Directory

1799 CE

French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Cassano takes place outside of Milan, as Russian and Austrian troops commanded by General Alexander Suvorov rout the French Army under the command of General Jean Moreau. The Siege of Acre ends after two months; Napoleon's attempt to widen his Middle Eastern campaign into Syria is frustrated by Ottoman forces, and he withdraws to Egypt. War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Novi – the defeat of Barthélemy Joubert's army by Suvorov's Austrian–Russian troops.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 21 – The Parthenopean Republic is established in Naples by French General Jean Étienne Championnet; King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies flees.source
  • March 1 – Federalist James Ross becomes President pro tempore of the United States Senate.source
  • June 13 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies is restored to his kingdom following the collapse of the Parthenopean Republic.source
  • September 23 – Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, the Governor of British Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka), issues a proclamation declaring that the laws of the Netherlands for the conquered Dutch Ceylon shall be enforced until superseded by new laws.source
  • December 10 – France adopts the metre as its official unit of length.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 27 – French Revolutionary Wars: Macau Incident – French and Spanish warships encounter a British Royal Navy escort squadron in the Wanshan Archipelago of China inconclusively.source
  • February 9 – Quasi-War: In the single-ship action of USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente in the Caribbean, the American ship is the victor.source
  • February 28 – French Revolutionary Wars: Action of 28 February 1799 – British Royal Navy frigate HMS Sybille defeats the French frigate Forte off the mouth of the Hooghly River in the Bay of Bengal, but both captains are killed.source
  • March 4 – The Russo-Ottoman Siege of Corfu (1798–1799) ends with the surrender of the French garrison, bringing an end to the first period of French rule in the Ionian Islands (1797–1799).source
  • March 7 – War of the Second Coalition: Siege of Jaffa – Napoleon captures Jaffa in Palestine from the Ottomans and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.source
  • March 21 – War of the Second Coalition: Victory of Archduke Charles and the Austrian army over the French army of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at the Battle of Ostrach.source
  • March 23 – War of the Second Coalition: Victory of Franjo Jelačić and the Austrian army over the French army of André Masséna at the Battle of Feldkirch.source
  • March 25 – War of the Second Coalition: Victory of Archduke Charles and the Austrian army over the French army of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at the Battle of Stockach (1799), a key crossroads at the western end of Lake Constance.source
  • April 16 – French Revolutionary Wars: At the Battle of Mount Tabor severely outnumbered French forces repulse an Ottoman attack.source
  • April 27 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Cassano takes place outside of Milan, as Russian and Austrian troops commanded by General Alexander Suvorov rout the French Army under the command of General Jean Moreau.source
  • May 4 – Battle of Seringapatam: Tipu Sultan is defeated and killed by the British, ending the captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam ends and concluding the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.source
  • May 21 – The Siege of Acre ends after two months; Napoleon's attempt to widen his Middle Eastern campaign into Syria is frustrated by Ottoman forces, and he withdraws to Egypt.source
  • May 27 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Winterthur – Habsburg forces secure control of north-east Switzerland from the French Army of the Danube.source
  • June 7 – War of the Second Coalition: First Battle of Zurich – Four days of fighting ends in victory for Archduke Charles and the Austrian army over the French army under André Masséna.source
  • June 17 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of the Trebbia – The beginning of the battle that marked the debacle of Étienne Macdonald's French army. Suvorov scores a comprehensive victory.source
  • June 18 – French Revolutionary Wars: Action of 18 June 1799 – A French frigate squadron, under Rear-admiral Perrée, is captured by the British fleet under Lord Keith, off Toulon.source
  • July 12 – Ranjit Singh captures Lahore from the Bhangi Misl, a key step in establishing the Sikh Empire, and becoming Maharaja of the Punjab.source
  • July 25 – Battle of Abukir: French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte defeat 20,000 Ottoman Mamluk troops under Mustafa Pasha at Abukir. The French suffer only 220 dead and 600 wounded while the Ottoman losses are enormous: 2,000 dead on the battlefield, 11,000 men drowned, 5,000 prisoners of war. Napoleon captures 100 Ottoman banners, 32 guns, 400 horses and three Pashas' Bunchuks (ceremonial flags issued to Pasha).source
  • August 15 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Novi – the defeat of Barthélemy Joubert's army by Suvorov's Austrian–Russian troops.source
  • August 27 – War of the Second Coalition: Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland – Britain and Russia send an expedition to the Batavian Republic.source
  • September 18 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Mannheim – Victory of Archduke Charles and the Austrian army over a French force under Jacques Léonard Mullersource
  • September 30 – Suvorov's Swiss campaign: Battle of Muottental – the rout of Masséna's French troops by Suvorov's army.source
  • October 18 – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Anglo-Russian expedition forces surrender in North Holland.source
  • November 9 – Coup of 18 Brumaire: Napoleon overthrows the French Directory in a coup d'état, which ends the French Revolution.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • July 15 – In the Egyptian port city of Rosetta, French Captain Pierre Bouchard finds the Rosetta Stone.source
  • Conrad John Reed, 12, finds what he describes as a "heavy yellow rock" along Little Meadow Creek in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and makes it a doorstop in his home. Conrad's father John Reed learns that the rock is actually gold in 1802, initiating the first gold rush in the United States.source

Religion & Belief

  • September 29 – The Second Roman Republic, a puppet state formed by the French Army after they dissolve the Papal States and the occupation of Rome, is dissolved 19 months after its creation on February 15, 1798.source
  • November 10 (19 Brumaire) – A remnant of the Council of Ancients in France abolishes the Constitution of the Year III, and ordains the French Consulate with Napoleon as First Consul, with the Constitution of the Year VIII.source
  • November 30 – 1799–1800 Papal conclave opens in Venice at San Giorgio Monastery.source

Economy & Finance

  • January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's effort in the French Revolutionary Wars.source
  • December 31 – The Dutch East India Company's charter is allowed to expire by the Batavian Republic.source
  • The Place Royale in Paris is renamed Place des Vosges, when the Department of Vosges becomes the first to pay new Revolutionary taxes.source
  • The small town of Tignish, Prince Edward Island, Canada is founded.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • William Cockerill begins building cotton-spinning machinery in Belgium.source
  • Eli Whitney, holding a 1798 United States government contract for the manufacture of muskets, is introduced by Oliver Wolcott Jr. to the concept of interchangeable parts, an origin of the American system of manufacturing.source

Science & Discovery

  • October 12 – Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute, from an altitude of 900 m ft over France.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 17 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.source
  • October 16 – War of the Second Coalition: Action of 16 October 1799 – A Spanish treasure convoy worth more than £54,000,000 is captured by the British Royal Navy off Vigo.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • October 9 – (a famous treasure wreck) is sunk in the West Frisian Islands.source
  • November 5 – HMS Sceptre is driven ashore and wrecked in a storm in Table Bay, South Africa, with the loss of 349 and 41 survivors.source

Culture & Society

  • March 14 – The public premiere of Haydn’s oratorio The Creation takes place at the Burgtheater in Vienna.source
  • March 29 – New York passes a law aimed at gradually abolishing slavery in the state.source

Births

  • January 6 – Jedediah Smith, American fur trapper, explorer (d. 1831)source
  • February 11 – Basil Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross (d. 1873)source
  • March 8 – Simon Cameron, American politician (d. 1889)source
  • March 28 – Karl Adolph von Basedow, German physician, noted for reporting the symptoms of Graves–Basedow disease (d. 1854)source
  • March 29 – Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1869)source
  • April 17 – Eliza Acton, English poet and cookery writer (d. 1859)source
  • May 20 – Honoré de Balzac, French author (d. 1850)source
  • May 21 – Mary Anning, British paleontologist (d. 1847)source
  • June 6 – Alexander Pushkin, Russian author (d. 1837)source
  • October 1 – John Brown Russwurm, Americo-Liberian journalist and governor of the African Republic of Maryland (d. 1851)source
  • November 1 – Thomas Baldwin Marsh, American religious leader (d. 1866)source
  • November 29 – Amos Bronson Alcott, American philosopher, educator and writer, father of novelist Louisa May Alcott (d. 1888)source
  • December 3 – Peggy Eaton, born Margaret O'Neill, wife of United States Secretary of State John Eaton and central character in the Petticoat affair (d. 1879)source
  • December 25 – Manuel Bulnes, Chilean general and politician, President of Chile (d. 1866)source

Deaths

  • January 22 – Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, Swiss aristocrat, alpinist (b. 1740)source
  • February 7 – The Jiaqing Emperor of China comes into his full powers on the death of his father, the Qianlong Emperor. He prosecutes corrupt court official Heshen and issues a decree prohibiting the import of opium to China.source
  • February 12 – Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian biologist, physiologist (b. 1729)source
  • February 24 – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German scientist, satirist and Anglophile (b. 1742)source
  • April 6 – Alexander Bezborodko, Grand Chancellor of Russia, architect of Catherine the Great's foreign policy (b. 1747)source
  • May 4 – Tipu Sultan, Indian warrior and ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, killed in battle (b. 1750)source
  • June 6 – Patrick Henry, American revolutionary politician, Governor of Virginia (b. 1736)source
  • June 10 – Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Guadeloupe-born French musician (b. 1745)source
  • August 2 – Jacques Étienne Montgolfier, French inventor of the hot-air balloon, balloonist (b. 1744)source
  • October 9 – Pierre Pigneau de Behaine, French priest who helped to establish the Nguyễn dynasty (b. 1741)source
  • October 20 – James Iredell, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1751)source
  • October 24 – Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Austrian composer (b. 1739)source
  • December 6 – Joseph Black, Scottish physician, physicist and chemist (b. 1728)source
  • December 14 – George Washington, first President of the United States, dies at Mount Vernon, Virginia, aged 67.source