# 1882
**1882** (MDCCCLXXXII) saw the conclusion of the [Triple Alliance](https://www.edgepedia.org/triple-alliance) among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, the beginning of the [British occupation of Egypt](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-occupation-of-egypt), Robert Koch's discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus, and the first large-scale electric power supply in the United States.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) • [2](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt) • [3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) In the United States, Congress passed the [Chinese Exclusion Act](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-exclusion-act), a major federal restriction on Chinese immigration.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Triple Alliance | Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy signed a secret defensive agreement in Vienna on 20 May 1882, aimed primarily at France[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) • [3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) |
| Anglo-Egyptian War | British fleet bombarded Alexandria 11–13 July; an army of over 40,000 under Garnet Wolseley invaded the Suez Canal Zone in August[2](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt) |
| Medicine | Robert Koch announced his discovery of the tuberculosis pathogen to the Berlin Physiological Society in March 1882[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) |
| Electricity | Edison's Pearl Street Station first lit on a large scale on 4 September; the first US hydroelectric plant was built at Appleton, Wisconsin[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) • [4](https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1882.htm) |
| US legislation | Chinese Exclusion Act (effective 6 May) barred Chinese contract laborers for ten years; the Edmunds Act targeted polygamy in the territories[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) • [4](https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1882.htm) |
| Culture | Wagner's *Parsifal*, Ibsen's *Ghosts*, Manet's *A Bar at the Folies-Bergères*, the 1882 premiere of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, and the complete premiere of Smetana's *Má vlast* are associated with 1882[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) • [3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) |
| Infrastructure | The 240 km Gotthard railway, with the 15 km Gotthard tunnel, then the world's longest, entered regular service[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) |
## Political events and diplomacy
**The Triple Alliance.** On 20 May 1882, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy concluded the Triple Alliance in Vienna, a secret defensive agreement directed primarily against France.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) • [3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) The same day saw the opening of the Gotthard rail tunnel, a coincidence of alliance-building and transalpine infrastructure in a single date.[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882)
**Ireland.** On 6 May 1882, Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke were stabbed to death in [Phoenix Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/phoenix-park), Dublin, in the killings known as the Phoenix Park Murders.[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882)
**United States legislation.** The Chinese Exclusion Act took effect on 6 May 1882, suspending immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years; it was a major federal restriction on Chinese immigration, and Congress later extended it, so that it was still on the books in 1920.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) • [4](https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1882.htm) The Edmunds Act, adopted by Congress in 1882, was intended to suppress polygamy in the territories, especially in Mormon Utah.[4](https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1882.htm)
**European domestic reform.** Italy's 1882 electoral law raised the number of eligible voters from roughly 632,000 to 2.6 million, extending the franchise to literate men over 21 who paid a minimum tax.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) France introduced compulsory schooling for boys and girls aged 6 to 13.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882)
## Wars and conflicts: the Anglo-Egyptian War
The [Anglo-Egyptian War](https://www.edgepedia.org/anglo-egyptian-war) of 1882 pitted Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed 'Urabi against the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha and vastly expanded British influence over Egypt at the expense of the French.[2](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt) Britain's stake was already deep: British investors held more than half of Egypt's public debt in 1873, Disraeli's 1875 purchase of [Suez Canal](https://www.edgepedia.org/suez-canal) shares had deepened the financial interest, and in 1880 Britain took 80 percent of Egypt's exports and supplied 44 percent of its imports.[2](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt)
British troops landed at [Port Said](https://www.edgepedia.org/port-said), beginning an occupation of a country formally part of the Ottoman Empire.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) The British fleet bombarded [Alexandria](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexandria) from 11 to 13 July and then occupied the city with marines; the British lost no ships, but much of Alexandria was destroyed by fires caused by explosive shells.[2](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt) In August, a British army of over 40,000 commanded by Garnet Wolseley invaded the [Suez Canal Zone](https://www.edgepedia.org/suez-canal-zone).[2](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt)
Historians have debated why Britain intervened. One influential interpretation, Robinson and Gallagher's *Africa and the Victorians*, cast the occupation as a reluctant response to a peripheral crisis threatening the Suez Canal route to India; later scholarship questions this and sees the crisis as a conjuncture of expanding British interests and the aspirations of Egypt's rulers.[2](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt)
## Science and technology
**Medicine.** In March 1882 the German bacteriologist [Robert Koch](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-koch) announced his discovery of the tuberculosis pathogen at a session of the Berlin Physiological Society.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882)
**Electric power.** On 4 September 1882, [Thomas Edison](https://www.edgepedia.org/thomas-edison)'s light bulb was used in the first large-scale test to light New York's Pearl Street Station.[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) The same year, the United States' first hydroelectric plant was built at [Appleton, Wisconsin](https://www.edgepedia.org/appleton-wisconsin).[4](https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1882.htm) In Germany, the second international electricity exhibition opened in Munich's Glaspalast, with a long-distance transmission demonstration from Miesbach to Munich, and the Technical University of Darmstadt established the world's first chair of electrical engineering.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882)
**Railways.** After ten years of construction, the 240 km Gotthard railway entered regular service, its central element the 15 km Gotthard tunnel, until then the longest railway tunnel in the world.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) The Berlin Stadtbahn also opened, an 11 km line from Charlottenburg to the Schlesischer Bahnhof.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882)
**Business organization.** Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust, formed in 1882, was one of the United States' early industrial trusts.[4](https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1882.htm)
## Culture, arts, and literature
[Richard Wagner](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-wagner) completed his final opera, *Parsifal*, on 13 January 1882.[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) The German chronology lists among the year's works Ibsen's play *Ghosts* (*Gespenster*), Manet's painting *A Bar at the Folies-Bergères*, and Wagner's *Parsifal*.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) The form of *Ghosts* in 1882 is reported differently: it is listed as a published play, while a premiere in Chicago on 20 May 1882 is also recorded.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) • [3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882)
In music, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuted in Moscow on 20 August 1882, and the complete *Má vlast* by [Bedřich Smetana](https://www.edgepedia.org/bedrich-smetana) premiered on 5 November at Žofín Palace in Prague, conducted by Adolf Čech.[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) In architecture, the first stone of [Antoni Gaudí](https://www.edgepedia.org/antoni-gaudi)'s Sagrada Família in Barcelona was laid on 19 March 1882.[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) Boston's Bijou Theatre, the first American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity, opened on 11 December with Gilbert and Sullivan's *Iolanthe*.[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882)
## Notable deaths and aftermath
Charles Guiteau, assassin of President Garfield, was executed on 30 June 1882.[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882) The outlaw Jesse James was shot dead in St. Joseph, Missouri.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882) The Edmunds Act's enforcement later led to about 1,300 imprisonments.[3](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882)
## By the numbers
- Italian electorate: from about 632,000 to 2.6 million voters under the 1882 electoral law.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882)
- Gotthard railway: 240 km of line, including a 15 km tunnel, built over ten years.[1](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882)
- British invasion force: over 40,000 men in the Suez Canal Zone.[2](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt)
- Egyptian trade (1880): Britain took 80 percent of exports and supplied 44 percent of imports.[2](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt)
Contemporary yearbooks recorded the year as it unfolded: *The Annual Register* for 1882, a 608-page review of public events at home and abroad, was published in London by Rivingtons in 1883.[5](https://search.worldcat.org/title/874176803)
## References
1. [LeMO Jahreschronik – Chronik 1882, Deutsches Historisches Museum](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1882)
2. [The occupation of Egypt, warhistory.org](https://warhistory.org/article/the-occupation-of-egypt)
3. [Historical Events in 1882, On This Day](https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1882)
4. [Thomas Eakins – Scenes from Modern Life: World Events: 1882, PBS](https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1882.htm)
5. [The Annual Register: a review of public events at home and abroad, for the year 1882, WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/title/874176803)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › General historical chronologies › Year articles, 19th century (1801–1900)*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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