1870s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	18th century – 19th century – 20th century
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s – 1870s – 1880s 1890s 1900s
Years:	1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture; Establishments – Disestablishments

The 1870s was the decade that began on January 1, 1870 and ended on December 31, 1879.

Events

The invention of the telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell.
The light bulb was invented.
The phonograph is invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison.
Ludwig Boltzmann's statistical definition of thermodynamic entropy
Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) results in the collapse of the Second French Empire and in the formation of both the French Third Republic and the German Empire
Continuing expansion of the British Empire; beginning of the New Imperialism
Bulgaria and Romania declare independence following the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)
In the United States, continuation of post-Civil War reconstruction until its conclusion under President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877

Pierre-Georges Jeanniot's La ligne de feu (1886), depicting the Battle of Mars-La-Tour.
Photograph of Thomas Edison with his phonograph, taken by Mathew Brady in 1877
The first version of the light bulb was invented by Edison in 1879

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	18th century – 19th century – 20th century
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s – 1870s – 1880s 1890s 1900s
Years:	1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments