360The 1780s: first flights and the French Revolution
In 1783, people flew for the first time, in a hot-air balloon built by the Montgolfier brothers. William Herschel discovered Uranus, the first planet found by telescope. The United States adopted its Constitution in 1787, and the French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille in 1789.
In March 1781, the astronomer William Herschel spotted a new object from his garden in Bath. It turned out to be a planet, later named Uranus, the first discovered with a telescope. It doubled the known size of the solar system.
On 21 November 1783, two men rose over Paris in a hot-air balloon made by the brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier. It was the first free flight carrying people. Within days, a hydrogen balloon also flew.
The American War of Independence ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which recognised the United States. In 1787, delegates in Philadelphia wrote the US Constitution, which came into force in 1789, with George Washington as the first president.
France faced debt and food shortages. On 14 July 1789, crowds in Paris stormed the Bastille, a royal fortress and prison. The French Revolution that followed ended the old monarchy, and in August the National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
Industry kept growing. In 1785, Edmund Cartwright patented a power loom, and steam engines began to drive cotton mills.
- 1781
- Herschel discovers Uranus
- 1783
- First crewed balloon flight
- 1787
- US Constitution written
- 14 July 1789
- Storming of the Bastille
Sources: Britannica · Royal Astronomical Society · National Archives (US).