Romain Rolland was born on 29 January 1866 in Clamecy. A French novelist, dramatist and essayist, Rolland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1915 for the idealism of his writings. His best-known work is the ten-volume novel Jean-Christophe, about a German musical genius, and he also wrote biographies of Beethoven, Michelangelo and Tolstoy. A committed pacifist, he moved to Switzerland during the First World War and wrote the manifesto Above the Battle, condemning the nationalism that had brought Europe to war. He corresponded with Gandhi, Tagore, Freud and Stefan Zweig, and took an interest in Indian mysticism.
Before and after
- 1866Publication of Crime and Punishment
- from 1866 to 1868Red Cloud's War
- 1866Origins of Christian Science
- 1866Gregor Mendel publishes his experiments on plant hybrids
- 29 January 1866Birth of Romain Rolland
- from April 1866 to October 1871Fenian raids
- from 14 June 1866 to 26 July 1866Austro-Prussian War
- from 20 June 1866 to 12 August 1866Third Italian War of Independence
- 20 July 1866Battle of Lissa
More in Art, literature & culture
- 1830Publication of Book of Mormon
- 1857Rise of Symbolism
- 1890Rise of Art Nouveau
- 28 December 1895The Lumiere brothers hold the first public film screening
- c. 1900sRise of Expressionism
- 1909Rise of Futurism
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.