1880 | Political Events
Political Events
Britain's Conservatives suffer a crushing defeat in the general elections March 8 as voters blame the Tories for increased taxes and loss of trade; Lord Beaconsfield (Benjamin Disraeli), now 75, resigns April 18 (he has only 1 year to live), William Gladstone's Liberals will hold office until 1885, but Gladstone does not share the imperialist ideas of Disraeli and Queen Victoria, who accepts him as her prime minister only with reluctance.
France grants amnesty to those arrested and sentenced after the fall of the Paris Commune 9 years ago.
Bulgaria's Prince Aleksandr I dissolves the national assembly in an effort to undermine the state's constitution, which he considers far too liberal (see 1878; 1881).
Afghan leader Abdur Rahman gains recognition as emir July 22 in a durbar held at Kabul (see 1879). The Battle of Kandahar September 1 ends in a decisive victory for British troops under the command of General Frederick Sleigh Roberts over Afghan forces led by the Abdur Rahman's rival emir Ayub Khan in the Second Afghan War (see 1879). The British grant Abdur Rahman an annual subsidy, weaponry, and a guarantee of military support should any foreign power invade his territory without provocation, Abdur Rahman agrees to make no foreign-policy decisions without approval from London. The British in the next few years will be engaged in nonstop combat with fierce Chitrali, Pathan, and Waziri tribesmen on India's Northwest Frontier (see Durand Line, 1893).
France annexes the island of Tahiti in the South Pacific.
Moroccan independence gains recognition July 3 in the Madrid Convention signed by the leading European powers and the United States.
British and French authorities in Egypt impose the Law of Liquidation in July, dividing annual revenues into two roughly equal parts with one being assigned to the Caisse de la Dette (see Baring, 1879). The Assembly of Delegates is dissolved, but nationalists push for independence from British and French rule (see Arabi, 1881).
French Equatorial Africa has its beginnings in a protectorate established by Italian-born French naval officer Pierre (-Paul-François-Camille) Savorgnan de Brazza, 28. He explored the Ogowe (Ogooué) River from the Gabon coast to the interior from October 1875 to November 1878, the navy has ordered him back up the river, and he signs treaties with the Anziku king Iloo and the Bateke king Makoko, pointing out the advantages of being under the French flag and having support against attacks from rival tribes (see 1884; French Congo, 1891).
Transvaal farmer Pieter Arnoldus Cronjé, 44, begins a rebellion against British rule in November, gathering Afrikaan followers to resist the seizure of a fellow farmer's property after the man has refused to pay taxes; a Boer Republic independent of Britain's Cape Colony is proclaimed December 30 by politician Paul Kruger, 55 (see 1881).
Mexico's president Díaz engineers the election of his onetime general Manuel González, 47, to the presidency while continuing to control the government from behind the scenes, granting railroad and mining concessions to foreign capitalists and allowing large landowners to increase their holdings at the expense of poor mestizos and Indians, but the introduction of new nickel coins in an effort to rehabilitate the currency will bring on inflation and Díaz will distance himself from President González (see 1884).
Colombian politician Rafael Nuñez, 54, wins election as president for the first time, having failed in a presidential bid 4 years ago. Nuñez helped to draft the nation's first Liberal constitution in 1853, served in the cabinets of several presidents, went to Europe in 1863, studied other forms of government, gave up his radical ideas, and returned to Colombia in 1875. Moderates from both the Liberal and Conservative parties have supported his candidacy, and he will hold office until 1882.
Argentina's president Nicolás Avellaneda steps down after a 6-year term in which he has tried to cope with financial issues created in large part by the European economic crisis that began in 1873. General Julio Argentino Roca gained victory last year over Native Americans to end a long series of wars. He is a national hero and wins election to the presidency, which he will hold until 1886, and although his triumph at the polls produces a brief rebellion at Buenos Aires, it is quickly suppressed; the city is proclaimed a federal territory and made the national capital, while a new capital for the province of Buenos Aires is established at La Plata.
"War is hell," says General William Tecumseh Sherman, now 60, in an address to a Columbus, Ohio, reunion of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). "There is many a boy here who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell. You can bear this warning voice to generations yet to come."
Old guard Republican "Stalwarts" try to gain a third term for President Grant, a deadlocked Grand Old Party (GOP) convention selects former Civil War general James Abram Garfield, 48, of Ohio on the 36th ballot. He wins 214 electoral votes to 155 for the Democrats, beating war hero Winfield S. Hancock, 56, by only 9,464 votes (but see 1881).