Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln proclaims freedom for enslaved people in the Confederate states in rebellion.
President Lincoln proclaims freedom for enslaved people in the Confederate states in rebellion.
Union forces defeat Robert E. Lee's army in Pennsylvania in the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, a turning point of the conflict.
Abraham Lincoln delivers a brief speech dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg, affirming the ideals of liberty and equality.
The Edict of Gülhane opens the Tanzimat, a series of reforms modernising Ottoman administration, law and the army.
A series of armed conflicts between the colonial government and Māori iwi, chiefly over land and sovereignty, which led to large confiscations of Māori land.
Hong Xiuquan's movement founds the 'Taiping Heavenly Kingdom'; the ensuing civil war causes tens of millions of deaths.
After the 1857 rebellion, the Government of India Act transfers rule from the East India Company to the British Crown; the Mughal Empire formally ends.
War between the Union and the seceding Confederate states, centred on slavery, ending in Union victory and the abolition of slavery.