1792

January–March

 * January 9 – The Treaty of Jassy ends the Russian Empire's war with the Ottoman Empire over Crimea.
 * February 18 – Thomas Holcroft produces the comedy The Road to Ruin in London.
 * February 20
 * The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.
 * Parliament House, Dublin catches fire during a legislative session. "Although in imminent danger of the roof falling in," it is noted later, "the House did not adjourn until a proper motion had been put and carried in the affirmative."
 * March 1 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, the last emperor, takes office.
 * March 7 – A settlement is formed in Sierra Leone in West Africa as a home for freed slaves.
 * March 16 – Assassination of Gustav III: King Gustav III of Sweden is shot in the back by Jacob Johan Anckarström, at a midnight masquerade at the Royal Opera in Stockholm; he lives until March 29, and is then succeeded by his 14-year-old son, Gustav IV Adolf.
 * March 20 – A new capital of North Carolina, and seat of the newly formed Wake County, is established after North Carolina State senator and surveyor William Christmas submits his design for the city. A few months later, the capital is officially named Raleigh, in honor of Sir Walter Raleigh.
 * March 22 – Haitian Revolution: Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets – Black slave insurgents gain a victory in the first major battle of the revolution.
 * March 25 – The National Legislative Assembly (France) agrees that the guillotine should be used for judicial executions.

April–June

 * April 2 – The Coinage Act is passed, establishing the United States Mint.
 * April 5 – United States President George Washington vetoes a bill designed to apportion representatives among U.S. states. This is the first time the presidential veto is used in the United States.
 * April 20 – France declares war against Austria, beginning the French Revolutionary Wars and the War of the First Coalition.
 * April 21 – Tiradentes, a leading figure in the Inconfidência Mineira conspiracy, is executed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
 * April 25
 * Highwayman Nicolas Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine in France.
 * La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
 * May 11 – Robert Gray's Columbia River expedition: Captain Robert Gray, on the Columbia Rediviva, becomes the first white man to discover the mouth of the Columbia River.
 * May 17 – The Buttonwood Agreement is signed, beginning the New York Stock Exchange.
 * May 18 – War in Defence of the Constitution: Russia invades Poland.
 * May 21 – 1792 Unzen earthquake and tsunami: An old lava dome collapses in Kyūshū, Japan, due to activity of Mount Unzen volcano; the resulting avalanche and tsunami kill about 14,300 people.
 * May 29 – The Great Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is disbanded following the Russian invasion of Poland.
 * June 1 – Kentucky becomes the 15th state of the United States of America.
 * June 4 – Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Great Britain.
 * June 13
 * Vancouver becomes the first European to enter Burrard Inlet.
 * Prussia declares war against France.

July–September

 * July 18 – Polish–Russian War: Battle of Dubienka – Soldiers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, led by Tadeusz Kościuszko, resist an attack from Imperial Russian Army forces five times their size.
 * August 10 – French Revolution: Insurrection of 10 August 1792 – The Tuileries Palace is stormed and Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody.
 * August 29–September 2 – War of the First Coalition: Battle of Verdun – Prussian forces defeat French troops led by Nicolas-Joseph Beaurepaire.
 * August 21 – Royalist Louis Collenot d'Angremont becomes the first person executed by guillotine for political reasons, in Paris.
 * September – Macartney Embassy: George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, sails from Portsmouth in HMS Lion as the first official envoy from Great Britain to China.
 * September 2–7 – French Revolution: September Massacres – Rampaging mobs slaughter three Roman Catholic bishops and more than 200 priests, together with at least 1,000 other criminals.
 * September 11 – Six men steal some of the former French Crown Jewels from a warehouse where the revolutionary government has stored them.
 * September 12 – The town of Fort Borbon is founded by Governor Joaquín Alós y Bru. Nowadays it is called Fuerte Olimpo.
 * September 14 – Radical antimonarchist Thomas Paine flees from England to France after being indicted for treason. He is tried in absentia during December and outlawed.
 * September 20 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Valmy – The French revolutionary army defeats the Prussians under the Duke of Brunswick after a 7-hour artillery duel.
 * September 21 – French Revolution: A Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy by the French Convention goes into effect, and the French First Republic is established, effective the following day.
 * September 22 – French Revolution: The Era of the historical French Republican Calendar begins.
 * September 30 – Chickamauga Cherokee launch an attack on Middle Tennessee to exterminate the White settlers; they are stopped at the opening battle at Buchanan's Station outside Nashboro.

October–December

 * October 2 – The Baptist Missionary Society is founded in Kettering, England.
 * October 3 – A militia departs from the Spanish stronghold of Valdivia to quell a Huilliche uprising in southern Chile.
 * October 12 – The first Columbus Day celebration in the United States is held in New York City, 300 years after his arrival in the New World.
 * October 13 – Foundation of Washington, D.C.: The cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House after 1818) is laid.
 * October 29 – Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after British Admiral Lord Hood by Lt. William Broughton of the Vancouver Expedition, who spots the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.
 * November 6
 * War of the First Coalition: Battle of Jemappes – Austrian armies under the command of Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen are defeated in Belgium (at this time part of the Austrian Netherlands) by the French Army led by General Charles François Dumouriez.
 * The second United States presidential election is held. Incumbent President George Washington receives all 132 electoral votes for president, and incumbent Vice President John Adams is re-elected with 77 of 132 votes, with George Clinton receiving 50.
 * November 19 – France's National Convention passes a resolution pledging French support for the overthrow of the governments of other nations.
 * December 3 – George Washington is re-elected president of the United States.
 * December 26 – The trial of Louis XVI of France begins.

Date unknown

 * Tipu Sultan invades Kerala, India, but is repulsed.
 * Hungarian astronomer Franz Xaver von Zach publishes The Tables of the Sun, an essential early work for navigation.
 * Claude Chappe successfully demonstrates the first semaphore line, between Paris and Lille.
 * Scottish engineer William Murdoch begins experimenting with gas lighting.
 * George Anschutz constructs the first blast furnace in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
 * Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, one of the earliest works of feminist literature, is published in London.
 * Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, future French general, becomes sub-lieutenant.
 * Johann Georg Albrechtsberger becomes Kapellmeister in Vienna.
 * The State Street Corporation is founded, in Boston, Massachusetts.
 * The Insurance Company of North America (later Chubb) is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
 * Shiloh Meeting House, predecessor of Shiloh United Methodist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, is founded.
 * The first written examinations in Europe are held at the University of Cambridge in England.
 * The composer Ludwig van Beethoven moves to Vienna from Bonn to study with Haydn. He would live in Vienna for the rest of his life.
 * James Johnstone establishes that Vancouver Island is an island.

January–June

 * January 12 – Johann Arfvedson, Swedish chemist (d. 1841)
 * February 17 – Karl Ernst von Baer, German naturalist (d. 1876)
 * February 29 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
 * March 3 – Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler, German church historian (d. 1854)
 * March 4
 * Isaac Lea, American conchologist, geologist and publisher (d. 1886)
 * Samuel Slocum, American inventor (d. 1861)
 * March 7 – John Herschel, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1871)
 * April 1 – Karl Gottlob Zumpt, German classical scholar (d. 1849)
 * April 2 – Francisco de Paula Santander, President of Colombia (d. 1840)
 * April 4 – Thaddeus Stevens, American politician (d. 1868)
 * April 23 – Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
 * April 25 – John Keble, English churchman and poet (d. 1866)
 * May 10 – Willie Person Mangum, American politician (d. 1861)
 * May 13 – Pope Pius IX (b. Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti), Italian churchman (d. 1878)
 * May 15 – James Mayer de Rothschild, German-born banker (d. 1868)
 * May 17 – Anne Isabella Milbanke, English wife of Lord Byron (d. 1860)
 * May 18 – Margaret Ann Neve, Guernesiaise supercentenarian (d. 1903)
 * May 21 – Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, French engineer and scientist (d. 1843)
 * June 13 – William Austin Burt, American inventor, "father of the typewriter" (d. 1858)
 * June 16 – John Linnell, English painter (d. 1882)
 * June 21 – Ferdinand Christian Baur, German theologian (d. 1860)

July–December

 * July 7 – William Henry Smith, English newsvendor and bookseller (d. 1865)
 * July 10 – Frederick Marryat, British naval captain and novelist (d. 1848)
 * July 27 – Maria Quitéria, Brazilian national heroine (d. 1853)
 * August 4 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (d. 1822)
 * August 13 – Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen of William IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1849)
 * August 18 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1878)
 * August 22 – John Church Hamilton, American historian (d. 1882)
 * August 26 – Manuel Oribe, 2nd President of Uruguay (d. 1857)
 * September 2 – Vicente Ramón Roca, 3rd President of Ecuador (d. 1858)
 * September 19 – William Backhouse Astor, Sr., American business tycoon (d. 1875)
 * September 26 – William Hobson, first Governor of New Zealand (d. 1842)
 * October 29 – Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, explorer, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, Australia (d. 1855)
 * November 4 – Carlos Antonio López, president of Paraguay (d. 1862)
 * November 10 – Samuel Nelson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1873)
 * November 11 – Mary Anne Evans, wife of Benjamin Disraeli (d. 1872)
 * November 28 – Victor Cousin, French philosopher (d. 1867)
 * December 1 – Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1856)
 * December 5 – Andrés de Santa Cruz, Peruvian military officer, seventh President of Peru and President of Bolivia (d. 1865)
 * December 6 – William II of the Netherlands (d. 1849)
 * date unknown – Nodira, Uzbek poet and stateswoman (d. 1842)

January–June

 * January 17 – George Horne, British academic and Bishop of Norwich (b.1730)
 * February 15 – John Witherspoon, Scottish American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1723)
 * February 23 – Sir Joshua Reynolds, English painter (b. 1723)
 * March 1
 * Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1747)
 * Jean Godin des Odonais, French cartographer and naturalist (b. 1713)
 * March 1 – Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman (b. 1731)
 * March 3 – Robert Adam, Scottish architect and designer (b. 1728)
 * March 10 – John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1713)
 * March 23 – Luís António Verney, Portuguese philosopher and pedagogue (b. 1713)
 * March 29 – King Gustav III of Sweden (assassinated) (b. 1746)
 * April 3 – Sir George Pocock, British admiral (b. 1706)
 * April 4 – James Sykes, American politician (b. 1725)
 * April 14 – Maximilian Hell, Slovakian astronomer (b. 1720)
 * April 20 – Matthias von Schoenberg, Catholic author (b. 1732)
 * April 23 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian, adventurer (b. 1741)
 * April 30 – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, English statesman (b. 1718)
 * May 10 – John Stevens, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. c. 1715)
 * May 12 – Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist (b. 1710)
 * May 24 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, British naval officer (b. 1718)
 * June 4 – John Burgoyne, British general (b. 1723)
 * June 22 – Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Arabian Wahhabi preacher (b. 1703)

July–December

 * July 3 – Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (b. 1721)
 * July 18 – John Paul Jones, American-born naval captain (b. 1747)
 * July 21 – Richard Hancorne, British Royal Navy officer (b. 1754)
 * July 29 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, Chancellor of France (b. 1714)
 * August 3 – Richard Arkwright, English inventor (b. 1732)
 * August 5 – Frederick North, Lord North, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1732)
 * September 3 – Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe, French princess, courtier to Marie Antoinette (killed in September Massacres) (b. 1749)
 * September 8 – Charles d'Abancour, French statesman (killed in September Massacres) (b. 1758)
 * September 16 – Nguyễn Huệ, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1753)
 * September 18 – August Gottlieb Spangenberg, German religious leader (b. 1704)
 * September 25 – Adam Gottlob Moltke, Danish statesman (b. 1710)
 * September 29 – George Browne, Russian-Irish field-marshal (b. 1698)
 * October 7 – George Mason, American patriot (b. 1725)
 * October 14 – Sophie Charlotte Ackermann, German actress (b. 1714)
 * October 21 – Anders Rudolf du Rietz, Swedish general, count and politician (b. 1722)
 * October 22 – Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer (b. 1725)
 * October 28
 * Paul Möhring, German physician and scientist (b. 1710)
 * John Smeaton, English civil engineer (b. 1724)
 * November – Samuel Hearne, English explorer, fur-trader, author and naturalist (b. 1745)
 * December 7 – Marie Jeanne Riccoboni (Laboras de Mezières), French novelist (b. 1714)
 * December 8 – Henry Laurens, political leader during the American Revolutionary War, father of John Laurens (b. 1724)
 * December 15
 * Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (b. 1756)
 * Hugh Pigot, British Royal Navy admiral (b. 1722)