The 18th Century

• Overview of the 18th Century
• Britain
• Europe
• Asia
• Africa
• America
• Science & Technology
• see also:
  • History of the world
  • The 17th century
  • The 19th century
  • The 20th century - 1st quarter
  • The 20th century - 2nd quarter
  • The 20th century - 3rd quarter
  • The 20th century - 4th quarter
  • The 21st century
  • History of religion
  • History of Western Philosophy
  • History of Music

Overview of the 18th Century:

• the "Age of Enlightenment", the 18th century was characterised by:
  • consolidation of the colonies of the empires:
    • British entrepreneurs start sugar cane production in Barbados to make the new European commodities of chocolate, tea & coffee more palatable, but the West Indies was ridden with malaria & times hard, so needed black slaves from Africa.
    • Britain evicting French out of America but in doing so raises taxes against the British colonies in America to pay for the war debts & as a result the colonies win the American War of Independence, unifying the United States of America under its 1st President George Washington.
    • Spain & Portugal settle their disputes over their Sth. American possessions;
  • new colonies:
    • Australia & New Zealand colonised by British
  • baroque music of J.S.Bach & Handel followed by the neoclassical art & the music of Mozart, Beethoven & Paganini & the rise of the minuet, waltz & bolero dances
  • further expansion & conflicts between religious sects and the development of secret fraternities such as the Masons & the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, both originating in England.
  • improvement in roads and canals:
    • in 1706, when roads were little more than earthen tracks, always rough, without drainage and so almost impassable in winter, it took the best coach 8 days to travel from Newcastle to London, as towns grew larger & demand for goods increased, the 1st systematic attempt to improve roads started in 1759, and by 1786, with new, improved roads, it took 45hrs.
    • from 1760's the canal system was also improved, esp. to supply coal to Manchester, making the 1st wave of industrialisation possible, however, the canal system was not well suited to hilly country which characterised many mining districts, and it was a monopoly which was shamelessly exploited, slow & unpunctual. 
    • large cargos were usually transported by barges rather than by road, even if it meant a trip from London to Bristol was a 650 mile trip by water when it was only 120miles by land.
  • the industrial revolution and the age of textiles, factories and industrial towns:
    • as of 1770, the ability to use coal instead of charcoal in iron production, combined with the new roads, and the development of the steam engine , combined to mechanise industries, particularly the textile industry, leading to the Industrial Revolution creating a Kondratieff economic wave,  the establishment of factories for mass-production with their adjacent unplanned industrial towns particularly near sources of coal & iron such as Birmingham.
    • in England, canals were a profitable business, paying high dividends & thus 1790-1831 there was a boom in canal building.
  • French Revolution & the rise of Napoleon
  • the rise of Freemasonry and their influence on Western politics

• 1700: pop. 7.5m in England & Scotland; Parliament now powerful controlling monarchal war financing, with 2 parties - the Whigs (accused of being atheists) & the Tories (aligned with French & Jesuits)
• 1701, dethroned James II dies, his son James Francis Edward Stuart is recognised by Louis XIV as James III; Daniel Defoe "The True-born Englishman" satire;
• 1702: King William III dies, succeeded by Q. Anne (-1714) & gives Royal approval to horseracing & thus sweepstakes idea originates; Earliest form of English pantomime; "Capt." William Kidd hanged for piracy; 1st daily newspaper in England- "The Daily Courant"
• 1703, work begins on Buckingham Palace;
• 1705, His Majesty's Theatre opens in London;
• 1707, England bails out impoverished Scotland to at last create a union between England & Scotland becomes 'Great Britain'; Isaac Watts "Hymns & Spiritual Songs";
• 1709, Jap. magnolias introduced to England;
• 1710, English South Sea Company founded;
• 1714, Q. Anne dies without heir, succeeded by Whigs-backed, non-English speaking George Louis, Elector of Hanover, as King George I (-1727);
• 1715, Jacobite nobles (supporters of James II) lead an uprising of 10,000 men in highly taxed Scotland & in the English border country in favour of the son of the king's son, James III, who was known as the Old Pretender. After an indecisive battle with government forces, the Jacobite forces surrendered at Preston & Stuart returned to exile in France. Seven noblemen were sentenced to death.
• Robert Walpole ("cock robin") Britain's de facto 1st Prime Minister understood the psychology of loyalty, dominated & stabilised Britain over the next few decades. His self-indulgences stimulating consumerism with the wealthy to create grandiose houses & landscaped gardens whilst creating larger farms to pay for their glitter & greed and invented "shopping" for exotic fruits, imported china to sip tea & even condoms, but also resulted in the debtors' prisons which eventually by 1725 would lead to rebellion against Walpole's consumerism riddled with corruption..
• 1716, mineral waters discovered in Cheltenham; Royal Regiment of Artillery founded;
• 1717, James III forced to leave France; Handel's "Water Music" 1st given on the Thames; Mother Grand Lodge of Freemasons est. in London, Freemasonry as a secret fraternal group rather than medieval lodge of stone masons begins to expand throughout Europe and then to Nth America by the 1730's.
• 1718, 1st bank notes in England;
• 1719, Ireland declared inseparable to England; Daniel Defoe "Robinson Crusoe"; Westminster Hospital founded; 1st boxing champion;
• 1722, Guy's Hospital founded;
• 1725, Alexander Pope translates Homer's "The Odyssey";
• 1730, John & Charles Wesley found the Methodist sect;
• 1741, hospital founded to look after babies who would otherwise have had 100% mortality when desperate mothers gave them out to wet nurses. In the 1st year, only 50% of the babies looked after died. Survivors would be enrolled in the patriotic navy - "Rule Brittania". Walpole opposed the merchant navy & raised beer & coal taxes to affect them, avoiding land taxes & war with Spain, but soon Walpole would finally be removed from power as a result.
• 1742, Handel's "Messiah" 1st performed in Dublin
• 1744, the laws of Cricket formulated by the London Club at the Star and Garter Tavern. They were not issued in pamphlet form until 1755. The first recorded match was in 1700  when the Post Boy of Thursday 28th March-Saturday 30th March announced a match between ten players on each side on Clapham Common  near Foxhall (i.e. Vauxhall) in London for £10 a head. In 1702 the Duke of Richmond's team played against men from Arundel in Sussex. The Duke spent 1s 6d on brandy! Cricket cannot be accurately dated, but a John Derrick  stated in 1590 that he had played cricket in Guildford, Surrey, when a boy. There are many references to the game throughout the 17th century. - thanks for info from Ian Maun, Exeter, UK.
• 1745, earliest Oddfellows Lodge in England;
• July 1745, the 2nd Jacobite rebellion "The Forty-Five". James II's charismatic grandson, Charles Edward Louis Philip Stuart, called Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender, landed in Scotland & in Sept. entered Edinburgh with 2000 men & won 3 battles in Scotland then invaded England as far as Derby whilst the British army were fighting in Europe. They were forced to retreat in winter and completely surrendered at the Battle of Culloden. 1500 were slaughtered in 1hr by the under-manned British army's guns & new bayonets. Bonnie Prince Charlie fled to France. Again a number of nobles and a 1000 others were executed. This ended the political influence of the Jacobites.
• 1746, wearing of tartans prohibited in England (-1782); Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" allowed Scotland to lead the industrialisation "progress" & develop Glasgow & Edinburgh into new industrial towns, and thus Britain's & the world's industrialisation.
• 1747, carriage tax introduced;
• 1751, British calendar changed so that Jan 1 is now New Year; 1st mental asylums in London;
• 1752, Gr.Britain adopts Gregorian calendar on Sept 14, skipping Sept 3-13;
• 1753, naturalisation of Jews permitted; Marriage Act forbids weddings by unauthorised persons;
• 1754, David Hume's "History of Great Britain Vol. 1";
• 1755, Lisbon earthquake kills 30,000;
• 1756-63: Seven Years' War to drive out France from Nth America & India succeeds, but leaves Britain with considerable debt & expensive responsibilities to administer the newly acquired territory in Nth America.
• 1759: William Pitt's war expenditure of 18m pounds per yr (twice govt annual income), finally pays off & French begin to be beaten in the colonies incl. Qebec & Montreal.
• 1760: George III succeeds the throne & was determined to play an active role in governing, but his ineptitude resulted in political instability. 1st school for deaf and blind; Wedgewood pottery factory founded;
• 1764, London introduces practice of numbering houses;
• 1765: Parliament passes the Stamp Act to raise revenue from Nth American colonists which was repealed in 1766 after the colonists boycotted commerce with British merchants
• 1767: Parliament passes the Townshend Acts to raise revenue from the colonists by imposing tax on British exports to the colonies.
• 1770: Industrial revolution resulting from civil liberties, international free trade, textile machines, & steam power starts in England & spreads slowly throughout the world.
• 1774, rules of cricket drawn up; 
• 1775, England hires 29,000 German mercenaries to fight in Nth America; 1st Thames Regatta;
• 1775-83: loses the American War of Independence after France, Spain & Holland assist the colonists.
• 1787, Marylebone Cricket Club founded;
• 1793: allied with Prussia & Austria goes to war against revolutionary France.
• 1797, England begins to export iron; 1st copper pennies minted; 1st one-pound notes issued;
•  

• 1700: Great Northern war begins with Saxon invasion of Livonia; King Charles II of Spain dies - end of Spanish Hapsburgs;
• 1701: Frederick III of Brandenburg crowns himself King Frederick I of Prussia; War of Spanish Succession begins (-1714); Sweden invades Poland; Unmarried women taxed in Berlin;
• 1702: many German towns lit by oil; 
• 1703: Swedes defeat Russians at Rultusk; Marlborough takes Bonn; Archduke Charles proclaimed King of Spain; Peter the Great lays foundations of St Peterburg;
• 1704, Marlborough marches toward Danube & defeat French & Bavarians at Blenheim; English take Gibraltar; J.S.Bach writes his 1st cantata;
• 1705, English navy takes Barcelona;
• 1706, Marlborough conquers Spanish Netherlands; Pachelbel dies;
• 1707, "perpetual alliance" signed b/n Prussia & Sweden;
• 1709, 1st Russian prisoners sent to Siberia;
• 1710, 1st budget in Russia;
• 1711, War b/n Russia & Turkey; The Dauphin dies and within 1yr so does his heir the Duke & the Duchess & their son;
• 1712, St. Petersburg becomes capital of Russia;
• 1713, pigtails introduced in Prussian army;
• 1714, Russia takes Finland; witch trials abolished in Prussia;
• 1715, Louis XIV of France dies, succeeded by his great grandson, Louis XV;
• 1717, school attendance made compulsory in Prussia;
• 1718, Peter the Great has his son & heir, Alexis, murdered; Quadruple Alliance signed - France, Empire, England, Holland; England declares war on Spain; Voltaire imprisoned;
• 1719, France declares war on Spain; Jesuits expelled from Russia;
• 1725, Peter the Great dies, succeeded by his wife Catherine (-1727);
• 1728, Dutch explorer, Behring discovers Behring Strait; Madrid Lodge of Freemasons founded, soon suppressed by Inquisition;
• 1745, the quadrille becomes a fashionable dance in France;
• 1750, neoclassicism art spreading over Europe as reaction against baroque & rococo;
• 1751, minuet becomes fashionable dance in Europe;
• 1753, Vienna stock exchange founded;
• 1758, E.Prussia occupied by Russia; 
• 1760, Russia occupies & burns Berlin;
• 1762, six yr old Mozart tours Europe as prodigy pianist ;
• 1771, Russia & Prussia agree on partition of Poland; Russia completes conquest of Crimea;
• 1773, the waltz becomes fashionable in Vienna;
• 1777, Spain & Portugal settle their disputes over their Sth. American possessions;
• 1780, serfdom abolished in Bohemia & Hungary; Spanish dance "bolero" invented;
• 1783, Beethoven's 1st works printed;
• 1785, Marie Antionette discredited;
• 1787, Turkey declares war on Russia;
• 1789, the French Revolution
• 1793, Paganini, aged 11yrs, makes his violin debut;
• 1796, Napoleon marries Josephine & assumes command in Italy, defeats Austrians;
• 1798, French capture Rome, annexes left bank of Rhine, seize Malta, occupy Alexandria, conquers Egypt but fails to invade Ireland
• 1799, Napoleon advances into Syria, defeats Turks but French army defeated by Austria; England joins Russo-Turk alliance;

• India:
  • During the first half of the 18th century the French, who had begun to operate in India about 1675, emerged as a serious threat to the growing power and prosperity of the English East India Co.
  • The tottering Mughal regime suffered a disastrous blow in 1739 when the Persian king Nadir Shah led an army into India and plundered Delhi. Among the loot seized by the invaders, the sixth Muslim force to overrun India, was the mammoth Koh-i-noor diamond and the fabulous Peacock Throne, of solid gold inlaid with precious stones. The Persian king soon withdrew from India
  • the friction between France and Great Britain reached an acute stage in 1746, when a French fleet seized Madras
  • in 1748 the French returned Madras to the British.
  • in 1756 Delhi was again captured-this time by Ahmad Shah, emir of Afghanistan, who had previously seized Punjab
  • In 1760 the Marathas and the Sikhs joined forces against the armies of Ahmad Shah. The ensuing battle, fought at Panipat on Jan. 7, 1761, resulted in complete victory for the Afghan invaders
  • In the course of the hostilities from 1756 to 1763, which involved large contingents of native partisans, the British won several decisive victories, effectively demolishing French plans for political control of the subcontinent.
  • In 1764, following the withdrawal of the Afghan invaders from India, the Mughal emperor regained his throne.
  • 1766, famine in Bengal;
  • With the defeat of the Marathas and the Sikhs, the possibility of reunification of the Indian peoples into a strong national state had vanished.
  • India, long the arena of bitter colonial rivalry among the maritime powers of Europe, thereafter fell increasingly under the domination of Great Britain.
• China:
  • 1720, Tibet becomes Chinese protectorate;
  • 1721, China suppresses Formosa revolt;
  • 1729, Emperor Yung Cheng prohibits opium smoking
  • 1796, population 275m; edict of Peking forbids import of opium;
• Oceania:
  • see also: History of Australia
  • 1769, Bougainville discovers Tahiti, the Solomon Islands & New Guinea
  • 1770, James Cook discovers Australia & New Zealand
  • 1788, penal colony founded Sydney by Capt Arthur Phillip
  • 1797, merino sheep introduced into Australia by John MacArthur

Africa:

• 1710, Mauritius, formerly part of Dutch East Indies, becomes French
• 1770, Scottish explorer, Bruce, discovers source of the Blue Nile

• 1700, Sewall "The selling of Joseph" - the 1st American protest against slavery;
• 1701, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds settlement at Detroit to control Illinois trade
• 1702, French settlement in Alabama; Jesuit College founded in Breslau;
• 1703, Delaware separates from Pennsylvania & becomes a colony;
• 1711, Tuscarora war in Nth Carolina - Indians massacre 200 settlers;
• 1712, slave revolts in New York
• 1713, Treaty of Utrecht results in Britain acquiring Acadia (Nova Scotia), Newfoundland & the Hudson Bay area 
• 1718, New Orleans founded; Bahamas becomes a British protectorate;  
• 1720, Spain occupies Texas (-1722); failure of John Law's Mississippi Company leads to French national bankrupcy;
• 1721, Swiss immigrants introduce rifles into America;
• 1727, coffee 1st planted in Brazil; Quakers demand abolition of slavery
• 1730's: Freemasonry society starts to expand, and from 1750, expansion was rapid, with many of the leaders of the War of Independence such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington & General Lafayette being Freemasons.
• 1743, French explorers reach Rocky Mountains; 1st settlement in Sth Dakota;
• 1749, 1st settlement of Ohio Company; sign language for deaf people invented;
• 1753, French troops from Canada seize Ohio Valley;
• 1756-63: the Seven Years' War results in the expulsion of France both from the continent of Nth America & from India, being replaced in both cases by Great Britain.
• 1765-75: increasing tensions between the colonists & Britain due to:
  • Britain trying to gain revenue from the colonists to pay its war debts
  • British Board of Customs Commissioners extorted money from colonial merchants & when they seized the sloop Liberty, thousands of Bostonians rioted
  • contempt of British troops for the colonists which resulted in the Boston Massacre where 5 citizens were killed
  • in protest over Britain's Tea Act designed to help the struggling British East India Company, a group of citizens, many disguised as Indians, swarmed over British ships in the harbor & dumped the cargoes of tea into the water - 'the Boston Tea Party'
  • in 1774, in retaliation, punitive British laws "Coercive or Intolerable Acts" against the province of Massachussetts secures support from the other colonies against Britain, resulting in the 1st Continental Congress in 1774 which attempted to define America's rights, place limits on Parliament's powers & agree on tactics of resistance to the Coercive Acts.
  • armed conflict between British soldiers & colonist militia result in the British being forced out of Boston in 1776.
• 1775-83: the American Revolution or American War of Independence between the 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of Nth America & their parent country, Great Britain. France & later Spain, intervened as an ally to the independent states, & the war resulted in the colonies becoming a separate nation, the United States of America, under the 1st President - General George Washington (1732-99, elected President in 1788 & 1792) who had taken command of the American forces in 1775 & kept them alive despite near collapse of his forces. 9 signatories of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons.
• James Wolfe's victory over the Marquis de Montcalm at Qebec results in almost all French possessions in eastern North America coming under British rule; 
• 1788, the Constitution of the United States signed - 13 of the signatories were Freemasons.
• 1793, MacKenzie crosses Canada coast-to-coast;
• 1794, US Navy established;
• 1797-1801: John Adams becomes the 2nd President of USA at a time when there was a threat of war with France after French attempts to extort money from US representatives in the so-called XYZ Affair.

Science & Technology:

• 1705, Halley correctly predicts return of the Halley comet for 1758;
• 1706, carriage springs invented;
• 1707, high pressure boiler invented;
• 1709, 1st pianoforte; Italian Farina produces in Cologne his "eau-de-Cologne"; 1st copyright Act in England;
• 1710, three-colour printing invented; porcelain factory at Meissen, Saxony founded;
• 1711, clarinet used in orchestra 1st time; tuning fork invented;
• 1714, fine pointed syringe for surgery; mercury thermometer with Fahrenheit scale;
• 1715, calculus of finite differences;
• 1717, inoculation against smallpox introduced in England;
• 1720, 1st serialisation of novels in newspapers; wallpaper becomes fashionable; 1st yacht club (Ireland);
• 1722, steel making;
• 1724, gin drinking becomes popular in England;
• 1726, grid-iron pendulum
• 1729, conductors and non-conductors of electricity
• 1730, alcohol thermometer; zinc smelting in England;
• 1731, quadrant invented;
• 1736, 1st successful appendicectomy; manufacture of glass begins in Venice; Euler's analytical mechanics; "India rubber" comes to England;
• 1742, Celsius invents centigrade thermometer; Cotton factories in England;
• 1745, the "Leyden jar" capacitor invented;
• 1747, sugar discovered in beetroot;
• 1748, diphtheria described; platinum arrives in Europe from Sth. America; Euler's pure analytical mathematics;
• 1750, movable type for printing music;
• 1751, Franklin invents lightning conductor;
• 1754, carbonic acid gas discovered; 1st female medical doctor (Germany);
• 1756, cotton velvets 1st made in England; 1st chocolate factory in Germany; porcelain factory at Sevres;
• 1758, 1st English manual on guitar playing; ribbing machine for manufacture of hose;
• 1761, percussion used to aid diagnosis of chest disease; atmosphere of Venus; beginning of pathologic anatomy; statistics; 1st French veterinary school founded;
• 1762, cast iron converted into malleable iron;
• 1763, pollen used to fertilise plants;
• 1764, Watt invents condenser, 1st step towards the steam engine;
• 1765, hermetic sealing for preserving food; potato becomes most popular European foodstuff;
• 1768, Encyclopedia Brittanica; hydrometer;
• 1769, Cugnot's 1st steam road carriage; 1st creche;
• 1770, Euler's introduction to algebra; industrial revolution starts in England and spreads slowly throughout world; 1st public restaurant;
• 1771, 1st spinning mill; electrical nature of nervous impulse;
• 1772, nitrogen discovered;
• 1774, manganese, chlorine, baryta; Mesmerism;
• 1775, digitalis used by Withering to Rx dropsy; water turbine; hydrochloric & sulphuric acids; Watt perfects steam engine;
• 1777, torpedo; torsion balance; air mainly of oxygen & nitrogen; circular saw;
• 1778, improved water closet
• 1779, semen necessary for fertilisation;
• 1780, 1st modern pianoforte; fountain pen; bifocal lens;
• 1781, uranus; tungsten;
• 1782, air balloon; Watt's double-acting rotary steam engine; pyrometer;
• 1783, paddle-wheel steam boat; hair hygrometer;
• 1784, oil burner; 1st patent lock; puddling process for manufacture of wrought iron; threshing machine; Shrapnel shell;
• 1785, seismograph; parachute; Benjamin Franklin maps part of the Gulf Stream;
• 1786, uranium; nail-making machine; 1st mechanically driven boat;
• 1787, steam boat; dollar currency in USA;
• 1788, 1st hortensia & fuschia imported into Europe from Peru; chrysanthemums from Orient;
• 1790, 1st US patent law; 1st session of US Supreme Court;
• 1791, 1st general strike (Hamburg);
• 1792, mechanical semaphore signal; illuminating gas in England;
• 1793, cotton gin;
• 1794, telegraph; slavery abolished in French colonies;
• 1795, hydraulic press; preserving jar for foods; horse-drawn railroad in England; metric system adopted in France;
• 1796, Jenner's smallpox vaccination; pure ethanol;
• 1797, chromium; carding machine; cast iron plough;
• 1798, lithography;
• 1799, Rosetta Stone found & makes deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics possible; perfectly preserved mammoth found in Siberia;