1866

Events

January – June

• January 6 – Ottoman troops clash with men of a Maronite leader Karam in St. Doumit in Lebanon - Turks are defeated
• January 12 - Royal Aeronautical Society is formed (London)
• January 28 - 800 Maronite troops clash with Ottoman troops in Karem Saddah, modern-day Lebanon - more battles between nationalist Maronites and Ottoman army follow
• February 13 - The first daylight robbery in United States history during peacetime takes place in Liberty, Missouri. This is considered to be the first robbery committed by Jesse James and his gang, although James's role is disputed.
• April 4 - Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of Kiev. A design for a city gate to commemorate his escape was the inspiration for Mussorgsky's The Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition.
• May - Student Choen Blind fails to assassinate Otto von Bismarck in Unter den Linden in Berlin
• May 16 - The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
• May 16 - Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer.
• May 24 - Battle of Tuyuti - 32.000 soldiers of the Triple Alliance defeat 24.000 Paraguayan soldiers few miles north of the Parana - 18.000 dead
• June 8 - The Canadian Parliament meets for the first time in Ottawa.
• June 14 - Beginning of the Austro-Prussian War, when the Austrians and most of the medium German states declare war on Prussia.

July – December

• July 3 - Austro-Prussian War decided at the Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
• July 5 - Marriage of Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, third daughter of Queen Victoria to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg
• July 20 - Naval battle at Lissa between Austria-Hungary and Kingdom of Italy.
• July 24 - Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.
• July 25 - The U.S. Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army (now called "5-star general") Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank.
• July 27 - The Atlantic Cable is successfully completed, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time.
• July 28 - The Metric Act of 1866 becomes law and legalizes the standardization of weights and measures in the United States.
• August 23 - Treaty of Prague ends the Austro-Prussian War
• September 22 - Paraguay successfully defends Curupaity against the Triple Alliance, scoring more than 5000 with just about 50 casualties.

• Federalist revolts in Argentina
• In Sweden the Riksdag of the Estates is replaced by an elected two chamber assembly, the Riksdag.
• Alfred Nobel invents dynamite.
• First historical mention of gerbils, "yellow rats" sent to Museum of Natural History (Musée d'Histoire Naturelle) in Paris, by father Armand David from northern China
• First use of the term Ecology

Births

• January 13 - Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (d. 1901)
• January 15 - Nathan Söderblom, Swedish clergyman, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• January 29 - Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate (d. 1944)
• March 30 - George Van Haltren, baseball player (d. 1945)
• April 1 - Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1924)
• April 6 - Butch Cassidy, American outlaw (d. 1909)
• May 17- Erik Satie, French composer (d. 1925)
• July 28 - Beatrix Potter, English children's author (d. 1943)
• August 12 - Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer (d. 1954)
• September 1 - James J. Corbett, American boxer (d. 1933)
• September 7 - Tristan Bernard, French writer (d. 1947)
• September 21 - H. G. Wells, English writer (d. 1946)
• September 25 - Thomas Hunt Morgan, American biologist (d. 1945)
• November 12 - Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary (d. 1925)
• November 30 - Robert Broom, Scottish paleontologist (d. 1951)
• December 4 - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born painter (d. 1944)
• December 12 - Alfred Werner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
• Jeppe Aakjaer, Danish poet and novelist {d. 1930)
• La Goulue, French dancer (d. 1929)
• Kikujiro Ishii, Japanese diplomat (d. 1945)

Deaths

• January 31 - Friedrich Rückert, German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages (b. 1788)
• January - Thomas Baldwin Marsh - early leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
• March 20 - Rikard Nordraak, Norwegian composer (b. 1842)
• May 29 - Winfield Scott, American general and presidential candidate (b. 1786)
• June 20 - Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician (b. 1826)
• November 26 - Jean-Jacques Willmar, Luxembourg politician (b. 1792)