Events January–March January 8 – Carolean Death March begins: A catastrophic retreat by a largely-Finnish Swedish-Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydalen mountains in a blizzard kills around 3,700 men and cripples a further 600 for life. January 23 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created, within the Holy Roman Empire. February 3 (January 23 Old Style) – The Riksdag of the Estates (the parliament of Sweden) recognizes Ulrika Eleonora's claim to the Swedish throne, after she has agreed to sign a new Swedish constitution. Thus, she is recognized as queen regnant of Sweden. February 21 – The Riksdag of the Estates in Sweden adopts the Instrument of Government (1719), a constitution which (with slight amendment in 1720) introduces the "Age of Liberty" in the country; it includes limited women's suffrage. February 28 – Farrukhsiyar, the Mughal Emperor of India since 1713, is deposed by the Sayyid brothers, who install Rafi ud-Darajat in his place. In prison, Farrukhsiyar is strangled by assassins on April 19. March 6 – A serious earthquake (estimated magnitude >7) in El Salvador results in large fractures, liquefaction zones, and a sulphuric gas leak. It destroys houses, churches and monasteries. March 17 – The coronation of Ulrika Eleonora as Queen of Sweden takes place in Stockholm.
April–June April 4 – The French army under James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, invades the Basque provinces of Spain, with 20,000 troops crossing into Navarre.H. E. L. Mellersh, ed. Chronology of World History, Volume 9 (ABC-CLIO, 1999) p. 532 April 19 – In Louisiana (New France), Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville's brother Serigny arrives on a French man-of-war, bringing news that war had been declared between France and Spain (since December 1718). April 25 – Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is published in London. Initially anonymous, by the end of the year it will have run through four editions and is significant in establishing extended realistic fiction as a literary genre. April 26 – King Philip V of Spain departs Madrid and leads 15,000 men of the Spanish Army into Navare to fight the French under Berwick. May 14 – In Louisiana (New France), Bienville, from Mobile, captures Pensacola, but Pensacola is later recaptured by the Spanish, and again re-taken by Bienville."Le Moyne de Bienville, Jean-Baptiste", University of Toronto, 2000, webpage: biog-ca-Bienville. May 25 – An earthquake in Turkey damages İzmit and Istanbul, damaging some city walls and ruining mosques and palaces. June 4 – Battle of Ösel Island: A Russian naval force defeats the Swedish fleet. June 10 – Battle of Glen Shiel: British forces defeat the Jacobites and their Spanish allies in Scotland. June 18 – Captain John Perry fixes the Dagenham Breach of the River Thames in England. June 20 – Battle of Francavilla: The Austrians are defeated by the Spanish. June 30 – French forces under the Duke of Berwick, open the Siege of San Sebastian.
July–September July 11 – Russia's Baltic Sea fleet is first spotted from the Swedish coast, starting the Russian Pillage of 1719–21 as part of the Great Northern War. July 16 – Attack on Marstrand: the Carlsten fortress in Sweden surrenders to a Danish and Norwegian force after a siege of seven days. Colonel Henrich Danckwardt, who surrendered the fortress to Peter Tordenskjold after being away from it while it was still defensible, is beheaded on September 16. August 13 – In the Battle of Stäket, Crown Prince Frederick I of Sweden leads the successful defense of Stockholm from Russian Admiral Fyodor Apraksin's Baltic Fleet during the Russian Pillage. August 19 – Siege of San Sebastian: The Spanish garrison surrenders to the Duke of Berwick. August 20 – Princess Maria Josepha of Austria, at one time the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria's Habsburg Empire, marries Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony ten days after renouncing any claim to the Austrian throne. September 3 – The three-story tall Opernhaus am Zwinger, one of the largest opera houses in the world at the time, opens in Dresden by staging Antonio Lotti's Giovi in Argo.Fritz Löffler, Die Wiederholung der Orangeriebauten nach der Stadt und die vierte Zwingerseite in Der Zwinger in Dresden (E. A. Seemann Verlag, 1976) p. 35. September 29 – Muhammad Shah is crowned as the 12th Mughal Emperor of India at Shahjahanabad (modern-day Delhi), 12 days after the death of Shah Jahan II from tuberculosis.Zahir Uddin Malik, The reign of Muhammad Shah, 1719–1748 (Asia Publishing, 1977) p. 407
October–December October 11 – Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda, the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, is assassinated in a bloody coup d'etat by supporters of the Archbishop of Manila, whom Bustamante had imprisoned. October 14 – The British Army, under the command of Major General George Wade, invades and captures the forts of Vigo on the Atlantic coast of Spain.Charles Dalton, George The First's Army 1714~1727 (Oxford University, 1912) p. 7 October 21 – The Red Canal is opened in the Russian capital, Saint Petersburg, after seven years of construction, at a ceremony in the presence of the Tsar Peter the Great.(Миллионная улица) "Millionnaya Street", Walk SPB October 28 – Sweden and Denmark-Norway sign an armistice, halting combat in the Great Northern War between them, with final terms agreed to in the Treaty of Frederiksborg on July 3, 1720.Oswald Kuylenstierna, Striderna vid Göta älfs mynning åren 1717 och 1719 [The skirmishes at the mouth of Göta älv between 1717 and 1719] (in Swedish) (Norstedt, 1899) pp. 38-40 November 9 – Treaties of Stockholm (Great Northern War): In a treaty with Hanover, Sweden cedes the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (in northern Germany) to Hanover. December 2 – Workers in Falun Mine, Sweden, find the apparently petrified body of "Fet-Mats" Israelsson (d. 1677), in a flooded part of the copper workings. December 22 – Andrew Bradford publishes the American Weekly Mercury, Pennsylvania's first newspaper.
Undated Europe's first systematic population census is taken in the Kingdom of Prussia's Margraviate of Brandenburg. In London: Raine's Foundation School, Bethnal Green (founded by Henry Raine), opens in Wapping (closed 2020). James Figg opens one of the first indoor venues for combat sports, adjoining the City of Oxford tavern in Oxford Road.
Births
January January 1 – Pierre-François Hugues d'Hancarville, art historian and historian of ideas (d. 1805) January 2 Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat, French shipbuilder and merchant (d. 1797) Friedrich Christoph von Saldern, German general (d. 1785) January 3 Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, Catholic archbishop (d. 1802) Basil Feilding, 6th Earl of Denbigh, Earl in the Peerage of England (d. 1800) Francisco José Freire, Portuguese historian and philologist (d. 1773) January 6 Ivan Ivanovich Belsky, Russian painter (d. 1799) Guillaume de Barrême de Châteaufort, French painter (d. 1775) William Hammond, British hymnist (d. 1783) Ignazio Marabitti, Italian artist (d. 1797) January 10 – Maria Dorothea Wagner, German painter (d. 1792) January 14 – Daniel Nettelbladt, German jurist and philosopher (d. 1791) January 15 – William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam, British peer (d. 1756) January 17 Maria van Antwerpen, soldier (d. 1781) Samuel Enderby, English whale oil merchant who sponsored Arctic exploration (d. 1797) Rajmundo Kunić, Croatian writer (d. 1794) Johann Elias Schlegel, German critic and poet (d. 1749) William Vernon, American merchant (d. 1806) January 22 Benjamin Hinman, surveyor, soldier, legislator (d. 1810) Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, British Earl (d. 1769) January 23 – John Landen, English mathematician (d. 1790) January 25 – Princess Sophia Dorothea of Prussia (d. 1765) January 30 – Magnus Gottfried Lichtwer, German writer (d. 1783) February February 2 – Edward Coke, Viscount Coke, British politician (d. 1753) February 4 – Ernst Wilhelm von Schlabrendorf, German politician (d. 1769) February 6 – Alberto Pullicino, Maltese painter (d. 1765) February 10 – Clemente Sibiliato, Italian cleric (d. 1795) February 11 – Vasilije Božičković, Eparch of Križevci (d. 1785) February 13 Samuel Finney, English miniature-painter (d. 1798) Joseph Liesganig, Austrian astronomer and Jesuit (d. 1799) February 14 – David Doig, writer (d. 1800) February 15 Wilhelm Sebastian von Belling, German general (d. 1779) Jean Jacques Flipart, Engraver from France (d. 1782) Crown Prince Hyojang, crown prince of Joseon, son of king Yeongjo of Joseon (d. 1728) February 18 – Ferdinand Christoph Oetinger, German physician (d. 1772) February 19 – Arthur Blennerhassett, Anglo-Irish politician (d. 1799) February 20 Joseph Bellamy, American pastor, author and educator (d. 1790) Charles Clarke, English numismatist (d. 1780) February 22 – Joshua Thomas, Historian of Welsh Baptists (d. 1797) February 23 – Moses Mather, American clergyman (d. 1806) February 27 – Alejandro González Velázquez, Spanish architect and painter (d. 1772) March March 1 – Daniel Thurston, American army officer (d. 1805) March 4 – George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (d. 1777) March 6 João Carlos de Bragança, 2nd Duke of Lafões, Portuguese politician (d. 1806) March 10 – Pierre-Paul Lemercier de La Rivière de Saint-Médard, French economist (d. 1801) March 13 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, British nobleman and soldier (d. 1797) March 16 – Prince Georg Ludwig of Holstein-Gottorp, Prussian lieutenant-general, Imperial Russian field marshal (d. 1763) March 17 – Gabriel Podoski, Catholic archbishop (d. 1777) March 23 – Anna Catharina Bischoff, Lady (or mummy) of the Barfüsser Church (d. 1787) March 26 – Lubbert Jan van Eck, Dutch noble (d. 1765) March 29 – John Hawkins, English author and music historian (d. 1789) March 30 – John Wentworth, American jurist, soldier, leader of the American Revolution in New Hampshire (d. 1781) April April 2 Vincenzo Legrenzo Ciampi, Italian composer (d. 1762) Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (d. 1803) April 3 Daniel Dupuy, American silversmith (d. 1807) Thomas Grenville, Royal Navy officer killed in action in the War of the Austrian Succession (d. 1747) April 4 – Mary Draper, American revolutionary character (d. 1810) April 5 Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar, prince of Persia (d. 1747) Axel von Fersen the Elder, lantmarskalk or marshal of the diet (d. 1794) April 8 – Edmund Pery, 1st Viscount Pery, Irish politician, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons (d. 1806) April 9 – Sir Edward Blackett, 4th Baronet, British politician and barrister (d. 1804) April 11 – Jakob Friedrich Heusinger, German classical philologist (d. 1778) April 13 – John Breynton, Welsh missionary and minister (d. 1799) April 16 Mathieu-Antoine Bouchaud, French economist and professor (d. 1804) Tsugaru Nobuaki, Japanese Daimyo (d. 1744) April 17 Friedrich Hensing, German physician (d. 1745) Pierre-Thomas-Nicolas Hurtaut, French writer (d. 1791) Christian Gottfried Krause, German composer (d. 1770) April 19 – William Banks, British politician (d. 1761) April 22 – Jacques Rochette de La Morlière, French writer (d. 1785) April 24 – Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti, Italian-born English literary critic and author (d. 1789) April 28 – Sir Edward Turner, 2nd Baronet, British politician (d. 1766) May May 5 – Andrew Meikle, Scottish engineer (d. 1811) May 6 – Jean Baptiste Christy de La Pallière, French Navy officer (d. 1787) May 8 – Nicholas Dias Abeysinghe, ceylonese Dutch colonial administrator (d. 1794) May 17 – Bjarni Pálsson, Icelandic doctor (d. 1779) May 19 Johann von Fries, counsellor, director of the imperial silk factories, industrialist, banker (d. 1785) Charlotte of Monaco, Monegasque princess and nun (d. 1790) Matthew Patten, American judge (d. 1795)