WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1808
Find out what all happened January to December 1808

Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain. (15. June 1808)

Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) and Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano). (22. December 1808)

John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire. (6. April 1808)

Finnish War: In the Battle of Jutas, Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von Döbeln beat the Russians, making von Döbeln a Swedish war hero. (13. September 1808)

French and Poles defeat the Spanish at battle of Tudela. (23. November 1808)

The inaugural meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh. (2. March 1808)

Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. (17. May 1808)

Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain. (8. July 1808)

Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War. (21. August 1808)

Finnish War: Russians defeat the Swedes in the bloody Battle of Oravais. (14. September 1808)

Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish war, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia. (21. February 1808)

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore is promoted to an archdiocese, with the founding of the dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville) by Pope Pius VII. (8. April 1808)

The Republic of Ragusa is annexed by France. (14. October 1808)

The importation of slaves into the United States is banned. (1. January 1808)

Rum Rebellion, the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in Australia. (26. January 1808)

Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808. (2. May 1808)

Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins. (20. December 1808)

Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal. (11. February 1808)

Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, is crowned King of Spain. (6. June 1808)

The organizational meeting that led to the creation of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh, Scotland. (12. January 1808)