Foreign nations sign a strict neutrality agreement…

Foreign nations sign a strict neutrality agreement in early March, under the influence of the British minister Harry Parkes Smith, according to which they cannot intervene or provide military supplies to either side until the resolution of the conflict.

Parkes is attacked by a group of samurai in a street of Kyoto on March 23.

Beginning in February, with the help of the French ambassador Léon Roches, a plan had been formulated to stop the imperial court's advance at Odawara, the last strategic entry point to Edo, but Yoshinobu had decided against the plan.

Léon Roches, shocked, had resigned from his position.