The Solar Apex
Feb 1 English-German astronomer William Herschel announces the star Lambda Herculis is close to the solar apex
Great Siege of Gibraltar
Feb 7 Great Siege of Gibraltar, launched by France and Spain against the British colony during the American War of Independence is lifted after 3 years and 7 months
Newburgh Conspiracy
Mar 15 In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy, preventing the threatened Coup d'état
PM Cavendish-Bentinck
Apr 2 William Cavendish-Bentinck becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain after an opposition coalition of Henry Fox and Frederick North forces William Petty to resign
- Apr 3 Sweden & US sign a treaty of Amity & Commerce
Annexation of Crimea
Apr 8 Catherine II of Russia annexes the Crimea
- Apr 9 Tippu Sahib drives out British from Bednore, India
- Apr 11 Hostilities formally cease in the American Revolutionary War after the Continental Congress proclaims the "Cessation of Arms" against His Britannic Majesty [1]
- Apr 15 American Revolution: the Continental Congress ratified preliminary articles of peace, ending the seven-year-long war with Great Britain.
- Apr 18 American Revolution: George Washington issues General Orders announcing the end of hostilities with Britain, giving thanks to the Almighty, and offering congratulations and authorizing an extra ration of alcohol to the troops to celebrate [1]
Pierre Charles L'Enfant Promoted
May 2 Architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant is promoted by brevet to Major of Engineers in recognition of his service to American liberty
- May 4 William Herschel reports seeing a red glow near lunar crater Aristarchus
- May 18 First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States
- May 30 Benjamin Tower of Philadelphia publishes 1st daily newspaper in US
- Jun 4 Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier make 1st public hot-air balloon flight (unmanned), covering 2km and lasting 10 minutes with an estimated altitude of 1,600-2,000m
- Jun 8 Laki volcano in southern Iceland begins 8-month eruption, killing 10,000 and causing widespread famines throughout Asia and Europe
- Jun 20 American Revolution: Battle of Cuddalore, a naval battle between British and French fleets off the coast of India fought before word of a peace agreement arrived from Europe was the final battle of the war
- Jul 15 World's first steamboat the Pyroscaphe, built by Claude-François-Dorothée, marquis de Jouffroy d'Abbans, makes its first voyage on the river Saône in France
- Jul 24 Georgia becomes a protectorate of tsarist Russia
- Jul 29 Skaptar Volcano on Iceland erupts killing about 9,000
- Aug 27 First hydrogen balloon flight (unmanned); reaches an altitude of 900m
- Sep 3 Treaty of Paris signed in Paris ends the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and United States of America
- Sep 26 Fayette County, Pennsylvania created
- Oct 6 Benjamin Hanks patents self-winding clock
- Oct 15 Jean Pilstre de Rozier makes 1st tethered balloon ascent
- Nov 2 General George Washington, later 1st US President, bids farewell to his army after the American Revolutionary War
- Nov 3 George Washington orders Continental Army disbanded
- Nov 3 John Austin, a footpad turned murderer, is the last to be publicly hanged at London's Tyburn gallows
Mozart's Symphony No. 36
Nov 4 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Symphony No. 36" premieres in Linz, Austria
- Nov 21 Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and Marquis d'Arlandes make 1st manned free balloon flight in a Montgolfier balloon
- Nov 23 Annapolis, Maryland, becomes US capital (until June 1784)
- Nov 25 Britain evacuates New York city, its last military position in the United States
- Dec 1 Jacques Charles and Nicolas Roberts make first untethered ascension with gas hydrogen balloon in Paris
- Dec 4 General Washington bids officers farewell at Fraunce's Tavern, NYC
- Dec 9 First execution at Newgate Jail in London (now the site of the Central Criminal Court aka the Old Bailey), relocated from Tyburn (now the site of Marble Arch)
Portland's Government Dismissed
Dec 18 British King George III dismisses Duke of Portland's Whig government after eight months [1]
William Pitt Youngest PM
Dec 19 William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister at age 24
- Dec 23 US General George Washington resigns his military commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to Congress
- Dec 31 Import of African slaves banned by all of the Northern US states
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