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The 1790s

1,543 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 18th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1790 CE147 entries

  • January 8 – President of the U.S. George Washington gives the first State of the Union address, in New York City.
  • May 17–18 – Battle of Andros: An Ottoman–Algerian fleet destroys the fleet of the Greek privateer Lambros Katsonis.
  • 23 June – alleged London Monster arrested in London: he later receives two years for three assaults.

1791 CE145 entries

  • March 4 – Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state (see History of Vermont).
  • April 29–May 8 – The first American ships reach Japan, brigantine Lady Washington captained by John Kendrick of Boston, and the brig Grace.
  • 14 October – the Northern Whig Club, a group of nine Belfast Presbyterians, meets with Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell and forms the Society of United Irishmen to press for liberal non-denominational parliamentary reform.

1792 CE164 entries

  • June 1 – Kentucky becomes the 15th state of The United States of America (see History of Kentucky).
  • September 2–7 – French Revolution: September Massacres – Rampaging mobs slaughter three Roman Catholic bishops and more than 200 priests, together with at least 1,000 other criminals.
  • 2–7 September – French Revolution: September Massacres – Rampaging mobs in Paris slaughter three Roman Catholic bishops and more than 200 priests, together with at least 1,000 criminals.

1793 CE160 entries

  • February 1 – French Revolutionary Wars: The French First Republic declares war on Great Britain, the Dutch Republic and (on March 7) Spain. During the year, the War of the First Coalition is joined by Portugal, the Holy Roman Empire, Naples and Tuscany in opposition to France.
  • February 11 – French expedition to Sardinia (Expédition de Sardaigne): A French fleet under admiral Laurent Truguet debarks troops near Cagliari in Sardinia.
  • 11 February – French expedition to Sardinia (Expédition de Sardaigne): A French fleet under admiral Laurent Truguet debarks troops near Cagliari in Sardinia.

1794 CE167 entries

  • March 27 – The United States Government authorizes the building of the first six United States Navy vessels (in 1797 the first 3 frigates, USS United States, USS Constellation and USS Constitution go into service), not to be confused with October 13, 1775, which is observed as the Navy's Birthday .
  • 7 May – French Revolution: Robespierre establishes the Cult of the Supreme Being as the new state religion of the French First Republic.
  • August 9 – Napoleon is arrested and put under house arrest at Nice for his association with the Robespierres during their fall in the Thermidorian Reaction. He is later taken to Antibes and detained in a military fort.

1795 CE149 entries

  • January 16 – War of the First Coalition: Flanders campaign: The French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.
  • 18 January – William V, Prince of Orange, flees the Dutch Republic for exile at Kew.
  • April – the British Army is evacuated from Bremen, having been unsuccessful in the Flanders Campaign under Prince Frederick, Duke of York.

1796 CE157 entries

  • 14 May – Edward Jenner successfully administers the smallpox vaccine to James Phipps in Gloucestershire.
  • December 7 – The U.S. Electoral College meets to elect John Adams president of the United States.
  • December 7 – The U.S. Electoral College meets to elect John Adams president.

1797 CE145 entries

  • 26 January – The Treaty of the Third Partition of Poland is signed in St. Petersburg by the Russian Empire, Austria and the Kingdom of Prussia.
  • February 14 – French Revolutionary Wars – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: The British Royal Navy under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeats a larger Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent, Portugal.
  • Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797), an amphibious assault by the Royal Navy on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands launched by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson. The result was a Spanish victory by truce after Nelson's party had lost several hundred men.

1798 CE154 entries

  • March – the Irish Rebellion of 1798 begins when the Irish Militia arrest the leadership of the Society of United Irishmen, a group unique amongst Irish republican and nationalist movements in that it unifies Catholics and Protestants (Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and others) around republican ideals. This month, Lord Castlereagh is appointed Acting Chief Secretary for Ireland and on March 30 martial law is proclaimed here. The first battles in the rebellion are fought on May 24, and it continues through September, but the rebels receive much less than the expected support from France, which sends only 1,100 men.
  • 1 August – French Revolutionary Wars: Admiral Nelson's fleet destroys the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile.
  • October 12 – Battle of Tory Island: A British Royal Navy squadron, under Sir John Borlase Warren, prevents French Republican ships, commanded by Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart, from landing reinforcements for the Society of United Irishmen on the County Donegal coast; Irish leader Wolfe Tone is captured and later dies of his wounds. This ends the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

1799 CE155 entries

  • 9 January – Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.
  • 4 May – Battle of Seringapatam: British forces defeat the Sultan of Mysore; his kingdom is divided between the Honourable East India Company and Hyderabad.
  • August 15 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Novi – the defeat of Barthélemy Joubert's army by Suvorov's Austrian–Russian troops.