Date unknown Little Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, is damaged in an earthquake. Joseph Haydn writes his Symphony No. 13. The Russo-Circassian War begins, when the Russian Empire attempts to annex Circassia. Births January 8 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French ambassador to the United States during the French Revolution (d. 1834) January 8 – Jean-Baptiste Drouet, French revolutionary politician January 24 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, Russian general (d. 1831) January 26 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, King Charles XIV John of Sweden and Charles III John of Norway (d. 1844) February 14 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813) February 20 – Adalbert Gyrowetz, Bohemian composer (d. 1850) March 9 – William Cobbett, English journalist, author (d. 1835) March 13 – Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune, Marshal of France (d. 1815) March 21 – Jean Paul, German writer (d. 1825) May 7 – Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince, Marshal of France (d. 1813) June 20 – Theobald Wolfe Tone, Irish patriot (d. 1798) June 23 – Empress Joséphine, born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie, Martinique-born French empress consort (d. 1814) July 17 – John Jacob Astor, German-born American entrepreneur (d. 1848) August 5 – Bill Richmond, American-born British boxer (d. 1829) August 13 – Christoph Johann von Medem, German courtier (d. 1838) August 16 – Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, second son of George III of Great Britain August 17 – Dmitry Senyavin, Russian admiral (d. 1831) September 2 – Caroline Schelling, German scholar, intellectual (d. 1809) December 25 – Claude Chappe, French telecommunication pioneer (d. 1805) December 28 – John Molson, Canadian entrepreneur (d. 1836) December 31 – Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (d. 1806) Date unknown – Huang Pilie, Chinese bibliophile (d. 1825) Deaths January 2 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (b. 1690) January 11 – Caspar Abel, German theologian, historian, and poet (b. 1676) January 29 – Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692) February 11 – William Shenstone, English poet (b. 1714) February 12 – Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (b. 1688) February 26 – Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (b. 1711) March 2 – Antoine Walsh, Irish-French slave trader and Jacobite (b. 1703) March 4 – Johan Hörner, Danish artist (b. 1711) March 24 – Catherine Charlotte De la Gardie, Swedish countess (b. 1723) March 31 – Abraham Darby II, English ironmaster (b. 1711) April 8 – Koca Ragıp