Mexican liberals gained control of Guadalajara, a key battleground in Mexico's on-going civil conflict known as the War of the Reform. (By Brian Bockelman)

In a final effort to bring Mexico's two-year civil war to an end, liberal troops recaptured Mexico City from General Miguel Miramon's conservative forces.  (By Brian Bockelman)

Hoping to consolidate the independent South African Republic, Boer (Afro-Dutch) leaders named Pretoria as the country's new capital. (By Brian Bockelman)

Anti-Western samurai assassinated shogun leader Ii Naosuke, a proponent of increasing Japan's ties to the outside world. (By Brian Bockelman)

Great Britain and France signed the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty, which substantially liberalized trade between the two countries. The treaty wass less popular in France than in Britain and caused a weakening in the popularity of Napoleon III. (By Brian Bockelman)

The civil wars that wracked Argentina since the fall of dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1852 came to an end, allowing the formation of a unified constitutional republic under the leadership of Bartolomé Mitre. Dickinson alumnus Francis Sutton Livingston, class of 1861 was a friend and ally of the new president and led a regiment in his forces in the conflict. (By Brian Bockelman)

Mexican conservatives, hoping to please France and return their country to monarchical rule, offered the Mexican throne to Maximilian, a minor Austrian prince.  Maximilian eventually accepted and became the Emperor of Mexico. (By Brian Bockelman)