Directory

1719 CE

The Principality of Liechtenstein is created, within the Holy Roman Empire. Captain John Perry fixes the Dagenham Breach of the River Thames in England. In the Battle of Stäket, Crown Prince Frederick I of Sweden leads the successful defense of Stockholm from Russian Admiral Fyodor Apraksin's Baltic Fleet during the Russian Pillage.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 3 (January 23 Old Style) – The Riksdag of the Estates (the parliament of Sweden) recognizes Ulrika Eleonora's claim to the Swedish throne, after she has agreed to sign a new Swedish constitution. Thus, she is recognized as queen regnant of Sweden.source
  • February 21 – The Riksdag of the Estates in Sweden adopts the Instrument of Government (1719), a constitution which (with slight amendment in 1720) introduces the "Age of Liberty" in the country; it includes limited women's suffrage.source
  • October 28 – Sweden and Denmark-Norway sign an armistice, halting combat in the Great Northern War between them, with final terms agreed to in the Treaty of Frederiksborg on July 3, 1720.source
  • November 9 – Treaties of Stockholm (Great Northern War): In a treaty with Hanover, Sweden cedes the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (in northern Germany) to Hanover.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 28 – Farrukhsiyar, the Mughal Emperor of India since 1713, is deposed by the Sayyid brothers, who install Rafi ud-Darajat in his place. In prison, Farrukhsiyar is strangled by assassins on April 19.source
  • April 4 – The French army under James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, invades the Basque provinces of Spain, with 20,000 troops crossing into Navarre.source
  • April 19 – In Louisiana (New France), Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville's brother Serigny arrives on a French man-of-war, bringing news that war had been declared between France and Spain (since December 1718).source
  • April 26 – King Philip V of Spain departs Madrid and leads 15,000 men of the Spanish Army into Navare to fight the French under Berwick.source
  • May 14 – In Louisiana (New France), Bienville, from Mobile, captures Pensacola, but Pensacola is later recaptured by the Spanish, and again re-taken by Bienville.source
  • June 4 – Battle of Ösel Island: A Russian naval force defeats the Swedish fleet.source
  • June 10 – Battle of Glen Shiel: British forces defeat the Jacobites and their Spanish allies in Scotland.source
  • June 20 – Battle of Francavilla: The Austrians are defeated by the Spanish.source
  • June 30 – French forces under the Duke of Berwick, open the Siege of San Sebastian.source
  • July 16 – Attack on Marstrand: the Carlsten fortress in Sweden surrenders to a Danish and Norwegian force after a siege of seven days. Colonel Henrich Danckwardt, who surrendered the fortress to Peter Tordenskjold after being away from it while it was still defensible, is beheaded on September 16.source
  • August 13 – In the Battle of Stäket, Crown Prince Frederick I of Sweden leads the successful defense of Stockholm from Russian Admiral Fyodor Apraksin's Baltic Fleet during the Russian Pillage.source
  • August 19 – Siege of San Sebastian: The Spanish garrison surrenders to the Duke of Berwick.source
  • October 11 – Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda, the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, is assassinated in a bloody coup d'etat by supporters of the Archbishop of Manila, whom Bustamante had imprisoned.source
  • October 14 – The British Army, under the command of Major General George Wade, invades and captures the forts of Vigo on the Atlantic coast of Spain.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • July 11 – Russia's Baltic Sea fleet is first spotted from the Swedish coast, starting the Russian Pillage of 1719–21 as part of the Great Northern War.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 23 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created, within the Holy Roman Empire.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • June 18 – Captain John Perry fixes the Dagenham Breach of the River Thames in England.source
  • October 21 – The Red Canal is opened in the Russian capital, Saint Petersburg, after seven years of construction, at a ceremony in the presence of the Tsar Peter the Great.source

Health & Medicine

  • Europe's first systematic population census is taken in the Kingdom of Prussia's Margraviate of Brandenburg.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • December 2 – Workers in Falun Mine, Sweden, find the apparently petrified body of "Fet-Mats" Israelsson (d. 1677), in a flooded part of the copper workings.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 8 – Carolean Death March begins: A catastrophic retreat by a largely-Finnish Swedish-Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydalen mountains in a blizzard kills around 3,700 men and cripples a further 600 for life.source
  • March 6 – A serious earthquake (estimated magnitude >7) in El Salvador results in large fractures, liquefaction zones, and a sulphuric gas leak. It destroys houses, churches and monasteries.source
  • May 25 – An earthquake in Turkey damages İzmit and Istanbul, damaging some city walls and ruining mosques and palaces.source

Culture & Society

  • March 17 – The coronation of Ulrika Eleonora as Queen of Sweden takes place in Stockholm.source
  • April 25 – Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is published in London. Initially anonymous, by the end of the year it will have run through four editions and is significant in establishing extended realistic fiction as a literary genre.source
  • August 20 – Princess Maria Josepha of Austria, at one time the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria's Habsburg Empire, marries Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony ten days after renouncing any claim to the Austrian throne.source
  • September 3 – The three-story tall Opernhaus am Zwinger, one of the largest opera houses in the world at the time, opens in Dresden by staging Antonio Lotti's Giovi in Argo.source
  • December 22 – Andrew Bradford publishes the American Weekly Mercury, Pennsylvania's first newspaper.source
  • James Figg opens one of the first indoor venues for combat sports, adjoining the City of Oxford tavern in Oxford Road.source
  • Raine's Foundation School, Bethnal Green (founded by Henry Raine), opens in Wapping (closed 2020).source

Births

  • January 17 – Samuel Enderby, English whale oil merchant who sponsored Arctic exploration (d. 1797)source
  • March 4 – George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (d. 1777)source
  • March 13 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, British nobleman and soldier (d. 1797)source
  • March 23 – Anna Catharina Bischoff, Lady (or mummy) of the Barfüsser Church (d. 1787)source
  • April 5 – Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar, prince of Persia (d. 1747)source
  • April 8 – Edmund Pery, 1st Viscount Pery, Irish politician, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons (d. 1806)source
  • April 24 – Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti, Italian-born English literary critic and author (d. 1789)source
  • June 28 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French general, diplomat, statesman (d. 1785)source
  • September 17 – James Smith, signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence (d. 1806)source
  • November 14 – Leopold Mozart, German/Austrian composer, father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d. 1787)source
  • December 13 – Thomas Gillespie, North Carolina planter (d. 1797)source
  • December 18 – William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington, British Army general (d. 1779)source
  • December 25 – George Campbell, figure of the Scottish Enlightenment (d. 1796)source
  • December 28 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French diplomat (d. 1787)source

Deaths

  • February 23 – Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, German Lutheran clergy (b. 1682)source
  • March 10 – Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond, French architect (b. 1679)source
  • April 7 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest, education reformer, saint in the Catholic Church (b. 1651)source
  • April 15 – Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, mistress and later secret wife of King Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)source
  • April 21 – Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1640)source
  • May 3 – Pierre Le Gros the Younger, sculptor from France (b. 1666)source
  • June 6 – Louis Ellies Dupin, French historian and theologian (b. 1657)source
  • June 17 – Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, playwright and politician (b. 1672)source
  • July 16 – Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, English general (b. 1641)source
  • July 21 – Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, French princess (b. 1695)source
  • July 22 – Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Aylesford, English lawyer and politician (b. 1649)source
  • July 22 – Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole, Italian painter and engraver (b. 1654)source
  • August 9 – Charles Middleton, 2nd Earl of Middleton, English and Scottish politician (b. 1649)source
  • September 29 – Muhammad Shah is crowned as the 12th Mughal Emperor of India at Shahjahanabad (modern-day Delhi), 12 days after the death of Shah Jahan II from tuberculosis.source