1780
1780 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).
EventsJanuary 16 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. VincentFebruary, Armed Neutrality of the North alliance formed between Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. March 26 - The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor, the first Sunday newspaper in Britain May 12 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces. May 29 - American Revolutionary War: Loyalist forces under Col. Banastre Tarleton kill surrendering American soldiers in the Waxhaw Massacre. August 16 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden - The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina. September 25 – Benedict Arnold flees to British-held New York October 2 - American Revolutionary War: British spy John Andre is hanged by American forces. October 10-16 – Great hurricane flattens the islands of Barbados, Martinique and St. Eustatius November 29 - Maria Theresa of Austria dies and her Habsburg dominions pass to her ambitious son, Joseph II, who has already been Holy Roman Emperor since 1765. - Britain attacks the United Provinces before it can join the Neutral Alliance, because of its support for the American uprising.
- First Epsom Derby horse race run at Epsom Downs, Surrey, England.
- Emperor Kokaku ascends to the throne of Japan
- In Ireland, Lady Berry, who is sentenced to death for the murder of her son, is released when she agrees to become an executioner (retires 1810)
- Good grain and wine harvest in France
Births - April 29 - Charles Nodier, French author.
- June 1 - Carl von Clausewitz, German strategist
- August 1 - Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and poet, famous as the author of the "Star Spangled Banner"
- December 26 - Mary Fairfax Somerville, UK mathematician
- John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1862)
Deaths - September 8 - Enoch Poor, Brigadier General in the Continental Army (b. 1736)
- November 29 - Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary (see above).
- Thomas Dilworth, British cleric & writer
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