- Jan 9 Russia & Turkey sign Peace of Jassy
- Jan 25 The London Corresponding Society is founded.
- Feb 7 Austria & Prussia sign anti-French covenant
- Feb 7 Domenico Cimarosa's opera "Il Matrimonio Segreto" premieres in Vienna
- Feb 20 US postal service created, postage 6-12 cents depending on distance
- Feb 21 US Congress passes Presidential Succession Act
- Feb 23 Humane Society of Massachusetts incorporated (erected life-saving stations for distressed mariners)
- Mar 1 US Presidential Succession Act passed
- Mar 4 Oranges introduced to Hawaii
- Mar 16 Denmark becomes the first nation to ban the transatlantic slave trade, for financial reasons. Doesn't go into effect until 1803 causing a frenzy of activity amongst slave traders who even receive financial support. An estimated 120,000 enslaved Africans were transported from Africa to the West Indies aboard vessels flying the Danish flag. [1]
Gustav III Assassinated
Mar 16 King Gustav III of Sweden is shot by Count Jacob Johan Anckarström at a masked ball at the Opera; he dies on March 29
Haydn's 94th Symphony
Mar 23 Joseph Haydn's 94th Symphony in G at the Hanover Square Rooms in London, England
- Mar 24 Benjamin West (US) becomes president of Royal Academy of London
King Gustav III Dies
Mar 29 King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera just 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
1st Presidential Veto
Apr 5 George Washington exercises first presidential veto to strike down a Congressional bill to increase the number of seats for northern states in the House of Representatives
French Revolutionary Wars
Apr 20 Amidst the French Revolution, France declares war on Austria and Prussia, beginning the French Revolutionary Wars
Tiradentes Executed
Apr 21 Brazilian revolutionary Tiradentes, is hanged, drawn and quartered in Rio de Janeiro
- Apr 25 "La Marseillaise", later the national anthem of France, is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg
- Apr 25 Guillotine first used in France, executes highwayman Nicolas Pelletier
Delambre Measures a Metre
May 5 Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre commissioned to measure the meridian between Dunkerque to Rodez to calculate accurate length of the metre
- May 7 Captain Robert Gray is the first European to discover Grays Harbor (Washington state)
- May 8 British Captain George Vancouver sights and names Mt Rainier, Washington
- May 8 US establishes the military draft
- May 11 Columbia River discovered & named by US Captain Robert Gray
- May 16 Denmark abolishes slave trade
- May 17 Twenty-four merchants form the New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street
- May 19 Russian army enters Poland
- May 21 Mount Unzen on Japan's Shimabara Peninsula, erupts creating a tsunami, killing about 15,000; Japan's deadliest volcanic eruption
- Jun 1 Kentucky admitted as 15th US state
- Jun 4 Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Britain
- Jun 12 British explorer Captain George Vancouver lands on the site of what is now Vancouver, British Columbia
- Jun 21 British George Vancouver meets Spanish ships Sutil and Mexicana off Vancouver, British Columbia
- Jul 8 France declares war on Prussia
- Jul 11 Prussia army moves into French territory
- Jul 25 Dutch patriots exiles found "Bataafs Legion"
- Jul 25 The Brunswick Manifesto issued to population of Paris promising vengeance if French Royal Family harmed
- Jul 30 500 Marseillaisian men sing France's national anthem for 1st time
- Jul 31 Cornerstone laid for 1st US government building: US Mint in Philadelphia
Mirabeau Secret Court Dealings Revealed
Aug 10 Papers from the Tuileries Palace, proving the Comte de Mirabeau had secret dealings with the court are revealed
- Aug 10 Revolutionaries storm the Tuileries Palace, in Paris, residence of the royal family
French Royals Imprisoned
Aug 13 Revolutionaries imprison French royals, including Marie Antoinette
- Sep 2 September Massacres of the French Revolution: In Paris rampaging mobs slaughter 3 Roman Catholic bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers.
- Sep 11 The French Blue gem (later the Hope Diamond) is stolen with other French crown jewels from Royal storehouse in Paris during Reign of Terror
William Bligh and the Mutiny on the Bounty
Sep 12 Court martial begins for instigators of the mutiny on the Bounty on board HMS Duke in Portsmouth harbour, presided over by Vice-Admiral Samuel Hood
- Sep 20 French defeat Prussians at Valmy
French Monarchy Abolished
Sep 21 French Revolution: The National Convention passes a proclamation announcing the formal abolition of the French monarchy
- Sep 22 Day one of the short-loved French Republican calendar (declared 1793, abandoned 1806)
- Sep 22 French First Republic formed by the National Convention, stripping the French king of his powers
Lasource Accuses Robespierre
Sep 26 Marc-David Lasource begins accusing Maximilien Robespierre of wanting a dictatorship for France
- Oct 2 Baptist Missionary Society forms in London
- Oct 13 "Old Farmer's Almanac" is 1st published and edited by Robert Thomas
- Oct 13 Cornerstone laid for the Executive Mansion (White House) in Washington
- Oct 29 Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after the British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who spotted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.
- Nov 6 Battle of Jemappes: French army beats Holy Roman Empire
- Nov 14 Captain George Vancouver is first Englishman to enter San Francisco Bay
Banneker's Almanac
Nov 25 Benjamin Banneker first publishes his Farmer's Almanac
- Dec 5 George Washington re-elected as US President
- Dec 8 1st cremation in US: Henry Laurens
- Dec 11 French King Louis XVI goes on trial, accused of high treason and crimes against the state
Beethoven's Lesson with Hayden
Dec 12 In Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven (22) receives 1st lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn (60)
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists