1871

• January 18 - The member-states of the North German Confederation unite into a single nation-state known as the German Empire. The King of Prussia is declared the first German Emperor as Wilhelm I of Germany.
• January 28 - France surrenders to end the Franco-Prussian War
• March 22 - In North Carolina, William Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.
• March 21 - Marriage of Princess Louise of the United Kingdom to John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, whose father, the 8th Duke of Argyll, is the serving Secretary of State for India
• March 26 - The Paris Commune is formally established in Paris.
• March 29 - The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.
• May 30 - The Paris Commune is suppressed by the armed forces of the French Third Republic.
• July 20 - British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
• August 31 - Adolphe Thiers becomes President of the French Republic
• October 8 - Great Chicago Fire: A large fire in Chicago, Illinois preempts news reporting of the Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire, burns 1,200,000 acres in one day, eventually destroys about 17,450 buildings, kills about 250 people and leaves another 90,000 homeless. It is brought under control the next day.
• October 8 - The Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire, which burned 1,200,000 acres in one day
• October 27 the Comte de Chambord refuses to be crowned 'King Henry V of France' until France abandons its tricolour and returns to the old bourbon flag.
• November 10 - Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and greets him saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
• November 17 - The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York.
• George Biddell Airy discovers astronomical aberration is independent of the local medium.
• Abolition of the Han system in Japan
• William Marcy Tweed serves his last year as the "Boss" of Tammany Hall.

• 1871 in literature
• 1871 in science
• 1871 in music

• January 17 - David Earl Betty of the North Sea and of Brooksby, British admiral (+ 1936)
• January 30 - Wilfred Lucas, actor (d. 1940)
• February 4 - Friedrich Ebert, president of the Weimar Republic (+ 1925)
• March 5 - Rosa Luxemburg, politician (+ 1919)
• March 27 - Heinrich Mann, narrator, dramatist and essayist (+ 1950)
• May 6 - Christian Morgenstern, author (+ 1914)
• May 27 - Georges Rouault, painter and graphic artist (+ 1958).
• August 19 - Orville Wright of the Wright brothers, American co-inventor of the airplane.
• August 29 - Albert Lebrun, French politician (+ 1950)
• September 27 - Grazia Deledda, Sardinian writer - Nobel prize (+ 1936)
• December 13 - Emily Carr, Canadian writer.
• Richard Turner, Canadian liutenant of the of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, awarded with the Victoria Cross for bravery during the Second Boer War.

• February 20 - Paul Kane, painter
• September 23 - Louis-Joseph Papineau, aged 85, Canadian politician and former leader of the Patriotes Rebellion.
• October 18 - Charles Babbage, aged 79, English mathematician and inventor of computing machines.

• China - Tóngzhì Emperor of China, Qing Dynasty (1861-1875)
• Denmark - Christian IX, King of Denmark (1863-1906)
• France - Adolphe Thiers, President of France (1871-1873)
• Germany - Wilhelm I, German Kaiser (1871-1888)
• Holy See - Pope Pius IX, Bishop of Rome (1846-1878)
• Japan - Mutsuhito, Meiji emperor (1867-1912)
• Norway - Charles IV, King of Sweden and Norway (1859-1872)
• Ottoman Empire - Abd-ul-Aziz, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1861-1876)
• Prussia - Wilhelm I, King of Prussia (1861-1871)
  • In 1871, Prussia became part of the German Empire
• Russia - Alexander II, Tsar of Russia (1855-1881)
• Spain - Amadeus I, King of Spain (1870-1873)
• United States - Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States (1869-1877)