Early Modern
John Kay's Flying Shuttle (1733): Faster Weaving in Britain
The flying shuttle roughly doubled a weaver's output and helped create the yarn shortage that drove the mechanisation of spinning.
Region
Europe
Early Modern
Founding of Georgia (1733): Oglethorpe's Colony at Savannah
The Trustees' colony of Georgia was established at Savannah, the last of Britain's thirteen mainland colonies, with a planned town and an early ban on slavery that was lifted in 1751.
Early Modern
Linnaeus and Systema Naturae (1735): Naming the Living World
Linnaeus's ranked classification and consistent two-part species names became the foundation of modern biological nomenclature.
Early Modern
Vaucanson's Digesting Duck (1739): The Famous Automaton
The duck made Vaucanson famous across Europe, although its apparent digestion was later shown to be a trick.
Early Modern
War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748): Maria Theresa's Fight
Maria Theresa kept most of her inheritance and her husband became emperor, but Prussia retained Silesia under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748.
Early Modern
Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1741): Blas de Lezo Holds Firm
Spanish victory; the British expedition withdrew after failing to take the city and losing thousands of men, mostly to disease.
Early Modern
Battle of Dettingen (1743): George II Leads His Army to Victory
Victory for the Pragmatic Army of British, Hanoverian and Austrian troops, which escaped a French trap and reached Hanau.
Early Modern
Jacobite Rising of 1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie's Campaign
The rising failed: after reaching Derby the Jacobite army retreated to Scotland and was destroyed at Culloden in April 1746, ending the Stuart cause as a military threat.
Early Modern
Leyden Jar (1745): The First Device to Store Electricity
The Leyden jar became the standard tool of electrical research and the ancestor of the modern capacitor.
Early Modern
Battle of Culloden (1746): The Last Pitched Battle in Britain
Decisive government victory; the Jacobite army was destroyed in under an hour, ending the 1745 rising and the Stuart cause as a military force.
Early Modern
James Lind's Scurvy Trial (1747): An Early Clinical Trial
Oranges and lemons produced rapid recovery, but the Royal Navy did not issue lemon juice routinely until 1795.
Early Modern
Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws (1748): Separation of Powers
The book made the separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers a central principle of modern constitutional government.