1750 to 1759

1750

x - The Iron Act ? is passed by the English Parliament, limiting the growth of the iron industry in the American colonies to protect the English iron industry.
x - Earthquakes in England

1751

x - Second Carnatic War, an unofficial war between the British East India Company and the French Compagnie des Indes.
x - The Currency Act is passed by the English Parliament, banning the issuing of paper money by the New England colonies.

1752

x - Ben Franklin ?*+ flies his kite and discovers electricity from lightening.
x - |PHILADELPHIA| The first general hospital is founded
x - Britain and her colonies officially switch from the Julian calendar+ to the Gregorian calendar+ when Wednesday sep 20 of the old dawned Thursday sep 14 of the new.

1753

x - Benjamin Franklin ?*+ and William Hunter are appointed as postmasters general for the American colonies.

1754

x - Grand-Duchess Catherine of Russia gives birth to a son.
x - The French and Indian War erupts as a result of disputes over land in the Ohio River Valley.
may - George Washington + leads a small group of American colonists in a victorious suprise raid against the French, then builds Fort Necessity in the Ohio territory.
jul - After being attacked by numerically superior French forces, Washington surrenders Fort Necessity and retreats.

1755

feb - English General Edward Braddock arrives in Virginia with two regiments of English troops. Braddock assumes the post of commander in chief of all English forces in America.
apr - Braddock and Lt. Col. George Washington + set out with nearly 2000 men to battle the French in the Ohio territory.
jul - A force of about 900 French and Indians defeat Braddock's English forces. Braddock is mortally wounded. Massachusetts Governor William Shirley then becomes the new commander in chief.
x - Regular mail ship runs between England ?+ and the colonies.
x - Sir. Charles Hanbury-Williams arrives in Russia ?+ and negotiates an agreement between England ?+ and Russia, that Russia would keep 50,000 men at the Livonian frontier, ready to march into Prussia, in return for England paying £100,000 a year, and more if the soldiers are ever used.
nov 01 - A cataclysmic shock and tsunami kills c70,000 people, leveling the city of Lisbon, Portugal.

1756

jan - The convention of Westminster is signed between Prussia and Hanover, that neither would allow the entry of a foreign army onto German soil.
may - The treaty of Versailles was signed between Austria and France.
aug 27 - Frederick the Great led the armies of Prussia into Saxony, thus beginning the Seven Years War.
x - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.
x - The governor of Pennsylvania offers a bounty of 130 Spanish dollars for "the scalp of every male Indian enemy above the age of twelve years produced as evidence of their being killed".
x - England declares war on France, as the French and Indian War in the colonies now spreads to Europe.

1757

jun - William Pitt becomes England's Secretary of State and escalates the French and Indian War in the colonies by establishing a policy of unlimited warfare.
jul - Benjamin Franklin ?*+ begins a five year stay in London.
aug - A Russian army attacks East Prussia.
x - The British East India Company gained control of Bengal after Robert Clive won the Battle of Plassey.
x - Russia signs onto the treaty of Versailles, which Austria and France had signed in 1756.

1758

jul - |FRENCH and INDIAN WAR|LAKE GEORGE, NEWYORK| Nearly two thousand men are lost during a frontal attack against well entrenched French forces at Fort Ticonderoga.
nov - |FRENCH and INDIAN WAR| The French abandon Fort Duquesne in the Ohio territory. Settlers then rush into the territory to establish homes.
x - |FRENCH and INDIAN WAR| The French fortress of Louisbourg falls to the American and British attackers after a seven week siege.
x - Augustus III, king of Poland, requests from the Russian Empress Elizabeth that his son Charles, be given the Dukedom of Courland. Elizabeth agrees to the request.
x - |NEW JERSEY| The first Indian reservation in America is founded on 3000 acres.
x - Clement XIII + becomes pope ?+ [u.1769] [re.List of Popes]

1759

x - The Duke of Bridgewater builds a seven and a half miles long canal between his mines and Manchester (thus lowering the cost of his coal and demonstrating to the rest of Britian of the importance of canals).
x - Voltaire * [b.1694 d.1778] produces Candide *+, a satire on guilt, greed, materialism & politics.
x - |FRENCH and INDIAN WAR| French Fort Niagara is captured by the English.
x - War erupts between Cherokee Indians and southern colonists.
x - |FRENCH and INDIAN WAR| British capture Quebec.
x - |FRENCH and INDIAN WAR| British capture Ticonderoga.