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Irishman William Rowan Hamilton and Jacobi develop Hamiltonian and Jacobian mechanics

American President Monroe signed a treaty with Spain ceding Texas to them. It was reinstated in 1845, and confirmed after the Mexican-American War.

Friedrich Stromeyer, professor of Chemistry and Pharmacology at the University of Göttingen, noticed a zinc solution with an anomalous color during one of his inspections of local pharmacies. Subsequent analyses led to the discovery of cadmium, which indicates the zinc mineral, calamine. The two metals

The historical period known as the Restoration, during which, appealing to Legitimism, several European sovereigns were restored and attempts were made to overthrow the principles of the French Revolution that Napoleon had brought to Europe. However, this was subject to numerous exceptions, which ultimately led

12:00 pm: French howitzers open fire on Hougoumont Farm.

Wellington’s British army was also forced to retreat after a battle 13km south of Waterloo.

American General Andrew Jackson, with the help of the privateer Laffitte, wins the Battle of New Orleans against the British during the Second American War of Independence (or the War of 1812, although it lasted longer), forcing them to retreat from Louisiana (in reality, the

Nepalese Gurkha raids into India lead to war with the British Empire and the annexation of Nepal.

War of 1812. The United States and the Creek Nation sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson.

France. Napoleon follows Blucher to Laon and attacks. But he greatly underestimates the size of the Allied contingent, once again due to a lack of cavalry. The assault fails. The Allied counterattack comes as a surprise, at night, and defeats Marmont. Only Blucher’s nervous breakdown

France. Battle of Craonne. Vorontsov must defend himself as best he can against the bulk of Napoleon’s forces, commanded by Napoleon himself. On the Chemin des Dames heights, he deploys his artillery and the 14th Chasseurs, as well as elite marksmen. The Russians have the

France. The French army crosses the Aisne at Berry-au-Bac and is held back by Vorontsov’s Russians. Blucher, on the other hand, intends to attack directly the Paris metropolitan area, which is virtually defenseless.

France. The allies Prussia, Russia, Austria, and Great Britain sign an agreement stating that they will accept peace with France only if the latter is reduced to its historic borders, the Netherlands is enlarged, Belgium serves as a buffer, and the German confederation is dominated

France. The Allies are beginning to experience supply problems, far from their bases, with stretched lines of communication. Rural France has proven poorer than the Allies expected, and insufficient to support the troops through plunder and taxes. Furthermore, resistance from French peasants to requisitions and

France. Before Wittgenstein can react, Napoleon strikes. The 4,000 Allied men are forced to flee before the overwhelming enemy: his cavalry succeeds, but almost all of his infantry is captured or killed. As a result, the entire Allied army is forced to retreat across the

France. Blucher finds himself facing Napoleon himself and the bulk of his forces. He is forced to retreat, forming defensive squares. A third of his men nevertheless fall in battle. Total disaster is averted only thanks to the courage of his men. Napoleon’s morale is

France. Sacken encounters Napoleon’s vanguard. Only by luck does he manage to extricate himself and retreat in an orderly fashion, avoiding a clash that would have been fatal.

France. Napoleon advances toward Sezanne and defeats Olsufiev’s 18,000 Russians.

France. Blucher heads north with Sacken and Olsuf’ev’s 18,000 Russians, to join Yorck’s 17,000 and Kleist and Kapcevic’s 15,000 north of the Marne. Coincidentally, Napoleon marches north, passing right through Blucher’s army, defeating one Allied formation after another, as they were not concentrated in a

La Rothiere. The Russian infantry attacks the village with bayonets, without stopping to fire. Then comes the fierce counterattack of Napoleon’s guard. It ends in a draw: the French lose 73 cannons and 5,000 men, the Allies slightly less. But in the first real pitched

Napoleon’s troops attacked Brienne in three columns, where Blucher’s allied troops were stationed. The French broke through, and Blucher and Sacken themselves narrowly escaped capture.

Spain. First Restoration: the Bourbon Dynasty reigns again with two sovereigns: Ferdinand VII and Isabella II.

War of 1812. The British capture Fort Niagara during the night, and burn the village of Lewiston.

Battle of Leipzig. 6:00 PM. The Schonefeld bastion in the north falls into Allied hands after the arrival of Bernadotte’s troops.

The Battle of Dennewitz, together with the Battle of Gross Beeren on 23 August, thwarted Napoleon’s attempts to seize Berlin.

As soon as the armistice expired, a detachment of Cossacks, under Lowenstern’s command, was sent to capture Napoleon. Along the way, they came across a manor house and discovered Oudinet’s treasure (Napoleon was already in Silesia, too far away). It consisted of 2.4 million paper

The armistice between Napoleon and the coalition hostile to him expires.

Hamburg. After the enthusiasm of a few weeks earlier, as soon as the Russians arrived, the volunteers now dwindled, and the Swedish troops, allied with the Russians and commanded by Bernadotte, were forced to surrender to Napoleon’s French forces without a fight. This was one

Prussia declares war on France.

All of Prussia is occupied by the Russians (and abandoned by the French army).

Russia. Vilnius falls to Russia.

a temporary rise in temperatures that leads to the melting of the ice on the Berezina, significantly hindering the journey.

Russia. Napoleon and his vanguard leave Smolensk.

Russia. Napoleon arrives at Smolensk.

Smolensk, Russia. Shortly before the arrival of the Grande Armée, looters raid Napoleon’s massive army supply depots. In the days that followed, they were poorly managed, with supplies that could last weeks being devoured in a single day, and shops and warehouses destroyed. The Jews

Russia. The cold of the Russian winter first assails Napoleon’s army as it retreats along the main road to Smolensk. On November 6, Napoleon’s men find themselves marching through deep snow.

Russia. Kutuzov had to admit that “due to the army’s rapid advance in pursuit of the rapidly fleeing enemy, food transport for the troops was delayed, and the troops were beginning to suffer from a shortage of supplies.” For the first time during the campaign,

Viazma, Russia. Napoleon’s army, retreating along the main road to Smolensk, forms a nearly continuous column 50 kilometers long. Russian commander Miloradovich attempts to isolate the French rearguard, but the attempt fails. The Russians cannot afford to face Napoleon’s entire army in open battle. This

Smolensk, Russia. Reinforcements arrive for Napoleon: 36,000 French troops under the command of Marshal Victor.

Moscow. The Russian Miloradovis negotiates a one-day truce with Murat to allow the tsarist army to leave the city. Thanks to this initiative, and to Murat already resting in a comfortable Moscow residence, the Russians leave the city undisturbed. They head first southeast (Ryazan) and

Russia. Western suburbs of Moscow. Incredibly, the Russians are running out of room to retreat and defend themselves. Kutuzov’s dilemma is whether to relentlessly defend Moscow. The dilemma is whether it is more important to hold the army or to hold Moscow. At the meeting

Russia. Pamfil Nazarov, a peasant owned by the crown, is conscripted. He is one of only two Russian privates to have written accounts. In his memoirs, he provides an unparalleled picture of Russian military service from a grassroots perspective. In Russia, family groups are called

The Battle of Borodino, also known as the Battle of the Moskva, was the largest and bloodiest single-day battle fought during the Napoleonic Wars, involving over 250,000 men. The battle ended without significant tactical gains for either side. The French forces under the command of

Battle of Borodino. Late afternoon. The French control most of the field. Napoleon continues to refuse to use the Guard to finish off the Russian army (he might have achieved a decisive victory, but on the other hand, the Guard will be essential to his

Kutuzov found a favorable position to entrench himself, near the village of Borodino, 124 kilometers from Moscow. Unlike his predecessor, Barclay, he had no intention of surrendering Moscow.

The eve of the Russian Campaign. The Russians have 600,000 men, but 80,000 are in Crimea, the Caucasus, and Finland. Those on the front lines number 242,000, about half the French forces they face. It is clear to the Russians that the first part of

North America. The British Royal Navy manages to sail up the Chesapeake Peninsula and set fire to Washington. It quickly becomes clear to the Americans that maintaining control of the seas is crucial.

Venezuela. Bolivar drafts the Cartagena Manifesto, in which he expresses his contempt for democracy and for that “fatal system of tolerance inadequate to any man of common sense,” and for the “criminal clemency of benevolent visionaries who seek to achieve political perfection by taking human

Venezuela. A devastating earthquake hits Caracas, killing 10,000 people.

Sicily. Lord Bentick, Sicilian Foreign Minister, imposes a constitution modeled on the English parliamentary system on Sicily, a British protectorate.

Napoleon’s campaign in Russia.

An 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck along the New Madrid Fault, between Missouri and Tennessee. Six hours later, another tremor of the same magnitude, 8.2, followed. On January 23rd, there will be another tremendous 8.1 tremor, and on February 7th, another 8.3!

United States. Battle of Tippecanoe. American Governor Harrison (the “Long Knives Governor,” in Shawnee terminology) sends 250 infantry, several hundred militia, and 50 Kentucky volunteers against Tecumseh’s Shawnee tribe. The Americans win a tactical victory. He will cite it several years later to win the

The passage of Flaugergues’ Comet, also mentioned by Tolstoy in “War and Peace.” It is expected to pass again in the year 4800.

Independence of Paraguay and Venezuela from Spain.

Napoleonic Empire extends from Spain to Italy to Germany

Earthquake magnitude 5.2 on the Richter scale in Montebranzone (Modena)

Venezuela. Upon Simon Bolivar’s return home, he and veteran Francisco de Miranda proclaimed the First Venezuelan Republic. Bolivar and Miranda had fled Spain due to Napoleon’s occupation.

East Coast of the United States, between Norfolk and New York. The American battleships USS President and the British Little Belt engage in a fierce exchange of cannon fire. The small British ship comes out on top, losing nine sailors. The USS President, in reality,

Avogadro’s molecular theory of gases

The appearance of a comet in the sky provides, according to the beliefs of the time, the explanation of a series of peculiar phenomena such as the birth ofdifferent twins (which isdifferent from the twinsdifferent) or the very curious fact that flies appear to be

Earthquake magnitude 5.2 on the Richter scale in Novellara (Reggio Emilia)

London’s streets are lit by gas

As Franco-Russian relations once again head towards war, the French ambassador in St. Petersburg tries to warn Napoleon that Tsar Alexander is not as weak as he is said and believed: he is stubbornly obstinate.

Turin. Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Cellarengo, and Isolabella, known simply as Count Cavour or Cavour, is born.

The Royal Navy implements a total blockade of European ports, to embargo Napoleonic Europe.

Clear evidence is beginning to mount on the Russian side that Napoleon is preparing a massive invasion of the Tsar’s empire.

270,000 French soldiers are bogged down in the Iberian Peninsula: they want to invade Portugal, the last English bastion on the continent.

Vienna. Peace of Schonbrunn. Napoleon takes revenge on Tsar Alexander’s declaration of war and cedes a large portion of Galicia to the Poles. Shortly thereafter, he divorces his wife Josephine and asks for the hand of Alexander’s sister.

6:00 a.m.: British Foreign Secretary Lord Canning and War Secretary Sir Castlereagh challenge each other to a duel. Both fire a first shot but miss; with the second shot (a mutually agreed upon shot), Castlereagh is saved by a metal button on his jacket, while

Schrewsbury, Shroshire, England. Birth of Charles Darwin.

British Empire. The British, stung by the American War of Independence and the loss of the United States, learned their lesson and granted broad autonomy to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, so much so that from 1809 to 1819, Australia didn’t even bother notifying London

Finland passes from Swedish to Russian rule.

Napoleonic Italy reached its final form and was divided into three states: the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Naples, and the territories directly annexed to the French Empire: Piedmont, Liguria, Parma, Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio. The laws and administrations, however, remained essentially the same,

Wilhelm von Humboldt, the new Prussian Minister of Education, sharply shifted the emphasis of education to the needs of the individual rather than the state. Thus, the grammar schools were born.

The Portuguese monarchs and the entire court, having miraculously escaped the Napoleonic invasion of Portugal, arrive in Rio de Janeiro

Dalton formulates an atomic theory of matter

Salmon Portland Chase, who would go on to be a key figure in President Abraham Lincoln’s government team during the American Civil War, was born in Cornish, New Hampshire.

Russia. General Alexei Arakcheev is appointed Minister of War.

Tilsit. After the signing of the treaties, Napoleon and Tsar Alexander attend a parade of the Russian and French guards. Napoleon insists that Alexander award the Legion of Honor to the bravest soldier of the Preobrazhensky. Caught off guard, Russian commander Mikhail Kozlovsky simply forces