1873 | Political Events
Political Events
German occupation forces begin to evacuate France following the death January 9 of the exiled Napoleon III from bladder disease at age 64. Parlement's monarchist majority condemns the Thiers government. Thiers resigns May 24 and is succeeded promptly by Marshal MacMahon, now 64, who is elected almost unanimously. The last German soldiers cross back into Germany September 16 (see 1877). A military court sentences Marshal Bazaine to degradation and death December 10 for having surrendered ignominiously at Metz in 1870, but Marshal MacMahon commutes the sentence to 20 years' imprisonment and Bazaine will escape in August of next year.
Irish-born Greek freedom fighter Sir Richard Church dies at Athens March 30 at age 88 (approximate).
Saxony's king Johann dies October 20 after a 19-year reign and is succeeded by his son Albrecht, now 45, who distinguished himself as a military leader in the Seven Weeks' War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. Named commander of German occupation forces in France 2 years ago and promoted to field marshal of the German Army, Albrecht will reign until his death in 1902.
The Three Emperors League (Dreikaiserbund) is created as a loose defensive alliance that joins the German kaiser, Austro-Hungarian emperor, and Russian czar, but the rivalry between the Russian chancellor Aleksandr M. Gorchakov and the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck will help to derail the alliance.
Spain's Amadeo I abdicates in disgust February 11 after a 2-year reign in which he has been opposed as a "foreigner" while trying to cope with assassination attempts, Carlist uprisings, Cuban separatism, intraparty disputes, and republican conspiracies; the first Spanish Republic is proclaimed that night by the radical majority in the cortes elected last year, the foreign minister Emilio Cistelar y Ripoli, 40, becomes prime minister, and he tries to organize a centralized government, but the second Carlist civil war continues (see 1874).
British diplomat Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer dies at Naples May 23 at age 71, having outlived his younger brother, the novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
Spanish authorities seize the Cuban ship Virginius in international waters October 31 and summarily execute 36 of her crew and 15 passengers, including some U.S. and British citizens as the Ten Years' War continues between Cuban rebels and Spain (see 1869). The ship belongs to some Cuban revolutionaries at New York. She has fraudulently flown the U.S. flag and carried U.S. registration, the incident threatens to provoke a conflict between Spain and the United States, but Secretary of State Hamilton Fish averts hostilities. Spain agrees November 27 to return the ship with apologies, will pay an indemnity of $80,000 in 1875 to the families of the dead Americans, pay a similar indemnity to Britain, but welshes on her promise to punish the officers responsible.
New York's Boss Tweed goes on trial January 7, the proceedings end in a hung jury, but a second trial on fraud charges begins November 19 and this time Tweed is convicted on 204 of 220 counts, sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment, ordered to pay a fine of $12,750, and given a tongue-lashing by the judge (see 1871). Respectable businessmen in the city are at least as guilty as Tweed for the crimes committed (see crime, architecture, 1875).
Further evidence of corruption in the Grant administration continues to emerge (see 1868). Vice President Schuyler Colfax has been implicated in the Crédit Mobilier scandal that came to light last year and was not renominated. Secretary of the Treasury George S. Boutwell resigns March 16 after 4 years in office and returns to the Senate (see 1874).
Former Canadian prime minister Sir George Etienne, Baronet Cartier, dies at London May 20 at age 58.
Prince Edward Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence joins the 6-year-old Dominion of Canada July 1.
A Canadian order-in-council August 30 establishes the North-West Mounted Police. White wolf hunters from Montana Territory have killed 36 Assiniboine in retaliation for stealing horses (the Cypress Hill Massacre); the "mounties" are ordered to halt the trading of liquor and arms with the Native Americans of the Northwest Territory. Their motto will be, "We always get our man."
Canada's first prime minister Sir John Macdonald resigns November 7 following charges of corruption in the last election and scandalous revelations involving the projected transcontinental railway. Scottish-born financier and shipowner Sir Hugh Allan, 63, received the charter for the Canadian Pacific last year and it has come out that as a member of a Chicago financial syndicate he contributed $300,000 last year to Sir John's Conservative Party election campaign; Scottish-born fur trader and Conservative House of Commons member Donald A. Smith, 53, has withdrawn his support, contributing to the fall of the Conservative ministry. Sir John's successor is Scottish-born politician Alexander Mackenzie, 51, who will serve until 1878 as the nation's first Liberal prime minister, but Sir John will win reelection in 1878 and serve until his death in 1891.
Russian troops under the command of General Konstantin P. Kaufmann occupy the Central Asian khanate of Khiva between Bukhara and the Caspian Sea, gaining all of its territory north of Amu Darya (see Bukhara, 1868). Kaufmann will occupy the khanate of Kokand northeast of Bukhara in 1875, Russia will annex it in 1876, but Britain fears encroachment on her interests in Afghanistan, London will protest Russian expansion in Turkistan, Aleksandr II will reject Kaufmann's plans for further expansion, and the general will turn his attention to land reform and other reforms as he devotes his efforts to becoming an able administrator.
China's Qing dynasty emperor Tongzhi (Tung-chih) assumes personal control of the government upon turning 17 April 27, ending the regency that has ruled since he ascended the imperial throne at age 6. He grants an audience to representatives of foreign governments and for the first time in Chinese history does not require the traditional ceremonial kowtowing as an indication of subservience (see 1875).
Japan's Meiji government gives approval August 18 to a proposal by Gen. Takamori Saigo that he visit Korea, whose government has refused to recognize the new Japanese regime. Toshimichi Okubo, Tomomi Iwakura, and some other officials return from a visit to Europe (see 1871) and veto the idea of invading Korea, insisting that domestic reform and development should take precedence over any expansionist efforts. Formerly resistant to Western influences, they have seen enough on their visit to make them more receptive to such influences. When those in favor of the invasion press Koshaku Sanjo Sanetomi to obtain the emperor's approval, he relinquishes his position to Iwakura, who defeats the projected military action.
Okinawa in the Ryuku Islands comes under Japanese suzerainty after centuries of joint rule by China and daimyos from Kyushu. It will become a prefecture of Japan in 1879 (see 1874).
Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly dies at Barcelona May 4 at age 66, having initiated French military presence in Cochinchina (Vietnam) (see 1867). The governor of Cochinchina Admiral Marie-Jules Dupré tries to take advantage of an unauthorized attempt by trader Jean Dupuis to open the Red River to commerce with China; colonial administrator Francis Garnier, now 34, sails from Shanghai to Saigon in August with orders to extricate Dupuis from the Hanoi region, but Dupré gives him secret instructions to establish a French presence there. Garnier reaches Hanoi November 5, forces a confrontation with Vietnamese officials, leads an attack on the Hanoi citadel November 20, and overcomes a superior force; Vietnamese general Nguyen Tri Phuong is taken prisoner and dies at Hanoi November 20 at age 67, having torn at his bandages and starved himself in a traditional Vietnamese expression of moral and political protest. Garnier's troops seize other positions in the Red River Delta, but the Vietnamese enlist the support of Liu Yung-fu's Black Flag bandits, they attack the Hanoi citadel December 21, and Garnier is killed (see 1882).