Events
- 18 January - The Third Pacific expedition of James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution (1771) and HMS Discovery (1774), first views Oahu then Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".
- 6 February - American Revolutionary War: Britain declares war on France, for aiding the Americans.
- 17 & 23 April - American Revolutionary War: John Paul Jones in USS Ranger (1777) attempts to raid Whitehaven.
- 24 April - American Revolutionary War: North Channel Naval Duel: John Paul Jones in USS Ranger captures HMS Drake (1777) in the North Channel.
- May - HMS Victory is commissioned and remains in active service for the following 32 years, most notably at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).
- 16 June - American Revolutionary War: Spain declares war on Britain.
- 28 June - American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Monmouth takes place in Monmouth, New Jersey.
- 3 July - American Revolutionary War: The Wyoming Valley battle and massacre takes place near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, ending in a defeat of the local colonists.
- 10 July - American Revolutionary War: Louis XVI of France declares war on Great Britain.
- 27 July - American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant - British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
- September - First St. Leger Stakes horse race held at its present location, Town Moor, Doncaster.
- 26 November - In the Hawaiian Islands, James Cook becomes the first European to discover Maui.
Read more about this topic: 1778 In Great Britain
Famous quotes containing the word events:
“A curious thing about atrocity stories is that they mirror, instead of the events they purport to describe, the extent of the hatred of the people that tell them.
Still, you can’t listen unmoved to tales of misery and murder.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“Reporters are not paid to operate in retrospect. Because when news begins to solidify into current events and finally harden into history, it is the stories we didn’t write, the questions we didn’t ask that prove far, far more damaging than the ones we did.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“If I have renounced the search of truth, if I have come into the port of some pretending dogmatism, some new church, some Schelling or Cousin, I have died to all use of these new events that are born out of prolific time into multitude of life every hour. I am as bankrupt to whom brilliant opportunities offer in vain. He has just foreclosed his freedom, tied his hands, locked himself up and given the key to another to keep.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)