1878

1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January – April

• January – Cleopatra's Needle arrives in London
• January 9 – Humbert I becomes King of Italy
• January 23 – Disraeli orders British fleet to Dardanelles
• January 28 – The Yale News becomes the first daily, college newspaper in the United States.
• January 31 – Turkey agrees to armistice at Adrianople
• February 2 – Greece declares war on Turkey.
• February 8 – British fleet enters Turkish waters and anchors off Constantinople – Russia threatens to occupy Constantinople but does not carry out the threat
• February 11 – 1st US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms.
• February 11 – 1st weekly Weather report published in UK
• February 18 – The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico
• February 19 – The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison
• February 24 – Anti-Russian demonstrations in Hyde Park, London
• February 28 – Mississippi State University is created by the Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi)
• March 3 – Bulgaria regained its independence from Ottoman Empire.
• March 3 – Russia arranges Pan-Slavist peace treaty with Turkey at San Stefano
• March 24 – The UK frigate Eurydice sinks, killing 300.
• March 25 – Russia rejects British proposal to lay San Stefano treaty before European congress
• March 27 – In anticipation with war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes the reserves and calls up Indian troops to Malta

May – August

• May 15 – Tokyo Stock Exchange established
• June 4 – Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
• June 12 – July 12 – Congress of Berlin about Turkey
• July 13 – The Treaty of Berlin makes Serbia completely independent
• July 26 – In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.

September – December

• September 3 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.
• October 1 – Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
• October 14 – The worlds first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield
• October 15 – The Edison Electric Company begins operation.
• October 17 – John A. Macdonald returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.

Unknown date

• Newton Heath founded in that year. Later the team was renamed as Manchester United.
• Yellow fever in Mississippi Valley – over 13.000 dead
• US arbitration rejects Argentinean claims to Paraguay's part of Chaco region
• West Bromwich Albion F.C. play their first match.
• The Hindu founded

Births

• January 6 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
• January 12 – Ferenc Molnár, author (d. 1952)
• January 20 – Ruth St. Denis, dancer (d. 1968)
• January 25 – Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975)
• February 2 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect (d. 1955)
• February 5 – André Citroën, French automobile manufacturer (d. 1935)
• February 8 – Martin Buber, Austrian philosopher (d. 1965)
• February 14 – Hirota Koki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
• February 26 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d. 1930)
• March 16 – Clemens August Graf von Galen, Archbishop of Münster and cardinal (d. 1946)
• March 22 – Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete (d. 1919)
• March 31 – Jack Johnson, American boxer (d. 1946)
• April 6 – Erich Mühsam, German author (d. 1934)
• April 24 – Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (d. 1958)
• April 28 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (d. 1954)
• April 28 – Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (d. 1951)
• May 10 – Gustav Stresemann, German politician and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1929)
• May 26 – Isadora Duncan, American dancer (d. 1927)
• June 1 – John Masefield, English poet and novelist (d. 1967)
• June 3 – Barney Oldfield, American automobile racer and pioneer (d. 1946)
• June 5 – Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1923)
• July 4 – George M. Cohan, American singer, dancer, composer, actor, and writer (d. 1942)
• July 24 – Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (d. 1957)
• August 10 – Alfred Döblin, German writer (d. 1957)
• August 31 – Frank Jarvis, American athlete (d. 1933)
• September 13 – Matilde Moisant, American pilot (d. 1964)
• September 22 – Yoshida Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1967)
• September 24 – C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (d. 1947)
• October 1 – Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher and economist (d. 1950)
• October 16 – Maxey Long, American athlete (d. 1959)
• November 14 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet (d. 1957)
• November 17 – Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (d. 1939)
• December 25 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race driver and automobile builder (d. 1941)
• December 25 – Joseph Schenck, Russian-born film executive (d. 1961)
• December 31 – Elizabeth Arden, Canadian-born beautician and cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 1966)

Deaths

• January 9 – King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b. 1820)
• January 18 – Antoine César Becquerel, French scientist (b. 1788)
• February 7 – Pope Pius IX (b. 1792)
• February 11 – Gideon Welles, American politician (b. 1802)
• February 19 – Charles-Francois Daubigny, French painter (b. 1817)
• March 8 – Archduke Franz Karl of Austria (b. 1802)
• April 12 – William Marcy Tweed, American politician (b. 1823)
• April 25 – Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
• May 28 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
• June 6 – Robert Stirling, Scottish clergyman and inventor (b. 1790)
• June 8 – Porter Rockwell, Mormon bodyguard (b. 1815)
• June 12 – George V of Hanover (b. 1819)
• November 28 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader (b. 1805)
• December 10 – Henry Wells, American businessman (b. 1805)
• December 14 – Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine (b. 1843)
• Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer (b. 1818)