1866

1866 is a common year starting on Monday.

Events

• January 12 - Royal Aeronautical Society is formed (London).
• February 13 - Jesse James robs his first bank
• May 16 - The United States Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
• May 16 - Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer.
• June 14 - Beginning of the Austro-Prussian War, when the Austrians and most of the medium German states declare war on Prussia.
• June 8 - The Canadian Parliament meets for the first time in Ottawa.
• 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 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 United States 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
• In Sweden the Riksdag of the Estates is replaced by an elected two chamber assembly, the Riksdag.
• Alfred Nobel invents dynamite.

Births

• January 29 - Romain Rolland, dramatist, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1915 (+ 1944)
• April 1 - Ferruccio Busoni, pianist and composer (+ 1924)
• April 6 - Butch Cassidy, outlaw (+ 1909)
• May 17- Erik Satie, French composer
• July 28 - Beatrix Potter, Children's author
• September 1 - James J. Corbett, heavyweight boxing champion (d. 1933)
• September 7 - Tristan Bernard, writer
• September 21 - H. G. Wells, science fiction novelist
• Thomas Hunt Morgan, biologist
• Sun Yat-sen, Chinese Revolutionary
• Robert Broom, paleontologist

Deaths

• January 31 - Friedrich Rückert, German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages (* 1788)
• Bernhard Riemann, Mathematician

Heads of State

• China - Tóngzhì Emperor of China, Qing Dynasty (1861-1875)
• Denmark - Christian IX, King of Denmark (1863-1906)
• France - Napoleon III, Emperor of France (1852-1870)
• Norway - Charles IV, King of Sweden and Norway (1859-1872)
• Ottoman Empire - Abd-ul-Aziz, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1861-1876)
• Prussia - Wilhelm I, King of Prussia (1861-1871)
• Russia - Alexander II, Tsar of Russia (1855-1881)
• Spain - Isabella II, Queen of Spain (September 29, 1833 to September, 1868)
• United States - Andrew Johnson, President of the United States (1865-1869)