Directory

1805 CE

Justice Samuel Chase is acquitted of impeachment charges by the United States Senate. Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition – Battle of Trafalgar: The British fleet, led by Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain; however, Admiral Nelson is fatally shot. Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz – French troops under Napoleon decisively defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 11 – The Michigan Territory is created.source
  • March 5 – The New Brunswick Legislature passes a bill to advance literacy in the province, which eventually leads to the creation of public education in Canada.source
  • May 26 – Napoleon is crowned King of Italy.source
  • August 25 – Treaty of Bogenhausen is concluded between France and Bavaria forming a military alliancesource
  • September 21 – King Ferdinand of Naples signs a treaty in Paris agreeing to keep Naples neutral during the war between France and the allied powers.source
  • December 26 – The Peace of Pressburg between France and Austria is signed in the Primate's Palace, Pressburg (modern-day Bratislava).source

Conflict & Security

  • April 27 – Battle of Derne: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (the Shores of Tripoli).source
  • May 31–June 2 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Diamond Rock – A Franco-Spanish fleet captures the strategic island of Diamond Rock off Martinique in the West Indies, from the British.source
  • June 4 – The First Barbary War ends between Tripoli and the United States of America.source
  • August 27 – Napoleon orders the Grande Armée ("The Great Army") of some 165,000 men to march to the Rhine River to deal with the Austrian and Russian threats on the frontier. The French army is organized into seven corps and is supported by 36–40 cannons each. Napoleon orders Marshal Joachim Murat with his I Cavalry Corps (some 20,000 men), to make feint attacks through the Black Forest in south-west Germany.source
  • October 14 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition – Ulm Campaign: Battle of Elchingen – An Austrian corps under Johann von Riesch is defeated by Marshal Ney, near Elchingen, Bavaria.source
  • October 16–October 19 – War of the Third Coalition: Ulm Campaign – Battle of Ulm: Austrian General Mack von Leiberich is forced to surrender his entire army to Napoleon, after being surrounded.source
  • October 21 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition – Battle of Trafalgar: The British fleet, led by Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain; however, Admiral Nelson is fatally shot.source
  • October 31 – Sweden, led by King Gustav IV Adolf, declares war on France.source
  • November 11 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Dürenstein – 8,000 French troops attempt to slow the retreat of a vastly superior Russian and Austrian force.source
  • November 16 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Schöngrabern – Russian forces, under Pyotr Bagration, delay the pursuit by French troops under Joachim Murat.source
  • December 2 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz – French troops under Napoleon decisively defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.source
  • December 31 – The French Republican Calendar (which featured a 10-day week until 1802) is used for the last time, 8 days after being annulled by Napoleon, with the final official date being "9 Nivôse in Year XIV of the Revolution".source

Exploration & Expansion

  • June 13 – Lewis and Clark Expedition in the United States: Scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River, confirming they are heading in the right direction.source
  • August 12 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: U.S. Army Captain Meriwether Lewis reaches the Continental Divide of the Americas, crossing to the west at Lemhi Pass. Karen Jones and John Wills, The American West: Competing Visions (Edinburgh University Press, 2009) p17source
  • August 31 – British Army General David Baird departs from Cork, leading an expedition to capture the Cape of Good Hope. Their ship arrives on January 4.source
  • September 29 – Admiral Nelson of the British Royal Navy takes command of the fleet off the coast of Cádiz, in order to counteract the navies of France and Spain.source
  • November 7 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition arrives at the Pacific Ocean.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 15 – The Harmony Society is officially formed as a Christian community in Harmony, Pennsylvania.source
  • June 1 – Tuscan-born composer Luigi Boccherini is buried in the Basílica pontificia de San Miguel in Madrid after being found dead on May 28.source
  • July 9 – Muhammad Ali Pasha founds his dynasty in Egypt.source
  • August 29 – Emperor Franz I of Austria and his council of ministers vote in favor of going to war with France.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • November 26 – The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is opened in Wales; it is 1007 ft m long and 126 ft m tall.source
  • James Squire becomes the first brewer in Australia to cultivate hops.source
  • The Old Man of the Mountain, a natural rock formation in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, is first mentioned by two workmen, Francis Whitcomb and Luke Brooks.source

Health & Medicine

  • April 29 – Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck is appointed as Grand Pensionary of the Batavian Republic by Napoleon.source
  • Napoleon orders his soldiers to be vaccinated.source

Crime & Justice

  • March 1 – Justice Samuel Chase is acquitted of impeachment charges by the United States Senate.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • June 11 - Detroit burns to the ground; most of the city is destroyed.source
  • October 23 – British troopship Aeneas is wrecked off Newfoundland with the loss of 340 lives.source

Climate & Environment

  • July 26 – 1805 Molise earthquake: 5,573 people in Molise and Campania, Italy, are killed.source

Culture & Society

  • April 7 – Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, Eroica, has its public premiere at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna under his baton.source
  • June 4 – The first Trooping the Colour ceremony is held at the Horse Guards Parade in London.source
  • November 20 – Beethoven's only opera Fidelio, in its original form (known retrospectively as Leonore), is premiered at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, which at this time is under French military occupation.source

Births

  • January 8 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader (d. 1878)source
  • January 27 – Samuel Palmer, English artist (d. 1881)source
  • February 13 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician (d. 1859)source
  • April 2 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer (d. 1875)source
  • June 9 – José Trinidad Cabañas, Honduran general, president and national hero (d. 1871)source
  • June 22 – Giuseppe Mazzini Italian patriot, statesman and writer (d. 1872)source
  • July 5 – Robert FitzRoy, English meteorologist, captain and politician (d. 1865)source
  • July 29 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian (d. 1859)source
  • August 4 – William Rowan Hamilton, Irish physicist (d. 1865)source
  • September 19 – John Stevens Cabot Abbott, American historian, pastor and pedagogical writer (d. 1877)source
  • September 27 – George Müller, Prussian evangelist, founder of the New Orphan Houses, Ashley Down, Bristol in England (d. 1898)source
  • November 14 – Fanny Hensel, German composer, pianist (d. 1847)source
  • November 28 – John Lloyd Stephens, American traveler, diplomat and Mayanist archaeologist (d. 1852)source
  • December 12 – Henry Wells, American businessman, founder of Wells Fargo (d. 1878)source

Deaths

  • January 7 – Ebenezer Sproat, American Continental Army officer, pioneer to the Ohio Country (b. 1752)source
  • January 9 – Noble Wimberly Jones, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)source
  • February 7 – King Anouvong becomes ruler of Vientiane on the death of his brother Inthavong.source
  • February 25 – Thomas Pownall, English colonial statesman (b. 1722)source
  • March 4 – Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter (b. 1725)source
  • May 7 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1737)source
  • May 9 – Friedrich Schiller, German playwright (b. 1759)source
  • May 12 – Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim, 71st Grandmaster of the Order of Malta (b. 1744)source
  • May 25 – William Paley, English philosopher (b. 1743)source
  • August 3 – Christopher Anstey, English writer (b. 1724)source
  • October 5 – Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British general (b. 1738)source
  • October 21 – John Cooke, English captain (b. 1762)source
  • October 23 – On the early death of her husband, Madame Clicquot Ponsardin takes over his champagne wine business in France as Veuve Clicquot.source
  • December 23 – Geneviève Thiroux d'Arconville, French novelist, translator and chemist (b. 1720)source