4th January » The Heard Island and McDonald Islands known as McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the 'Samarang'.
17th February » The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.
23rd February » The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.
1st March » German people known as German psychologist Friedrich Eduard Beneke disappears; two years later his remains are found in a canal near Charlottenburg.
20th March » The Republican Party (United States) known as Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin.
28th March » Crimean War: France and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or Britain declare war on Russia.
31st March » Commodore (United States) Commodore Matthew Perry (naval officer) Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda, Shizuoka Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
30th May » The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the Political divisions of the United States or US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
31st May » The civil death procedure is abolished in France.
10th June » The first class of United States Naval Academy students graduate.
21st June » The first Victoria Cross is awarded during the bombardment of Bomarsund, Åland called Bomarsund in the Åland Islands.
6th July » In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held.
13th July » In the Battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General José María Yáñez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon.
28th July » USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy, is commissioned.
4th August » The Flag of Japan called Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.
9th August » Henry David Thoreau publishes 'Walden'.
19th August » The Sioux Wars First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota people Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are Grattan massacre massacred.
20th September » Battle of Alma: British and French troops defeat Russians in the Crimea.
27th September » The steamship SS known as Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.
1st October » The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American system of watch manufacturing.
6th October » England: The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead starts shortly after midnight, leading to 53 deaths and hundreds injured.
9th October » Crimean War: The Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) or siege of Sebastopol begins.
21st October » Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses are sent to the Crimean War.
25th October » The Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade).
5th November » Crimean War: The Battle of Inkerman.
3rd December » Eureka Rebellion named Battle of the Eureka Stockade: More than 20 gold miners at Ballarat, Victoria, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences.
8th December » In his Apostolic constitution 'Ineffabilis Deus', Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Mary (mother of Jesus) called Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin.