WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO AUGUST 1879
Find out what all happened January to August 1879

Anglo-Zulu War: the Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burned to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee. (4. July 1879)

War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique. (21. May 1879)

Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke's Drift ends. (23. January 1879)

Gilmores Garden in New York, New York is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue. (31. May 1879)

Charles Taze Russell publishes the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower. (1. July 1879)

Shō Tai formally abdicated his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom (11. March 1879)

The Anglo-Zulu War begins. (11. January 1879)

Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, is captured by the British. (28. August 1879)

The opening of the Poor Man's Palace in Manchester, England. (7. August 1879)

Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Rorke's Drift – 139 British soldiers successfully defend their garrison against an onslaught by three to four thousand Zulu warriors. (22. January 1879)

Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Isandlwana – Zulu troops decisively defeat British troops. (22. January 1879)

The National Guards Unit of Bulgaria is founded. (12. July 1879)

Napoleon Eugene, the last dynastic Bonaparte, is killed in the Anglo-Zulu War. (1. June 1879)

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is founded in Casa Labra Pub (city of Madrid) by the historical Spanish workers' leader Pablo Iglesias. (2. May 1879)

The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the  Leonidas. (14. May 1879)

Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus. (29. March 1879)

The Bulgarian National Bank is founded. (25. January 1879)

Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state. (26. May 1879)

Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific. (5. April 1879)

The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta. (14. February 1879)