Early Modern
Battle of Malplaquet (1709): Marlborough's Costliest Victory
Allied tactical victory; the French withdrew in good order, but Allied losses were roughly twice those of the French.
Era · c. 1500 – 1800
Early Modern
Voyages of exploration, the Reformation and the age of revolutions that reshaped Europe and the wider world.
Early Modern
Great Frost of 1709: Europe's Coldest Winter in 500 Years
Crops and livestock were destroyed across much of Europe, and the famine that followed in France caused an estimated 600,000 excess deaths in 1709-1710.
Early Modern
Abraham Darby and Coke Smelting (1709): Iron at Coalbrookdale
Darby proved that iron could be smelted commercially with coke, freeing ironmaking from dependence on charcoal and preparing the way for large-scale iron production.
Early Modern
Battle of Poltava (1709): Peter the Great Defeats Charles XII
Decisive Russian victory; the Swedish army surrendered at Perevolochna days later and Charles XII fled into Ottoman territory.
Early Modern
Kangxi Dictionary (1710-1716): The Great Qing Dictionary
An imperial dictionary of about 47,000 characters became the standard reference for Chinese characters and fixed the 214-radical system still used today.
Early Modern
Statute of Anne (1710): The First Copyright Law in Britain
Copyright became a statutory right of limited duration vested in authors and their assignees, replacing the booksellers' perpetual control under the old licensing system.
Early Modern
Newcomen Engine (1712): The First Practical Steam Engine
The atmospheric engine became the standard machine for pumping water from mines for most of the eighteenth century and paved the way for Watt's improved steam engine.
Early Modern
Siege of Barcelona (1713-1714): The Fall of Catalan Liberties
Barcelona fell to Bourbon forces after a final assault on 11 September 1714; Catalonia's own institutions were abolished by the Nueva Planta decree of 1716.
Early Modern
Treaty of Utrecht (1713): The Peace That Reshaped Europe
Philip V kept Spain and its American empire but renounced the French throne; Britain gained Gibraltar, Minorca and North American territory, and Austria received most of Spain's European lands.
Early Modern
Asiento of 1713: Britain's Slave-Trade Contract with Spain
Britain won a 30-year monopoly on supplying enslaved Africans to Spanish America, run by the South Sea Company until it was surrendered in 1750.
Early Modern
1715 Treasure Fleet Disaster: Spanish Galleons Lost off Florida
Eleven of twelve ships were wrecked and roughly 1,000 people died; much of the silver was salvaged by Spain, but wrecks and coins are still being found today.
Early Modern
Giuseppe Castiglione (1715): A Jesuit Painter at the Qing Court
Castiglione spent five decades as a court painter, creating a hybrid Sino-European style and helping design the European palaces of the Yuanmingyuan.