Milan, afternoon. The excitement of the clash takes hold. The young physicist Paolo Rossignoli overturns Romilli’s carriage. It is perhaps the first of 1,700 barricades that will be erected throughout Milan during the Five Days. Mostly household furniture will be used, but, in one case,
Milan, early afternoon. Radetzky mobilized his troops with seven cannon shots. When the soldiers arrived, it took nothing to provoke an incident: a Hungarian grenadier fired a shot, wounding a protester. In the tumult, a young seminarian in a cassock, Giovan Battista Zaffaroni, lunged at
Charles Babbage is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. His longtime collaborator is Ada, Countess of Lovelace and daughter of the poet Byron.
Joseph Nicephore Niepce, one of the inventors of photography (along with, for example, Louis Daguerre), produced the world’s oldest surviving photograph. The image (“View from window at La Gras”) depicts the view from his room in Saint-Loupe-de-Varennes, taken with a camera obscura focused on a
According to Mormon belief, Joseph Smith saw an apparition of an angel, the angel Moroni, who revealed to him the golden plaques buried on a hill in the village of Manchester, in western New York state. Eleven witnesses claim to have seen the golden plaques
At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, including the French Revolutionary Wars, between 1792 and 1815, 3.5 million men lost their lives on the battlefields of Europe. By comparison, in the American Revolution, a few years earlier, 4,435 Americans lost their lives up to and
Naples. Murat, after initiating secret negotiations with the English and Austrians, wrote a proclamation to the Italians urging them to unite under the Kingdom of Naples, declaring their independence and promising a constitution. But the Austrians, now in control, defeated Murat or forced him to
Paris. With the Bourbon monarchy restored, Tsar Alexander leaves Paris and returns to Russia. The first to depart are the irregular cavalry, Cossacks, Bashkirs, and Kalmyks: they were not the best ambassadors of peace and friendship in a Paris open to plunder, and after a
Battle of Kulm. After the victory at Dresden, the French Army’s First Corps, commanded by General Vandamme, advancing too rapidly while pursuing the Allies, was surrounded and largely forced to surrender.
At the Battle of Katzbach, the French were narrowly defeated, but what turned the defeat into a catastrophe was the effective pursuit of the Russo-Prussians. When the regular Russian army made contact with the French rearguard on August 27, they found most of their units
Battle of Katzbach. On the southern bank, between the Katzabach and the Jaurer, the French were defeated, largely due to the failure to identify enemy positions through reconnaissance. This was due to the terrible weather conditions and the poor level of the French cavalry.
Hamburg and Lübeck are occupied by the Russians, in the midst of a popular uprising against the French. The Cossacks in Hamburg are immortalized in a famous painting by Bezotosny.
War of 1812. The Royal Navy completes a naval blockade of American ports from Long Island to the Mississippi.
Russia. Kutuzov reports to Tsar Alexander that Russian losses due to food shortages, the cold winter, and disease are extremely severe: 48,000 of the 97,000 he commanded at Tarutino are in hospital, or half the number of soldiers. Only 42,000 men remain in the ranks.
Studyanka, Russia. French cavalry swims across the Berezina. 400 light infantrymen cross on rafts. Construction of two bridges also begins.
Russia. Chichagov falls for Napoleon’s trick and moves his army south to Sabassevichi, to protect the road to the gigantic warehouses of Minsk.
Russia. Alexei Ermolov reports that the great speed with which Napoleon retreats does not allow him to keep up without exhausting his troops and horses.
Tsarist commander Barclay explained to his aide-de-camp that he would defend Moscow if he could, but that it wasn’t his top priority. Such an opinion would have caused an uproar at the Tsar’s court.
United States. The House of Representatives votes in favor of declaring war on Great Britain, 79 to 49. All Federalists vote against. The Senate takes another two weeks to vote on the declaration, and passes by 19 to 13. President Madison, as one of the
France. The worship of God is prohibited and the cult of Reason is established, the first political religion of the modern era, complete with icons, rites, and martyrs.
China. Lord George Macartney’s Chinese mission on behalf of the British Crown. It will be a complete failure. China considers itself the center of the world and refuses to establish equal relations with the English. The Emperor views the English gifts as tributes from a
France: Wheat and flour shortages worsen, and food shortages are becoming increasingly acute due to one of the coldest winters of the century.
Chesapeake, off Yorktown. Approximately 8:30 AM. Nets are being stretched over the French fleet (to prevent any men thrown overboard and to prevent boarding) and sand is being spread on the decks (to prevent the blood of sailors struck by shrapnel from making it slippery).
The French decide not to directly reinforce their contingent supporting the Americans, but place their fleet under the command of George Washington and send supplies to the Americans to allow them to maintain an army of 12,000 – 15,000 soldiers on land.
London. The government decides to abandon preparations for an attack on the Dutch and Spanish possessions in the Far East, particularly the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines.
The American Revolutionary War reaches a stalemate: the rebels’ finances have collapsed, the alliance with the French has yet to bear fruit, and the English have established another beachhead in South Carolina. But the English have their own problems: anti-Catholic and opposition riots in London
Charleston, Georgia, capitulates to the British; Georgia had pledged allegiance to the British monarch in 1779.
Montreal, Canada. American General Montgomery and his men begin to surround the city in preparation for a siege.
“Boston Massacre”: A well-armed group of 400 men attacked a picket of seven English soldiers at the customs house, throwing pieces of wood and ice: five dead and six wounded.
Paris. Sunday morning, 8:15 a.m. The Sun King, Louis XIV, dies. “I’m leaving, but France remains,” he had declared a few days earlier.
France. James II, former king of England, dies. Shortly before, Louis XIV had declared his son James III Stuart the legitimate king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. But James III was only 13 years old, and his mother, Maria Beatrice d’Este (of the Duchy of
Battle of Beachy Head, English Channel. The French marshaled 75 ships to defeat the English. French dominance, however, lasted only a year.
The English Revolution deposes the king, who is replaced by William of Orange. Queen Maria Beatrice d’Este dons her escape robes, prepares the baby Prince of Wales, hiding him in a bundle, and leaves London, never to return. James, however, remains in London.
Charles II, King of England, dies. England lives in fear that his brother, the unpopular and arrogant James II, will attempt to convert the country into a Catholic nation. James II Stuart then becomes king, and his wife, Maria Beatrice d’Este, from the Duchy of
Vienna. The Turks detonate the largest mine of the time beneath the façade of the Burg bastion, which collapses. A thousand Turks rush in. The situation in Vienna is desperate. The Turkish front line consists of highly decorated janissaries and Serdegecti, irregulars, desperately seeking glory
Vienna. Twenty-fifth day of the siege. The Turks overcome the first obstacle: the palisade. The city’s enormous defensive structures now stretch out before them, dotted with cannons and firearms, the bastion of Christianity.
Pierre de Fermat’s son, Clement-Samuel, published Diophantus’s Arithmetica with the Observations of P. de Fermat in Toulouse. Along with the Greek original and the Latin translation, his father’s 48 notes also appeared. These were 48 astonishing insights, without a single proof; several proofs were later
Johannes Hevelius, astronomer (but also master brewer!), publishes Cometographia, in which he attempts to reconcile the Aristotelian view that comets are made of vapor with the Keplerian view that they have elliptical orbits: he therefore hypothesizes that comets are born from the vapor of Jupiter
Modena. Construction of the Citadel in the current area between Viale Storchi, Via Monte Kosica, and Via Montecuccoli. Massive poplar piles and masonry foundations were erected to make the structure sturdy. 200 workers were employed. The pentagonal complex was completed in 1642. Each face measures
René Descartes, aka Descartes, completes his work The World, but does not publish it due to the problems Galileo encounters in embracing Copernican theories. It is not published during Descartes’s lifetime, but much of the material contained therein becomes part of The Principles of Philosophy,
René Descartes, aka Descartes, spends a day curled up next to a stove, and thus gives birth to the idea of undertaking the reform of human knowledge on his own.