Table of Contents for Great Events from History: The Eighteenth Century Summary

Expansion of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Oman Captures Zanzibar

Plumier Publishes L’Art de tourner

Tull Invents the Seed Drill

Great Northern War

Bach Pioneers Modern Music

Revenge of the Forty-Seven Ronin

War of the Spanish Succession

Act of Settlement

Marsh Builds Ireland’s First Public Library

First Arabic Printing Press

Queen Anne’s War

Camisard Risings in the Cévennes

Hungarian Revolt Against Habsburg Rule

Founding of St. Petersburg

Chikamatsu Produces The Love Suicides at Sonezaki

Newton Publishes Optics

Astronomy Wars in England

Javanese Wars of Succession

Battle of Blenheim

Halley Predicts the Return of a Comet

Newcomen Develops the Steam Engine

Act of Union Unites England and Scotland

Defeat of the “Old Pretender”

Darby Invents Coke-Smelting

Invention of the Piano

Persian-Afghan Wars

Battle of Poltava

Battle of Malplaquet

Ottoman Wars with Russia, Venice, and Austria

Addison and Steele Establish The Spectator

Tuscarora War

Occasional Conformity Bill

Philip V Founds the Royal Library of Spain

Stamp Act

New York City Slave Revolt

Second Villmergen War

Maya Rebellion in Chiapas

Founding of Louisbourg

Treaty of Utrecht

Foundation of the Spanish Academy

Papal Bull Unigenitus

Fahrenheit Develops the Mercury Thermometer

Quest for Longitude

Mill Patents the Typewriter

Treaties of Rastatt and Baden

Fox Wars

Building of the Karlskirche

Jacobite Rising in Scotland

Bernoulli Publishes His Calculus of Variations

Geoffroy Issues the Table of Reactivities

Tulip Age

Stukeley Studies Stonehenge and Avebury

Defoe Publishes the First Novel

Financial Collapse of the John Law System

Last Major Outbreak of Plague

Collapse of the South Sea Bubble

Japan Lifts Ban on Foreign Books

Development of Great Britain’s Office of Prime Minister

Early Enlightenment in France

Réaumur Discovers Carbon’s Role in Hardening Steel

European Discovery of Easter Island

Stahl Postulates the Phlogiston Theory

Foundation of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences

Flamsteed’s Star Catalog Marks the Transition to Modern Astronomy

Persian Civil Wars

Vico Publishes The New Science

Swift Satirizes English Rule of Ireland in Gulliver’s Travels

Voltaire Advances Enlightenment Thought in Europe

Jansenist “Convulsionnaires” Gather at Saint-Médard

Treaty of Kiakhta

Gay Produces the First Ballad Opera

Russian Voyages to Alaska

Gray Discovers Principles of Electric Conductivity

Treaty of Seville

First Maroon War

Society of Dilettanti Is Established

Settlement of Georgia

Covent Garden Theatre Opens in London

De Moivre Describes the Bell-Shaped Curve

Du Fay Discovers Two Kinds of Electric Charge

Kay Invents the Flying Shuttle

War of the Polish Succession

Slaves Capture St. John’s Island

Hadley Describes Atmospheric Circulation

Linnaeus Creates the Binomial System of Classification

French Scientists Explore the Amazon River

Trial of John Peter Zenger

Russo-Austrian War Against the Ottoman Empire

Revival of the Paris Salon

Walking Purchase

Bernoulli Proposes the Kinetic Theory of Gases

Foundation of St. Petersburg’s Imperial Ballet School

Treaty of Vienna

Hume Publishes A Treatise of Human Nature

War of Jenkins’s Ear

First Great Awakening

Stono Rebellion

Treaty of Belgrade

Maclaurin’s Gravitational Theory

Richardson’s Pamela Establishes the Modern Novel

Accession of Frederick the Great

Maria Theresa Succeeds to the Austrian Throne

War of the Austrian Succession

Leadhills Reading Society Promotes Literacy

Celsius Proposes an International Fixed Temperature Scale

Fielding’s Joseph Andrews Satirizes English Society

First Performance of Handel’s Messiah

D’Alembert Develops His Axioms of Motion

Dagohoy Rebellion in the Philippines

Lomonosov Issues the First Catalog of Minerals

Jacobite Rebellion

Invention of the Leyden Jar

Roebuck Develops the Lead-Chamber Process

Zāhir al-ՙUmar Creates a Stronghold in Galilee

Carnatic Wars

Johnson Creates the First Modern English Dictionary

Marggraf Extracts Sugar from Beets

Agnesi Publishes Analytical Institutions

Bradley Discovers the Nutation of Earth’s Axis

Euler Develops the Concept of Function

Excavation of Pompeii

Montesquieu Publishes The Spirit of the Laws

Nollet Discovers Osmosis

Construction of Istanbul’s Nur-u Osmaniye Complex

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

First Comprehensive Examination of the Natural World

Saՙīd Becomes Ruler of Oman

Treaty of Madrid

China Consolidates Control over Tibet

Johnson Issues The Rambler

Maupertuis Provides Evidence of “Hereditary Particles”

Diderot Publishes the Encyclopedia

Mayer’s Lunar Tables Enable Mariners to Determine Longitude at Sea

Alaungpaya Unites Burma

Franklin Demonstrates the Electrical Nature of Lightning

Lind Discovers a Cure for Scurvy

Büsching Publishes A New System of Geography

Condillac Defends Sensationalist Theory

French and Indian War

Albany Congress

Black Identifies Carbon Dioxide

Acadians Are Expelled from Canada

Great Lisbon Earthquake

Seven Years’ War

Monro Distinguishes Between Lymphatic and Blood Systems

Haller Establishes Physiology as a Science

Battle of Plassey

Battle of Rossbach

Siege of Louisbourg

Helvétius Publishes De l’esprit

Aepinus Publishes Essay on the Theory of Electricity and Magnetism

Charles III Gains the Spanish Throne

Wedgwood Founds a Ceramics Firm

Construction of the Bridgewater Canal

Voltaire Satirizes Optimism in Candide

Suppression of the Jesuits

Cherokee War

Beginning of Selective Livestock Breeding

Caribbean Slave Rebellions

Mozart Tours Europe as a Child Prodigy

Rousseau Publishes The Social Contract

First Performance of Gluck’s Orfeo and Euridice

Bayes Advances Probability Theory

Famine in Southern Italy

Peace of Paris

The North Briton Controversy

Pontiac’s Resistance

David Garrick’s European Tour

Publication of the Freeman’s Journal

Proclamation of 1763

Paxton Boys’ Massacres

Invention of the Spinning Jenny

Voltaire Publishes A Philosophical Dictionary for the Pocket

Watt Develops a More Effective Steam Engine

Stamp Act Crisis

Lorraine Becomes Part of France

First American Theater Opens in Philadelphia

Bougainville Circumnavigates the Globe

Spallanzani Disproves Spontaneous Generation

Invention of the Water Frame

Townshend Crisis

Anglo-Mysore Wars

Catherine the Great’s Instruction

Carolina Regulator Movements

Voyages of Captain Cook

Ottoman Wars with Russia

Methodist Church Is Established in Colonial America

Bruce Explores Ethiopia

Britain’s Royal Academy of Arts Is Founded

Pombal Reforms the Inquisition

Rise of the California Missions

Siamese-Vietnamese War

Cugnot Demonstrates His Steam-Powered Road Carriage

Publication of Holbach’s The System of Nature

Boston Massacre

Woulfe Discovers Picric Acid

Vietnamese Civil Wars

Partitioning of Poland

Goethe Inaugurates the Sturm und Drang Movement

African American Baptist Church Is Founded

Pugachev’s Revolt

Boston Tea Party

Hansard Begins Reporting Parliamentary Debates

Lord Dunmore’s War

Quebec Act

Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji

Priestley Discovers Oxygen

First Continental Congress

First Marāthā War

Spanish-Algerine War

Joseph II’s Reforms

Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery Is Founded

Battle of Lexington and Concord

American Revolutionary War

Flour War

Second Continental Congress

Foundation of the Viceroyalty of La Plata

Paine Publishes Common Sense

Adam Smith Publishes The Wealth of Nations

Founding of Bolshoi Theatre Company

France Supports the American Revolution

Indian Delegation Meets with Congress

New Jersey Women Gain the Vote

Declaration of Independence

First Test of a Submarine in Warfare

France’s First Daily Newspaper Appears

Northeast States Abolish Slavery

Battle of Oriskany Creek

Battles of Saratoga

Construction of the First Iron Bridge

Franco-American Treaties

Opening of Milan’s La Scala

Crompton Invents the Spinning Mule

Ingenhousz Discovers Photosynthesis

Frontier Wars in South Africa

Siege of Gibraltar

Rebellion of Tupac Amaru II

Gordon Riots

Great Caribbean Hurricane

Kant Publishes Critique of Pure Reason

Cavendish Discovers the Composition of Water

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation

Cornwallis Surrenders at Yorktown

Publication of Rousseau’s Confessions

Wars of Hawaiian Unification

Loyalists Migrate to Nova Scotia

Cort Improves Iron Processing

Treaty of Paris

First Manned Balloon Flight

Legendre Introduces Polynomials

Herder Publishes His Philosophy of History

First Performance of The Marriage of Figaro

Hall’s Masonic Lodge Is Chartered

Fort Stanwix Treaty

Construction of El Prado Museum Begins

First State Universities Are Established

Rites Controversy

Hutton Proposes the Geological Theory of Uniformitarianism

First Cross-Channel Flight

Cartwright Patents the Steam-Powered Loom

Ordinance of 1785

Discovery of the Mayan Ruins at Palenque

Lavoisier Devises the Modern System of Chemical Nomenclature

Tenmei Famine

Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty

Jones Postulates a Proto-Indo-European Language

David Paints The Death of Socrates

Herschel Begins Building His Reflecting Telescope

Free African Society Is Founded

Northwest Ordinance

U.S. Constitution Is Adopted

Publication of The Federalist

Russo-Swedish Wars

Britain Establishes Penal Colony in Australia

Meikle Demonstrates His Drum Thresher

Leblanc Develops Soda Production

Washington’s Inauguration

Louis XVI Calls the Estates-General

Oath of the Tennis Court

Fall of the Bastille

Episcopal Church Is Established

Judiciary Act

France Adopts the Guillotine

First U.S. Political Parties

Second Great Awakening

Burke Lays the Foundations of Modern Conservatism

First Steam Rolling Mill

Hamilton’s Report on Public Credit

Nootka Sound Convention

Little Turtle’s War

Slater’s Spinning Mill

Canada’s Constitutional Act

Thomas Paine Publishes Rights of Man

Haitian Independence

U.S. Bill of Rights Is Ratified

Wollstonecraft Publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Fichte Advocates Free Speech

The Northern Star Calls for Irish Independence

Denmark Abolishes the Slave Trade

Early Wars of the French Revolution

Battle of Valmy

Christian Missionary Societies Are Founded

Whitney Invents the Cotton Gin

Macartney Mission to China

Execution of Louis XVI

First Fugitive Slave Law

War in the Vendée

Mackenzie Reaches the Arctic Ocean

Proust Establishes the Law of Definite Proportions

Allgemeines Landrecht Recodifies Prussian Law

Whiskey Rebellion

Fall of Robespierre

Battle of Fallen Timbers

Jay’s Treaty

Invention of the Flax Spinner

Murray Develops a Modern English Grammar Book

Paganini’s Early Violin Performances

Speenhamland System

Second Maroon War

Pinckney’s Treaty

Laplace Articulates His Nebular Hypothesis

Jenner Develops Smallpox Vaccination

Napoleon’s Italian Campaigns

Washington’s Farewell Address

Catherine the Great’s Art Collection Is Installed at the Hermitage

Wollaston Begins His Work on Metallurgy

XYZ Affair

Invention of Lithography

Malthus Arouses Controversy with His Population Theory

Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign

Irish Rebellion

Alien and Sedition Acts

Battle of the Nile

Code of Handsome Lake

Discovery of the Earliest Anesthetics

Humboldt and Bonpland’s Expedition

Discovery of the Rosetta Stone

Napoleon Rises to Power in France

Volta Invents the Battery

Act of Union Forms the United Kingdom