18th century

Restoration and the 18th Century

A video depicting the important historical moments of the 17th an 18th century and its impact on British literature.

1700 AD World Map

The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 to December 31, 1800 in the Gregorian calendar.

During the 18th century, the Enlightenment culminated in the French and American revolutions. Philosophy and science increased in prominence. Philosophers dreamed of a brighter age. This dream turned into a reality with the French Revolution, although it was later compromised by the excesses of the terror of Maximilien Robespierre. At first, the monarchies of Europe embraced Enlightenment ideals, but with the French Revolution they feared losing their power and formed broad coalitions for the counter-revolution.

The Ottoman Empire underwent a protracted decline, as it failed to keep up with the technological advances in Europe. The Tulip period symbolized a period of peace and reorientation towards European society, after victory against a burgeoning Russian Empire in the Pruth River Campaign. Throughout the century various reforms were introduced with limited success.

The 18th century also marked the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as an independent state. The once powerful and vast kingdom, that was once able to conquer Moscow and defeat the great Ottoman armies, collapsed under numerous invasions. Its semi-democratic government system was not efficient enough to rival the neighbouring monarchies of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire and the Archduchy of Austria which divided the Commonwealth territories among them, changing the landscape of Central European politics for the next hundred years.

Great Britain became a major power worldwide with the defeat of France in the Americas, in the 1760s and the conquest of large parts of India. However, Britain lost much of its North American colonies after the American Revolution, which was actively helped by the French. The Industrial Revolution started in Britain in the 1770s with the production of the improved steam engine. Despite its modest beginnings in the 18th century, it would radically change human society and the environment.

Western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. For example, the “short” 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of Franceand the start of the French Revolution with an emphasis on directly interconnected events.  To historians who expand the century to include larger historical movements, the “long” 18th century may run from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the battle of Waterloo in 1815 or even later.

Events – 1700’s

• 1700–1721: Great Northern War between Tsarist Russia and the Swedish Empire
• 1701: Kingdom of Prussia declared under King Frederick I
• 1701: Ashanti Empire is formed under Osei Kofi Tutu I
• 1701–1714: War of the Spanish Succession was a conflict which involved most ofEurope.^[6]
• 1701–1702: The Daily Courant and The Norwich Post becomes the first daily newspapers in England.
• 1702: Forty-seven Ronin attack Kira Yoshinaka and then commit seppuku in Japan.
• 1702–1715: Camisard Rebellion in France.
• 1703: Saint Petersburg founded by Peter the Great. Russian capital until 1918.
• 1703–1711: The Rákóczi Uprising against the Habsburg Monarchy.
• 1704: End of Japan’s Genroku period.
• 1704: First Javanese War of Succession.
  
• 1705: Handel‘s first opera, Almira, premieres.
• 1706: War of the Spanish Succession: French troops defeated at the Battles of Ramilies and Turin.
• 1707: Act of Union passed merging the Scottish and the English Parliaments, thus establishing the Kingdom of Great Britain.
  
• 1707: After Aurangzeb‘s death, the Mughal Empire enters a long decline and theMaratha Empire slowly replaces it.
• 1707: Mount Fuji erupts in Japan for first time since 1700.
• 1707: War of 27 years between the Marathas and Mughals ends in India.
• 1708: The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies and English Company Trading to the East Indies merged to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies.
• 1708–1709: Famine kills one-third of East Prussia‘s population.
• 1709: Great Frost of 1709, coldest winter in 500 years.
• 1709: Hotaki dynasty founded in Afghanistan.
• 1709: Charles XII of Sweden flees to Ottoman Empire after Peter I of Russia defeats his army at the Battle of Poltava.

1710’s

• 1710: The world’s first copyright legislation, Britain‘s Statute of Anne, becomes effective
• 1710–1711: Ottoman Empire fights Russia in the Russo-Turkish War
• 1711–1715: Tuscarora War between British, Dutch, and German settlers and theTuscarora people of North Carolina
• 1712: War of the Spanish Succession: The French defeat a combined Dutch-Austrian force at the Battle of Denain
• 1712: The first shipment of coffee from Java reaches Amsterdam.
  
• 1713: Treaty of Utrecht end the War of the Spanish Succession
• 1713–1714: Tarabai establishes rival Maratha Empire government in Kolhapur against Chattrapati Shahu
• 1714: Accession of George I, Elector of Hanover, to the throne of Great Britain
• 1715: First Jacobite rebellion breaks out – British halt Jacobite advance at the Battle of Sheriffmuir; Battle of Preston
• 1715: Louis XIV dies, leaving France greatly enlarged but deep in debt – The Regency takes power under Philippe d’Orleans
• 1715: Pope Clement XI declares Catholicism and Confucianism incompatible
• 1716: Establishment of the Sikh Confederacy along the present-dayIndia–Pakistan border.
• 1717: The Netherlands, Britain and France sign the Triple Alliance
• 1717: Surabaya rebels against the VOC.
  
• 1718: City of New Orleans founded by the French in North America
• 1718: Blackbeard (Edward Teach) is killed by Robert Maynard in a North Carolina inlet on the inner side of Ocracoke Island
• 1718–1730: Tulip period of the Ottoman Empire
• 1719: Spanish attempt to restart the Jacobite rebellion fails
• 1719: Second Javanese War of Succession.
  

1720’s

• 1720: The South Sea Bubble
• 1720: Spanish military embarks on the Villasur expedition from Mexico and travel into the Great Plains
• 1720–1721: The Great Plague of Marseille
• 1721: Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister of Great Britain (de facto)
• 1721: Treaty of Nystad signed, ending the Great Northern War.
• 1721: Kangxi Emperor bans Christian missionaries because of Pope Clement XI’s decree
• 1721: Peter I reforms the Russian Orthodox Church
• 1722: Afghans conquered Iran, overthrowing the Safavid Shah Sultan Husayn
• 1722: Kangxi Emperor of China dies
• 1722: Bartholomew Roberts is killed in a sea battle off the African coast
• 1722–1723: Russo-Persian War
• 1722–1725: Controversy over William Wood‘s halfpence leads to the Drapier’s Letters and begins the Irish economic independence from England movement
• 1723: Slavery abolished in Russia. Peter the Great converted the household slaves into house serfs
  
• 1723–1730: The “Great Disaster” – an invasion of Kazakh territories by the Dzungars
• 1724: Treaty of Constantinople is signed, partitioning Persia between the Ottoman Empire and Russia.
• 1725: The Fulani nomads took complete control of Futa Jallon and set up the first of many Fulani jihad states to come
  
• 1726: The enormous Chinese encyclopedia Gujin Tushu Jicheng of over 100 million written Chinese characters in over 800,000 pages is printed in 60 different copies using copper-based Chinese movable type printing
• 1727–1729: Anglo-Spanish War
• 1729–1735: Charles Wesley and John Wesley begin Methodism in England

1730’s

• 1730: Mahmud I takes over Ottoman Empire after the Patrona Halil revolt, ending the Tulip period.
• 1730–1760: First Great Awakening takes place in Great Britain and North America.
• 1732–1734: Crimean Tatar raids into Russia.
  
• 1733–1738: War of the Polish Succession.
• 1735–1739: Russo-Turkish War.
• 1735–1799: The Qianlong Emperor of China oversaw a huge expansion in territory.
• 1735: Governor-General Dirk van Cloon dies, one of many victims of disease in Batavia.
  
• 1736: Nader Shah assumed title of Shah of Persia and founded the Afsharid dynasty. Ruled until his death in 1747.
• 1736: Qing Dynasty Chinese court painters recreate Zhang Zeduan‘s classic panoramic painting, Along the River During Qingming Festival.
• 1738–1756: Famine across the Sahel, half the population of Timbuktu died.
  
• 1738: Pope Clement XII issues the Eminenti Apostolatus Specula prohibiting Catholics from becoming Freemasons.
• 1738: Turlough O’Carolan, famous Irish harper, died.
• 1739: Nader Shah defeated the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal and sacked Delhi.
• 1739: Great Britain and Spain fight the War of Jenkins’ Ear in the Caribbean.

1740’s

• 1740: Frederick the Great comes to power in Prussia
• 1740: British attempt to capture St. Augustine, Florida but lose to the Spanish during the Siege of St. Augustine
• 1740–1741: Famine in Ireland killed ten per cent of the population
• 1740–1748: War of the Austrian Succession
• 1740: 9 October, A massacre of Batavia’s ethnic Chinese begins after they are suspected by the VOC of planning a rebellion. Approximately 10,000 are killed and the Chinese quarter is burned.
  
• 1741: Russians began settling the Aleutian Islands
• 1741: Pope Benedict XIV issues Immensa Pastorum principis against slavery
• 1742: Cotton mills were first opened in England
• 1743: The capital Kartasura fell under Geger Pecinan uprising — Raden Mas Garendi (Sunan Kuning) led Chinese mercenaries revolted against Pakubuwono II.
• 1744: The First Saudi State is founded by Mohammed Ibn Saud
  
• 1744: French attempt to restart the Jacobite rebellion fails
• 1744–1748: The First Carnatic War fought between the British, the French, theMarathas, and Mysore in India
• 1745: Second Jacobite Rebellion began by Charles Edward Stuart in Scotland
• 1745: 17 February, Pakubuwono II established a new kraton in Sala village and established Surakarta Sunanate.
• 1747: Ahmed Shah Durrani founded the Durrani Empire in modern day Afghanistan
• 1748: Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession and First Carnatic War
• 1748–1754: The Second Carnatic War fought between the British, the French, theMarathas, and Mysore in India

1750’s

• 1750: Peak of the Little Ice Age
• 1754: Treaty of Pondicherry ends Second Carnatic War and recognizes Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah as Nawab of the Carnatic.
• 1754: King’s College founded by a royal charter of George II of Great Britain.^[19]
• 1754–1763: The French and Indian War, Fought in the U.S. and Canada mostly between the French and their allies and the English and their allies. The North American chapter of the Seven Years’ War.
• 1755: The Lisbon earthquake
• 1755–1763: The Great Upheaval, forced population transfer of the French Acadian population from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
• 1755: 13 February, The Treaty of Giyanti is signed, effectively partitioning the Mataram Sultanate. The VOC recognizes Mangkubumi as Sultan Hamengkubuwana I, who rules half of Central Java. Hamengkubuwana I then established Yogyakarta Sultanate, moves to Yogya and renames the city Yogyakarta
  
• 1756–1763: Seven Years’ War fought among European powers in various theaters around the world.
• 1756–1763: The Third Carnatic War fought between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore in India.
• 1757: Battle of Plassey signaled the beginning of formal British rule in India after years of commercial activity under the auspices of the East India Company.
• 1757: 17 March, Salatiga treaty between Prince Sambernyawa with Pakubuwono III and Hamengkubuwono I further partitioning the remnant of Mataram Sultanate, the Mangkunegaran Grand Duchy was established.
• 1758: British colonel James Wolfe issues the Wolfe’s Manifesto
• 1759: French commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and British commander James Wolfe die during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

1760’s

• 1760: George III became King of Britain.
• 1760: Zand dynasty founded in Iran
• 1761: Maratha Empire defeated at Battle of Panipat
• 1762–1796: Reign of Catherine the Great of Russia.
• 1763: Treaty of Paris ends Seven Years’ War and Third Carnatic War
• 1763: Kingdom of Mysore conquers the Kingdom of Keladi
• 1765: Stamp Act introduced into the American colonies by the UK Parliament.
• 1766–1799: Anglo-Mysore Wars
• 1767: Burmese conquered the Ayutthaya kingdom.
• 1768: Gurkhas conquered Nepal.
• 1768–1772: War of the Bar Confederation
• 1768–1774: Russo-Turkish War
• 1769: Spanish missionaries established the first of 21 missions in California.
• 1769–1770: James Cook explores and maps New Zealand and Australia
• 1769–1773: The Bengal famine of 1770 killed one third of the Bengal population.
• 1769: French expeditions capture clove plants in Ambon, ending the VOC monopoly of the plant. (to 1772)

1770’s

• 1770: James Cook claims the East Coast of Australia (New South Wales) for Great Britain.
• 1770–1771: Famine in Czech lands killed hundreds of thousands.
• 1770: Captain James Cook stops at Onrust Island in the Bay of Batavia for repairs to his ship Endeavour on his round the world voyage.
  
• 1771: The Plague Riot in Moscow.
• 1771: Richard Arkwright and his partners build the world’s first water-powered mill at Cromford.
• 1772: Reformer Johann Friedrich Struensee executed in Denmark.
• 1772: Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup d’état, becoming almost an absolute monarch.
• 1772: Partitions of Poland marks the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
• 1772–1779: Maratha Empire fights Britain and Raghunathrao‘s forces during the First Anglo-Maratha War
• 1772–1795: The Partitions of Poland ended the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and erased Poland from the map for 123 years.
• 1773–1775: Pugachev’s Rebellion was the largest peasant revolt in Russia‘s history.
• 1773: East India Company starts operations in Bengal to smuggle Opium into China.
• 1775: John Harrison H4 and Larcum Kendall K1 Marine chronometers are used to measure longitude by James Cook on his Second voyage (1772–1775)
• 1775–1782: First Anglo-Maratha War
• 1775–1783: American Revolutionary War
• 1776: Illuminati founded by Adam Weishaupt
• 1776: United States Declaration of Independence adopted by the Continental Congressin Philadelphia.
• 1776: Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations
• 1778: Tây Sơn Dynasty established in Vietnam.
• 1778: James Cook becomes first European on the Hawaiian Islands.
• 1778: 24 April, Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences was established by a group of Dutch intellectuals.  This institution is the pioneer of scientific efforts in Indonesia and the founder of National Museum of Indonesia.
• 1779–1879: Xhosa Wars between British and Boer settlers and the Xhosas in South African Republic

1780’s

• 1780: Outbreak of the indigenous rebellion led by Túpac Amaru II in Peru.
• 1781: Spanish settlers founded Los Angeles.
• 1781–1785: Serfdom abolished in the Austrian monarchy (first step; second step in1848)
• 1783: Famine in Iceland caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano.
• 1783: Russian Empire annexed the Crimean Khanate.
• 1783: The Treaty of Paris formally ends the American War of Independence.
• 1785–1791: Imam Sheikh Mansur, a Chechen warrior and Muslim mystic, led a coalition of Muslim Caucasian tribes from throughout the Caucasus in a holy waragainst the Russian invaders.
  
• 1785–1795: Northwest Indian War between the United States and Native Americans
• 1787: United States Constitution was written in Philadelphia and submitted to the states for ratification.
• 1787: Freed slaves from London founded Freetown in present-day Sierra Leone.
• 1787: Kansei Reforms instituted in Japan by Matsudaira Sadanobu.
• 1787–1792: Russo-Turkish War
• 1788: First French Quaker community established in Congénies
• 1788: First European settlement established in Australia at Sydney.
• 1788–1790: Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790)
• 1788: New Hampshire ratifies the United States Constitution as the 9th state, and by the terms of Article VII it is in effect.
• 1788–1789: Inconfidência Mineira, conspiracy against the colonial authorities in Brazil.
• 1789: George Washington elected President of the United States. Served until 1797.
• 1789: Great Britain and Spain dispute the Nootka Sound during the Nootka Crisis.
• 1789–1799: The French Revolution

• 1789: The Liège Revolution
• 1789: The Brabant Revolution

1790’s

• 1790: United States of Belgium proclaimed following the Brabant Revolution.
• 1790: Suppression of the United States of Belgium and re-establishment of Austrian control.
• 1790: Establishment of the Polish-Prussian Pact
• 1791: The Constitutional Act (Or Canada Act) creates the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada in British North America.
• 1791: Suppression of the Liège Revolution by Austrian forces and the re-establishment of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.
• 1791–1795: George Vancouver explores the world during the Vancouver Expedition.
• 1791–1804: The Haitian Revolution
• 1792–1802: The French Revolutionary Wars lead into the Napoleonic Wars from 1803–1815.
• 1792: New York Stock & Exchange Board founded.
• 1792: Polish–Russian War of 1792
• 1792: King Gustav III of Sweden was assassinated by a conspiracy of noblemen.
• 1792: March, Hamengkubuwana I dies.
  
• 1793: Upper Canada bans slavery.
• 1793: The largest yellow fever epidemic in American history killed as many as 5,000 people in Philadelphia—roughly 10% of the population.
  
• 1793–1796: Revolt in the Vendée against the French Republic at the time of the Revolution.
• 1794: Polish revolt
• 1794: Jay’s Treaty concluded between Great Britain and the United States, by which the Western outposts in the Great Lakes are returned to the U.S., and commerce between the two countries is regulated.
• 1794: Qajar dynasty founded in Iran after replacing the Zand dynasty.
• 1795: Mohammad Khan Qajar razes Tbilisi to the ground.
• 1795: Establishment of the French-backed Batavian Republic in present-day Netherlands.
• 1795: Pinckney’s Treaty between the United States and Spain granted the Mississippi Territory to the US.
• 1795: The Marseillaise officially adopted as the French national anthem.
• 1795: Kamehameha I of the Island of Hawaii defeats the Oahuans at the Battle of Nu’uanu.
• 1796: Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination. Smallpox killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year during the 18th century (including five reigning monarchs).
  
• 1796: Battle of Montenotte. Engagement in the War of the First Coalition. Napoleon Bonaparte‘s first victory as an army commander.
• 1796: British ejected Dutch from Ceylon.
• 1796: Mungo Park, backed by the African Association, is the first European to set eyes on the Niger River in Africa.
• 1796–1804: The White Lotus Rebellion against the Manchu Dynasty in China.
• 1797: Napoleon‘s invasion and partition of the Republic of Venice ended over 1,000 years of independence for the Serene Republic.
• 1798: The Irish Rebellion failed to overthrow British rule in Ireland.
• 1798–1800: Quasi-War between the United States and France.
• 1799: Napoleon staged a coup d’état and became First Consul of France.
• 1799: Dutch East India Company is dissolved.
• 1799: The assassination of the 14th Tu’i Kanokupolu, Tukuʻaho, plunges Tonga into half a century of civil war.
• 1799: Tipu Sultan was killed in a battle with the British forces.
• 1800: 1 January, The bankrupt Dutch East India Company (VOC) is formally dissolved and the nationalised Dutch East Indies is established.
  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18th_century#Events