Early Modern
Batavia Massacre (1740): The Killing of the Chinese in Batavia
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Chinese were killed inside Batavia, and the violence spread into the Java War of 1741-1743.
Region
Asia
Early Modern
Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Founding of Afghanistan (1747)
Ahmad Shah founded the Durrani Empire, the state from which modern Afghanistan developed, and made it the leading power between Persia and India.
Early Modern
Qing Conquest of the Dzungar Khanate (1755-1758): War in Xinjiang
The Dzungar Khanate was destroyed, most Dzungars died or fled, and the Qing annexed the region later named Xinjiang.
Early Modern
Canton System (1757): How China Controlled Trade with the West
Western maritime trade with China was restricted to Canton under Qing supervision until the Treaty of Nanking abolished the system in 1842.
Early Modern
Third Battle of Panipat (1761): Marathas Versus Ahmad Shah
Decisive Afghan victory; the Maratha army was destroyed, halting Maratha expansion in the north for a decade.
Early Modern
British Occupation of Manila (1762-1764): Seven Years War in Asia
British forces captured Manila but never controlled the rest of the Philippines; the city was returned to Spain under the Treaty of Paris of 1763.
Early Modern
Fall of Ayutthaya (1767): Burma Destroys Siam's Capital
Ayutthaya was sacked and abandoned and its kingdom collapsed, but Taksin expelled the Burmese garrison within months and refounded Siam at Thonburi.
Early Modern
Tay Son Rebellion (1771-1802): The Brothers Who Reunited Vietnam
The Tay Son overthrew the Nguyen and Trinh lords and the Le dynasty and repelled Siam and the Qing, but were defeated in 1802 by Nguyen Phuc Anh, founder of the Nguyen dynasty.
Early Modern
Siku Quanshu (1773): The Qianlong Emperor's Complete Library
The largest collection of Chinese writings ever compiled was copied by hand in seven sets, while thousands of works deemed offensive to the Qing were suppressed.
Early Modern
Pugachev's Rebellion (1773-1775): Russia's Great Peasant Revolt
The rebellion was crushed; Pugachev was betrayed by his own followers and executed in Moscow in January 1775.
Early Modern
Founding of Bangkok (1782): Rama I and the Chakri Dynasty
Bangkok replaced Thonburi as the capital of Siam and the Chakri dynasty, which still reigns in Thailand, was established.
Early Modern
Sino-Nepalese War (1788-1792): The Qing Army in the Himalayas
Nepal was forced to make peace, return plunder taken from Tibet and send tribute missions to Beijing, while the Qing tightened control over Tibet.