Modern Era
Edison's Light Bulb (1879): Lighting the World with Electricity
Edison's team produced a practical high-resistance carbon-filament lamp and built an electric lighting system around it, while Joseph Swan developed a rival lamp in Britain.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
Battle of Rorke's Drift (1879): Defence of the Mission Station
The British garrison held the post through the night; the Zulu force withdrew at dawn on 23 January.
Modern Era
Battle of Isandlwana (1879): The Zulu Victory That Shook Britain
Decisive Zulu victory; the British centre column's camp was overrun and more than 1,300 men on the British side were killed.
Modern Era
Anglo-Zulu War (1879): Cetshwayo's Kingdom Against Britain
Britain defeated the Zulu army at Ulundi, captured Cetshwayo and broke up the Zulu kingdom, which was annexed in 1887.
Modern Era
First Boer War (1880-1881): Transvaal Revolt and Majuba Hill
Boer victory; the Pretoria Convention of 1881 restored Transvaal self-government under British suzerainty.
Modern Era
Assassination of Alexander II (1881): The Tsar Liberator Killed
Alexander II died of his wounds the same afternoon; the conspirators were hanged and his son Alexander III began a long period of reaction.
Modern Era
Mahdist War (1881-1899): Sudan's Revolt Against Egypt and Britain
The Mahdist state ruled most of Sudan for 13 years before Anglo-Egyptian forces destroyed it in 1898-1899.
Modern Era
Scramble for Africa (1881-1914): Europe Partitions a Continent
By 1914 European states controlled about 90 per cent of Africa; only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent.
Modern Era
French Panama Canal (1881-1889): De Lesseps's Failure and Scandal
The French canal company went bankrupt in 1889 after the deaths of an estimated 20,000 or more workers, and the resulting Panama scandal discredited many French politicians.
Modern Era
Anglo-Egyptian War (1882): Urabi Revolt and British Occupation
British victory; Urabi was exiled and Britain occupied Egypt, keeping troops there until 1956.
Modern Era
Pearl Street Station (1882): Edison's First Central Power Plant
The station supplied direct-current electricity to paying customers in Lower Manhattan, proving the central-station model on which the electric utility industry was built.
Modern Era
Koch Discovers the Tuberculosis Bacillus (1882)
Koch showed that Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes tuberculosis, giving decisive support to the germ theory of disease and founding modern bacteriology.