RULERS—The same as in the previous year.
1804
England recalled Pitt to power. Napoleon made costly and futile preparations to invade England. Moreau and Pichegru conspiracy against Napoleon; Pichegru found strangled in prison; Moreau exiled; Duc d'Enghien captured and shot; twenty persons guillotined. France ordered German states to expel French loyalists and English subjects. French Senate urged Napoleon to found a hereditary monarchy, succession to be in the male line, or, in default of issue, the crown to go to Joseph, and, if he died, to Louis Bonaparte. May 18, Napoleon accepted, and December 2 he and Josephine were crowned; when Pius VII went to place the crown on Napoleon's head, the latter snatched it and crowned himself. Napoleon created a new nobility and eight marshals. Prussia and Austria recognized him as Emperor of France. Dessalines, a Haytian negro, followed Bonaparte's example, and created himself Emperor Jean Jacques I.
Lewis and Clark set out on their trip across the American continent. Burr killed Hamilton in a duel. America continued a running fight with the Barbary pirates. Shaft sunk for a Thames tunnel; work later abandoned. England captured Spanish ships bearing ten million dollars' tribute to Napoleon; Spain declared war. English Bible Society founded. Immanuel Kant, German philosopher, died.
RULERS—The same as in the previous year, except that Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor of France, and Francis II of Germany assumed the title of Emperor Francis I of Austria.
1805
Russia and Sweden joined in the coalition against Napoleon. Active war preparations in France; grand review of the French army on the field of Marengo; Genoa annexed by France; Napoleon crowned King of Italy. France, Spain, and South German states pitted against England, Russia, Austria, and Sweden. Admiral Villeneuve moved against the British fleet; bottled up in Cadiz by Admiral Collingwood; threats of disgrace caused Villeneuve to make a desperate rush; met near Cape Trafalgar by Nelson and Collingwood, October 21; in the ensuing battle the French and Spanish fleet was practically destroyed. Nelson was fatally shot in the hour of victory; Villeneuve was captured, and later committed suicide.
Abandoning his plan to invade England, Napoleon marched into Germany, threw the badly battered Austrian forces under General Mack into Ulm, and captured the city with twenty-three thousand men. In Italy, Masséna, French commander, inflicted heavy losses on Archduke Charles, and forced him to sue for an armistice. Vienna captured by Murat. Prussian prime minister demanded reparation for French violation of Prussian territory, but was temporized with in negotiations by Talleyrand while Napoleon prepared to move against the Russians and Austrians. On December 2 he inflicted a crushing defeat on the allies at Austerlitz, and the Russian army withdrew. Austria forced to grant all demands. Dalmatia and Venice taken from Austria and given to Italy; alliance against France temporarily broken; England left to fight alone.
Jefferson began his second term as President of the United States. The Barbary pirates beaten by an American force under General Eaton and forced to relinquish their claims to tribute. Agitation in the United States strong for a war with Spain and for the annexation of Texas and part of Mexico; the agitation subsided when the French ambassador declared France would side with Spain. Aaron Burr went West, and began planning for the invasion of Texas. Jerome Bonaparte married Miss Eliza Patterson, an American.
Five thousand persons killed by an earthquake near Naples. Schiller, German poet, historian, and dramatist; Paley, English theologian; and Mungo Park, Scottish traveler, died.