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  • Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
    Sunday Jan 7, 1849
    David Copperfield

    A Visit to two Cities

    Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
    Sunday Jan 7, 1849

    On 7 January 1849, Dickens visited Norwich and Yarmouth in Norfolk, with two close friends, John Leech (1817–1864) and Mark Lemon (1809–1870). Leech was an illustrator at Punch, a satirical magazine, and the first illustrator for A Christmas Carol by Dickens in 1843. Lemon was a founding editor of Punch, and soon a contributor to Household Words, the weekly magazine Dickens was starting up; he co-authored Mr Nightingale's Diary, a farce, with Dickens in 1851. The two towns, especially the second, became important in the novel, and Dickens informed Forster that Yarmouth seemed to him to be "the strangest place in the world" and that he would "certainly try my hand at it". During a walk in the vicinity of Yarmouth, Dickens noticed a sign indicating the small locality of Blunderston, which became in his novel the village of "Blunderstone" where David is born and spends his childhood.




  • Yarmouth, England, United Kingdom
    Sunday Jan 14, 1849
    David Copperfield

    Henry Fielding Dickens

    Yarmouth, England, United Kingdom
    Sunday Jan 14, 1849

    A week after Charles's arrival in Yarmouth, his sixth son, Henry Fielding Dickens, was named after Henry Fielding, his favorite past author. Per Forster, Dickens refers to Fielding "as a kind of homage to the novel he was about to write".




  • London, England, United Kingdom
    1849
    The palace of Westminster England

    Clear defects

    London, England, United Kingdom
    1849

    Barry's New Palace of Westminster was rebuilt using the sandy-colored Anston limestone. However, the stone soon began to decay due to pollution and the poor quality of some of the stone used. Although such defects were clear as early as 1849, nothing was done for the remainder of the 19th century even after much studying.




  • U.S.
    Tuesday Jan 23, 1849
    Elizabeth Blackwell

    Blackwell became the first woman to achieve a medical degree in the United States

    U.S.
    Tuesday Jan 23, 1849

    On January 23, 1849, Blackwell became the first woman to achieve a medical degree in the United States.




  • Central Europe (Present-Day Berlin, Dresden, Saxony, Germany)
    Monday Mar 5, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    May Uprising in Dresden

    Central Europe (Present-Day Berlin, Dresden, Saxony, Germany)
    Monday Mar 5, 1849

    In Dresden, the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony, the people took to the streets asking King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony to engage in electoral reform, social justice, and for a constitution.




  • Italy
    Mar, 1849
    Unification of Italy

    Giuseppe Mazzini arrived in Rome

    Italy
    Mar, 1849

    In early March 1849, Giuseppe Mazzini arrived in Rome and was appointed Chief Minister.




  • Italy
    Friday Mar 23, 1849
    Unification of Italy

    The powers could respond to the founding of the Roman Republic

    Italy
    Friday Mar 23, 1849

    Before the powers could respond to the founding of the Roman Republic, Charles Albert, whose army had been trained by the exiled Polish general Albert Chrzanowski, renewed the war with Austria. He was quickly defeated by Radetzky at Novara on 23 March 1849.


  • England, United Kingdom
    1849
    David Copperfield

    Several attempts

    England, United Kingdom
    1849

    As always with Dickens, when a writing project began, he was agitated, melancholy, "even deeper than the customary birth pangs of other novels"; as always, he hesitated about the title, and his working notes contain seventeen variants, "Charles Copperfield" included. After several attempts, he stopped on "The Copperfield Survey of the World as it Rolled", a title that he retained until 19 April. When Forster pointed out that his hero, now called David, has his own initials transposed, Dickens was intrigued and declared that this was a manifestation of his fate. He was not yet sure of his pen: "Though I know what I want to do, I am lumbering like a train wagon", he told Forster.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Wednesday Mar 28, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Draft of the Paulskirchenverfassung constitution was finally passed

    Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Wednesday Mar 28, 1849

    On March 28, 1849, the draft of the Paulskirchenverfassung constitution was finally passed. The new Germany was to be a constitutional monarchy, and the office of head of state ("Emperor of the Germans") was to be hereditary and held by the respective King of Prussia.


  • Rome, Italy
    Apr, 1849
    Unification of Italy

    French force under Charles Oudinot was sent to Rome

    Rome, Italy
    Apr, 1849

    In April, a French force under Charles Oudinot was sent to Rome. Apparently, the French first wished to mediate between the Pope and his subjects, but soon the French were determined to restore the Pope.


  • United Kingdom and France
    Apr, 1849
    Elizabeth Blackwell

    Blackwell made the decision to continue her studies in Europe

    United Kingdom and France
    Apr, 1849

    In April, 1849, Blackwell made the decision to continue her studies in Europe. She visited a few hospitals in Britain and then headed to Paris.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Berlin, Germany)
    Saturday Apr 21, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    A delegation of the National Assembly met with King Frederick William IV

    Central Europe (Present-Day Berlin, Germany)
    Saturday Apr 21, 1849

    On April 2, 1849, a delegation of the National Assembly met with King Frederick William IV in Berlin and offered him the crown of the Emperor under this new constitution.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Tuesday May 1, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    A meeting of the democratic people's associations was held in Kaiserslautern

    Central Europe (Present-Day Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Tuesday May 1, 1849

    On 1 May 1849, a meeting of the democratic people's associations was held in Kaiserslautern. About 12,000 people gathered under the slogan, "If the government becomes rebellious, the citizens of the Palatinate will become the enforcers of the laws.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Wednesday May 2, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    "State Committee for the Defence and Implementation of the Constitution"

    Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Wednesday May 2, 1849

    On 2 May, they decided to establish a ten-man "State Committee for the Defence and Implementation of the Constitution." They did not declare a republic, as had happened in Baden.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Elberfeld, Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Germany)
    Sunday May 6, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Uprisings started in Elberfeld

    Central Europe (Present-Day Elberfeld, Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Germany)
    Sunday May 6, 1849

    The revolutionary upsurge revived in the spring of 1849, the uprisings started in Elberfeld in the Rhineland on May 6, 1849.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Monday May 7, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Eisenstuck representative of the central authority for the Palatinate

    Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Monday May 7, 1849

    On 7 May 1849, Bernhard Eisenstuck, representative of the central authority for the Palatinate, legitimized the defense committee. He was dismissed on 11 May for exceeding his powers.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Switzerland)
    Wednesday May 9, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Wagner left Dresden for Switzerland to avoid arrest

    Central Europe (Present-Day Switzerland)
    Wednesday May 9, 1849

    On May 9, 1849, together with the leaders of the uprising, Wagner left Dresden for Switzerland to avoid arrest. He spent a number of years in exile abroad, in Switzerland, Italy, and Paris. Finally, the government lifted its ban against him and he returned to Germany.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Dresden, Saxony, Germany)
    Wednesday May 9, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    German composer Richard Wagner engaged in the revolution in Dresden

    Central Europe (Present-Day Dresden, Saxony, Germany)
    Wednesday May 9, 1849

    German composer Richard Wagner passionately engaged himself in the revolution in Dresden, supporting the democratic-republican movement. Later during the May Uprising in Dresden from May 3–9, 1849, he supported the provisional government.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
    Wednesday May 9, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Uprisings occurred in the Rhenish

    Central Europe (Present-Day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
    Wednesday May 9, 1849

    On May 9, 1849, uprisings occurred in the Rhenish towns of Elberfeld, Düsseldorf, Iserlohn and Solingen.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
    1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Uprising in Düsseldorf was suppressed

    Central Europe (Present-Day Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
    1849

    The uprising in Düsseldorf was suppressed the following day on May 10, 1849.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Friday May 11, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Frederick Engels was active in the uprising

    Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Friday May 11, 1849

    Workers from Solingen stormed the arsenal at Gräfrath and obtained arms and cartridges for the insurgents. Frederick Engels was active in the uprising in Elberfeld from May 11, 1849, until the end of the revolt.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Prüm, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Thursday May 17, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Agroup of workers and democrats from Trier and neighboring townships stormed the arsenal at Prüm

    Central Europe (Present-Day Prüm, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Thursday May 17, 1849

    On May 17 through 18, 1849, a group of workers and democrats from Trier and neighboring townships stormed the arsenal at Prüm to obtain arms for the insurgents.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Saturday May 19, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Closing down the newspaper

    Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Saturday May 19, 1849

    Engels and Marx became editors of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Less than a year later, on May 19, 1849, the Prussian authorities closed down the newspaper because of its support for constitutional reforms.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
    Sunday May 20, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    The Grand Duke was forced to leave Karlsruhe

    Central Europe (Present-Day Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
    Sunday May 20, 1849

    In May 1849, the Grand Duke was forced to leave Karlsruhe, Baden, and seek help from Prussia. Provisional governments were declared in both the Palatinate and Baden. In Baden conditions for the provisional government were ideal: the public and army were both strongly in support of constitutional change and democratic reform in the government.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    A resurgence of revolutionary activity occurred in Baden

    Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    1849

    In May 1849, a resurgence of revolutionary activity occurred in Baden. As this was closely connected to the uprising in the German Palatinate, it is described below, in the section titled, "The Palatinate."


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Wednesday Jun 6, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Austria and Prussia withdrew their delegates from the Assembly

    Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Wednesday Jun 6, 1849

    Austria and Prussia withdrew their delegates from the Assembly, which was little more than a debating club. The radical members were forced to go to Stuttgart, where they sat from June 6–18 as a rump parliament until it too was dispersed by Württemberg troops.


  • France
    Jun, 1849
    Elizabeth Blackwell

    Blackwell enrolled at La Maternité

    France
    Jun, 1849

    In June, Blackwell enrolled at La Maternité; a "lying-in" hospital, under the condition that she would be treated as a student midwife, not a physician. She made the acquaintance of Hippolyte Blot, a young resident physician at La Maternité. She gained much medical experience through his mentoring and training.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Wednesday Jun 13, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Engels joined an 800-member group of workers being formed as a military corps

    Central Europe (Present-Day Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Wednesday Jun 13, 1849

    On June 13, 1849, Engels joined an 800-member group of workers being formed as a military corps by August Willich, a former Prussian military officer. He was also a member of the Communist League and supported a revolutionary change in Germany.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Speyer, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Jun, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Palatine uprising

    Central Europe (Present-Day Speyer, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Jun, 1849

    The Palatine uprising was a rebellion that took place in May and June 1849 in the Rhenish Palatinate, then an exclave territory of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Related to uprisings across the Rhine River in Baden, it was part of the widespread Imperial Constitution Campaign. Revolutionaries worked to defend the Constitution as well as to secede from the Kingdom of Bavaria.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany)
    Jun, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Joseph Martin Reichard appointed deputy in the Frankfurt Assembly

    Central Europe (Present-Day Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany)
    Jun, 1849

    The provisional government first appointed Joseph Martin Reichard, a lawyer, democrat, and deputy in the Frankfurt Assembly, as the head of the military department in the Palatinate.


  • Rome, Italy
    Friday Jun 29, 1849
    Unification of Italy

    Rome capitulated on 29 June 1849

    Rome, Italy
    Friday Jun 29, 1849

    After a two-month siege, Rome capitulated on 29 June 1849 and the Pope was restored. Garibaldi and Mazzini once again fled into exile—in 1850 Garibaldi went to New York City.


  • Moscow, Russia
    1849
    Dmitri Mendeleev

    Rejected Student

    Moscow, Russia
    1849

    In 1849, Mendeleev's mother took him across Russia from Siberia to Moscow intending to get Mendeleev enrolled at Moscow University. The university in Moscow did not accept him.


  • U.S.
    1849
    Abraham Lincoln

    Lincoln received a patent for a flotation device for the movement of boats in shallow water

    U.S.
    1849

    In 1849, Lincoln received a patent for a flotation device for the movement of boats in shallow water. The idea was never commercialized, but it made Lincoln the only president to hold a patent.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Wednesday Jul 25, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    The Prussians defeated this revolutionary army

    Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Wednesday Jul 25, 1849

    The Prussians defeated this revolutionary army, and the survivors of Willichs Corps crossed over the frontier into the safety of Switzerland. Engels did not reach Switzerland until July 25, 1849. He sent word of his survival to Marx and friends and comrades in London, England.


  • Ras el-Tin Palace, Alexandria, Egypt
    Thursday Aug 2, 1849
    Muhammad Ali of Egypt

    Death

    Ras el-Tin Palace, Alexandria, Egypt
    Thursday Aug 2, 1849

    By this time Muhammad Ali had become so ill and senile that he was not informed of his son's death. Lingering a few months more, Muhammad Ali died at Ras el-Tin Palace in Alexandria on 2 August 1849 and ultimately was buried in the imposing mosque he had commissioned in the Cairo Citadel.


  • England, United Kingdom
    Wednesday Aug 22, 1849
    David Copperfield

    Changes in detail occur during the composition

    England, United Kingdom
    Wednesday Aug 22, 1849

    Changes in detail occur during the composition: on 22 August 1849, while staying on the Isle of Wight for a family vacation, he changed on the advice of Forster, the theme of the obsession of Mr Dick, a secondary character in the novel. This theme was originally "a bull in a china shop" and became "King Charles's head" in a nod to the bicentenary of the execution of Charles I of England.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Aug, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    Prussian troops crushed the uprising

    Central Europe (Present-Day Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
    Aug, 1849

    The Prussian troops arrived and crushed the uprising in August 1849. Engels and some others escaped to Kaiserlautern.


  • France
    Monday Nov 5, 1849
    Elizabeth Blackwell

    Blackwell lost sight in her left eye

    France
    Monday Nov 5, 1849

    On 4 November 1849, when Blackwell was treating an infant with ophthalmia neonatorum, she spurted some contaminated solution into her own eye accidentally and contracted the infection. She lost sight in her left eye, causing her to have her eye surgically extracted and thus lost all hope of becoming a surgeon.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Elberfeld, Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
    1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    The Elberfeld uprising

    Central Europe (Present-Day Elberfeld, Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
    1849

    The Elberfeld uprising was one of the revolutionary movements in Germany in 1849, part of the German Constitution campaign.


  • Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Dec, 1849
    German revolutions of 1848–1849

    The Prussian government called up a large portion of the army reserve—the Landwehr in Westphalia and the Rhineland

    Central Europe (Present-Day Germany)
    Dec, 1849

    In the spring of 1849, the Prussian government called up a large portion of the army reserve—the Landwehr in Westphalia and the Rhineland. This action was opposed: the order to call up the Landwehr affected all males under the age of 40 years, and such a call-up was to be done only in times of war, not in peacetime when it was considered illegal.


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