1850 to 1855

1850

aug 28 - Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin premieres
sep - Millard Fillmore + signs the five seperate bills making up the Compromise of 1850 +.
nov 25 - In a plan to settle boundary disputes and pay her public debt, Texas relinquished about one-third of her territory in the Compromise of 1850, in exchange for $10,000,000 from the U.S.
dec 16 - The first four ships arrived at Lyttleton to settle Christchurch, New Zealand.
x - Chinese peasants demand land in Taiping Rebellion.
x - Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter * is written.
x - Jeans are invented by Levi Strauss, a German who emigrated to America during the gold rush.
x - Toronto streets get gas streetlights.
x - The paper bag arrives.
x - |STATUS|USA ?| One million tons of cotton per year is exported
x - The German port of Kiel was under blockade by the Danish Navy, and Prussian army corporal Wilhelm Bauer persuaded a shipbuilder to construct his design for a blockade-breaking submarine ?+ which he called "Brandtaucher," (Incendiary Diver).
x - The United States Republican Party is founded

1851

may 01 - British Crystal Palace Exposition in Hyde Park, London with over 13,000 exhibitors
nov - The first underwater telegraph cable laid between Calais, France and Dover, UK by John and Jacob Brett
dec 04 - Failed coup d'etat in France.
x - The Erie railroad depends on the telegraph.
x - Frederick Scott Archer invents wet-plate photography process, enables the mass production of albumen prints of extremely fine detail
x - |England ?+| Talbot takes a flash photograph at 1/100,000 second exposure.
x - The first America's Cup is organized.
x - Gold discovered in Australia.
x - Moby Dick published by Herman Melville.
x - The New York Times is founded.
x - Ariel and Umbriel, moons of Uranus, discovered by William Lassell.

1852

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

feb 11 - First British public toilet for women opens in Bedford Street, London
may - |TEXAS| The first Lone Star State Fair in Corpus Christi
sep 14 - The Duke of Wellington, British commander at the Battle of Waterloo and Prime Minister, dies
nov - Franklin Pierce defeats Winfield Scott in the U.S. presidential election
x - Second Empire declared in France.
x - Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin * is published.
x - Postage stamps are widely used.
x - The first direct message from London to Paris is sent by telegraph.
x - Cork Exhibition
x - Indiana shoemaker Lodner D. Phillips built at least two submarines.

1853

jul 08 - Commodore Matthew Perry sails into Edo Bay, Japan to force Japan to establish diplomatic and trade relation with the U.S.
x - Russia and Turkey are fighting again.
x - Envelopes made by paper folding machine.
x - Telegraph cable links England and Ireland ?
x - Dublin Exposition
x - Unsuccessfull Crystal Palace exposition held in New York
x - Franklin Pierce becomes the 14th president of the U.S.
x - Haussman redesigns Paris
x - Edgar Degas ?¢ opens his first studio in Paris.

1854

may 30 - Kansas-Nebraska act is passed. It repeals the Missouri compromise of 1820-21.
sep 14 - |Crimean War +| A joint invasion force comprising British, French, and Turkish elements land in Calamita Bay.
sep 20 - |Crimean War| The Allies reach the Alma and meet the Russians in battle. The Russians are routed in three hours
oct - |Crimean War| 34 year old Florence Nightingale with 38 nurses that met her high standards, set out to care for the wounded and ill at Scutari.
oct 17 - |Crimean War| The Allies opened up their bombardment of Sebastopol and continued it for the next two days without noticeable success.
oct 25 - |Crimean War| The charge of the Light Brigade
oct 25 - |Crimean War| Campbell formed his men into line, and the probing Russian advance was driven off with volleys of musket fire. This action became known as "the thin red line,"

An investigation into the Laws of Thought, on Which are founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities by George Boole

nov 04 - |CRIMEAN WAR| Battle of Inkermann, or "the Soldier's Battle"
win of 1854/55 - |CRIMEAN WAR| The shortcomings of the British military supply system were thrown into sharp focus, as thousands of men died from illness, exposure and malnutrition, four times as many that died from enemy action.
x - George Boole [b.1815-d.1864] publishes An investigation into the Laws of Thought, on Which are founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities. In it Boole formulates the basis for Boolean algebra.
x - The first pneumatic mail tube installed underground by Josiah Latimer Clark between London Stock Exchange and Central Telegraph Office.
x - The Times in London publishes a speech by Napoleon III telegraphed to them by Reuter's man in Paris

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

x - Bourseul in France builds an experimental telephone.
x - Carte-de-visite process simplifies photography.
x - Curved stereotype plate obviates column rules; wide ads soon.
x - Charles Dickens * publishes Hard Times * .
x - Munich Exhibition.
x - P. T. Barnum unsuccessfully attempts to revive the New York Crystal Palace exposition of 1853.
x - Wilhelm Bauer builds the 52-foot submarine the "Diable Marin" (Sea Devil) for Russia.

1855

mar 03 - |Russia ?+| Alexander II + becomes tsar. [u.1881] [re.List of Tsars]
jun 07 - |Crimean War +| The outer defences of Sebastopol are assaulted
jun 18 - |Crimean War| The assaults on the Malakoff and the Redan fail
jun 28 - Lord Raglan dies.
aug 16 - |Crimean War| The Russian army under Prince Gortchakoff attempted to break through the Allied lines at the Traktir Bridge
sep 08 - |Crimean War| The Russians evacuated Sebastopol, having made a spirited defence which had kept the best troops in the world at bay for over eleven months.
nov - David Livingstone discovers the Victoria Falls?
x - Printing telegraph invented in the U.S.
x - Prepayment of letters made compulsory.
x - Registered letters enter service.
x - James Maxwell unifies electricity and magnetism into a single theory, classical electromagnetism, thereby showing that light is an electromagnetic wave.

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