18th Century Europe
1700 - Great Northern War. Russian Empire coalition vs Swedish Empire (21 years, 1721).
1701 - Kingdom of Prussia.
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- War of Spanish Succession ( 13 years, 1714).
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1702 - "A Voyage to the Levant". Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, botanist to Louis XIV, recounts an episode of vampire mass hysteria on the island of Mycone [Mykonos] within Ottoman Empire.
1703 - St. Petersburg founded by Peter the Great.
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- Witch trial of Fuersteneck. Afra Dikh hung and her remains burnt in Bavaria.
1704 - 1st Javanese War of Succession. Dutch VOC vs Amangkurat III.
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- Pittenweem Witches. Patrick Morton accuses Beatrix Layng and four other women of cursing him. After a man dies in jail, and one of the accused is lynched after escaping the village, the remaining members are pardoned by Queen Anne.
1707 - Act of Union passed, Scottish and English parliments merged ('Great Britain').
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1708 - 'United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies'.
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1709 - Great Frost (coldest winter for 500 years).
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- Famine of East Prussia.
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1710 - Russo-Turkish War. Russian Empire vs Ottoman Empire (1 year, 1711).
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- Britain's 'Statute of Anne', copyright protection of literary works etc.
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1711 - Tuskarora War. Euro settlers vs Tuskarora tribes in N Carolina. (4 years, 1715).
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- Islandmagee Witch Trials. Mary Dunbar accuses eight women of visiting her in 'spectral form' in Northern Ireland.
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1715 - 1st Jacobite Uprising. Exiled House of Stuart vs Great Britain.
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1716 - Hanging of Mary & Elizabeth Hicks in Hungtingdon. Last Execution of witches (mother and daughter) in England.
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1718 - New Orleans established by French settlers in Louisiana.
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- 'Tulip Period'. Ottoman Empire opens trade in to Europe, linked with the 'tulip craze' amongst Turkish nobility etc. (12 years, 1730).
- Treaty of Passarowitz. Serbian territories handed over to Austrian Hapsburgs and Republic of Venice from Ottoman Empire. Location of future Vampire outbreaks.
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1719 - 2nd Javanese War of Succession. Dutch VOC & Amangkurat IV vs Princes Blitar & Purbaya.
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1720 - Bubonic plague outbreak in Marsielle. Disease traced to the merchant ship
'Grand-Saint-Antoine'.
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- British 'South Sea Co' defunct after the 'Bubble Act' to prevent future share collapse in corrupt private companies.
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1721 - Treaty of Nystad. End of the Great Northern War between Sweden and Russian coalitions
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1722 - Russo-Persian War. Russian Empire vs Safavid Dynasty (1 year, 1723).
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- 'The Drapier Letters'. Jonathan Swift (Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral) publishes tracts against new coinage imposed on the Irish etc (3 years, 1725).
1723 - Slavery abolished in Russia by Peter the Great.
1725 - Peter Blagojevic (Plogojowitz). Serbian peasant reported to have returned from the grave as a vampire. Imperial Provisor Frombald and a local priest witnessed the staking of the exhumed corpse, recording events in the earliest known report to the Austrian Administration.
1727 - Anglo-Spanish War. Britain vs Spain (2 years, 1729).
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- Janet Horne burned alive in Dornoch, Scotland. Last confirmed witch execution in British Isles. Daughter (also accused) managed to escape.
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1728 - "De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis" by Michael Ranft. Records of the deceased chewing on their funeral shrouds and coffins.
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- Szeged Witch Trials. Drought and famine in Hungary is linked to witches (and vampires), leading to an organized witch hunt in the region. The accused were tried in the city of Szeged, with twelve men and women burnt at the stake at Boszorkánysziget ('The Island of Witches').
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1730 -Patrona Halil Revolt. Mahmud I takes control of Ottoman Empire and ends 'Tulip Period'.
- First 'Great Awakening'. Protestant Christian revivals in Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies of the New World (30 years, 1760.)
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1732 - Crimean Khanate (Tartars) incursions over Russian Borders (2 years, 1734).
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- Arnold Paole and the Vampire Epidemic of Medvegia, Austrian-Serbia. Field- Surgeon Johannes Fluckinger leads an investigation of deaths attributed to 'vampirism'. The case becomes famous in Europe after its publication that year.
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1733 - Wars of the Polish Succession. Stanislaw I & Allies (Bourbons [France & Spain], Savoy-Sardinia, Parma) vs Augustus III & Allies (Russia, Holy Roman Empire). (5 years, 1738).
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1735 - 2nd Russo-Turkish War (4 years, 1739).
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- Witchcraft Act of 1735. British Parliament passes laws against those claiming to have supernatural powers, as well as those whom hunt and persecute accused 'witches'.
1738 - Great Famine of Sahel in Sub Saharan Africa. Half the population of Timbuktu dies (8 years, 1746).
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- "Lettres Juives" attributed to Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens. Epistolary novel of 200 'letters' between Rabbis debating the then current governments of Europe. Letter 131 mentions Vampirism, and was believed by the French population to be a true account.
1739 - 'War of Jenkin's Ear'. GB vs Spain in the Carribean (9 years, 1748).
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1740 - War of Austrian Succession/King George's War/'Jenkin's Ear'. Multiple factions in Europe, Africa, India and the Americas challenge or support the claims of Maria Theresa the last Hapsburg descendant (8 years, 1748).
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- Rev. George Whitefield, passionate church reformer (Methodism and Evangelism progenitor) active in England.
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- Irish Famine decimates ten percent of population (1 year, 1741).
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1742 - First water powered cotton mill used in England ('Marvel's Mill').
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- Handel's "Messiah" premiers in Dublin, Ireland.
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1744 - First Saudi state, unification of Arabian peninsula under Mohammed Ibn Saud.
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- First Carnatic Wars. French East India Co vs British East India Co struggle for dominance of Indian land and resources in the Mughal Empire (4 years, 1748).
1745 - 2nd Jacobite Rising, 'the '45 Rebellion'. House of Stuart vs Great Britain (1 year). End of the 'Clan' system.
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1746 - "Treatise on the Vampires of Hungary and Surrounding Regions" by Dom Augustin Calmet, published in Paris.
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1748 - Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle. End of the first Carnatic Wars and the Austrian Succession.
- 2nd Carnatic Wars (6 years, 1754).
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- "Der Vampir" Poem by Heinrich August Ossenfelder.
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1749 - "De Servorum Dei Beatificatione et Sanctorum Canonizatione" by Pope Benedict XIV. An appended paragraph in the second edition discredits reports of Vampires as superstition, as the Roman Church believes only saints can attain an incorruptible body after death.
1750 - Decapitation and burning of Maria Pauer in Salzburg. Last executed witch in Austria, after bringing poltergeist activity into a neighbour's home.
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1751 - "Treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants" by Dom Augustin Calmet (Paris). Extended edition of work published in 1746.
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1754 - Treaty of Pondicherry ends the 2nd Carnatic Wars. British ally Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah recognized as Nawab
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- French and Indian Wars. French and English colonies fight with native allies in Northern American (9 years, 1763).
- King's College founded in New York by royal charter.
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1755 - The Expulsion of the Acadians. Forced resettlement of French colonists from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick during the French and Indian Wars in East Canada (8 years, 1763).
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- "Abhandlung des Daseyns der Gespenster" by Gerard van Sweiten. Dutch Physician sent by Empress Maria Theresa to Moravia, his published report concluding that local Vampire outbreaks can be explained by natural phenomena. The Empress afterward bans the staking, beheading, and burning of accused corpses.
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1756 - 'The Seven Years' War'. First Global conflict amongst all European powers, their colonies and foreign allies (7 years, 1763).
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- 3rd Carnatic War. British domination over French in Indian colonies and trade (7 years, 1763).
1760 - George III crowned King of Britain after the death of George II.
1762 - Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia after usurping the throne from her pro-Prussian husband, Peter III.
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1763 - 'The Treaty of Paris' ends the Seven Years' War and 3rd Carnatic War.
1756 - 'The Stamp Act' imposed on the American colonies by Britain, making them pay extra for approved English paper to print legal documents etc. to cover costs of Seven Years' War.
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1764 - "Dictionnaire Philosophique" by Voltaire. Criticism of Dom Augustin Calmet's beliefs on Vampires and Witchcraft, as well as religion in general.
1766 - Anglo -Mysore Wars. By the Fourth conflict the British East India Co comes to control most of India (1799, 33 years).
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- Christian VII crowned King of Denmark-Norway.
1768 - War of the Bar Confederation. Polish nobles organize against internal reforms and external threats from Russia (4 years, 1772).
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- 3rd Russo-Turkish War.
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1769 - Spanish Franciscan missionaries begin founding the 'Twenty One Missions' in what will become California (64 years, 1833).
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- Capt. James Cook arrives in the Pacific Ocean on a scientific expedition to record the transit of Venus. Maps New Zealand and Australia (1770).
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- The Bengal Famine of North East India kills a third of the population (4 years, 1773).
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- French expedition in Indonesia capture clove plants, ending the Dutch VOC monopoly when they return in 1772.
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1770 - Great Famine of the Czech Lands. Death of twelve percent of the population leads to peasant uprisings (1 year, 1771).
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1771 - 'The Plague Riot' of Moscow. Bubonic outbreak leads to severe quarantine, leading to riots amongst the inhabitants.
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1772 - The Partitions of Poland. Russian, Prussian, and Austrian troops invade the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth. By 1795 King Stanislaw II abdicates, ending the self governance of Poland for 123 years (23 years, 1795).
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- Gustav III stages a coup d'etat against the Swedish parliment to prevent Russian ambitions etc.
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1773 - 'Pugachev's Rebellion'. Led by an ex- Lieutenant impersonating Peter III, organized peasant forces to end serfdom and take the lands. Largest revolt in Imperial Russian history (2 years, 1775).
- East India Co. begins operations to smuggle opium in to Imperial China
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1775 - American Revolutionary Wars. The Thirteen Colonies declare themselves independent of British rule (8 years, 1783).
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- 1st Anglo-Maratha War. BEIC vs Maratha Empire (7 years, 1782).
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1776 - Foundation of the 'Bavarian Illuminati'. A secret society concerned with ending superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life, and abuses of state power.
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- "Declaration of Independence" signed in Philadelphia by Founding Fathers of U.S.
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- "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith. Precursor of modern economics.
- Polish-Lithuanian Government bans confessions by torture and 'witch' trials.
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1778 - Capt. Cook reaches Hawaiian Islands.
1779 - Xhosa Wars. British and Dutch settlers vs the Xhosa tribes in South Africa. The longest military campaign of African Colonial period (100 years, 1879).
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1780 - Rebellion against Spanish in Peru, led by Tupac Amaru II.
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1781 - Los Angeles founded by Spanish settlers.
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- Serfdom is slowly abolished in Austria (4 years, 1785).
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1782 - Decapitation of Anna Goldi. 'The Last Witch' of Switzerland.
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1783 - 'Treaty of Paris' signed by George III and representatives of United States ends War of Independence.
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- Doruchow Witch Trials. Six women (possibly up to fourteen) accused of witchcraft in Poland.
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1785 - Chechen Imam Sheikh Mansur leads rebellion of Muslim Caucasian tribes against Russian settlers (6 years, 1791).
- Northwest Indian Wars. US vs Coalition of American tribes (whom are supported by British) in Ohio (10 years, 1795).
1786 - "The Marriage of Figaro" by Mozart premiers in Vienna.
1787 - "Don Giovanni" by Mozart premiers in Prague.
- 4th Russo-Turkish War (5 years, 1792).
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1788 - Russo-Swedish War. Sweden vs Russia & Denmark-Norway (2 years, 1790).
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1789 - The French Revolution. End of the French monarchy and execution of Louis XVI (10 years, 1799)
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