Explore 160 historical events from 1740–1749.
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until her death in 1818. The Acts of…
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, German-born Queen to George III of the United Kingdom (died 1818)
Heinrich Christian Boie was a German author. In 1781, he was appointed as landfoged of North Dithmarschen.
Heinrich Christian Boie, German author and poet (died 1806)
Giulio Maria della Somaglia was an Italian cardinal. and Secretary of State under Pope Leo XII. He was known as a staunch zelante cardinal who helped enforce an authoritarian regim…
Giulio Maria della Somaglia, Italian cardinal (died 1830)
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck, often known simply as Lamarck, was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of …
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French soldier, biologist, and academic (died 1829)
Alexandrine-Jeanne Le Normant d’Étiolles was the daughter of Madame de Pompadour, the maîtresse-en-titre of King Louis XV of France. She died in childhood.
Alexandrine Le Normant d'Étiolles, daughter of Madame de Pompadour (died 1754)
Pierre François André Méchain was a French astronomer and surveyor who, with Charles Messier, was a major contributor to the early study of deep-sky objects and comets.
Pierre Méchain, French astronomer and surveyor (died 1804)
Johann Gottfried von Herder was a German philosopher, theologian, pastor, poet, and literary critic. Herder is associated with the Age of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar…
Johann Gottfried Herder, German poet, philosopher, and critic (died 1803)
Anders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting…
Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (born 1701)
Alexander Pope was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An expone…
Alexander Pope, English poet, essayist, and translator (born 1688)
André Campra was a French composer and conductor of the Baroque era. The leading French opera composer in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, Campra wr…
André Campra, French composer and conductor (born 1660)
James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, was a British landowner and politician who represented Hereford in the English and British House of Commons from 1698 until 1714, when he succee…
James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, English academic and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire (born 1673)
John Cruger was an immigrant to colonial New York with an uncertain place of birth, but his family was originally Danish. In New York from at least 1696, he became a prosperous mer…
John Cruger, Danish-American businessman and politician, 39th Mayor of New York City (born 1678)
Prussia was a German state centred on the North European Plain. It originated from the 1525 secularization act of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centurie…
Prussia declared its intervention in the War of the Austrian Succession on behalf of Charles VII, beginning the Second…
Jean-Pierre Christin was a French physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and musician. His proposal in 1743 to reverse the Celsius thermometer scale was widely accepted and is still…
Jean-Pierre Christin developed the centigrade temperature scale
The Treaty of Åbo, or the Treaty of Turku, was a peace treaty signed between the Russian Empire and Sweden in Åbo (Turku) on 18 August [O.S. 7 August] 1743 in the end of the Russo-…
The Treaty of Åbo ended the 1741–1743 Russo-Swedish War.
The Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743 was instigated by the Hats, a Swedish political party that aspired to regain the territories lost to Russia during the Great Northern War, and by…
The War of the Hats: The Swedish army surrenders to the Russians in Helsinki, ending the war and starting Lesser Wrath.
Maria Theresa was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position in her own right. She was the sovereign of Austria, …
Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor
The Battle of Dettingen took place on 27 June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Karlstein am Main in Bavaria. An alliance composed of British, Hanoverian and Aus…
In the Battle of Dettingen, George II becomes the last reigning British monarch to participate in a battle
Edmund Cartwright was an English inventor. He graduated from Oxford University and went on to invent the power loom. Married to local Elizabeth McMac at 19, he was the brother of M…
Edmund Cartwright, English clergyman and engineer, invented the power loom (died 1823)
Seth Warner was an American soldier. He was a Revolutionary War officer from Vermont who rose to the rank of Continental colonel and was often given the duties of a brigade comman…
Seth Warner, American colonel (died 1784)
Jean-Paul Marat was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the sans-culottes…
Jean-Paul Marat, Swiss-French physician, journalist, and politician (died 1793)
Giuseppe Balsamo, known by the alias Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, was an Italian occultist, self-styled magician and confidence trickster. He became a glamorous figure associate…
Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian occultist and explorer (died 1795)
Gavriil (Gavrila) Romanovich Derzhavin was one of the most highly esteemed Russian poets before Alexander Pushkin, as well as a statesman. Although his works are traditionally cons…
Gavrila Derzhavin, Russian poet and politician (died 1816)
Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry was the last maîtresse-en-titre of King Louis XV of France. She was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution on accusations of treason—par…
Madame du Barry, French mistress of Louis XV (died 1793)