istoryworld
Events relating to europe
Britain cedes the tiny island of Heligoland to Germany in return for vast areas of Africa
A Gaelic pressure group, the Highland Association, is founded to preserve the indigenous poetry and music of Scotland
Oscar Wilde publishes his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in which the ever-youthful hero's portrait grows old and ugly
Thomas Hardy publishes his novel Tess of the Durbervilles, with a dramatic finale at Stonehenge
Frederick Lugard's Maxim machine gun settles a Protestant-Catholic clash in Kampala, the capital of Buganda
Oscar Wilde's comedy Lady Windermere's Fan is a great success with audiences in London's St. James Theatre
W.B. Yeats founds the National Literary Society in Dublin, with Douglas Hyde as its first president
The French establish a protectorate in part of the ancient kingdom of Dahomey in west Africa
W.B. Yeats publishes a short play The Countess Cathleen, his first contribution to Irish poetic drama
Bernard Shaw's first play, Widowers' Houses, deals with the serious social problem of slum landlords
Keir Hardie wins the London seat of West Ham, becoming the first Labour member of the House of Commons
Gladstone, becoming prime minister for the fourth time, is described by the queen as 'an old, wild and incomprehensible man of eighty two and a half'
The Falkland Islands, by now occupied by some 2000 settlers, become a British colony
Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck publishes his play Pelléas et Mélisande
The Nutcracker, with choreography by Lev Ivanov to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere in St Petersburg
Mr Pooter is the suburban anti-hero of the The Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith
The French chef Auguste Escoffier creates and names a dessert in honour of the Australian soprano Nellie Melba
An aluminium statue of Eros, by English sculptor Alfred Gilbert, is unveiled in Piccadilly Circus
Giacomo Puccini has his first success when his opera Manon Lescaut opens in Turin
De Lesseps, on trial for his management of the Panama Canal company, is sentenced to five years in prison
In Falstaff Giuseppe Verdi writes his last opera, and his only comedy since the early days of his career.
France claims the Ivory Coast (or Côte d'Ivoire) in west Africa as a French colony
The Independent Labour Party, later changing its name to the Labour Party, is founded in Britain by the trade unionist Keir Hardie
Leander Jameson, finding a pretext for war, drives Lobengula out of his kingdom in Rhodesia
Gladstone finally gets a Home Rule bill through the Commons, only to have it rejected in the Lords
