1805

1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810

political events

The emperor Napoleon turns the Italian Republic into the Kingdom of Italy and crowns himself with the old iron crown of the Lombard kings May 26 in the cathedral at Milan (see 1802). The new kingdom will survive until 1814. He appoints his stepson Eugène Beauharnais viceroy June 7, but a Third Coalition mobilizes against him: Austria, Russia, and Sweden make alliances with Britain, while Napoleon gains support from Spain, Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Hesse, and Nassau.

French troops mass at Boulogne to cross the Channel and invade the British Isles. Two squadrons of French ships are hastily put together under the command of Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve, 42, to escort the landing barges, but the admiral and the minister of marine have no confidence in the ships, the officers, or the untrained crews. Villeneuve sails south rather than enter the Channel, and Viscount Nelson blockades him in the harbor of Cádiz.

Napoleon breaks camp at Boulogne and proceeds by forced marches into Germany. A 6,000-man army under the command of General Pierre Antoine Dupont, 40, obtains the surrender October 17 at the village of Ulm (Haslach) of a 30,000-man Austrian army under Baron Karl Mack von Leiberich, 53.

The Battle of Trafalgar October 21 ends French pretensions as a sea power. Ordered to leave Cádiz and land troops at Naples, Admiral Villeneuve aboard his flagship Bucentaure has slipped out of port October 19 with 18 French and 15 Spanish ships manned largely by untrained conscripts, but a Royal Navy fleet of 27 ships under the command of Viscount Nelson catches the combined French and Spanish fleet 22 miles off Cape Trafalgar (Taraf-al-Ghar in Arabic) on the Spanish coast near Gibraltar. Signal Number 16, hoisted by Nelson just before noon, says, "Engage the enemy more closely." He follows it with a signal to the fleet, saying, "England expects that every man will do his duty." Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood aboard the Royal Sovereign engages the 16 ships at the rear of Villeneuve's line; Nelson's smaller, 12-ship squadron attacks the front and center of the line, breaking through and scattering the enemy ships. The battle continues for 5 hours, with the 7-year-old Royal Navy warship Téméraire using her 98 guns to good effect. Villeneuve is captured; the British take 19 or 20 of his 33 ships as prizes; 7,000 of his men are killed or wounded and 7,000 taken prisoner (British casualties total 449 killed, 1,241 wounded), but although the British do not lose a single ship a French sharpshooter picks off Nelson from his command post on the flagship Victory, mortally wounding the great admiral, who dies at age 47 half an hour before the end of the engagement. Former prime minister William Pitt is hailed as the savior of Europe; "England has saved herself by her exertions," he replies, "and will, I trust, save Europe by her example."

St. Petersburg-born strategist Mikhail (Illarionovich) Kutuzov, 60, commands a Russian corps that defeats Napoleon's forces November 11 in a hard-fought battle at Dürrenstein; he tries to hold back the French advance, but Napoleon caps his victory at Ulm by taking Vienna November 13. Cavalry officer Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg, now 34, saves his troops, wins appointment as vice president of the Supreme Imperial War Council (Hofkriegsrat), and draws up plans for a popular militia to defend the Austrian homeland.

The Battle of Austerlitz in Moravia December 2 gives Napoleon's 75,000-man army a resounding victory over combined Russian and Austrian forces, much to the dismay of William Pitt. About 74,000 of the 90,000 allied forces are Russian. General Kutuzov tries to dissuade the other allied generals and the czar from joining battle, but Aleksandr I insists on going ahead, Kutuzov naps while the battle orders are read, and the czar falls into a trap set by Napoleon. Jean-Baptiste Bessières leads a charge of 9,000 guards against the Russian lines, but General Dmitri Sergeevich Dokhturov, 49, commands the Russian first column that fights its way through the French lines and rescues the allied Austrian-Russian army that had been considered lost. Some 20,000 Russians, 6,000 Austrians, and 9,000 Frenchmen are killed in the bloodbath that will become known as the "Battle of the Three Emperors" (Napoleon, Austria's Franz I, and Russia's Aleksandr I Pavlovich). General Kutuzov is among the wounded, and the French success dissuades Prussia from joining the Third Coalition.

Napoleon issues a proclamation at Schönbrunn in December dethroning the Bourbons in Naples (see 1799). Queen Maria Carolina calls on the British and Russian fleets to support her (but see 1806).

The Treaty of Pressburg (Bratislava) signed in the Hall of Mirrors at the city's Primate's Palace (Primaciainy Palac) December 26 ends hostilities between France and Austria. Franz I cedes Piedmont, Parma, and Piacenza to France; Bavaria is elevated to a kingdom under Mannheim-born Maximilian I Joseph, 49 (who will reign until his death in 1825), and receives the Tyrol, the free city of Augsburg, the free city of Nuremberg, Brandenburg, and other territory but yields Würzburg to the elector of Salzburg, whose city is given to Austria along with Berchtesgaden and the estates of the Teutonic Order; Württemberg and Baden are recognized as kingdoms and given what remain of the western lands of the Hapsburgs.

Egypt gains virtual independence from the Ottoman Turks, whose forces are driven out by Mohammed Ali, 36, a former tobacco merchant from Kavalla who came to Egypt in 1799 as commander of an Albanian contingent, was appointed governor by the Ottoman sultan, has intervened in political intrigues among Turkish officials and the Mamelukes, and is proclaimed pasha by Mameluke supporters. He sets out to modernize the country, luring Europeans to Alexandria in an effort to revive trade, and within a few decades the city will once again be a thriving port and the center of Egypt's cotton industry.

The Laotian king Anouvong (Chao Anou) comes to power as ruler of Vien Chan, beginning a 23-year reign in which he will try to gain independence from Siamese suzerainty (see 1778; 1806).

General Gerard Lake suffers a defeat at Bharatpur early in the year, has to make peace with the Maratha in April, and is removed from his command. The governor general of India Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquis Cornwallis, dies at Ghazipur October 5 at age 66. Forced to surrender at Yorktown in 1781, he served as India's governor general from 1786 to 1793 and as lord-lieutenant of Ireland from 1798 to 1801; he was reappointed to his Indian post last year. Sir George Barlow takes his place as acting governor general and in November revises the Treaty of Surji-Arjungaon that was signed at the end of 1803. In accordance with London's new policy of withdrawal, he withdraws the East India Company's protectorate over Rajasthan, abrogates the defensive treaty with Daulat Rao Sindhia, and restores Gohad and Gwalior to him (but see 1817).

The Michigan Territory is created January 11, separate from the Indiana Territory, with Detroit as its capital (see 1701; statehood, 1837; Illinois Territory, 1809).

The impeachment trial of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase opens in the Senate February 4 with Chase reading aloud the charges that have been brought against him in the House of Representatives and giving his response (see 1800). He declares himself satisfied that the opinion he gave in the trial of John Fries was correct as to the law that it stated, that its correctness should not be subjected to examination in an impeachment trial, and that the lawyers who said he "did, in his judicial capacity, conduct himself in a manner highly arbitrary, oppressive, and unjust" knew that the facts were against them and had tried to "excite odium" against the court in an effort to obtain a presidential pardon for their client. The Senate votes March 1 to acquit, although the votes are narrowly divided on some of the eight articles of impeachment. Justice Chase retains his seat on the high court, but some congressmen propose amending the Constitution to provide for removal of a Supreme Court justice upon a joint address of both houses of Congress to the president.

Seven U.S. marines participate in a harrowing march across the Libyan desert to capture Derna on orders from President Jefferson; a treaty signed June 4 ends hostilities between the United States and Tripoli, whose corsairs (pirates) have preyed on U.S. shipping in the Mediterranean, but the United States is obliged to pay a $60,000 ransom for the release of crewmen from U.S.S. Philadelphia, who have been imprisoned since 1803 (see Decatur, 1804; 1815).

Former British colonial governor Thomas Pownall dies at Bath February 25 at age 72; former Continental Army general Horatio Gates on his Manhattan farm April 10 at age 77. Victorious at Saratoga in 1777, he was blamed for the defeat at Camden 3 years later; former general and (later) South Carolina governor William Moultrie dies at his native Charleston, South Carolina, September 27 at age 74.

exploration, colonization

Dayton, Ohio, is incorporated, taking its name from New Jersey-born land speculator Jonathan Dayton, now 44, who has left the U.S. Senate in order to concentrate on developing his Ohio properties.

The District of Louisiana is made Louisiana Territory with St. Louis as its capital.

The Lewis and Clark expedition sends its keelboat back to St. Louis in early April with a dozen men who convey specimens (including a live prairie dog and magpie), and a report for President Jefferson. The Corps of Discovery leaves April 7, having engaged as guide and interpreter one Toissant Charbonneau, 46, a French-Canadian voyageur whose teen-aged Shoshone wife, Sacajawea, has been delivered of a child in February with Lewis's help in the Mandan villages (see 1804). Charbonneau won Sacajawea in a gambling game a year or two ago when she was about 14 and married her along with another Shoshone girl captured by the Crow; he brings her along together with their infant son. The first band of Shoshone they encounter is headed by her brother Cameahwait, who helps the expedition obtain the horses and supplies they need to cross the high mountains into the Columbia River basin. Lewis, who calls her "Jenny," and Clark, who calls her "Janie," learn from Sacajawea how to find and eat wild roots that enable them to survive a bitter winter. She often serves as guide as well as interpreter, and with her help the expedition reaches the Pacific Coast November 18 (see 1806).

Trenton, New Jersey-born explorer Lieutenant Zebulon M. (Montgomery) Pike, 26, U.S. Army, ascends the Mississippi River in search of its source (see 1806; Marquette and Joliet, 1673).

commerce

Prussia abolishes internal customs duties to improve her domestic economy.

French-born Philadelphia merchant Stephen Girard, 55, builds ships to enter the lucrative China and West Indian trade. Girard has made $50,000 selling the belongings of French planters killed in the insurrection last year at Saint Domingue (see 1812).

energy

Multi-tubular boiler inventor John Stevens sends his 20-year-old son John Cox Stevens to England and the young man obtains a British patent for the boiler May 31 (see 1791). Young Stevens visits James Watt at Heathfield with a letter from his father, and Watt repeats his frequently stated objections to the use of steam at any pressure more than two or three pounds above the atmosphere (see Fulton, 1807).

transportation

The Beaufort scale devised by British Royal Navy officer Francis Beaufort, 31, measures wind velocities and will be an aid to navigation.

Boston entrepreneur Frederic Tudor, 21, pioneers export of U.S. ice. He has declined to "waste his time" attending Harvard like his three brothers, heard that lumber shipped from New England ports in winter will sometimes still have ice on its plank-ends when unloaded weeks later at West Indian ports, and engaged men to chop ice from nearby lakes and ponds to be stored in icehouses. Undaunted by a costly initial setback, Tudor will ship thicker ice in better-insulated ships, will obtain a virtual monopoly in ice trade to Cuba, build ice houses at Caribbean and South American ports, and develop a large business (see 1833; food [Wyeth], 1825).

The first American covered bridge spans the Schuylkill River. A Philadelphia judge has persuaded Timothy Palmer to cover the three-span structure to prevent snow from blocking it (see Vermont, 1824).

science

William H. Wollaston discovers rhodium.

religion

Britons hold religious services throughout the country December 5 to give thanks for the naval victory at Trafalgar in October. Lloyd's members subscribe at least £123,600 for the relief of widows and orphans.

education

Haileybury College is founded to train East India Company personnel.

communications, media

The Times of London publishes its first illustration January 10, showing the funeral of Lord Nelson.

Semaphore inventor Claude Chappe commits suicide in a fit of depression at Paris January 23 at age 41. His system has been widely copied throughout Europe, and others have claimed that they rather than he invented the semaphore.

President Jefferson defends freedom of the press March 4 in his second inaugural address: "The artillery of the press has been leveled against us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness and to sap its safety . . . Since truth and reason have maintained their ground against false opinions in league with false facts, the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false reasoning and opinions on a full hearing of all parties, and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness."

literature

Nonfiction: Principles of Human Action by English essayist William Hazlitt, 27, who has received encouragement from poet-esssayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Fiction: Wild Oats (Felgeljahre) by Jean-Paul Richter.

Poetry: Medoc by Robert Southey; The Lay of the Last Minstrel by Walter Scott is his first original poem: "Breathes there a man, with soul so dead,/ Who never to himself hath said,/ This is my own, my native land!"

art

Painting: Shipwreck by J. M. W. Turner; Greta Bridge by English landscape watercolorist John Sell Cotman, 23; L'Emprise Josephine à Malmaison and L'Entervue de Napoleon 1er et de François II à Saruchitz après La bataille d'Austerlitz by French painter Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (né Pierre Prudon), 47. A stone-cutter's son who has won the patronage of the emperor and his wife, he changed his name at age 20, after his marriage to a woman who bore his first child 9 days later (he now has six children but is hopelessly in love with his student Constance Mayer, now 31); Doña Isabel Cobos de Procal by Francisco de Goya; Thomas Jefferson by Bucks County, Pennsylvnia-born painter Rembrandt Peale, 27, a son of Charles Willson Peale.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts established at Philadelphia will survive as the oldest U.S. art academy and museum, specializing in American painting and sculpture (see building, 1876).

theater, film

Playwright-poet Friedrich von Schiller dies at Weimar May 9 at age 45.

music

Opera: Fidelio, oder Die eheliche Liebe 11/20 at Vienna's Theater-an-der-Wien, with music by Ludwig van Beethoven, who includes a second version of his Leonore Overture (see 1798; 1814).

First performances: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (Eroica) by Ludwig van Beethoven 4/7 at Vienna's Theater-an-der-Wien. The composer dedicated the symphony last year to the French first consul, Napoleon Bonaparte, but has struck out the dedication upon learning that Bonaparte has accepted the title "Emperor of the French"; Sonata in A major for Violin or Piano (Kreutzer) by Beethoven 5/17 at Bonn, in a concert given at 8 in the morning. Beethoven has dedicated the work to violinist Rudolf Kreutzer, who has called it "unintelligible" and refused to play it.

Italian violinist Niccolo Paganini begins a second European tour.

Cellist-composer Luigi Boccherini dies in poverty at Madrid May 28 at age 62, having written some 500 works that included concerti, symphonies, sacred music, and the first music for a string quintet.

sports

Gloucestershire-born prizefighter John Gully, 22, loses in 64 rounds to "the Game Chicken" Henry Pearce October 8 at Hailsham, Sussex, in a match held before the duke of Clarence (later William IV). Having failed as a butcher, Gully was sent to debtors' prison, where he received a visit from Pearce, fought an informal bout with him, received enough to pay off his debts, and will be recognized as heavyweight champion when Pearce retires for reasons of health. He himself will retire in 1808, become a racehorse owner, gain election to Parliament, own coal mines, and sire 12 children by each of two successive wives.

everyday life

The London barbershop Truefitt & Hill has its beginnings in a shop opened October 21 by barber Francis Truefitt, whose establishment will survive as the oldest of its kind in the city.

architecture, real estate

The Hunnewell-Shipley House at Portland, Maine, is completed to designs by Maine-born architect Alexander Parris, 24, who will be the chief exponent of the Greek Revival style in New England.

agriculture

Tangerines (Citrus reticulata) reach Europe for the first time, coming directly from China. The loose-skinned mandarin species has been cultivated for years in China and Japan and by 1850 will be grown in many Mediterranean countries. (They may have come to southern Spain from Tangier, in Morocco, during or soon after the Middle Ages.

The first California orange grove of any size is planted at San Gabriel Mission near Los Angeles. California will rival Florida as an orange producer.

nutrition

The victory of the British at Trafalgar owes a lot to the virtual abolition of scurvy from the Royal Navy (see 1795; but see also1884).

food and drink

Salem, Massachusetts, exports 7.5 million pounds of pepper, which have come in from Sumatra and other East Indian sources.

population

English population authority Thomas R. Malthus is named to a chair in political economy at the new Haileybury College (see 1817).

"Observations on the Present State of the Highlands of Scotland, With a View of the Causes and Probable Consequences of Emigration" by the 34-year-old Scottish philanthropist Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of Selkirk, proposes emigration as a solution to the distress he has found among landless farmers in the Highlands. His older brothers having died, he inherited his title 6 years ago upon the death of his father and in the past few years has sent about 900 Scottish peasants to Prince Edward Island and Upper Canada (see exploration [Red River Settlement], 1812).

1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810