1796: Great Britain - Edward Jenner investigated the folk tale that milk maids were immune to small pox, the virus variola major, and in a brief series of experiments confirmed that exposure to cow pox, the virus vaccinia, rendered immunity
1796: Italy - General Napoleon Bonaparte appears on scene, attacks Austrian armies
1797: Europe - All Europe makes peace with France save Britain, sea battle off Cape St. Vincent (off Spanish coast), Jervis and Nelson (then Captain) utterly defeat big French and Spanish fleet
1797: Great Britain - Royal Navy sailors at Spithead and the Nore mutiny over deplorable conditions
1797: USA - John Adams president of the USA 1797-1801.
1797: Great Britain - A British inventor, Henry Maudslay invents the first metal or precision lathe.
1797: Great Britain - John Hetherington in London develops the top hat.
1797: Great Britain - Major Dubied purchased the formula for an 'absinthe elixir' and together with his son, Henri-Louis Pernod sets up an absinthe factory in Switzerland.