Other:
Date: 1861
France:
Russia: Alexander II’s edict freeing the serfs
Britain:
Other European:
United States:
Other:
Date: 1862
France:
Russia: Kropotkin posted to Irkutsk in Siberia at his own request; ‘nihilist’ coined in Fathers and Sons; Zemlya i Volya, Land and Liberty
Britain:
Other European:
United States:
Other:
Date: 1863
France:
Russia: Chernyshevsky – What is to be Done?; Stieber taken back to Prussia by Bismarck to head the police
Britain:
Other European:
United States:
Other:
Date: 1864
France: Reclus brothers found a co-op (First in Paris); Joly publishes Dialogues from Brussels
Russia: Kropotkin expedition to Siberia and Amur Valley
Britain:
Other European: IWMA founded
United States:
Other:
Date: 1865
France: Death of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Russia:
Britain: Bakunin, having escaped from Siberian exile, visits Marx in London
Other European:
United States: End of American Civil War
Other:
Date: 1866
France:
Russia:
Britain:
Other European: Attempt on life of Alexander II by Karakozov; Ferdinand Cohen-Blind attempts to assassinate Bismarck
United States:
Other: Nobel takes out patent on dynamite
Date: 1867
France: Paris Expo: World Exhibition – attack on Alexander II by Berezowski; Reclus has become member of the International
Russia:
Britain:
Other European:
United States:
Other: End of disastrous French involvement in Mexico with execution of Maximilien
Date: 1868
France:
Russia:
Britain:
Other European:
Switzerland: Berne Congress of Peace and Freedom; first Russian woman takes medical diploma; Peter Lavrov publishes Historical Letters urging educated youth to provide political enlightenment to the peasantry
United States:
Other:
Date: 1869
France: Rochefort, as deputy, campaigns for universal conscription in France
Russia:
Britain:
Other European: Nechaev meets Bakunin in Switzerland; The Revolutionary Catechism
United States:
Other:
Date: 1870
France: Jan: Noir funeral
July: Ems telegram; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea published
19 July: Declaration of War
2 Sept: Defeat and capture of Napoleon III at Sedan
4 Sept: Hotel de Ville declaration
7 Oct: Balloon flight of Gambetta out of Paris; declaration by Bakunin of a commune in Lyons; failed attack from Tours
27 Dec: German bombardment of Paris begins
Russia: Tsar concerned what republican France might mean for European monarchies
Britain:
Other European: Vatican council rules Pope infallible in matters of doctrine
December: Cesare Lombroso enjoys ‘revelation’ of criminal atavism
United States:
Other:
Date: 1871
France: Jan: Armed stand-off between Breton soldiers and Flourens’ radicals around the Hotel de Ville
18 March: Failed attempt to seize National Guard guns at Montmartre and elsewhere precipitates government withdrawal to Versailles
28 March: Declaration of Paris Commune
22 May: Bloody Week massacres of Communards as Versaillais troops retake Paris
Russia: Trial of Nechaevists
July: Genesis of what would become the Chaikovsky Circle during rural study retreat
Britain: Marx writing The Civil War in France; Bulwer Lytton, The Coming Race; Darwin publishes The Descent of Man; Hyndman, as fellow of Magdalen College, visits Commune; Carpenter travels to France and is arrested by Prussians; flight of Communards; London Congress: Marxists’ investigation of Bakunin and Nechaev
Other European:
Germany: Coronation at Versailles of Wilhelm I of Prussia as kaiser of united Germany; Pius IX of Commune: ‘devils risen up’
Switzerland: Foundation of the Bakuninist Jura Federation, headed by Guillaume
Oct: St-Imier anti-authoritarian congress
United States: Knights of Labour started at tailors meeting in Philadelphia
Oct: Fire destroys much of Chicago
Other: 18 Jan: German Empire declared; union of German States
1 March: German triumphal march through Paris
Date: 1872
France: Military tribunal to try Communards continues, amid transportations to New Caledonia
Russia: Kropotkin and Kravchinsky join Chaikovsky Circle; Dostoevsky publishes The Devils
Britain: Communards sleeping rough in London parks
Other European: Feb: Kropotkin arrives in Switzerland
14 March: Reclus arrives in Switzerland
United States: Andrew Carnegie begins revolution in steel manufacture
Other:
Date: 1873
France: 23 May: General MacMahon becomes president of Third Republic; Michel and Rochefort deported
Sept: War indemnity to Germany paid off early
Russia: Summer: Mass movement of young radicals ‘go to the people’ during ‘Mad Summer’ with many arrests in coming two years; Koroptkin works on his draft Manifesto for the Chaikovsky Circle
Britain: The fictional Phineas Fogg of Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days accepts bet at the Reform Club; Edward Carpenter joins University Extension work
Other European:
Spain: Insurrection in Cartagena
Switzerland: Lavrov starts publication of Forward! in Geneva
United States: Sept: Railway entrepreneur Jay Gould bankrupt, precipitating economic crisis and depression
Other: 10 Dec: Ship carrying Louise Michel and Henri Rochefort arrives in New Caledonia
Date: 1874
France: First Impressionist exhibition
Russia: 22 March: Arrrest of Peter Kropotkin in St Petersburg; riots by St Petersburg students against conservative professor of physiology, Elie de Cyon; the radicals’ mission ‘to the people’ gains momentum, as does its persecution
Britain: Society for the Advancement of Science object to Pius IX’s ‘fatuous’ Syllabus of Errors
Other European:
Italy: Malatesta prepares abortive insurrection in Bologna, Bakunin flees ignominiously
Switzerland: Sept: Rochefort arrives
United States: Jan: Brutal suppression of Tompkins Square demonstration in New York
June: Arrival of Rochefort in New York to lecture; Marx transplants the International to Philadelphia to save it from Bakuninist control
Other: 18 March: Rochefort, Pain, Grousset and others escape from New Caledonia
Date: 1875
France: Work begins on the basilica of the Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre; publication of Zola’s L’Assommoir and Verne’s Mysterious Island; threat of war with Germany sees mass purchase of cavalry horses
Russia: Hundreds of young radicals kept in prison in terrible conditions without trial
Britain: Foundation of Manhood Suffrage League by Frank Kitz
Other European:
Spain: Malatesta to assist in anarchist prison breakout
Bulgaria: Confrontation looms between Britain and Russia
United States: Dec: Chaikovsky arrives in New York, having travelled via Lavrov in London; height of Molly Maguire activities, infiltrated by Pinkerto
ns
Other: Britain buys shares in bankrupt Suez Canal
Date: 1876
France: First of nineteen volumes of Elisée Reclus’ Universal Geography published
Russia: 3 March: Violence around funeral of Pavel Chernyshev in St Petersburg
June: Kropotkin escapes prison in St Petersburg and flees to England
Dec: Demonstration in Square of Our Lady of Kazan, many arrests; Dr Cyon sent to Paris as special councillor
Britain:
Other European: Kravchinsky leaves Russia to fight in Bosnia-Herzegovina against Turks; Turks brutally suppress risings in Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria
Switzerland: Death of Bakunin, Reclus delivers eulogy; title ‘anarchist’ adopted by Italian anti-authoritarians at Berne Congress, and subsequently the strategy of ‘propaganda by deed’
United States: Chaikovsky and Godmen join Frey’s colony at Cedar Vale, Kansas; centenary of American Independence, French promise of Statue of Liberty as gift
Other:
Date: 1877
France:
Russia: Trial of the Fifty: many more await trial; beating in prison of Bogoliubov for insolence; Russia declares war on Turkey over its activities in the Balkans
Britain: Disraeli uses British fleet to deter Russian march on Constantinople
Other European:
Italy: Kravchinsky and Malatesta in Naples preparing for failed Matese insurrection in April
Switzerland: Kropotkin returns
Belgium: April: Universal Socialist Congress in Ghent
Bosnia: Death of Madame Novikoff’s brother provides her with martyr
United States: Disputed election of President Rutherford, with support of robber Barons
July/Aug: Great Railroad Strike and Great Upheaval; Chaikovsky leaves Cedar Vale and is on the tramp; foundation of paramilitary Society for Education and Defense in Chicago; Edward Carpenter visits Walt Whitman in Camden
Other: Malatesta active in Egypt
Date: 1878
France: Verne publishes The Begum’s Millions; Exposition Universelle in Paris: much of best work from exiled Communards; retirement of President MacMahon, succeeded by Jules Grévy
Russia: Trial of the 193 produces mixed result, followed by repression
24 Jan: Zasulich attempts to assassinate General Trepov
4 Aug: Kravchinsky assassinates General Mezentsev
Britain: Disraeli attracts anti-Semitic comment in Russia for his role in Berlin Congress
Dec: Most starts publishing Freiheit
Other European:
Italy: Jan: Death of King Victor Emmanuel brings amnesty for socialist prisoners;
Feb: Death of Pope Pius IX
Germany: May: Hoedel attempt on life of Kaiser Wilhelm, followed by that of Nobeling. Severe crackdown results. Expulsion of Johann Most
Italy: Attempt on life of Umberto I by Passanante; Pope Leo XIII inveighs against ‘Deadly pestilence of communism’
Spain: Attempt on life of Alfonso XII
United States:
Other: June: Kanack revolt in New Caledonia brutally suppressed by April 1879
Date: 1879
France: Retirement of President MacMahon
July: Amnesty of exiled Communards agreed
Russia: 9 Feb: Assassination of Dmitri Kropotkin, governor of Kharkov; wave of strikes in St Petersburg; Rachkovsky recruited as informant by Third Section
April: Attempt on life of Alexander II in Winter Palace garden by Soloviev; birth of group Freedom or Death
June: Voronezh Congress, radicals adopt strategy of violence, out of which the People’s Will founded in Aug
Nov. Failed bomb attack on tsar’s train
Britain:
Other European: Kropotkin and Reclus publish Le Révolté; Malatesta forced out of Switzerland under threat of arrest
United States: Benjamin Tucker begins publication of Liberty
Other: Nationalist revolt in Egypt; tension high between Russia and Britain on Afghan border
Date: 1880
France: Feb: Arrest of Lev Hartmann, would-be assassin of tsar, deported to England
May: Violent demonstration in Père Lachaise on anniversary of Bloody Week
June: Return of Henri Rochefort from Swiss exile
Nov. Return of Louise Michel from New Caledonia
Russia: Feb: Bomb in Winter Palace kills many guards; near-dictatorial powers for Loris-Melikov
June: Death of tsarina and tsar’s remarriage to mistress Catherine Dolgorukaya; appointment of Loris-Melikov as chief of the Supreme Administrative Commission; attempt on his life
Oct: Trial of the Sixteen, three of whom executed for conspiracy; police reform: Third Section disabled to be replaced by Okhrana
Britain: April: return of Gladstone, Madame Novikoff’s friend, as prime minister; corruption scandal in British and Belgian police prompts reform
Other European: Reclus publishes pamphlet Evolution and Revolution
Oct: Kropotkin and Reclus in Switzerland prepare agenda for London Congress
Germany: Cologne Cathedral completed after 600 years; Belfort Bax attends ceremony
United States:
Other: Young Egypt active in nationalist cause, on model of Young Italy
Date: 1881
France: Jan: Funeral of Blanqui, Michel delivers oration; France occupies Tunisia; first issue of shares in Panama Canal
Oct: Bomb thrown into Bellecour Theatre in strike-bound Lyons
Dec: Short-lived Gambetta premiership
Russia: 1 March: Assassination of tsar
10 March: Letter of executive committee to Alexander III; trial of conspirators and execution of five leading figures
April: Anti-Jewish pogroms sweep the south; creation of the Holy Brotherhood
Britain: Jan: Fenian bomb attack on Salford barracks, then in March on Mansion House
June: London Anarchist Congress
18 June: Trial of Johann Most, arrested March for celebrating tsar’s assassination; inaugural meeting of Henry Hyndman’s Social Democtratic Federation; Edward Carpenter proclaims as marking ‘a great new tide of human life’
Other European: Pressure on Switzerland to act against political émigrés; Kropotkin expelled
United States: 2 July: Assassination of President Garfield
Other:
Date: 1882
France: Jan: Crash of the Catholic Union Générale bank; Violent strikes and activities of the ‘Black Bands’ around Lyons
Oct: Cyvoct imprisoned for life for the Bellecour bombing
Dec: Arrest of Kropotkin, who had recently published Memoirs of a Revolutionist
Russia: May: Sudeikin recruits Rachkovsky, following disbandment of Holy Brotherhood
Britain: 6 May: Phoenix Park Murders in Dublin
Other European:
Spain: The supposed activities of the ‘Mano Negra’ groups provoke savage repression
United States:
Other: Malatesta back in Egypt to fight British
Date: 1883
France: March: Arrest of Louise Michel and Emile Pouget for inciting Paris bread riot; spate of writing, in France and elsewhere, concerned with degeneracy and decadence; Jules Ferry’s government begins policy of colonial expansion in South East Asia; young Melville as port watcher in France, dealing with Fenian provocateur Millen
Russia: Arrest of 250 officers in Kronstadt garrison for People’s Will sympathies
December: Murder of General Sudeikin by Degaev
Britain: Fenian bombing campaign
March: Death of Karl Marx
April: Edward Carpenter sets up Millthorpe smallholding near Sheffield; publication in English of Underground Russia by Kravchinsky, now to be known as ‘Stepniak', who settles in London; William Morris and Edward Carpenter join Social Democratic Federation
Other European: Anarchist bomb at Ganshoren, carried by Cyvoct
Switzerland: Plekhanov and Zasulich create ’Emancipation o
f Labour’movement;
Spain: hundreds arrested and tortured over alleged ‘Mano Negra’ conspiracy
United States: Johann Most publishes The God Pestilence
Other:
Date: 1884
France: Rachkovsky arrives in Paris to hunt Degaev, subsequently takes over Okhrana bureau; Signac and Seurat meet and work together developing ‘post-Impressionist’ techniques
Russia: Arrest of German Lopatin, elected leader of rump People’s Will following Vera Figner’s capture two years earlier
Britain: Fenian bombing campaign; Morris leads 4,000 on commemorative march to grave of Marx; split in SDF, formation of Socialist League; Greenwich adopted as site of prime meridian; Reclus publishes An Anarchist on Anarchy in London Contemporary Review
Other European:
Germany: Attempt by Reinsdorf to blow up kaiser and government at Germania ceremony; Johann Neve’s network of activists uprooted; Pope Leo XIII issues encyclical Humanum genus urging a new inquisition against Freemasonry, socialism and anarchism
United States: Pittsburgh meeting of American Federation of the Working People’s Association
Other: Jan: General Gordon’s expedition to subdue Egypt
Date: 1885
France: May: Death of Victor Hugo; Rachkovsky writes to French police chief of his plans to disrupt émigré revolutionaries; Le Révolté transfers from Switzerland to Paris, now the centre of anarchism
Russia: Myshkin, outspoken at Trial of the 193, shot in Schlüsselburg for assaulting a warden; visit of Frey, meets Tolstoy
Britain: Fenian bombing campaign
Sept: Dod Street clashes between socialists and the police: Morris arrested; first edition of Socialist League’s Commonweal published
Other European: Jan: Police chief Rumpf assassinated in Frankfurt; International Congress of Criminal Anthropology; war between Serbia and self-declared Greater Bulgaria
The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists and Secret Agents Page 3