| 1765 | - Seeking to raise new revenue following the Seven Years’ War, Britain passes the Stamp Act and touches off protests among American colonists.
- British inventor James Hargreaves creates the spinning jenny, a machine to automate the spinning of cotton into thread.
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| 1768 | British naval officer James Cook sets sail to explore the Pacific Ocean. |
| 1769 | - British industrialist Richard Arkwright patents the water frame, a machine that uses water power to spin cotton into yarn.
- Scottish inventor James Watt develops the steam engine.
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| 1772 | In the Somersett decision, British justice Lord Mansfield rules that slavery is unsupported by existing law in Britain. |
| 1774 | Louis XVI is crowned king of France. |
| 1775 | The American Revolution begins. |
| 1776 | The Declaration of Independence is adopted in the United States. |
| 1778 | France joins the U.S. war against Britain by entering into an alliance with the United States. - French aid will prove indispensible to the American victory, but it will leave France with deep fiscal issues.
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| 1783 | The Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolution with U.S. independence secured. |
| 1785 | British inventor Edmund Cartwright builds the first power loom. |
| 1787 | France’s Assembly of Notables gathers to discuss ways to address the nation’s debt crisis. They reject any plan to raise taxes on the nobility. |
| 1788 | Britain begins settling Australia. |
| 1789 | - The French Estates-General—an assembly with representatives from the three estates of nobility, clergy, and commoners—meets for the first time since 1614.
- In the wrangling that ensues, no solution is found for the nation’s debt crisis.
- Representatives from the third estate (the commoners) break away to form their own legislature, the National Assembly.
- The members of the third estate sign the “Tennis Court Oath,” promising not to disband until a constitution has been written.
- A restive urban crowd storms the Bastille, a Paris prison, seeking arms stored there and touching off the French Revolution.
- With the French National Assembly now meeting as the National Constituent Assembly, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is drafted.
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| 1790 | France bans aristocratic titles, dissolves most religious orders, and requires that church officials be appointed by the Constituent Assembly. |
| 1791 | - Austria and Prussia issue the Declaration of Pillnitz, pledging their support for Louis XVI.
- A slave revolt in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue begins the Haitian Revolution.
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| 1792 | France declares war on Austria. War with Prussia and Britain will soon follow, beginning the Wars of the French Revolution. |
| 1793 | - French king Louis XVI is executed by guillotine.
- Led by Maximilien Robespierre, the ruling party in the French government eliminates rivals in the Reign of Terror.
- Deaths number in the tens of thousands, with many killed by guillotine.
- American inventor Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin.
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| 1794 | In the Thermidorian Reaction in France, Robespierre is toppled from power. The Reign of Terror ends and the Directory government is formed. |
| 1798 | - Napoleon commands an invasion of Egypt.
- British forces attack Haiti but are repulsed by an army led by Toussaint L’Ouverture.
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| 1799 | Napoleon overthrows the Directory government in France. |
| 1801 | L’Ouverture promulgates a constitution. - Slavery and all distinctions based on race are abolished.
- L’Ouverture is named governor-general for life.
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| 1802 | - In France, Napoleon is named consul for life.
- The Treaty of Amiens brings a brief period of peace to Europe.
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| 1804 | - Napoleon is crowned emperor of France.
- Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaims Haiti a constitutional republic, the first black republic in the world.
- The world population is estimated to have reached 1 billion.
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| 1805 | - Napoleon wins the Battle of Austerlitz and establishes French supremacy on land in Europe.
- Britain wins the Battle of Trafalgar and establishes British supremacy at sea.
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| 1807 | - Britain abolishes the slave trade.
- Napoleon crosses through Spain to conquer Portugal. King John VI removes the royal family to Brazil.
- American Robert Fulton begins first commercial steamboat operation.
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| 1808 | - The U.S. ban on the slave trade goes into effect.
- Napoleon gains control of Spain, deposing King Ferdinand VII and placing his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne.
- To resist Napoleon’s rule, the Central Junta is formed in Spain.
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| 1809 | A colonial junta is formed in Spanish Quito. - The cities of Caracas, Buenos Aires, Bogota, and Santiago will follow suit, creatin...
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