite the fact that he has been served with an arrest warrant October 26. His New York real estate holdings are exceeded only by those of the Astors and merchant A. T. Stewart; he is indicted on criminal charges in December, rearrested, and at year's end deposed as grand sachem and expelled from Tammany Hall (see 1873). "Honest John" Kelly replaces Tweed as boss of Tammany Hall; the first Roman Catholic to head the "Wigwam," he will gain mastery over the city's Democratic Party by eliminating other party factions, control patronage with an iron fist, and transform Tammany Hall from a gang of cronies into a powerful political machine, with 23 assembly-district leaders appointing precinct captains who gain support by helping men find work, providing aid to families in emergencies, assisting them in any problems they may have with the law, and—above all—making sure they vote.
Former Confederate diplomat (and antebellum U.S. senator) James (Murray) Mason dies at Alexandria, Virginia, April 28 at age 72; onetime "Copperhead" Clement L. Vallandigham at Lebanon, Ohio, June 17 at age 50, having accidentally shot himself with a pistol during a trial while trying to demonstrate how a crime was committed. He had continued to oppose Republican Reconstruction efforts but had reconciled himself to the outcome of the Civil War. Former Confederate diplomat John Slidell dies at Cowes on the Isle of Wight July 29 at age 78.
British Columbia joins the Dominion of Canada July 1 with the understanding that a transcontinental railroad is to be started within 2 years and completed within 10.
Britain establishes the Leeward Islands Colony that will exist until 1956. It includes the British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Dominica, and Montserrat.