1805

After thirteen years the First French Empire abolished the French Republican Calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January–March

January 11 – The Michigan Territory is created.
February 7 – King Anouvong becomes ruler of Vientiane on the death of his brother Inthavong.
February 15 – The Harmony Society is officially formed as a Christian community in Harmony, Pennsylvania.
March 1 – Justice Samuel Chase is acquitted of impeachment charges by the United States Senate.
March 5 – The New Brunswick Legislature passes a bill to advance literacy in the province, which eventually leads to the creation of public education in Canada.

April–June

April 7 – Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, Eroica, has its public premiere at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna under his baton.
April 27 – Battle of Derne: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna.
April 29 – Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck is appointed as Grand Pensionary of the Batavian Republic by Napoleon.
May 26 – Napoleon is crowned King of Italy.
May 31–June 2 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Diamond Rock – A Franco-Spanish fleet captures the strategic island of Diamond Rock off Martinique in the West Indies, from the British.
June 1 – Tuscan-born composer Luigi Boccherini is buried in the Basílica pontificia de San Miguel in Madrid after being found dead on May 28.
June 4
* The First Barbary War ends between Tripoli and the United States of America.
* The first Trooping the Colour ceremony is held at the Horse Guards Parade in London.
* Detroit burns to the ground; most of the city is destroyed.
June 13 – Lewis and Clark Expedition in the United States: Scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River, confirming they are heading in the right direction.

July–September

July 9 – Muhammad Ali Pasha founds his dynasty in Egypt.
July 26 – 1805 Molise earthquake: 5,573 people in Molise and Campania, Italy, are killed.
August 12 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: U.S. Army Captain Meriwether Lewis reaches the Continental Divide of the Americas, crossing to the west at Lemhi Pass.
August 25 – Treaty of Bogenhausen is concluded between France and Bavaria forming a military alliance
August 27 – Napoleon orders the Grande Armée of some 165,000 men to march to the Rhine River to deal with the Austrian and Russian threats on the frontier. The French army is organized into seven corps and is supported by 36–40 cannons each. Napoleon orders Marshal Joachim Murat with his I Cavalry Corps, to make feint attacks through the Black Forest in south-west Germany.
August 29 – Emperor Franz I of Austria and his council of ministers vote in favor of going to war with France.
August 31 – British Army General David Baird departs from Cork, leading an expedition to capture the Cape of Good Hope. Their ship arrives on January 4.
September 21 – King Ferdinand of Naples signs a treaty in Paris agreeing to keep Naples neutral during the war between France and the allied powers.
September 29 – Admiral Nelson of the British Royal Navy takes command of the fleet off the coast of Cádiz, in order to counteract the navies of France and Spain.

October–December

October 14 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition – Ulm Campaign: Battle of Elchingen – An Austrian corps under Johann von Riesch is defeated by Marshal Ney, near Elchingen, Bavaria.
October 16–October 19 – War of the Third Coalition: Ulm Campaign – Battle of Ulm: Austrian General Mack von Leiberich is forced to surrender his entire army to Napoleon, after being surrounded.
October 21 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition – Battle of Trafalgar: The British fleet, led by Admiral Horatio Nelson, defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain; however, Admiral Nelson is fatally shot.
October 23
* On the early death of her husband, Madame Clicquot Ponsardin takes over his champagne wine business in France as Veuve Clicquot.
* British troopship Aeneas is wrecked off Newfoundland with the loss of 340 lives.
October 31 – Sweden, led by King Gustav IV Adolf, declares war on France.
November 7 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition arrives at the Pacific Ocean.
November 11 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Dürenstein – 8,000 French troops attempt to slow the retreat of a vastly superior Russian and Austrian force.
November 16 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Schöngrabern – Russian forces, under Pyotr Bagration, delay the pursuit by French troops under Joachim Murat.
November 20 – Beethoven's only opera Fidelio, in its original form, is premiered at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, which at this time is under French military occupation.
November 26 – The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is opened in Wales; it is long and tall.
December 2 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz – French troops under Napoleon decisively defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.
December 26 – The Peace of Pressburg between France and Austria is signed in the Primate's Palace, Pressburg.
December 31 – The French Republican Calendar is used for the last time, 8 days after being annulled by Napoleon, with the final official date being "9 Nivôse in Year XIV of the Revolution".

Date unknown

James Squire becomes the first brewer in Australia to cultivate hops.
The Old Man of the Mountain, a natural rock formation in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, is first mentioned by two workmen, Francis Whitcomb and Luke Brooks.
Napoleon orders his soldiers to be vaccinated.

Births

January–June

January 8 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader
January 27 – Samuel Palmer, English artist
February 13 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician
February 18 – Louis M. Goldsborough, United States Navy admiral
March 3 – Jonas Furrer, first President of the Swiss Confederation
March 14 – Eduard Clam-Gallas, Austrian general
March 22 – Benito de Soto, Galician pirate
March 23 – Sears Cook Walker, American mathematician, astronomer
March 26 – Shirali Muslimov, Azerbaijani supercentenarian
April 2 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer
April 8 – Hugo von Mohl, German botanist
April 21 – James Martineau, English religious philosopher
April 22 – Benito de Soto, Galician pirate
June 9 – José Trinidad Cabañas, Honduran general, president and national hero
June 22 – Giuseppe Mazzini Italian patriot, statesman and writer

July–December

July 5 – Robert FitzRoy, English meteorologist, captain and politician
July 29 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian
July 30 – Rudolf Wagner, German anatomist, pathologist
August 4 – William Rowan Hamilton, Irish physicist
September 19 – John Stevens Cabot Abbott, American historian, pastor and pedagogical writer
September 27 – George Müller, Prussian evangelist, founder of the New Orphan Houses, Ashley Down, Bristol in England
November 14 – Fanny Mendelssohn, German composer, pianist
November 28 – John Lloyd Stephens, American traveler, diplomat and Mayanist archaeologist
December 2 – Cicero Price, American commodore
December 10 – William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist
December 12 – Henry Wells, American businessman, founder of Wells Fargo
December 22 – John Obadiah Westwood, English entomologist
December 23 – Joseph Smith, American religious leader, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement
December 31 – Jeanne Deroin, French socialist and feminist

Undated

Maiden of Ludmir, Jewish religious leader
James Pratt, last of two men to be executed in UK for homosexuality
Cochise, Indigenous American leader
Jesse Chisholm, Indigenous American fur trader and merchant

Deaths