Editing 1812 (section)

== Events ==

=== January–March ===
* [[January 1]] – The ''[[Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch]]'' (the Austrian [[civil code]]) enters into force in the [[Austrian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=ÖNB-ALEX - Justizgesetzsammlung |url=https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=jgs&datum=10120003&seite=00000275 |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=alex.onb.ac.at}}</ref>
* [[January 19]] – [[Peninsular War]]: The French-held fortress of [[Ciudad Rodrigo]] [[Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812)|is stormed]] by the [[Anglo-Portuguese Army]], under the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Earl of Wellington]].<ref>{{cite web | last=lipscombe | year=2019 | url=http://www.nick-lipscombe.net/Papers/Ciudad%20Rodrigo%20-%20A%20Paper.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209124616/http://www.nick-lipscombe.net/Papers/Ciudad%20Rodrigo%20-%20A%20Paper.pdf | archive-date=9 February 2019 | access-date=28 May 2021 | title=The Sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo 1810 & 1812}}</ref>
* [[February 7]] – The last [[1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes|New Madrid earthquake]] strikes [[New Madrid, Missouri]], with an estimated [[moment magnitude scale|moment magnitude]] of over 8.<ref>[http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1996AREPS..24..339J The Enigma of the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811–1812]. Johnston, A. C. & Schweig, E. S. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Volume 24, 1996, pp. 339–384. Available on SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)</ref> 
* [[February 12]] – [[Napoleon]] authorizes the usage of ''[[Mesures usuelles]]'', the basis of the [[metric system]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.industrie.gouv.fr/metro/aquoisert/metre.htm|title=Un historique du mètre|language=fr|author=Denis Février|publisher=Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et de l'Industrie|access-date=2011-03-10}}</ref>
* [[February 13]] – The first Chilean newspaper ''[[Aurora de Chile]]'' deals with political philosophy, and stands in favor of the new national government.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Early Relations of the United States with Chile|author=John J. Johnson|journal=The Pacific Historical Review|volume=13|issue=3| pages=266|type = JSTOR|date=September 1944|doi=10.2307/3635952|jstor=3635952}}</ref>
* [[February 27]]
** [[Argentine War of Independence]]: [[Manuel Belgrano]] raises the [[Flag of Argentina]] (which he designed) in the city of [[Rosario]], for the first time.{{Cite book|title= Grandes protagonistas de la Historia Argentina: Manuel Belgrano|last= Luna|first= Félix|year= 2004|publisher=Grupo Editorial Planeta
|location= Argentina|page=77|language= es|isbn= 950-49-1247-8}}
** English poet [[Lord Byron]] gives his first address as a member of the British [[House of Lords]], in defense of [[Luddite]] violence against [[industrialism]], in his home county of [[Nottinghamshire]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1812/feb/27/frame-work-bill#S1V0021P0_18120227_HOL_7|title=Frame Work Bill. (Hansard, 27 February 1812)|website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|access-date=23 June 2023|archive-date=14 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514082629/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1812/feb/27/frame-work-bill#S1V0021P0_18120227_HOL_7|date=27 February 1812|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[February 24]] – Prussia and France sign the [[Treaty of Paris (24 February 1812)|Treaty of Paris]], a military alliance.<ref name=Koch>{{cite book |first=Hannsjoachim W. |last=Koch |title=A History of Prussia |publisher=Routledge |location=Oxford |orig-year=1978|pages=193–194 |year=2014}}</ref>
* [[March 14]] – Prussia and Austria sign the [[Treaty of Paris (14 March 1812)|Treaty of Paris]].<ref name=Koch/>
* [[March 15]] – [[Luddite]]s attack the [[wool]]-processing factory of [[Frank Vickerman]] in [[West Yorkshire]].
* [[March 16]]–[[April 6]] – [[Siege of Badajoz (1812)|Siege of Badajoz]] ([[Peninsular War]]): The [[Anglo-Portuguese Army]], under the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Earl of Wellington]], besieges [[Badajoz]], Spain and forces the surrender of the French garrison.<ref>{{cite book | last=Fletcher | first=Ian | year=2001 | title=In Hell before Daylight: The Siege and Storming of the Castle of Badajoz, March–April 1812 | publisher=Spellmount Ltd. | isbn=1-873376-26-X}}</ref>
* [[March 19]] – The [[Cortes of Cádiz]] creates the first modern [[Spanish Constitution of 1812|Spanish constitution]].<ref>Thiessen, Heather. "Spain: Constitution of 1812." ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 5, p. 165. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.</ref>
* [[March 26]]
[[File:The Gerry-Mander Edit.png|120px|thumb|The original Gerrymander]]
** In the United States, the ''[[Boston Gazette]]'' prints a political cartoon coining the term ''[[Gerrymandering|Gerrymander]]'', after former [[Massachusetts]] [[Governor]] [[Elbridge Gerry]]'s approval (on February 11) of legislation creating oddly shaped electoral districts, designed to help incumbents win re-election.<ref>{{cite book|last=Griffith|first=Elmer|title=The Rise and Development of the Gerrymander |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=6o2HAAAAMAAJ |page=73 }} |pages=72–73|location=Chicago |publisher=Scott, Foresman and Co |year=1907 |oclc=45790508}}</ref>
** The [[1812 Caracas earthquake]] destroys [[Caracas]], capital of [[Venezuela]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nacimiento de una nación; Terremoto de 1812|url=http://www.fpolar.org.ve/Encarte/fasciculo7/fasc0709.html|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060820151845/http://www.fpolar.org.ve/Encarte/fasciculo7/fasc0709.html |archivedate = August 20, 2006|language=spanish}}</ref>

=== April–June ===
* [[April 4]] – U.S. President [[James Madison]] enacts a 90-day [[embargo]] on trade with the United Kingdom.
* [[April 8]] – The capital of Finland is moved from [[Turku]] to [[Helsinki]], when Russia's Tsar Alexander I signs an edict moving the Government Council of the [[Grand Duchy of Finland]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.helsinki200.fi/en/helsinki-1812-2012/1812-emperor-alexander-i-promotes-helsinki-capital-grand-duchy/ |title=Helsinki 200: 8 April 1812 Emperor Alexander I promotes Helsinki to the capital of the Grand Duchy. |access-date=August 1, 2017 |archive-date=August 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810032003/http://www.helsinki200.fi/en/helsinki-1812-2012/1812-emperor-alexander-i-promotes-helsinki-capital-grand-duchy/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[April 30]] – [[Louisiana]] is admitted as the 18th [[U.S. state]].
* [[May 11]] – [[John Bellingham]] [[Assassination of Spencer Perceval|assassinates]] British [[Prime Minister]] [[Spencer Perceval]], in the lobby of the [[British House of Commons]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Treherne| first= Philip |title=The Right Honourable Spencer Perceval |url=https://archive.org/stream/righthonourables00trehuoft#page/n7/mode/2up |publisher= T. Fisher Unwin |location = London | year = 1909 |pages=193–194 |oclc = 5825009 |url-status = live |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160408120735/https://archive.org/stream/righthonourables00trehuoft |archive-date = 2016-04-08 }}</ref>
* [[May 16]] – Russian field marshal [[Mikhail Kutuzov]] signs the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1812)|Treaty of Bucharest]], ending the [[Russo-Turkish War (1806–12)]] and annexing [[Bessarabia]] to [[Imperial Russia]].
* [[May 25]] – [[1812 Felling mine disaster|Felling mine disaster]]: A mine explosion at the [[Felling, Tyne and Wear|Felling]] [[colliery]] near [[Jarrow]], England, leaves 96 dead.
* [[June 1]] – [[War of 1812]]: U.S. President [[James Madison]] asks the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]] to declare war on the United Kingdom.
* [[June 4]] – Following [[Louisiana]]'s admittance as a [[U.S. state]], the territory by that name is renamed the [[Missouri Territory]].
* [[June 16]] – New York State charters the City Bank of New York (later [[Citibank]]).
* [[June 18]] – The [[War of 1812]] between the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom begins with [[United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom|US declaration]].
* [[June 22]] – France [[1812 French declaration of war on Russia|declared war on Russia]].
* [[June 24]] – [[Napoleon]]'s [[Grande Armée]] crosses the [[Neman River]], and [[French invasion of Russia|invades Russia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Lieven |first=D. C. B. |date=2010 |title=Russia against Napoleon |url=https://archive.org/details/russiaagainstnap00liev_0 |access-date=15 April 2021 |publisher=Viking |page=134 |isbn=9780670021574}}</ref>
=== July–September ===
* [[July 12]] – Americans invade Canada at [[Windsor, Ontario]].
* [[July 18]] – [[Russia's Patriotic War]] – [[Battle of Klyastitsy]]: [[Yakov Kulnev|Kulnev]] defeats [[Nicolas Oudinot|Oudinot]], but sustains a mortal wound.
* [[July 19]] – [[Beethoven]] and [[Goethe]] meet each other in [[Teplice]], [[Bohemia]].
* [[July 22]] – [[Peninsular War]] – [[Battle of Salamanca]]: British forces led by [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|the Earl of Wellington]] defeat French troops near [[Salamanca]], Spain.
* [[August 5]] – [[War of 1812]]: [[Tecumseh]]'s [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] force ambushes [[Thomas Van Horne]]'s 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
* [[August 12]] – [[Peninsular War]]: The combined English and Portuguese army under the command of [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Wellington]] enters [[Madrid]], following the [[Battle of Salamanca]].
* [[August 15]] – [[War of 1812]] – [[Battle of Fort Dearborn]]: [[Potawatomi]] warriors overrun the United States fort in [[Illinois Territory]].
* [[August 16]] – [[War of 1812]]: American General [[William Hull]] surrenders [[Fort Shelby (Michigan)|Fort Detroit]], without a fight, to the British Army.
* [[August 19]] – [[War of 1812]]: {{USS|Constitution}} [[USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere|defeats]] the British [[frigate]] {{HMS|Guerriere|1806|2}}, off the coast of [[Nova Scotia]]. The British shot is said to have bounced off ''Constitution''{{'}}s sides, earning her the nickname "Old Ironsides".<ref>{{cite book |isbn = 978-0-393-05847-5 |oclc = 70291925 |location = New York |title = Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy |last = Toll |first = Ian W. |publisher = W. W. Norton |year = 2006 |page=350 |url = https://archive.org/details/sixfrigatesepich00toll }}</ref>
* [[September 7]] – [[Napoleonic Wars]] – [[French invasion of Russia]] – [[Battle of Borodino]]: The bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars so far ends in a [[tactical victory]] for Napoleon. There are at least 70,000 casualties, with a minimum of 6,562 dead from the French [[Grande Armée]] alone.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kuehn |first1=John T. |title=The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon Against Kutuzov (review) |journal=The Journal of Military History |date=26 October 2008 |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=1295–1296 |doi=10.1353/jmh.0.0141 |s2cid=161057504 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/251445 |access-date=5 September 2020 |language=en |issn=1543-7795|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* [[September 14]] – [[French invasion of Russia]] and [[Fire of Moscow (1812)|Fire of Moscow]]: [[Napoleon]]'s troops enter Moscow, which is deliberately set [[Fire of Moscow (1812)|on fire]] by Muscovites, on orders of [[Fyodor Rostopchin]].  Later accounts report that France lost 40,000 troops during four days of fire between September 17 and 20, and that 20,000 Russian soldiers were killed in what would be described in 1876 as "the greatest example in history of national self-sacrifice for the destruction of an invader."<ref name=Fires>"Fires, Great", in ''The Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Connected with the Origin and Progress of Insurance'', Cornelius Walford, ed. (C. and E. Layton, 1876) p. 67</ref>

=== October–December ===
* [[October 9]] – [[War of 1812]]: American naval forces under [[Jesse Elliott|Lieutenant Jesse Duncan Elliott]] capture two British warships, {{HMS|Detroit|1812|6}} and {{HMS|Caledonia|1807|6}}.
* [[October 12]] – The capital of the U.S. state of [[Pennsylvania]] is permanently moved from [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]] to [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|Harrisburg]].<ref>I. Daniel Rupp, ''History of Lancaster County: To which is Prefixed a Brief Sketch of the Early History of Pennsylvania''</ref><ref>(Gilbert Hillis, 1844; reprinted by Heritage Books, 1990) p. 434</ref>
* [[October 13]] – [[War of 1812]] – [[Battle of Queenston Heights]]: As part of the [[Niagara campaign]] in [[Ontario]], Canada, United States forces under General [[Stephen Van Rensselaer]] are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops, led by Sir [[Isaac Brock]] (who dies during the battle).
* [[October 18]]–[[October 20|20]] – [[Second Battle of Polotsk]] – Russians attack and defeat a Franco-Bavarian force in [[Belarus]].
* [[October 19]] – [[Napoleon]] begins his retreat from Moscow.
* [[October 23]] – [[Malet coup of 1812]]: General [[Claude François de Malet]] attempts unsuccessfully to overthrow the Napoleonic régime in Paris.
* [[October 24]] – [[Napoleonic Wars]] – [[Battle of Maloyaroslavets]]: An inconclusive encounter between the French [[vanguard]] and a Russian force leads [[Napoleon]] to decide to retreat along the same line as his advance, with disastrous results.
* [[November 3]] – [[Napoleonic Wars]] – [[Battle of Vyazma]]: The rearguard of Napoleon's retreating army is defeated.
* [[November 5]] – [[1812 United States presidential election]]: [[James Madison]] defeats [[DeWitt Clinton]].
* [[November 10]] – [[1812 United Kingdom general election]]: The [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]] Party is victorious, under [[Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool]].
* [[November 15]]–[[November 18|18]] – [[Napoleonic Wars]] – [[Battle of Krasnoi]]: Napoleon's retreating army is again defeated in a series of skirmishes.
* [[December 8]] – The M6.9–7.5 [[1812 San Juan Capistrano earthquake|San Juan Capistrano earthquake]] affects [[Alta California]] with a maximum [[Mercalli intensity scale|Mercalli intensity]] of VII (''Very strong'') to IX (''Violent''), killing 40 parishioners at [[Mission San Juan Capistrano]].
* [[December 14]] – The [[French invasion of Russia]] comes to an end as the remnants of the [[Grande Armée]] are expelled from Russia.
* [[December 18]] – The first [[Spanish Christmas Lottery]] is drawn, in [[Cádiz]]; it will be continuing more than two centuries later. The first Lotería Nacional was drawn on March 4.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.selae.es/en/web-corporativa/quienes-somos/la-empresa/historia.corporativa|title=History|publisher=[[Loterías y Apuestas del Estado]]|accessdate=2024-12-11}}</ref>
* [[December 20]] – The first volume of ''[[Grimms' Fairy Tales]]'' is published in Germany.
* [[December 29]] – [[War of 1812]]: {{USS|Constitution}} defeats the British frigate {{HMS|Java|1811|6}}, off the coast of [[Brazil]].
* [[December 30]] – The [[Convention of Tauroggen]] is signed.

=== Date unknown ===
* The [[Bishop James Madison Society]] is founded at the [[College of William & Mary]], [[Williamsburg, Virginia]].
* The [[Woodford Reserve]] [[Bourbon whiskey]] [[Distillation|distillery]], established in [[1780]] along [[Glenn's Creek]] in [[Woodford County, Kentucky]], passes to the control of Oscar Pepper.
* The [[Ranikot Fort]] is reconstructed in [[Sindh]].
* Approximate date – [[Battle of Shela]]: The people of [[Lamu Island]] are victorious against those from other parts of the [[Kenya]] coast.