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1794

Year 1794 (MDCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

January - June

February 4 - The French Republic abolishes slavery.

February 11 - The first session of the United States Senate is open to the public.

March 14 - Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.

March 27 - The United States Government authorizes the building of the first 6 United States Navy vessels (in 1797 the first 3 frigates, USS United States, USS Constellation and USS Constitution go into service), not to be confused with October 13, 1775 which is observed as the Navy's Birthday.

April 5 - Georges Danton is executed.

April 30 - Battle of Boulou: The French defeat the Spanish and Portuguese forces.

May 8 - French chemist Antoine Lavoisier is executed by guillotine.

May 18 - Battle of Tourcoing: French troops defeat British forces.

May 28 - June 1 - The Glorious First of June (Battle of Ushant): British and French ships battle to a draw.

June 4 - British troops capture Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

June 26 - Battle of Fleurus: French forces defeat the Austrians.

July - December

July 27 - (9 Thermidor) - Maximilien Robespierre is arrested.

Undated

Horatio Nelson loses the sight in his right eye at Calvi in Corsica.

Coffee is forbidden by royal decree in Sweden.

France occupies Aachen.

The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry, a British Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment, is formed by the Earl of Cassillis at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire.

The Reign of Terror ends.

Colombian Antonio Nariño translates and publishes the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.

Ongoing events

French Revolution (1789-1799)

French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802)-First Coalition

Births

February 20 - William Carleton, Irish novelist (d. 1869)

February 21 - Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican general and President of Mexico (d. 1876)

April 10 - Matthew Calbraith Perry, American commodore (d. 1858)

May 17 - Anna Brownell Jameson, British writer (d. 1860)

May 24 - William Whewell, English scientist, philosopher, and historian of science (d. 1866)

May 27 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (d. 1877)

July 5 - Sylvester Graham, American nutritionist and inventor (d. 1851)

November 3 - William Cullen Bryant, American poet (d. 1878)

November 10 - Robert Towns, merchant and founder of Townsville, Queensland, Australia (d. 1873)

date unknown

*Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1868)

*Mirza Shafi Vazeh, Azeri poet (d.1852)

Deaths

January 4 - Nicolas Luckner, Marshal of France (executed) (b. 1722)

January 6 - Louis d'Elbée, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1752)

January 8 - Justus Möser, German statesman (b. 1720)

January 16 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)

January 28 - Henri de la Rochejaquelein, French Revolutionary leader (b. 1772)

January 31 - Mariot Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)

February 12 - Srinath Madhavji Shinde alias Srinath Mahadji Shinde, The Great Maratha Emperor of India (1764-1794)

March 24 - Jacques Hébert, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1757)

March 28 - Marquis de Condorcet, French mathematician, philosopher, and political scientist (died in prison) (b. 1743)

April 5

*Georges Danton, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1759)

*Camille Desmoulins, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1760)

*Marie Jean Hérault de Séchelles, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1759)

*Fabre d'Églantine, French dramatist and revolutionary (executed) (b. 1750)

*François Joseph Westermann, French Revolutionary leader and general (executed)

April 13 - Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1763)

April 13 - Lucile Duplessis, wife of Camille Desmoulins (executed) (b. 1770)

April 18 - Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)

April 23 - Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French statesman (executed) (b. 1721)

April 27 - Sir William Jones, British philologist (b. 1746)

May 8 - Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (executed) (b. 1743)

June 14 - Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, Viceroy of Ireland (b. 1718)

June 17 - Marguerite-Élie Guadet, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1753)

June 18

*François Nicolas Leonard Buzot, French Revolutionary leader (suicide) (b. 1760)

*James Murray, British military officer and administrator

June 27

*Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz, Austrian statesman (b. 1711)

*Philippe de Noailles, duc de Mouchy, French soldier (executed) (b. 1715)

*Charles-Louis-Victor, prince de Broglie, French soldier (executed) (b. 1756)

July 13 - James Lind, pioneer of naval hygiene in the Royal Navy (b. 1716)

July 17 - John Roebuck, English inventor (b. 1718)

July 23 - Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais, French politician and general (executed) (b. 1760)

July 25, André Chénier, French writer (executed) (b. 1762)

July 28

*Maximilien Robespierre, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1758)

*Augustin Robespierre, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1763)

*Louis de Saint-Just, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1767)

*François Hanriot, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1761)

August 6 - Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, British politician (b. 1714)

September 4 - John Hely-Hutchinson, Irish statesman (b. 1724)

September 15 - Abraham Clark, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1725)

September 25 - Paul Rabaut, French Huguenot pastor (b. 1718)

October 21 - Francis Light, founder of the British colony of Penang (b. 1740)

November 3 - François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and statesman (b. 1715)

November 15 - John Witherspoon, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1723)

November 16 - Jean-Baptiste Carrier, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1756)

November 22 - John Alsop, American Continental Congressman (b. 1724)

November 28 - Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian army officer (b. 1730)