1715 CE

The Battle of Gurdas Nangal begins during the Mughal-Sikh Wars in India, as the Mughal Army begins an eight-month siege of a fortress near Gurdaspur (in what is now the Punjab state), where Sikh General Banda Singh Bahadur and 1,250 of his men have fled. The siege ends on December 7 when the 750 survivors, including Banda Singh, are captured. By June 1716, most of the Sikh prisoners have been tortured, killed and executed, with Banda Singh dying on June 9. King Philip, ruler of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon unifies the two monarchies into a single state, centralizing rule of a unified Kingdom of Spain. First of the major Jacobite risings in Scotland against the rule of King George I: The Earl of Mar raises the standard of James Edward Stuart and marches on Edinburgh.

In the 1710s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 22 – Voting begins for the British House of Commons and continues for the next 46 days in different constituencies on different days.source
  • February 11 – Tuscarora War: The Tuscarora and their allies sign a peace treaty with the Province of North Carolina, and agree to move to a reservation near Lake Mattamuskeet, effectively ending the Tuscarora War. Large numbers of Tuscarora subsequently move to New York.source
  • February to March – General election results in victory for the Whigs.United Kingdomsource
  • March 9 – Voting for the British House of Commons concludes, with the liberal Whig Party winning 341 of the 558 seats, and reducing the conservative Tory Party share to 217 seats. Spencer Compton, the Earl of Wilmington, becomes the Speaker of the House of Commons.source
  • March 27 – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, flees from Great Britain to France. His part in secret negotiations with France, leading to the Treaty of Utrecht, has cast suspicion on him in the eyes of the Whig government of Britain. He becomes secretary of state to the Pretender, James Edward Stuart.source
  • 27 March – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke flees to France. His part in secret negotiations with France leading to the Treaty of Utrecht has cast suspicion on him in the eyes of the Whig government. He becomes Secretary of State to the Pretender, James Edward Stuart.United Kingdomsource
  • 28 April - Treaty of Stettin (1715)Swedensource
  • June 9 – King Philip, ruler of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon unifies the two monarchies into a single state, centralizing rule of a unified Kingdom of Spain.source
  • June 9 – King Philip, ruler of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon unifies the two realms into a single state, centralizing rule of a unified Kingdom of Spain.Spainsource
  • 16 July – Imprisonment of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, in the Tower of London for his part in the negotiations over the Treaty of Utrecht.United Kingdomsource
  • October 12 – Baron Onslow resigns as Great Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer and is replaced by future Prime Minister Robert Walpole.source
  • October 28 – The Treaty of Greifswald is signed between Russia and the Electorate of Hanover, with George I of Great Britain and Hanover agreeing to Russia's annexation of Swedish Ingria and Estonia, and Hanover claiming the Bremen-Verden Swedish duchies of Bremen and Verden.source
  • November 15 – The Third Barrier Treaty is signed by Britain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic.source
  • 15 November – Third Barrier Treaty signed by Britain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic.United Kingdomsource
  • November 28 – The application of the Nueva Planta decrees, in Mallorca and the other Balearic Islands (formerly under the Crown of Aragon), bring them under the laws of the Crown of Castile.source
  • The ancient right to evaluate royal decrees publicly, before they are given the force of law by the Parlement of Paris, is restored.source
  • George Evans is created 1st Baron Carbery in the Peerage of Ireland.Irelandsource
  • County Palatine of Tipperary Act, an Act of the Parliament of Ireland, enables purchase by the crown of rights and revenues in County Tipperary held by the Dukes of Ormonde.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • April 1 – The Battle of Gurdas Nangal begins during the Mughal-Sikh Wars in India, as the Mughal Army begins an eight-month siege of a fortress near Gurdaspur (in what is now the Punjab state), where Sikh General Banda Singh Bahadur and 1,250 of his men have fled. The siege ends on December 7 when the 750 survivors, including Banda Singh, are captured. By June 1716, most of the Sikh prisoners have been tortured, killed and executed, with Banda Singh dying on June 9.source
  • April 15 – In the British colonial Province of South Carolina, the Yamasee Confederation launches an attack on English settlements in disputed territory on Good Friday, launching the two-year long Yamasee War. The day before, agents Thomas Nairne, William Bray and Samuel Warner had participated in peace negotiations with the Yamasee at Pocotaligo. Bray and Warner are killed that day, while Nairne is tortured to death and dies on April 17.source
  • April 24 – The Battle of Fehmarn takes place in the Baltic Sea as part of the Great Northern War. Ten warships of Denmark, under the command of Christian Gabel, overwhelm a force of Swedish Navy ships led by Carl Wachtmeister. By the time the battle ends the next day, five Swedish ships and 1,626 crewmen have been captured, and another 353 killed. The Danish navy suffers 65 deaths.source
  • 24 April – Battle of Fehmarn, naval battle of the Great Northern War.Denmarksource
  • May 28 – Rioting begins in England on the birthday of King George I as supporters of the Old Pretender, James of the House of Stuart, begin mass protesting against the rule of the House of Hanover, near London in the towns of Smithfield and Highgate, and the Cheapside financial district in London.source
  • June 22 – Tsar Peter the Great of Russia witnesses the attempt of 45 Dutch and English ships to enter the small harbour at Saint Petersburg and decides that additional harbours are necessary for Russia to be able import Western goods.source
  • July 20 – Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–18): The fall of Nauplion, the capital of the Venetian "Kingdom of the Morea", seals the fate of the Peloponnese Peninsula, which is soon completely retaken by the Ottomans.source
  • 18 August - Battle of Rügen (1715)Swedensource
  • September 14 – Less than two weeks after King Louis XIV's death, Daniel Voysin de la Noiraye, France's Secretary of State for War since 1709, steps down at the request of the new regent, the Duke of Orleans.source
  • September - William Herbert, 2nd Marquess of Powis, is among those arrested in connection with the first Jacobite Rebellion.Walessource
  • October 2 – During the rebellion in Great Britain by supporters of the Pretender to the Throne, James Stuart, the Jacobites raid the Scottish parish of Burntisland, capture an arsenal of weapons, and begin an occupation of the area on October 9 in the name of Stuart as King James VIII of Scotland.source
  • 9 November – The Battle of Preston begins, with Jacobite forces under Thomas Forster surrounded by government troops under Charles Wills.United Kingdomsource
  • November 13 – Jacobite rising in Scotland – Battle of Sheriffmuir: The forces of the Kingdom of Great Britain, led by John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, halt the Jacobite advance, although the action is inconclusive.source
  • 13 November – Battle of Sheriffmuir is fought between Jacobites under the Earl of Mar and the Duke of Argyll's army. Although the action is inconclusive, Argyll halts the Jacobite advance. According to legend, Ormacleit Castle on South Uist burns down on the death in this battle of its owner Allan Macdonald, chief of Clanranald.Scotlandsource
  • 13 November – Battle of Sheriffmuir is fought between Jacobites and the Duke of Argyll's army. Although the action is inconclusive, Argyll halts the Jacobite advance.United Kingdomsource
  • November 14 – Battle of Preston: Government forces defeat the Jacobite incursion, at the conclusion of a five-day siege and action.source
  • December 22 – James Edward Stuart rejoins Jacobite rebels in Scotland, but fails to rouse his army.source
  • 22 December – James Edward Stuart joins Jacobite rebels at Peterhead but fails to rouse his army.Scotlandsource
  • 24 December – Denmark's Siege of Stralsund ends.Denmarksource
  • Filippo Juvarra starts rebuilding the church of San Filippo Neri, Turin, in which the roof had collapsed, during the siege of Turin, during the War of the Spanish Succession.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • October 12 – William Mackintosh of Borlum, leader of the Jacobite rising against Great Britain, lands with 1,500 men in Scotland after crossing the Firth of Forth from France.source
  • Horse post introduced between Edinburgh and Glasgow.Scotlandsource

Religion & Belief

  • 6 February - John Wynne is enthroned as Bishop of St Asaph.Walessource
  • March 14 – James Stuart, the "Old Pretender" attempting to restore the House of Stuart to control of Great Britain as King James III of England and James VIII of Scotland, meets with Pope Clement XI for the assistance of the Roman Catholic Church in the Jacobite rising.source
  • 1 August – Nicholas Rowe is appointed as Poet Laureate, replacing the Irish-born Nahum Tate. The Whig Rowe has written works supportive of the Hanoverian Succession. He holds the post until his death in 1718.United Kingdomsource

Economy & Finance

  • October 11 – William Aislabie resigns as the British East India Company's administrator of Bombay and the company's territories and is replaced at year's end by Charles Boone.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 9 February - An advertisement appears in the London Gazette for the first St David's Day dinner in London, to be followed by a sermon given by Rev George Lewis.Walessource
  • August 31 – Old Dock, Liverpool, England, the world's first enclosed commercial wet dock (Thomas Steers, engineer), opens.source
  • 31 August – Opening of Old Dock, Liverpool, the world's first enclosed commercial wet dock (Thomas Steers, engineer).United Kingdomsource
  • Karlsruhe Palace is built, resulting in the town of Karlsruhe growing up around it.source
  • Filippo Juvarra starts working on the previously postponed construction of the church of Santa Christina in Turin.source
  • Coffee is first grown in the French colony of Saint-Domingue.source

Science & Discovery

  • May 3 – A total solar eclipse is seen across southern England, Sweden and Finland (the last total eclipse visible in London for almost 900 years). English astronomer Edmond Halley (who is using the old style Julian calendar date of April 22) records the first observation noted of the phenomenon of "Baily's beads", in which higher elevations on the moon can be observed obscuring portions of the light moments before and after totality.source
  • 3 May – A total solar eclipse is seen across southern England and Scandinavia, the last total eclipse visible in London for almost 900 years.United Kingdomsource
  • Colen Campbell begins publication of his pattern book Vitruvius Britannicus, or the British Architect.Scotlandsource
  • John Roderick - Welsh almanack (first in the series)Walessource

Health & Medicine

  • March - Owen Meyrick, a Whig, challenges the supremacy of the Tory Bulkeley family in Anglesey by being elected to Parliament for the constituency.Walessource

Crime & Justice

  • 10 March - Birgitte Haldorsdatter was judged guilty of witchcraft in Sørum and sentenced to life imprisonment. She is the last person confirmed to have been sentenced guilty of witchcraft in Norway.Norwaysource
  • June 29 – Britain's Treason Act 1714 takes effect, providing for forfeiture to the British Crown of property owned by any person convicted of treason in the Kingdom. The Act remains in effect until June 24, 1718.source
  • 20 August – The Duke of Ormonde who has fled to join the Jacobites is attainted and his estates confiscated.United Kingdomsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 13 – A fire in London, described by some as the worst since the Great Fire of London (1666) almost 50 years earlier, starts on Thames Street when fireworks prematurely explode "in the house of Mr. Walker, an oil man"; more than 100 houses are consumed in the blaze, which continues over to Tower Street before it is controlled.source
  • 10 June – A Jacobite mob sacks Cross Street Chapel in Manchester, going on to destroy another at Monton.United Kingdomsource
  • July 24 – 1715 Treasure Fleet: A Spanish treasure fleet of 12 ships, under General Don Juan Ubilla, leaves Havana, Cuba for Spain. Seven days later, 11 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida (some centuries later, treasure salvage is found from these wrecks).source

Culture & Society

  • 1 March - The Society of Antient Britons is founded in London. Thomas Jones, its first treasurer and secretary, presents the society's "loyal address" to King George I and is subsequently knighted.Walessource
  • 24 March - The wedding between Princess Ulrika Eleonora and Frederick of Hesse.Swedensource
  • 19 April - Start of the Sami mission by the College of Missions.Norwaysource
  • September 6 – The first major Jacobite rising in Scotland against the rule of King George I of Great Britain breaks out. The Earl of Mar raises the standard of James Edward Stuart, and marches on Edinburgh. James, the son of the deposed King James VII, arrives from France.source
  • 6 September – first of the major Jacobite risings in Scotland against the rule of King George I of Great Britain: The Earl of Mar raises the standard of James Edward Stuart at Braemar and marches on Edinburgh.Scotlandsource
  • 6 September – First of the major Jacobite risings in Scotland against the rule of King George I: The Earl of Mar raises the standard of James Edward Stuart and marches on Edinburgh.United Kingdomsource
  • 9 November - Silvanus Bevan marries Elizabeth, daughter of royal clockmaker Daniel Quare.Walessource
  • Around this year, a breech loading firearm is made for Philip V of Spain.source
  • First record of the actress and writer Eliza Haywood, performing in Thomas Shadwell's Shakespeare adaptation, Timon of Athens; or, The Man-Hater at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin.Irelandsource
  • Date Unknown - Around this year, a breech loading firearm is made for Philip V of Spain.Spainsource

Births

  • January 9 – Robert-François Damiens, French domestic servant, executed for the attempted assassination of Louis XV (died 1757)source
  • January 25 – Thomas Walker, distinguished Virginia physician, explorer (died 1794)source
  • January 31 – John Wayles, American lawyer and planter (died 1773)source
  • February 11 – Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, British duchess (died 1785)source
  • February 22 – Charles-Nicolas Cochin, French artist (died 1790)source
  • February 26 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (died 1771)source
  • 7 March (in Massachusetts) - Ephraim Williams, American landowner and slave owner of Welsh descent, founder of Williams College (died 1755)Walessource
  • May 4 – Richard Graves, English minister (died 1804)source
  • July 2 – Samuel Finley, American clergyman and educator (died 1766)source
  • July 4 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German author (died 1769)source
  • September 26 – Lord George Graham, Royal Navy officer and MP (died 1747)source
  • October 23 – Peter II of Russia, Emperor of Russia (died 1730)source
  • November 5 – John Brown, English divine and author (died 1766)source
  • 5 November – John Brown, writer (died 1766)United Kingdomsource
  • November 8 – Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern, Crown Princess of Prussia (died 1797)source
  • November 13 – Dorothea Erxleben, first German female physician (died 1762)source
  • Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, superintendent of northern Indians (died 1774)Canadasource
  • Ekaterina Chernysheva, courtier (died 1779)Russiasource

Deaths

  • 1 January - John Morgan, lord of the manor and lordship of Gwynllwg, merchant and MP for Monmouth Boroughs, 74?Walessource
  • January 7 – François Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai (born 1651)source
  • February 3 – Gottfried Vopelius, German academic (born 1645)source
  • February 21 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Colonial governor of Maryland (born 1637)source
  • March 17 – Gilbert Burnet, Scottish Bishop of Salisbury (born 1643)source
  • March – William Dampier, buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer (born 1651)United Kingdomsource
  • April 16 – Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore, Colonial governor of Maryland (born 1679)source
  • May 19 – Charles Montagu, English Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1661)source
  • May 30 – Roeloff Swartwout, American city founder in New York (born 1634)source
  • July 30 – Nahum Tate, Irish poet (born 1652)source
  • September 1 – King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years, leaving his throne to his 5 year old great-grandson Louis XV. Philippe d'Orléans, the nephew of Louis XIV, serves as Regent.source
  • September 1 – King Louis XIV (born 1638)source
  • October 13 – Nicolas Malebranche, French philosopher (born 1638)source
  • October 14 – Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1636)source
  • November 24 – Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, queen consort of King Charles X of Sweden (born 1636)source
  • November – Mirwais Hotak, Pashtun emir, and founder of the Hotaki Dynasty (born 1673)source
  • 28 December – William Carstares, Church of Scotland clergyman (born 1649)Scotlandsource
  • Hans Paus, priest and poet (born 1656).Norwaysource