In his Science of Knowledge Johann Gottlieb Fichte contrasts the I, or Ego, and its opposing non-I, or non-Ego

Mungo Park sets off on his first expedition to explore the Niger on behalf of the African Association

German physician Samuel Hahnemann coins the term 'homeopathy' and describes this new approach to medicine

After four years in Copenhagen, German artist Caspar David Friedrich makes his life-long home in Dresden

The Frankfurt banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild lends 20 million francs to the Danish government

Beethoven changes the dedication of his third symphony on hearing that his hero, Napoleon, has made himself an emperor

Napoleon merges the majority of the German states into a Confederation of the Rhine with himself as its protector

Part of Poland is recovered from Prussia to become the grand duchy of Warsaw, a small state dependent upon Napoleon

In Phenomenology of Spirit Friedrich Hegel interprets history as the advance of the human mind, often through thesis, antithesis and synthesis

The Fulani establish a capital at Sokoto, from which they dominate the Hausa kingdoms of northern Nigeria

The king of Prussia, Frederick William III, changes sides and declares war on France

The allies inflict a heavy defeat on Napoleon at Leipzig, in the so-called Battle of the Nations

The rulers of Russia, Prussia and Austria form a Holy Alliance to preserve their concept of a Christian Europe

German physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer observes and draws dark lines in the solar spectrum

The first Reform congregation within Judaism is established in Germany, in the Hamburg Temple

The king of Prussia, Frederick William III, makes a bid for German leadership by turning his extensive lands into a custom-free zone (Zollverein)

In The World as Will and Idea Schopenhauer develops the bleakest possible view of the effects of the human will

Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischutz has its premiere in Berlin

17-year-old Felix Mendelssohn composes an overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, amplifed with huge success eighteen years later

Carl Maria von Weber's opera Oberon has its premiere (in London, at Covent Garden)

German physicist Georg Simon Ohm formulates his law about the proportionality of current flowing in an electric conductor

After a century of neglect, the 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn conducts an influential revival in Berlin of J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion

German composer Felix Mendelssohn visits the Hebrides and see's Fingal's Cave, later the theme of his Hebrides Overture

Richard Lander and his brother John explore the lower reaches of the Niger, proving that the great river is navigable

The full text of Goethe's Faust, Parts 1 and 2, is published a few months after the poet's death