Emancipation of the serfs in Russia
Millions of peasants gain personal freedom
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On 19 February (3 March) 1861 Alexander II signed the manifesto freeing the serfs. More than 20 million privately owned peasants gained personal freedom but had to pay redemption for their land. The reform opened Russia's era of Great Reforms.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 19th century
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Alexander II signed the manifesto freeing the serfs on 3 March 1861 (19 February Old Style); the very next day Lincoln became US president.
1861: Russia abolished serfdom, and a united Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in Turin.
Russia abolished serfdom in 1861 and the USA slavery in 1865; Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, only in 1888.
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1845–1852 Great Famine in Ireland — 16 years earlier
- 1859 Darwin's On the Origin of Species — 2 years earlier
- 1861 Unification of Italy — same year
- 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War — 9 years later
- 1886 Benz's first automobile — 25 years later
Middle East
- 1839 The Edict of Gülhane opens the Tanzimat — 22 years earlier
- 1839–1842 First Anglo-Afghan War — 22 years earlier
- 1876–1878 The first Ottoman constitution — 15 years later
Africa
- 1847 Liberia declares independence — 14 years earlier
- 1869 Opening of the Suez Canal — 8 years later
- 1879 Battle of Isandlwana — 18 years later
- 1885 The Mahdists take Khartoum — 24 years later
- 1885–1908 The Congo Free State — 24 years later
Asia
- 1853–1854 Commodore Perry's Black Ships — 8 years earlier
- 1868 Meiji Restoration — 7 years later
- 1876–1878 Great Famine in India — 15 years later
- 1883 Eruption of Krakatoa — 22 years later
- 1885 Founding of the Indian National Congress — 24 years later
Americas
- 1861–1865 American Civil War — same year
- 1863 Emancipation Proclamation — 2 years later
- 1864–1870 Paraguayan War — 3 years later
- 1876 Invention of the telephone — 15 years later
- 1879 Edison's incandescent lamp — 18 years later
Oceania
- 1851 The Australian gold rushes — 10 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Charles Darwin (aged 52)
- Abraham Lincoln (aged 52)
- Karl Marx (aged 43)
- Queen Victoria (aged 42)
- Fyodor Dostoevsky (aged 40)
- Leo Tolstoy (aged 33)
- Dmitri Mendeleev (aged 27)
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (aged 21)
- Thomas Edison (aged 14)
- Vincent van Gogh (aged 8)