1714 CE
The Treaty of Rastatt is signed between Austria and France, concluding the War of the Spanish Succession between them. Austria receives the Spanish territories in Italy (the Kingdom of Naples, Duchy of Milan and Kingdom of Sardinia), as well as the Southern Netherlands; and from France, Freiburg and Landau. The Austrian Habsburg Empire reaches its largest territorial extent yet, with Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor succeeding Philip V of Spain, as ruler in the ceded territories. Archbishop Tenison's School, the world's earliest surviving mixed gender school, is endowed by Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Croydon. Georg Ludwig von Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain and Ireland, on the death of Queen Anne. Anne's death brings an end to the reign of the House of Stuart, in that her half-brother James Francis Edward Stuart, the eldest son of James II of England, has been ineligible for the British throne based on the Act of Settlement 1701 had barred members of the Roman Catholic church from becoming monarchs. George of Hanover, as great-grandson of James I of England and a second cousin to Anne, is deemed the eldest living Protestant descendant of James I.
In the 1710s, the 18th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- March 7 – The Treaty of Rastatt is signed between Austria and France, concluding the War of the Spanish Succession between them. Austria receives the Spanish territories in Italy (the Kingdom of Naples, Duchy of Milan and Kingdom of Sardinia), as well as the Southern Netherlands; and from France, Freiburg and Landau. The Austrian Habsburg Empire reaches its largest territorial extent yet, with Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor succeeding Philip V of Spain, as ruler in the ceded territories.source
- 7 March – The Treaty of Rastatt, between France and AustriaFrancesource
- April 11 – France signs five separate treaties— with Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia and Savoy— to end hostilities in the War of the Spanish Succession following the negotiations of the Peace of Utrecht.source
- 18 April – The County of Knuthenborg is established by Adam Christopher Knuth from the manors of Knuthenborg, Maribo Ladegaard, Bandholmgård, Havlykke, Vårskov and KnuthenlundDenmarksource
- 19 May – Queen Anne refuses to allow members of the House of Hanover to settle in Britain during her lifetime.United Kingdomsource
- June 26 – Spain and the Netherlands sign a peace treaty to end hostilities between those two nations in the War of the Spanish Succession.source
- 8 July – by the Longitude Act, Parliament establishes the Board of Longitude and offers substantial monetary longitude rewards to anyone who can solve the problem of accurately determining a ship's longitude.United Kingdomsource
- 7 September – The Treaty of Baden between France and the Holy Roman EmpireFrancesource
- September 18 – George I, the new King of Great Britain and Ireland, arrives in Britain for the first time in his life, after having departed Hannover and sailing from the Netherlands.source
- October 24 – Four Dutch investors, led by brothers Nicolaas and Hendrik van Hoorn, purchase the South American colony of Berbice from French mercenary Jacques Cassard, who had captured the colony from the Van Peere family. A century later, in 1815, the land is ceded to Great Britain and later merged with neighboring colonies to form what is now Guyana.source
- October - The new Princess of Wales arrives in Britain with two of her children.Walessource
- November 30 – King Philip V of Spain issues a decree reorganizing the Spanish government to create four ministries, with the Secretary of State being the chief minister, predecessor to the office of Prime Minister of Spain. José de Grimaldo becomes the first person to have the chief ministry.source
- Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow is established.Denmarksource
- Charles Spencer is appointed as British Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.Irelandsource
Conflict & Security
- January 21 – After being tricked into deserting a battle against India's Mughal Empire by the rebel Sayyid brothers, Prince Azz-ud-din Mirza is blinded on orders of the Emperor Farrukhsiyar as punishment.source
- February 7 – The Siege of Tönning (a fortress of the Swedish Empire and now located in Germany in the state of Schleswig-Holstein) ends after almost a year, as Danish forces force the surrender of the remaining 1,600 defenders. The fortress is then leveled by the Danes.source
- 9 February - Russian victory at the Battle of Storkyro. As a result, all of Finland fell under Russian military occupation for the rest of the war, a seven-year period of hardship known in Finland as the Great Wrath.Swedensource
- March 2 – (February 19 old style) The Battle of Storkyro is fought between troops of the Swedish Empire and the Russian Empire, near what is now the village of Napue in Finland. The outnumbered Swedish forces, under the command of General Carl Gustaf Armfeldt, suffer 1,600 troops killed in action while the Russians led by General Mikhail Golitsyn lose 400 men.source
- July 27 – The Imperial Russian Navy gains its first important victory against the Swedish Navy in the Battle of Gangut.source
- 1 August – Former Governor of Londonderry and hero of the siege of Derry, Colonel John Mitchelburne, hoists the Crimson Flag on the steeple of St Columb's Cathedral to celebrate the Relief of Derry in 1689 and forms the first club known as the Apprentice Boys of Derry.Irelandsource
- September 11 – War of the Spanish Succession: Barcelona is taken after a year's siege, and Catalonia surrenders to Spanish and French Bourbon armies.source
- 18 September – King George arrives in Britain for the first time, landing at Greenwich.United Kingdomsource
- September 29 – The Great Hatred: the Cossacks of the Tsardom of Russia kill about 800 people overnight on the Finnish island of Hailuoto.source
- December 9 – Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718): The Ottoman Empire declares war on the Republic of Venice.source
- Sir John Doderidge - An Historical Account of the Ancient and Modern State of the Principality of Wales...Walessource
Exploration & Expansion
- April 12 – Italian Jesuit missionary Niccolò Gianpriamo is dispatched from Portugal on an evangelical trip to Asia starting with the Portuguese Indian colony of Goa, where he arrives after five months.source
- July 8 – Longitude prize: The Parliament of Great Britain votes "to offer a reward for such person or persons as shall discover the Longitude" (£10,000 for any method capable of determining a ship's longitude within 1 degree; £15,000, within 40 minutes, and £20,000 within ½ a degree).source
- Louis Juchereau de St. Denis establishes Fort St. Jean Baptiste, at the site of present day Natchitoches, Louisiana (the first permanent European settlement in the Louisiana Territory, after Biloxi (1699) and Mobile, Alabama (1702) were separated).source
Religion & Belief
- 25 March – Archbishop Tenison's School, the world's earliest surviving mixed gender school, is endowed by Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Croydon.United Kingdomsource
- March – the Scriblerus Club, an informal group of literary friends, is formed by Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, John Arbuthnot (at whose London house they meet), Thomas Parnell, Henry St. John and Robert Harley.United Kingdomsource
- 8 May - Adam Ottley, Bishop of St David's, complains that Griffith Jones (Llanddowror) has been "going about preaching on week days in Churches, Churchyards, and sometimes on the mountains, to hundreds of auditors".Walessource
- June 20 – In France, Henri-Charles du Cambout de Coislin, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Metz, condemns the papal bull Unigenitus, issued by Pope Clement XI against the 1671 commentary by Pasquier Quesnel of the four Gospels and inflaming the Jansenist controversy.source
- July – first Catholic seminary in Britain opens at Eilean Bàn on Loch Morar.Scotlandsource
- July – first Roman Catholic seminary in Britain opens at Eilean Bàn on Loch Morar in Scotland.United Kingdomsource
- 1 August - George I of Great Britain becomes king, and soon replaces the Lord Lieutenant of North Wales, the Earl of Plymouth with his favoured candidate, the previous incumbent, the Earl of Cholmondeley. The first bishop he appoints is John Wynne, principal of Jesus College, Oxford, who becomes Bishop of St Asaph, but does not take up his new position until the following year, preferring the academic life.Walessource
- October 20 – The coronation of George I of Great Britain and Ireland takes place in Westminster Abbey, a little less than three months after George became the new British monarch.source
- 10 December – the College of Missions is established.Denmarksource
- Archbishop Tenison's School, the world's earliest surviving mixed gender school, is established by Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Croydon, south of London, England.source
- Worcester College, University of Oxford is founded (formerly Gloucester College, closed during the Dissolution of the monasteries).source
- First definitely known Dublin printing of the King James Version of the Bible.Irelandsource
Economy & Finance
Technology & Infrastructure
- June 3 – The city of Kassel in Germany inaugurates the summer tradition of the "water stairs" or "great cascades" (Grossen Kaskaden) emptying from the base of the Hercules monument down to the Wilhelmshöhe castle.source
- The river Kander (Switzerland) is redirected into Lake Thun.source
- William Dyer - Cyfoeth i'r CymruWalessource
Science & Discovery
Health & Medicine
- February 28 – (February 17 old style) Russia's Tsar Peter the Great issues a decree requiring compulsory education in mathematics for children of government officials and nobility, applying to children between the ages of 10 and 15 years old.source
- May 19 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, refuses to allow members of the House of Hanover to settle in Britain during her lifetime.source
- September 29 – The Great Hatred: the Cossacks of the Russian Empire kill about 800 people overnight on the Finnish island of Hailuoto.Russiasource
Crime & Justice
- 27 July – Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, is dismissed as Lord High Treasurer.United Kingdomsource
- Kirkcaldy Brick and Tile Works established on the Links.Scotlandsource
- Commissioners of Police for Scotland appointed.Scotlandsource
- Following the death of Robert Jeffreys, a descendant of George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, the last member of the Jeffreys family to reside at Acton Hall, Wrexham, the estate passes into the hands of a brother-in-law, Philip Egerton.Walessource
Culture & Society
- 2 February – Nicholas Rowe's tragedy Jane Shore premieres at the Drury Lane Theatre in London and is a popular success.United Kingdomsource
- 14 April – Queen Anne performs the last touching for the "King's evil".United Kingdomsource
- May 20 – Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata for Pentecost, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, BWV 172, at the chapel of Schloss Weimar.source
- August 1 – Georg Ludwig von Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain and Ireland, on the death of Queen Anne. Anne's death brings an end to the reign of the House of Stuart, in that her half-brother James Francis Edward Stuart, the eldest son of James II of England, has been ineligible for the British throne based on the Act of Settlement 1701 had barred members of the Roman Catholic church from becoming monarchs. George of Hanover, as great-grandson of James I of England and a second cousin to Anne, is deemed the eldest living Protestant descendant of James I.source
- 1 August – George I becomes King of Great Britain and Ireland upon the death of Anne.Irelandsource
- August 1 – George Ludwig, Elector of Hanover, succeeds his distant relative Queen Anne as King George I of Great Britain. This event becomes the catalyst to the Jacobite risings. Jacobite supporters of James Stuart as heir to the throne began to organise after Queen Anne died, ending the blood line of House of Stuart and resulting in the succession of George of Hanover.Scotlandsource
- 1 August – Hanoverian succession: George, elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain on the death at Kensington Palace following a stroke of his second cousin, Queen Anne, without surviving issue and the death on 28 May of the designated first heir Electress Sophia of Hanover.United Kingdomsource
- September 27 - Prince George, son of King George I, is invested as Prince of Wales. His wife, Caroline of Ansbach, becomes the first Princess of Wales to receive the title at the same time as her husband and the first Princess of Wales for over two hundred years.Walessource
- John Morgan of Matchin - Myfyrdodau bucheddol ar y pedwar peth diweddafWalessource
- Erasmus Saunders marries the daughter of Humphrey Lloyd of Aberbechan.Walessource
Births
- 23 January - Howell Harris, Methodist leader (died 1773)Walessource
- March 8 – Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German Classical composer (died 1788)source
- March 21 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, British judge (died 1794)source
- April 7 – John Elwes (politician), British politician (died 1789)source
- June 6 – Joseph I of Portugal, Prince of Brazil (died 1777)source
- July 2 – Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer (died 1787)source
- July 8 – Pieter van Reede van Oudtshoorn, Dutch administrator of the Cape Colony (died 1773)source
- July 21 – Grand Duchess Natalya Alexeyevna of Russia (1714–1728) (died November 22, 1728)Russiasource
- August 27 – Angélique du Coudray, pioneering French midwife (died 1794)source
- September 10 – Niccolò Jommelli, Italian composer (died 1774)source
- September 24 – Alaungpaya, King of Burma (died 1760)source
- September 30 – Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, French academic (died 1780)source
- October 25 – James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish judge, scholar of language evolution and philosopher (died 1799)source
- 25 October – James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, philosopher and evolutionary thinker (died 1799)United Kingdomsource
- October 31 – Hedvig Taube, Swedish courtier (died 1744)source
- December 1 - Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye, explorer (died 1755)Canadasource
- December 16 – George Whitefield, English Anglican priest (died 1770)source
- December 18 – Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy, Hungarian prince (died 1790)source
Deaths
- February 2 – John Sharp, English Archbishop of Yorkshire (born 1643)source
- February 24 – Edmund Andros, English governor in North America (born 1637)source
- March 13 – John Talbot of Lacock, British politician and general (born 1630)source
- March 27 – Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (born 1633)source
- March 27 – Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Consort of Denmark (1670–1699) (born 1650)source
- April 10 – Samuel Carpenter, Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania (born 1649)source
- May 5 – Charles, Duke of Berry, grandson of Louis XIV of France (born 1686)source
- June 8 – Electress Sophia of Hanover, heir to the throne of Great Britain (born 1630)source
- June 22 – Matthew Henry, English non-conformist minister (born 1662)source
- August 1 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (born 1665)source
- 1 August – Queen Anne (born 1665)United Kingdomsource
- August 15 – Anna Mons (born January 1, 1672)Russiasource
- August 26 – Constantin Brâncoveanu, Prince of Wallachia (born 1654)source
- August - Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste, military (born 1663)Canadasource
- October – Raja Sitaram Ray, autonomous king, vassal of the Mughal Empire (born 1658)source
- November 5 – Bernardino Ramazzini, Italian physician (born 1633)source
- November 7 – Charles Davenant, English economist, politician and pamphleteer (born 1656)source
- 31 December - John Wynne, industrialist, 64Walessource