istoryworld
Events relating to europe
The Boers establish the Orange Free State as an independent republic, with its own custom-built constitution
Marian Evans and G.H. Lewes flout British convential morality by travelling openly to Germany together
English physician John Snow proves that cholera is spread by infected water (from a pump in London's Broad Street)
Britain and France enter the war between Turkey and Russia, on the Turkish side
A London editor decides to send a reporter, William Howard Russell ('Russell of The Times'), to the Crimean front
British and French troops land at Sebastopol, to besiege the port, and win a limited victory over the Russians at the river Alma
Florence Nightingale, responding to reports of horrors in the Crimea, sets sail with a party of twenty-eight nurses
An inconclusive battle at Balaklava includes the Charge of the Light Brigade, with British cavalry recklessly led towards Russian guns
An inconclusive engagement at Inkerman means that the allies in the Crimea have to dig in for the winter besieging Sebastopol
Within six weeks of the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimea, Tennyson publishes a poem finding heroism in the disaster
Pope Pius IX issues a papal bull declaring that the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary is to be an article of faith for Catholics
On their return to England, Marian Evans and G.H. Lewes pretend to be married (Lewes is unable to get a divorce)
Jamaican-born nurse Mary Seacole sets up her own 'British Hotel' in the Crimea to provide food and nursing for soldiers in need
Roger Fenton travels out from England to the Crimea – the world's first war photographer
Lord Palmerston heads the coalition government in Britain after Lord Aberdeen loses a vote of confidence on his conduct of the Crimean War
David Livingstone, moving down the Zambezi, comes upon the Victoria Falls
English artist William Simpson sends sketches from the Crimea which achieve rapid circulation in Britain as tinted lithographs
The Christian Socialism of F.D. Maurice and others is mocked by its opponents as 'muscular Christianity'
The Christmas issue of the Illustrated London News includes chromolithographs, introducing the era of colour journalism
After a siege of nearly a year the Russians abandon Sebastopol, but the Turkish alliance is too exhausted to pursue the conflict
Tennyson publishes a long narrative poem, Maud, a section of which ('Come into the garden, Maud') becomes famous as a song
English author Anthony Trollope publishes The Warden, the first in his series of six Barsetshire novels
The treaty of Paris ends the Crimean War, limiting Russia's special powers in relation to Turkey
G.H. Lewes encourages Marian to try her hand at fiction and her first story, 'The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton' is successfully published
Victoria and Albert complete their fairy-tale castle at Balmoral, adding greatly to the nation's romantic view of Scotland
