May 12 - Edward Lear, British author and poet (d. 1888)
June 18 - Ivan Goncharov, Russian author (d. 1891)
July 15 - James Hope-Scott, English barrister (d. 1873)
November 14 - Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (d. 1878)
November 14 - Maria Christina of Savoy, queen of the Two Sicilies (d. 1836)
Deaths
November 11 - Platon Levshin, Metropoitan of Moscow (b. 1737)
December 27 - Joanna Southcott, an English self-described religious prophetess.
Events
January 19 - Peninsular War: After a ten day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo.
February 2 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California.
February 7 - The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
February 11 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry gerrymanders for the first time.
February 27 - Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
March 26 - An earthquake destroys Caracas, Venezuela.
April 4 - U.S. President James Madison enacted a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
April 30 - The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
May 11 - Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.
May 27 - South American Wars of Independence: In Bolivia, the Battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba fight against the Spanish army.
June 1 - War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.
June 4 - Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory.
June 18 - War of 1812: The U.S. Congress declares war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
June 22 - Napoleon declares war on Russia and invades.
June 23 - War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.
June 24 - Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon's Grande Armée crosses the Neman River beginning his invasion of Russia.
July 12 - War of 1812: The United States invades Canada at Windsor, Ontario.
August 5 - War of 1812: Tecumseh's Native American force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
August 16 - War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
August 19 - War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerrière off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning her nickname "Old Ironsides".
September 14 - Napoleonic Wars: French grenadiers enter Moscow. The Fire of Moscow begins as soon as Russian troops leave the city.
September 15 - The French army under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow.
September 16 - Russians set fire to Moscow shortly after midnight
September 18 - The 1812 Fire of Moscow dies down after destroying more than three quarters of the city. Napoleon returns from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, spared from the fire.
October 9 - War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships: HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia.
October 13 - War of 1812: Battle of Queenston Heights
October 14 - Work on London's Regent's Canal starts.
October 19 - Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow.
October 24 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow.
November 3 - Napoleon's armies are defeated at Vyazma
December 12 - French invasion of Russia comes to an end.
December 29 - The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
