January 31 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: A Russian army of 10,000 soldiers enters Transylvania, in order to help the Austrians defeat the Hungarian forces, led by Josef Bem.
February 1 – The abolition of the Corn Laws by the United Kingdom's Importation Act 1846 comes fully into effect.
February 4 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – Battle of Vízakna: The Austrian army, led by Anton Puchner, defeats the Hungarians, led by general Josef Bem.
February 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian revolutionary army, led by Richard Guyon, breaks through the pass of Branyiszkó, defeating the Austrian defenders.
March 11 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian army of Transylvania, under general Josef Bem, defeats the Russian-Austrian army at Nagyszeben, capturing the city which is the headquarters of Austrian general Anton Puchner. Most of Transylvania is liberated from the Austrian rule. The Austrian and the Russian troops flee to Wallachia.
* After 10 days, the insurrection in Brescia is ended by Austrian troops.
* Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian Revolutionary Army, under the leadership of Arthur Görgey, starts the victorious Spring Campaign, which leads to the liberation of much of Hungary from the Austrian forces.
* Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Battle of Hatvan: The Hungarian revolutionary army, under the command of András Gáspár, defeats the Austrians, led by general Franz Schlik.
April 4 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Battle of Tápióbicske: Hungarian forces, under the generals György Klapka and János Damjanich, defeat the Austrian-Croatian army, led by Franz Schlik and Josip Jelačić.
April 6 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Battle of Isaszeg: The main Hungarian forces, led by Arthur Görgey, defeat the main imperial forces, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, forcing them to retreat westward.
April 10 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - First Battle of Vác: The Hungarians, led by János Damjanich, defeat the Austrians, led by Christian Götz, who dies after the battle due to his injuries.
April 12 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Because of his series of defeats suffered from the Hungarian army, Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz is released from the supreme command of the Austrian forces in Hungary, and replaced by Ludwig von Welden.
April 19 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Battle of Nagysalló: The Hungarian revolutionary army, led by György Klapka and János Damjanich, defeat the Austrian army, led by Lt. Gen. Ludwig von Wohlgemuth.
* Great Famine : 96 inmates of the overcrowded Ballinrobe Union Workhouse died over the course of the preceding week from illness and other famine-related conditions, a record high.
* The Austrian government asks Russian help against the Hungarian Revolution. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia agrees to send troops against Hungary.
April 26 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Battle of Komárom: Hungarian forces relieve the city and castle with the same name from a long Austrian siege. The Austrian imperial forces and their Croatian, Romanian and Serbian allies are chased out from Hungary, or near the borders of the country.
May 2 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: A new independent Hungarian government, led by Bertalan Szemere, is formed. The head of state of Hungary becomes Lajos Kossuth, as governor president.
May 17 - The St. Louis Fire starts, when a steamboat catches fire and nearly burns down the entire city.
May 21 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian army, led by Arthur Görgey, captures the Castle of Buda, liberating the Hungarian capital city completely. The leader of the defending Austrian forces, General Heinrich Hentzi, dies because of his injuries. The Hungarian government moves back from Debrecen to Budapest.
May 30 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Julius Jacob von Haynau replaces Ludwig von Welden as leader of the Austrian forces in Hungary, because of the failure of the latter to stop the advance of the Hungarian forces.
* Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The first Russian troops, led by Lieutenant General Fyodor Sergeyevich Panyutin, who come in the aid of the Habsburgs, cross the Hungarian border at Pozsony, in order to crush the Hungarian revolution.
June 17 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The main Russian forces, led by Ivan Paskevich, cross the Hungarian border, and together with the Austrian troops, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau, start the final attack against the Hungarian Revolution. Now the Hungarian revolutionary troops, numbering 173,000 soldiers, which even before the Russian attack were in inferiority regarding their numbers, and the quality of their weapons and war industry, face a force of 370,000 Austro-Russian forces, and other tens of thousands of Croatian, Serbian and Romanian insurgents, who serve the Habsburg imperial interests.
June 20 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Russian troops, under the command of Alexander von Lüders, break in Transylvania, and together with the Austrian forces, start to operate against the Hungarian troops, led by Józef Bem.
June 21 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Russo-Austrian army, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau, defeats the Hungarians under the command of Arthur Görgey at Pered.
June 28 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau, defeats the Hungarians, led by Ernő Poeltenberg, at Győr. The Hungarian army is forced to retreat towards Budapest.
July–September
July 2 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Second Battle of Komárom: The Hungarian army, led by Arthur Görgey, repulses the combined attack of the Austrian and Russian troops led by Julius Jacob von Haynau. During the battle Görgey suffers a heavy head injury, which prevents him from taking advantage of this success.
July 3 - French troops occupy Rome; the Roman Republic surrenders.
July 6 - Battle of Fredericia: The Danish Army beats the Prussian army at Fredericia, Jutland, thereby putting an end to the Prussian-Danish War until 1864.
July 11 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Third Battle of Komárom: The Hungarian army, led by Arthur Görgey, is defeated by the Austrians, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau.
* Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Because of the imminent Austrian attack, the Hungarian government moves from Budapest to Szeged.
* Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Hungarian troops, led by Richard Guyon, defeat the Croatian-Austrian army led by Josip Jelačić at Kishegyes, securing southern Hungary for the revolutionary government.
July 17 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Hungarians, led by Arthur Görgey, and the Russians, led by Ivan Paskevich, battle indecisively at Vác. The Russians are unsuccessful in destroying the Hungarian army, which retreats towards the east.
July 28 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian government, led by Bertalan Szemere promulgates the Nationality Law, which gives important rights to the nationalities of Hungary, like the right to use their mother tongue in school, church, army, court and administration. The Romanians are declared a nation, and not a minority, in Transylvania. The Jews receive equality thanks to the Emancipation Decree.
July 31 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Battle of Segesvár: The Russian troops in Transylvania, led by Alexander von Lüders, crush the Hungarian forces, under the lead of Józef Bem. Hungarian poet and revolutionary Sándor Petőfi is killed in the battle by the Russians.
July 31–August 1 - Joven Daniel wrecks at the coast of Araucanía, Chile, leading to allegations that local Mapuche tribes murdered survivors and kidnapped Elisa Bravo.
August 2 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Russian main forces, under Ivan Paskevich, defeat the Hungarian army under József Nagysándor, at Debrecen.
August 3 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian defenders of Komárom, led by György Klapka, destroy the besieging Austrian forces, liberating Győr and Székesfehérvár. But this victory comes too late to change the course of military events in the eastern part of the country, where the Hungarian forces are about to crumble under the heavy Austro-Russian pressure.
August 5 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Battle of Szőreg: Austrian forces, under Julius Jacob von Haynau, defeat the Hungarian main forces under Henryk Dembiński.
August 9 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848 - Battle of Temesvár: The main Russo-Austrian forces, led by Julius Jacob von Haynau, win a decisive victory against the Hungarians, led by Józef Bem.
August 11 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Lajos Kossuth and the Hungarian Government of Bertalan Szemere resign, and give all powers to the hands of Arthur Görgey. After this Kossuth, the ministries and many military officers leave Hungary, and ask asylum in Turkey.
August 13 - Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The main Hungarian army, under the lead of Arthur Görgey, capitulates to the Russian troops, led by Theodor von Rüdiger, at Világos, ending the Hungarian Revolution.
August 28 - Venice surrenders to Austrian troops after a 4-month siege.
November 13 - Public hanging in London attended by 30,000-50,000 of George and Maria Manning.
November 16 - A Russian court sentences Fyodor Dostoyevsky to death, for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group, the Petrashevsky Circle. Facing a firing squad on December 23, the group members are reprieved at the last moment, and exiled to the katorga prison camps in Siberia.
December 3 - German missionaries Johann Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann become the first Europeans to see Mount Kenya. The Abgeordnetenhaus, lower house of the parliament of the Kingdom of Bavaria, passes a bill granting German Jews the same legal rights as German Christians. The measure draws a strong reaction from Christians across Bavaria, who sign petitions urging the upper house to prevent the equal rights measure from becoming law.
December 22 - After 17 days of deadlock and 63 votes, Democrat Howell Cobb of Georgia is elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, by a plurality of 102 votes to 99 for the former Speaker, the Whig Party's Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts. Neither the Democrats nor the Whigs have a majority of the 230 seats in the House, and after neither candidate can obtain the required 116 votes, the Representatives agree that the plurality will decide the leadership.
