1780

Years: 1777 1778 1779 - 1780 - 1781 1782 1783
Decades: 1750s 1760s 1770s - 1780s - 1790s 1800s 1810s
Centuries: 17th century - 18th century - 19th century

1780 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).

Events

January 16 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent
February, Armed Neutrality of the North alliance formed between Denmark, Sweden, and Russia.
March 26 - The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor, the first Sunday newspaper in Britain
May 12 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
May 29 - American Revolutionary War: Loyalist forces under Col. Banastre Tarleton kill surrendering American soldiers in the Waxhaw Massacre.
August 16 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden - The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
September 25 – Benedict Arnold flees to British-held New York
October 2 - American Revolutionary War: British spy John Andre is hanged by American forces.
October 10-16 – Great hurricane flattens the islands of Barbados, Martinique and St. Eustatius
November 29 - Maria Theresa of Austria dies and her Habsburg dominions pass to her ambitious son, Joseph II, who has already been Holy Roman Emperor since 1765.

Britain attacks the United Provinces before it can join the Neutral Alliance, because of its support for the American uprising.
First Epsom Derby horse race run at Epsom Downs, Surrey, England.
Emperor Kokaku ascends to the throne of Japan
In Ireland, Lady Berry , who is sentenced to death for the murder of her son, is released when she agrees to become an executioner (retires 1810)
Good grain and wine harvest in France

April 29 - Charles Nodier, French author.
June 1 - Carl von Clausewitz, German strategist
August 1 - Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and poet, famous as the author of the "Star Spangled Banner"
December 26 - Mary Fairfax Somerville, UK mathematician
John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1862)

September 8 - Enoch Poor, Brigadier General in the Continental Army (b. 1736)
November 29 - Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary (see above).