1708 CE

James Stuart, the "Old Pretender", having sailed from Dunkirk with 5000 French troops, with the intention of invading Britain, attempts to land in the Firth of Forth; the attempt is thwarted by the Royal Navy, under Admiral Byng. (O.S.); September 29 (Swedish calendar); October 9 (N.S.) – Great Northern War: Battle of Lesnaya – Peter the Great of Russia defeats the forces of the Swedish Empire. Deborah Churchill, British pickpocket and prostitute, is executed before a large crowd for being an accomplice to murder.

In the 1700s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 1 January – The County of Golsteinsborg is established by Ulrik Adolf Holstein from the manors of Holsteinborg, Snedinge and Fuirendal.Denmarksource
  • 30 April–7 July – general election held to return members to serve in the House of Commons of the second Parliament of Great Britain, the first after the merger of the Parliaments of England and Scotland in 1707. The election results in a victory for the Whigs.United Kingdomsource
  • July 1 – Tewoflos becomes Emperor of Ethiopia.source
  • Treason Act harmonises the law of high treason in Scotland with that of England.Scotlandsource
  • The Parliament of Great Britain passes an act prohibiting the British government from accepting plunder taken by privateers.United Kingdomsource
  • Whig Thomas Windsor replaces Sir Hopton Williams, 3rd Baronet, of the same party, as MP for MonmouthshireWalessource
  • Whig Sir Arthur Owen, 3rd Baronet, replaces Tory John Meyrick as MP for PembrokeWalessource
  • John Roberts replaces Sir William Williams, 2nd Baronet, as MP for Denbigh BoroughsWalessource

Conflict & Security

  • January 1 – Charles XII of Sweden invades Russia, by crossing the frozen Vistula River with 40,000 men.source
  • 1 January - Sweden begins to invade RussiaSwedensource
  • January 7 – Bashkir rebels besiege Yelabuga.source
  • January 12 – Shahu I becomes the fifth Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire in the Indian subcontinent.source
  • March 11 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.source
  • 11 March – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.Scotlandsource
  • 23 March - James Stuart, the "Old Pretender", having sailed from Dunkirk with 5000 French troops, with the intention of invading Britain, attempts to land in the Firth of Forth; the attempt is thwarted by the Royal Navy, under Admiral Byng.Francesource
  • 4 July – Swedish victory over Russia at the Battle of Holowczyn.Swedensource
  • July 11 – War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Oudenarde – Allied forces under the command of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeat the French in the Spanish Netherlands.source
  • 11 July – War of the Spanish Succession: allied victory under the commander John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough against the French at the Battle of Oudenarde in the Spanish Netherlands.United Kingdomsource
  • August 3 – In the Battle of Trenčín, 8,000 soldiers of the Imperial Army of the Habsburgs are victorious over the 15,000 Hungarian Kuruc forces of Francis II Rákóczi.source
  • August 18 – War of the Spanish Succession: Menorca is captured by British forces.source
  • 23 August – Queen Anne attends a thanksgiving service at the new St Paul's Cathedral in London for victory at the Battle of Oudenarde. She quarrels publicly with Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; and loose bolts in the supporting beams above her – in fact, the result of poor workmanship – are interpreted by the opposition as the "Screw Plot", a Whig assassination attempt.United Kingdomsource
  • August 29 – A French-Native American attack in Haverhill, Massachusetts kills 16 settlers.source
  • September 28 (O.S.); September 29 (Swedish calendar); October 9 (N.S.) – Great Northern War: Battle of Lesnaya – Peter the Great of Russia defeats the forces of the Swedish Empire.source
  • October 12 – War of the Spanish Succession: Dutch, British and Austrian forces capture Lille after a two-month siege, although the citadel continues to hold out for another six weeks.source
  • 1708-09 – Frederick IV visits Italy.Denmarksource
  • Sir John Aubrey, 3rd Baronet, is re-elected as MP for Cardiff, after his opponent, Sir Edward Stradling, 5th Baronet, falls out with his supporters.Walessource

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 23 – James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite pretender to the throne of Great Britain, unsuccessfully tries to land from a French fleet in the Firth of Forth in Scotland.source
  • 23 March – James Francis Edward Stuart unsuccessfully tries to land at Burntisland on the Firth of Forth with a French fleet.Scotlandsource
  • 10 April - Johan Vibe is appointed Vice Steward of Norway.Norwaysource

Religion & Belief

  • March 11 – the scholar Dr. Thomas Milles is appointed Church of Ireland Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, in which office he will serve until his death in 1740 (consecrated April 18 in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin).Irelandsource
  • 1 May – Privy Council of Scotland abolished.Scotlandsource
  • 1 May – the Privy Councils of England and Scotland are merged into the Privy Council of Great Britain.United Kingdomsource
  • October 26 – Topping out of new St Paul's Cathedral in London.source
  • 26 October – topping out of the new St Paul's Cathedral in London.United Kingdomsource
  • St. Anne's Parish Act of 1707 is passed, dividing the parish of St. Nicholas Without, Dublin, and giving part of it the denomination of St. Luke's.Irelandsource
  • Jenkin Evans - Catecism Byr i Blant (translation of Mathew Henry's Short Catechism for Children)Walessource
  • Cennad oddiwrth y Ser... (almanac)Walessource

Economy & Finance

  • The Company of Merchants of London Trading (with consent of the Parliament of Great Britain) merges with the East Indies, and the more recently established English Company Trading to the East Indies, to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, known as the Honourable East India Company.source
  • Johann Gottfried Becker passes the Royal Court Pharmacy in Copenhagen on to his son Gottfried Becker.Denmarksource
  • Hans Peter Pelt obtains a license to establish Copenhagen's second sugar refinery.Denmarksource
  • Merger (with consent of Parliament) of the Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies and the more recently established English Company Trading to the East Indies to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, known as the Honourable East India Company.United Kingdomsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 26 – HMS Falmouth, a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line built at Woolwich Dockyard for the British Royal Navy, is launched.source
  • 26 February – HMS Falmouth, a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line built at Woolwich Dockyard for the Royal Navy, is launched.United Kingdomsource
  • 28 July – The second Eddystone Lighthouse, erected by John Rudyerd, is first illuminated.United Kingdomsource
  • Calcareous hard-paste porcelain is produced for the first time in Europe, at Dresden, Saxony, by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, and developed after his death (October) by Johann Friedrich Böttger.source

Science & Discovery

  • Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico delivers his inaugural lecture to the University of Naples, which will be published in 1709 as his first book, De Nostri Temporis Studiorum Ratione (On the Order of the Scholarly Disciplines of Our Times).source

Health & Medicine

Disasters & Accidents

  • April 28 – The Great Hoei fire breaks out in Kyoto, Japan, destroying the Imperial Palace and a large portion of the old capital.source
  • June 8 – War of the Spanish Succession: Wager's Action, a naval confrontation, takes place between a British squadron under Charles Wager and the Spanish treasure fleet off Cartagena in the Caribbean Sea. Spanish galleon San José explodes and sinks with the loss of almost all her 600 crew and an estimated 8.8 million ounces troy weight in gold; her wreck is located in 2015.source
  • 8 June – War of the Spanish Succession: Wager's Action, a naval confrontation, takes place between a British squadron under Charles Wager and the Spanish treasure fleet off Cartagena in the Caribbean Sea. Spanish galleon San José explodes and sinks with the loss of almost all her 600 crew and an estimated 8.8 million ounces troy weight in gold; her wreck is located in 2015.United Kingdomsource
  • Fearful of a Swedish attack, the Russians blow up the city of Tartu, Estonia.source
  • The Russians burn the city of Porvoo, Finland (at the time part of Sweden).source
  • The original wooden Belfast Castle, the home of Sir Arthur Chichester, baron of Belfast, is burned down.Irelandsource

Culture & Society

  • March 25 – a registry of deeds begins operation in Ireland.Irelandsource
  • April 8 – Easter Sunday: The first performance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio La resurrezione takes place in Rome.source
  • April 9 – Ottoman princess Emine Sultan, daughter of Sultan Mustafa II, marries Grand Vizier Çorlulu Ali Pasha.source
  • 30 April – 7 July – British general election: New Scottish Westminster constituencies are used for the first time.Scotlandsource
  • 14 July – Joseph Trapp becomes first Oxford Professor of Poetry.United Kingdomsource
  • August 23 – Meidingu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.source
  • August – The future Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor weds Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.source
  • October – Edmund Meyrick sets up a school at Carmarthen.Walessource
  • December 14 – The première of Electre by Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon takes place in Paris.source
  • Johann Sebastian Bach is appointed as chamber musician and organist, at the court in Weimar.source
  • Chairs of Moral Philosophy and of Logic & Metaphysics established in the University of Edinburgh. Regent system of teaching here abolished.Scotlandsource
  • Wilbury House in Wiltshire, designed by William Benson, is completed.United Kingdomsource
  • Edward Lhuyd becomes a Fellow of the Royal Society.United Kingdomsource
  • Edward Lhuyd is elected a fellow of the Royal Society.Walessource

Births

  • January 25 – Pompeo Batoni, Italian painter (died 1787)source
  • 7 February - Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia, Elder daughter of Emperor Peter I, the Great of Russia and his wife Empress Catherine I. (died 1728)Russiasource
  • February 29 – Peter Jefferson, father of US President Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) (died 1757)source
  • March 8 – John Campbell, Scottish author (died 1775)source
  • March 31 – Jean Chastel, farmer and inn-keeper from the province of Gévaudan in France (died 1790)source
  • April 18 – James Cholmondeley, British Army officer and Member of Parliament between 1731 and 1747 (died 1775)source
  • April 25 – John Seccombe, author (died 1792)source
  • May 29 – Henry Bilson-Legge, English statesman and three times as Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 1764)source
  • July 22 – Nathaniel Ames, Colonial American physician (died 1764)source
  • September 4 – Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay, officer of the marines, colonial administrator for New France (died 1777)source
  • October 16 – Albrecht von Haller, Swiss anatomist and physiologist (died 1777)source
  • November 15 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (died 1778)source
  • 15 November – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham ("the Elder"), Prime Minister (died 1778)United Kingdomsource
  • December 8 – Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, Welsh diplomat, writer and satirist (died 1759)source
  • December 8 – Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1765)source
  • 8 December - Charles Hanbury Williams, diplomat and satirist (died 1759)Walessource
  • December 16 – Robert Livingston, third and final Lord of Livingston Manor (died 1790)source
  • Christopher Dufrost de La Jemeraye born December 6 of this year. Already in ill health, he died while travelling from Fort Maurepas (Canada) on the Red River to Fort St. Charles on Lake of the Woods. He was buried near the junction of the Red and Roseau rivers (died 1736).Canadasource

Deaths

  • April 20 – Damaris Cudworth Masham, English philosopher (born 1659)source
  • May 6 – François de Laval, first bishop of New France (born 1623)source
  • May 6 - François de Laval, 1st Bishop of Quebec (born 1623)Canadasource
  • May 11 – Jules Hardouin-Mansart, French Baroque architect (born 1646)source
  • June 5 – Ignatius George II, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch (born 1648)source
  • June 28 – Melchor Liñán y Cisneros, Spanish Catholic archbishop (born 1629)source
  • October 7 – Guru Gobind Singh, 10th Guru Sahib of Sikhism, social reformist, poet and revolutionary (born 1666)source
  • October 9 – Olympia Mancini, French courtier (born 1638)source
  • October 24 – Seki Kōwa, Japanese mathematician (born c. 1640)source
  • October 28 – Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne, Queen of Great Britain (born 1653)source
  • 28 October – Prince George of Denmark and Norway (born 1653)Norwaysource
  • 28 October – Prince George of Denmark, consort of Queen Anne (born 1653 in Denmark)United Kingdomsource
  • October 31 – Nathaniel Higginson, English politician (born 1652)source
  • November 13 – Charles, Count of Marsan, French noble (born 1648)source
  • 1 December - William Wogan, judge and politician, about 70Walessource
  • December 16 – Nicolas Pasquin, early pioneer in New France (now Quebec) (born 1648)source
  • December 17 – Deborah Churchill, British pickpocket and prostitute, is executed before a large crowd for being an accomplice to murder.source
  • December 22 – Hedvig Sophia of Sweden, Swedish princess (born 1681)source