Calendar of Literary Facts

1812

  • Literary Romanticism flourishes in the United States
  • Napoleon’s French legions invade Russia but are forced to retreat
  • British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated
  • Robert Browning is born (May 7)
  • Charles Dickens is born (February 7)
  • The U.S. declares war on Great Britain in the name of “Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights,” commencing the War of 1812 (June 18)