Editing 1796 (section)

== Events ==
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=== January–March ===
* [[January 16]] – The first Dutch (and general) elections are held for the [[National Assembly of the Batavian Republic]]. (The next Dutch [[general elections]] are held in [[1888]].)
* [[February 1]] – The capital of [[Upper Canada]] is moved from [[Newark, Upper Canada|Newark]] to [[York, Upper Canada|York]].
* [[February 9]] – The [[Qianlong Emperor]] of China abdicates at age 84 to make way for his son, the [[Jiaqing Emperor]].
* [[February 15]] – [[French Revolutionary Wars]]: The [[Invasion of Ceylon (1795)]] ends when [[Johan van Angelbeek]], the [[Batavian Republic|Batavian]] governor of [[Ceylon]], surrenders [[Colombo]] peacefully to British forces.
* [[February 16]] – The Kingdom of Great Britain is granted control of [[Ceylon]] by the Dutch.<ref name="Cassell's Chronology346"/>
* [[February 29]] – Ratifications of the [[Jay Treaty]] between Great Britain and the United States are officially exchanged, bringing it into effect.<ref name="Harper1796">''Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909'', ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p171.</ref>
* [[March 9]] – Widow [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]] marries [[General]] [[Napoléon Bonaparte]].
* [[March 20]] – The U.S. House of Representatives demands that the U.S. State Department supply it with documents relating to the negotiation of the Jay Treaty; President Washington declines the request, citing that only the U.S. Senate has jurisdiction over treaties.<ref name="Harper1796"/>
* [[March 26]] – Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at [[Nice]] to take command of the [[Army of Italy (France)|Army of Italy]] (37,000 men and 60 guns), which is scattered in detachments as far as [[Genoa]].<ref>Reginald George Burton (2010). Napoleon's Campaigns in Italy 1796–1797 & 1800, p. 22. {{ISBN|978-0-85706-356-4}}</ref>
* [[March 30]] – [[Carl Gauss]] obtains conditions for the constructibility by ruler and compass of regular polygons, and is able to announce that the regular 17-gon is constructible by ruler and compasses.

=== April–June ===
* [[April 2]] – The only night of the supposed [[Shakespeare]]an play ''[[Vortigern and Rowena]]'' (actually written by [[William Henry Ireland]]) ends in the audience's laughter.
* [[April 12]] – War of the [[First Coalition]] – [[Battle of Montenotte]]: [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] gains his first victory as an army commander.
* [[April 26]] – The French proclaim the [[Republic of Alba]] on the occupied territories. Two days later, King [[Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia]] signs the [[Armistice of Cherasco]], in the headquarters of Napoleon. The fortresses of [[Cuneo|Coni]], [[Gênes|Tortoni]] and [[Alessandria]], with all their guns, are given up.<ref>Reginald George Burton (2010). Napoleon's Campaigns in Italy 1796–1797 & 1800, p. 33. {{ISBN|978-0-85706-356-4}}</ref>
* [[April 27]] – [[Courrier de Lyon case|Case of the Lyons Mail]]: During the night, five highwaymen attack the mail between Paris and [[Lyon]], kill the postmen and steal the funds sent to the armies in Italy.
* [[April 28]] – In an impassioned speech, U.S. Representative [[Fisher Ames]] of Massachusetts persuades his fellow members of the House to support the Jay Treaty. <ref name="Harper1796"/>
* [[May 6]] – Napoleon Bonaparte forms an advanced guard (3,500 infantry and 1,500 cavalry) under General [[Claude Dallemagne]]. He sends this force along the south bank of the [[Po (river)|Po River]], to cross it with boats at [[Piacenza]].<ref>Reginald George Burton (2010). Napoleon's Campaigns in Italy 1796–1797 & 1800, p. 43. {{ISBN|978-0-85706-356-4}}</ref>
* [[May 10]]
** [[War of the First Coalition]] – [[Battle of Lodi]]: General [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] defeats the Austrian rearguard, in forcing a crossing of the bridge over the [[Adda River, Italy|Adda River]] in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men, 14 guns, and 30 ammunition wagons.
** [[Persian Expedition of 1796]]: Russian troops [[Storming of Derbent|storm Derbent]].
* [[May 14]] – [[Edward Jenner]] administers the first [[smallpox]] [[vaccination]], in England.
* [[May 15]] – [[Napoleon]]'s troops take [[Milan]].
* [[May 20]] – The last mock [[Garrat Elections]] are held in [[Surrey]], England.
* [[June 1]]
** The French-Republican army divisions of the [[Army of Italy (France)|Army of Italy]] invade the territories of ''[[Republic of Venice|Venice]]''.
** [[Tennessee]] is admitted as the 16th [[U.S. state]].  <ref name="Harper1796"/>
* [[June 6]]–[[June 7|7]] – Ragunda lake in Sweden bursts and drains completely leaving the [[Döda fallet]] dry.
* [[June 21]] – Scottish explorer [[Mungo Park (explorer)|Mungo Park]] becomes the first European to reach the [[Niger River]].<ref name="Cassell's Chronology346">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/346|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/346 346]}}</ref>
* [[June 23]] – Napoleon Bonaparte seizes the [[Papal States#Napoleonic era|Papal States]], which become part of the revolutionary [[Cisalpine Republic]]. Pope [[Pope Pius VI|Pius VI]] signs the [[Armistice of Bologna]], and is forced to pay a contribution (34 million francs).

=== July–September ===
* [[July 10]] – [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] discovers that every positive integer is representable as a sum of at most 3 [[triangular number]]s.
* [[July 11]] – The United States takes possession of [[Detroit]] from Great Britain, under the terms of the [[Jay Treaty]].
* [[July 21]] – [[Mungo Park (explorer)|Mungo Park]] reaches [[Ségou]], the capital of the [[Bamana Empire]].
* [[July 22]] – Surveyors of the [[Connecticut Land Company]] name an area in [[Ohio]] ''[[Cleveland]]'', after [[General officer|Gen.]] [[Moses Cleaveland]], the [[Superintendent (construction)|superintendent]] of the surveying party.
* [[July 29]] – The [[Imperial and Royal Army during the Napoleonic Wars|Habsburg army]] under [[Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser|Marshal Wurmser]] advances from the [[Alps]], and captures [[Rivoli Veronese|Rivoli]] and [[Verona]]. The French abandon the east bank of the [[Mincio|Mincio River]], the outnumbered division (15,000 men) of [[André Masséna|Masséna]] retreats towards [[Lake Garda]].
* [[August 4]] – [[French Revolutionary Wars]]: [[Battle of Lonato]] – The [[Army of Italy (France)|French Army of Italy]] under Napoleon crushes an Austrian brigade.
* [[August 5]] – [[French Revolutionary Wars]]: [[Battle of Castiglione]] – The French Army of Italy under Napoleon defeats the Habsburg army (25,000 men) under Marshal Wurmser, who thus fails to break the [[Siege of Mantua (1796–97)]], and is forced to retreat north up the [[Adige|Adige Valley]].
* [[August 9]] – The [[Wearmouth Bridge (1796)|Wearmouth Bridge]] in England, designed by [[Rowland Burdon (died 1838)|Rowland Burdon]] in [[cast iron]], opens to traffic. Its span of {{convert|72|m|ft|abbr=on}} makes it the world's longest single-span vehicular bridge extant at this date.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tyrrell|first=Henry Grattan|url=https://archive.org/details/historybridgeen00tyrrgoog|quote=210. The Sunderland bridge over the Wear at Wearmouth.|title=History of Bridge Engineering|publisher=Published by the author.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historybridgeen00tyrrgoog/page/n159 153]–154|location=Chicago|year=1911|access-date=2011-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Leonardo Fernández|last=Troyano|title=Bridge Engineering: a Global Perspective|publisher=Thomas Telford Publishing|location=London|year=2003|isbn=0-7277-3215-3|page=49}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=Wearside Online|title=Sunderland Wearmouth Bridge|url=http://www.wearsideonline.com/Sunderland_Wearmouth_Bridge.html|access-date=2011-08-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127114349/http://www.wearsideonline.com/sunderland_wearmouth_bridge.html|archive-date=November 27, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* [[August 10]] – A mob of peasants overtakes the [[Convent of St. Peter (Bludenz, Austria)]] and murders [[Ignaz Anton von Indermauer]].
* [[August 19]] – [[Second Treaty of San Ildefonso]]: Spain and France form an alliance against Great Britain.
* [[September 2]] – [[Jewish emancipation]] in the [[Batavian Republic]] (Netherlands).
* [[September 8]] – [[French Revolutionary Wars]]: [[Battle of Bassano]] – French forces (20,000 men) under [[André Masséna]] defeat the Austrians in [[Veneto]]. Wurmser retreats towards [[Vicenza]] with just 3,500 men of his original 11,000 left to him.
* [[September 9]] – [[French Revolutionary Wars]]: [[Action of 9 September 1796]] – A naval engagement between French and British squadrons off [[Sumatra]] ends inconclusively.
* [[September 9]] – [[Grenelle camp affair]], a failed uprising by supporters of [[Gracchus Babeuf]] against the [[French Directory]]
* [[September 15]] – [[Siege of Mantua (1796–97)|Siege of Mantua]]: Napoleon Bonaparte fights a pitched battle at [[Siege of Mantua (1796–97)#Second relief|La Favorita]] on the east side of the Mincio River. The Austrians withdraw into the fortress of [[Mantua]], which is crowded with nearly 30,000 men. Within six weeks, 4,000 die from wounds or sickness.<ref>Boycott-Brown, p. 438.</ref>
* [[September 17]] – U.S. President [[George Washington]] issues his ''[[George Washington's Farewell Address|Farewell Address]]'', which warns against partisan politics and foreign entanglements.  In addition, he sets a precedent by declining to run for a third term.  <ref name="Harper1796"/>
* [[September 28]] – Empress [[Catherine the Great]] signs an agreement with Great Britain, formally joining Russia to the coalition.

=== October–December ===
* [[October 19]] – [[French Revolutionary Wars]]: [[Battle of Emmendingen]] – Austrian forces force the French to retreat, but commanding generals on both sides are killed.
* October – [[Jane Austen]] begins writing her first draft of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'', under the title ''First Impressions'' (the book will not be published until [[1813]]).
* [[November 3]] – [[John Adams]] defeats [[Thomas Jefferson]], in the [[1796 United States presidential election|1796 U.S. presidential election]].
* [[November 4]] – The [[Treaty of Tripoli]] (between the United States and [[Ottoman Tripolitania|Tripoli]]) is signed at [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] (see also [[1797]]).
* [[November 6]]
** Catherine the Great dies, and is succeeded by her son [[Paul I of Russia]]. His wife [[Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg]] becomes [[Empress consort]].
** French forces (9,500 men) under Masséna attack the Austrian army at [[Fontaniva]]. After a desperate assault he is outnumbered, and forced to retreat to Verona.
* [[November 12]]
** [[Battle of Caldiero (1796)|Battle of Caldiero]]: French forces are defeated by the Austrians at [[Caldiero]], and pushed back to Verona. This marks Napoleon's first defeat, losing nearly 2,000 men and 2 guns.<ref name=Burton>{{cite book|first=Reginald George|last=Burton|year=2010|title=Napoleon's Campaigns in Italy 1796–1797 & 1800|pages=75–80|publisher=Leonaur Limited |isbn=978-0-85706-356-4}}</ref>
** [[Groton, New Hampshire]] is incorporated as a town.
* [[November 17]] – [[Battle of Arcole]]: French forces under General Napoleon defeat the Austrians at [[Arcole]]. After a bold [[Maneuver warfare#Napoleon's use of maneuver|maneuver]], he outflanks the Austrian army (24,000 men) under Freiherr [[József Alvinczi]], and cuts off its line of retreat. Alvinczi is forced to take up a defensive position behind the [[Brenta (river)|Brenta River]].<ref name=Burton/>
* [[December]] – The British government begins work on a 40-acre (162,000&nbsp;m²) site at [[Norman Cross Prison|Norman Cross]], for the world's first purpose-built [[prisoner-of-war camp]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Charters|first1=Erica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i3rLsolt00UC&q=site+at+Norman+Cross%2C+for+the+world%27s+first+purpose-built+prisoner-of-war+camp&pg=PA244|title=Civilians and War in Europe, 1618-1815|last2=Rosenhaft|first2=Eve|last3=Smith|first3=Hannah|date=2012|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-1-84631-711-8|language=en}}</ref>
* [[December 7]] – The [[U.S. Electoral College]] meets to elect [[John Adams]] president of the United States.
* [[December 18]] – British Royal Navy ship [[French ship Courageux (1753)|HMS ''Courageux'']] is wrecked on the [[Barbary Coast]] with the loss of 464 of the 593 onboard.

=== Date unknown ===
* The Spanish government lifts the restrictions against neutrals trading with the colonies, thus acknowledging Spain's inability to supply the colonies with needed goods and markets.
* [[Robert Burns]]'s version of the [[Scots language|Scots]] poem ''[[Auld Lang Syne]]'' is first published, in this year's volume of ''The [[Scots Musical Museum]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/robertburns/works/auld_lang_syne/|title=Robert Burns – Auld Lang Syne|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=2012-01-26}}</ref>
* Annual British iron production reaches 125,000 tons.
* Rizla rolling papers established.
* Shinyukan School, predecessor of [[Keio University|Keio Gijyuku University]], founded in [[Nakatsu]], [[Kyushu Island]], Japan.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}
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