1868
Meiji Restoration
Samurai from the western domains of Satsuma and Chōshū overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored imperial rule under the fifteen-year-old Emperor Meiji. Within a generation, Japan would abolish feudalism, build railways, adopt a constitution, and defeat a European power in war. No nation in history had reinvented itself so fast or so completely.
Fourteenth Amendment Ratified
The amendment guaranteeing equal protection under the law and birthright citizenship - aimed at the freed slaves and, incidentally, rewriting the Constitution - was ratified by the necessary number of states. It would be ignored by the courts for most of a century and then become, in the hands of later generations, the single most important amendment in American law.
Tewodros Dies at Magdala
After British troops under Napier stormed his mountain fortress of Magdala in Ethiopia - a ten-thousand-mile expedition to rescue a few diplomats the emperor had imprisoned - Tewodros II put a pistol in his mouth rather than surrender. The British looted manuscripts and crowns and went home. Ethiopia's great modernizer was dead at fifty.
First Trade Union Congress
Thirty-four delegates gathered in Manchester to found what became the British Trades Union Congress, uniting local craft unions into a national voice. The movement was still small, mostly skilled men in top hats. But the beginning of organized labor as a political force in Britain can be dated to that summer meeting.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1868?
Saeculum lists 4 curated events from 1868. The most significant is Meiji Restoration: Samurai from the western domains of Satsuma and Chōshū overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored imperial rule under the fifteen-year-old Emperor Meiji.
What era was 1868 part of?
1868 falls within the Industrial Age (1801-1900). Steam, empire, and the unmaking of the old order.
Which regions saw notable events in 1868?
The curated events from 1868 span East Asia, North America, Africa and Europe.