1871 was the common year starting on Sunday (see hyperlink for calendar).

Events
January - April
January 2 - Amadeus I becomes King of Spain. January 10 - France surrenders to end a Franco-Prussian War January 18 - The member-states of the North German Confederation unite into a single nation-state known as the German Empire. A King of Prussia is declared the number 1 German Emperor as Wilhelm I of Germany. January 21 - Giuseppe Garibaldi's troops win in Dijon March 21 - Marriage of Princess Louise to John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, whose father, the 8th Duke of Argyll, is the serving Secretary of State for India. March 22 - In North Carolina, William Holden becomes the number 1 governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment. March 26 - The Paris Commune is formally established in Paris. March 29 - The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria. April - Stockholms Handelsbank is founded.

May - August
May 11 - First test of the instance of Tichborne Claimant begins in the London Court of Common Pleas. May 21-30 - French Third Republic.government troops invade Paris Commune and crush the rebellion. July 20 - British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada. July 20 - C. W. Alcock proposes that 'a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association', giving birth to the FA Cup. August 31 - Adolphe Thiers becomes President of the French Republic.

September - December
October 8 - Three major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and Holland, Michigan The Great Chicago Fire is the most famous one, burning 1,200,000 acres (4,900 kilometre²) within 1 day, finally destroying astir 17,450 buildings, & killing astir 250 humans when allowing a second 90,000 homeless. The Peshtigo Fire burns 1,200,000 acres (4,90Kilometre²) through half a dozen counties inside of these day and kills 1,200 to 2,500 humans, getting it the title deadliest around United States history. The Holland Fire destroys at least two towns. October 20 - The Royal Regiment of Artillery formed the 1st regular Canadian army units when it created 2 batteries of garrison artillery which eventually became The Royal Canadian Artillery. October 27 - The Comte de Chambord refuses to be crowned 'King Henry V of France' until France abandons its tricolor & is restored to the old bourbon flag. October 27 - New York mayor Boss Tweed arrested October 27 - British occupy the Klipdrift in South Africa, ending the Klipdrift Republic November 10 - Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and greets him saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" November 17 - The National Rifle Association is granted a charter per state of New York. December 10 - The German chancellor Otto von Bismarck tries to ban Catholics from a political stage by introducing coarse laws on the separation of church and state.

Unknown date
University Tests Act removes religious tests at Oxford and Cambridge. Trade Union Act - British trade unions legalized. Heinrich Schliemann begins the excavation of Troy. Japan forms its own police force based on French model. George Biddell Airy discovers astronomical aberration is independent of the local medium. Abolition of the Han system in Japan. William Marcy Tweed serves his last season when a "Boss" of Tammany Hall. Neath RFC founded

Births
January 30 - Wilfred Lucas, Canadian-born actor (d. 1940) February 4 - Friedrich Ebert, President of Germany (d. 1925) February 18 - Harry Brearley, English inventor (d. 1948) March 1 - Ben Harney, American composer & piano player (d. 1938) March 5 - Rosa Luxemburg, German politician (d. 1919) March 19 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (d. 1921) March 27 - Heinrich Mann, German writer (d. 1950) May 3 - Walter Robinson Parr, English-born pastor (d. 1922) May 6 - Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935) May Sestet - Christian Morgenstern, German author (d. 1914) May 27 - Georges Rouault, French painter and graphic artist (d. 1958) July 10 - Marcel Proust, French writer (d. 1922) July 17 - Lyonel Feininger, German painter (d. 1956) July 25 - Richard Ernest Turner, Canadian soldier (d. 1961) August 14 - Guangxu Emperor of China (d. 1908) August 19 - Orville Wright, American aviation pioneer (d. 1948) August 25 - Ross Winn, American nihilist writer & publisher (d. 1912) August 27 - Theodore Dreiser, American writer (d. 1945) August 29 - Albert Lebrun, French politician (d. 1950) August 30 - Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1937) September 24 - Lottie Dod, English athlete (d. 1960) September 26 - Winsor McCay, American cartoonist & animator (d. 1934) September 27 - Grazia Deledda, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1936) October 2 - Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1955) October 30 - Paul Valéry, French poet (d. 1945) November 1 - Stephen Crane, American writer (d. 1900) December 9 - Joe Kelley, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1943) December 13 - Emily Carr, Canadian creative person (d. 1945)

Deaths
February 11 - Gaspard Théodore Ignace de la Fontaine, Luxembourg politician February 20 - Paul Kane, Irish-born painter (b. 1810) May 11 - John Herschel, English astronomer (b. 1792) September 20 - John Coleridge Patteson, Anglican bishop and missionary (martyred) (b. 1827) September 23 - Louis-Joseph Papineau, Canadian politician (b. 1786) October 18 - Charles Babbage, English mathematician and artificer (b. 1791) December 28 - John Henry Pratt, English clergyman & mathematician (b. 1809) March 18 - Augustus De Morgan, Professor of math & mathematician (b. 1806)

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