1781 By Country

Events

January–March

* January – William Pitt the Younger, later Prime Minister of Great Britain, enters Parliament, aged 21.
* January 1 – Industrial Revolution: The Iron Bridge opens across the River Severn in England.
* January 2 – Virginia passes a law ceding its western land claims, paving the way for Maryland to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
* January 5 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia is burned by British naval forces, led by Benedict Arnold.
* January 6 – Battle of Jersey: British troops prevent the French from occupying Jersey in the Channel Islands.
* January 17 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cowpens: The American Continental Army, under Daniel Morgan, decisively defeats British forces in South Carolina.
* February 2 – The Articles of Confederation are ratified by Maryland, the 13th and final state to do so.
* February 3 – Fourth Anglo-Dutch War – Capture of Sint Eustatius: British forces take the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius, with only a few shots fired. On November 26 it is retaken by Dutch-allied French forces.
* March – Riots break out in Socorro, Santander, and spread to other towns.
* March 1 – The United States Continental Congress implements the Articles of Confederation, forming its Perpetual Union as the United States in Congress Assembled.
* March 13 – Sir William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus. Originally he calls it ''Georgium Sidus'' (George's Star), in honour of King George III of Great Britain.
* March 15 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Guilford Court House: American General Nathanael Greene loses to the British.
* March 16 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart arrives in Vienna after being fired by the Archbishop of Salzburg. He would stay there for the rest of his brief life.

April–June

* April 4 – American Revolutionary War: The Spanish capture the sloop-of-war off Málaga, Spain.
* April 6 – The rebellion by Túpac Amaru II, against the Spanish colonial government of Peru, is ended as Tupac, his wife and two of his sons are captured at Checacupe.
* April 10 – Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson, age 14, is slashed by a British officer's sword at his home near Waxhaw, North Carolina, after refusing to clean the officer's boots, an event that leaves physical and psychological scars.
* April 14 – The Continental Congress votes a resolution thanking U.S. Captain John Paul Jones for his services.
* April 18 – Future New York mayor James Duane, North Carolina representative William Sharpe and future Connecticut governor Oliver Wolcott deliver the first report to the U.S. Continental Congress about the national debt and report it to be 24,057,157 and 2/5 dollars.
* April 25 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Hobkirk's Hill takes place in Camden, South Carolina
* May 9 – General John Campbell, defender of the British colony of West Florida, surrenders the capital at Pensacola to Spanish forces commanded by Bernardo de Galvez.
* May 18 – A Spanish army sent from Lima puts down the Inca rebellions, and captures and savagely executes Túpac Amaru II.
* June 4 – The commission agrees to the rebels' terms: reduction of the alcabala and of the Indians' forced tribute, abolition of the new taxes on tobacco, and preference for Criollos over peninsulares in government positions.
* June 12 – ''Ohmiya'' (近江屋), as predecessor for Takeda