What happened in 1700–1709

World2

• 1704Battle of Chamkaur: During the Mughal-Sikh Wars, an outnumbered Sikh Khalsa defeats a Mughal army.
• 1707Less than three months after proclaiming himself to be the new Emperor of India, Muhammad Azam Shah and his three sons are killed in a battle by his troops led by his half-brother Muhammad Mu'azzam

Japan5

• 1703January 30 (December 14 of previous year in the Chinese calendar) – Akō incident: In Japan, forty-seven rōnin (independent samurai) assassinate daimyō Kira Yoshinaka, the enemy of their former lord Asano Naganori, at his own mansion as a vengeance; for which they are compelled to commit suicide on March 20.
• 1703March 20 (February 4 in the Chinese calendar) – 46 of the forty-seven rōnin of Japan carry out an order of seppuku (ritual suicide) for the killing they committed on January 30. The punishment is given by the shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. The story continues to be dramatized more than 300 years later in Chūshingura theater, novels and film.
• 1707The Hōei earthquake (the most powerful in Japan until 2011) strikes, with an estimated local magnitude of 8.6 and kills at least 5,000 people.
• 1707The last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji begins in Japan.
• 1709Tokugawa Ienobu becomes the sixth shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan, after the death of the shōgun Tsunayoshi, who had been head of government since 1680.

North America19

• 1701The Great Peace of Montreal is signed, ending 100 years of war between the Iroquois Confederacy and New France, and its Huron and Algonquian allies. Formerly allied with the English, the treaty assures the Iroquois will be neutral, if France and England ever resume hostilities.
• 1702War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Cremona: The Duc de Villeroy, commander of the French Army, is taken as a prisoner of war by the Austrian Army.
• 1702May 14 (N.S.) – War of the Spanish Succession: War is declared on France by the Grand Alliance (Kingdom of England, Dutch Republic and Holy Roman Empire).
• 1702War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Luzzara – Forces of the Holy Roman Empire fail to break through the French-Savoyard position in Lombardy.
• 1702War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Cádiz – A month-long Anglo-Dutch amphibious operation under English Admiral Sir George Rooke fails to take the Spanish port.
• 1702Queen Anne's War in North America: The Siege of St. Augustine opens as English forces besiege St. Augustine, Spanish Florida.
• 1702Queen Anne's War: The Siege of St. Augustine in Spanish Florida is lifted.
• 1703The Recruiting Act 1703 goes into effect in England, providing for the forcible enlistment of able-bodied but unemployed men into the English Army and Royal Navy in order to fight in Queen Anne's War in North America. The Act expires at the end of February 1704.
• 1703War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Speyerbach (in modern-day Germany) – The French defeat a German relief army, allowing the French to take the besieged town of Landau two days later, for which Tallard is made a Marshal of France.
• 1705War of the Spanish Succession: The Battle of Elixheim is fought near the city of Tienen (in modern-day Belgium). A troop of soldiers under the command of England's Duke of Marlborough kills 3,000 French troops under the command of the Duc de Valleroy and forces the retreat of the others, breaking the "Lines of Brabant". Because his soldiers have marched all night and then fought the battle over a full day, Marlborough is unable to send them in pursuit of Villeroy's troops.
• 1706War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Ramillies: English, Dutch, German, Swiss and Scottish troops led by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeat Franco-Bavarian forces in the Low Countries.
• 1707April 25 (April 14 Old Style) – War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Almansa: The Bourbon army of Spain and France (with Irish mercenaries) under the French-born Englishman James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, soundly defeats the allied forces of Portugal, England, and the Dutch Republic led by the French-born Huguenot (in English service) Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway. Following this, Philip V of Spain promulgates the first Nueva Planta decrees, bringing the Kingdoms of Valencia and Aragon under the laws of the Crown of Castile.
• 1707War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Toulon: The Allies are obliged to withdraw, but the French fleet is effectively put out of action.
• 1708War of the Spanish Succession: Wager's Action, a naval confrontation, takes place between a British squadron under Charles Wager and the Spanish treasure fleet off Cartagena in the Caribbean Sea. Spanish galleon San José explodes and sinks with the loss of almost all her 600 crew and an estimated 8.8 million ounces troy weight in gold; her wreck is located in 2015.
• 1708War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Oudenarde – Allied forces under the command of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeat the French in the Spanish Netherlands.

4 more in the app

Europe68

• 1700February 22 (Gregorian), February 12 (Julian) – The Great Northern War begins with a joint invasion of Swedish territory in Germany and Latvia, by Denmark and Poland/Saxony. Sweden has control of the Baltic Sea and holds territory that includes Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of northern Germany. To challenge its power, an alliance is formed between Tsar Peter I of Russia, King Frederick IV of Denmark and Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. Sweden's ruler is the militaristic Charles XII, known as the "Swedish Meteor".
• 1700November 30 (November 19 O.S.; November 20 Swedish calendar) – Battle of Narva in Estonia: Having led his army of 8,000 on a forced march from Denmark to Estonia, Charles XII of Sweden routs the huge Russian army.
• 1700Louis XIV of France accepts the Spanish crown on behalf of his grandson Philip of Anjou of the House of Bourbon, who becomes Philip V of Spain (reigning for 44 years – with a short break – to 1746), thus triggering the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714).
• 1701The Act of Settlement 1701 is passed by the Parliament of England, to exclude the Catholic Stuarts from the British monarchy. Under its terms, King William III, childless, will be succeeded by Queen Mary II's sister Princess Anne and her descendants. If Anne should have no descendants, she will be succeeded by Sophia of Hanover and her descendants (hence the Hanoverian Succession in 1714).
• 1701The Battle of Carpi, the first skirmish in the War of the Spanish Succession, takes place in Italy when French troops under the command of Nicolas Catinat are attacked by Austrian forces led by Prince Eugene of Savoy.
• 1701Crossing of the Düna: Following his victories over Denmark-Norway and Russia in 1700, Charles XII of Sweden escalates the conflict in the Great Northern War by an invasion of Poland. The Swedish defeat the army of Saxony (then in personal union with Poland) at the River Dvina.
• 1702March 19 (March 8 Old Style) – Princess Anne Stuart, daughter of the late King James II and younger sister of his successor, Mary II (who had reigned jointly with her husband, William III, as William and Mary until her death in 1694), ascends the English, Scottish and Irish thrones upon William's death. In her first speech to the English Parliament, made three days later, she tells the assembly "As I know my heart to be entirely English, I can very sincerely assure you there is not anything you can expect or desire from me which I shall not be ready to do for the happiness and prosperity of England." Anne is the mother of 17 children by her husband, Prince George of Denmark and Norway, but none will survive childhood, and she will die without an heir, bringing an end to the reign of the House of Stuart and enabling the Hanoverian Succession. After the death of William, the States General of the Netherlands do not appoint a new stadtholder, and so the Dutch Republic becomes a true republic again, starting the Second Stadtholderless Period.
• 1702English General John Churchill, later the Duke of Marlborough, takes command of the alliance of English, Dutch and German troops in the War of the Spanish Succession.
• 1704August 13 (August 2 OS) – War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Blenheim: Allied troops under John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy defeat the Franco-Bavarian army.
• 1707The Treaty (or Act) of Union, of the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, is ratified by the Parliament of Scotland by a vote of 110 to 68.
• 1707As part of the process of the unification of Scotland and England as Great Britain, Scotland selects 16 members to sit in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster.
• 1707The Act of Union with Scotland is ratified by the Parliament of England; the Parliament of Scotland is adjourned for the last time on May 1, 1707.
• 1707May 12 (May 1 Old Style) – The new sovereign state of Great Britain comes into being, as a result of the Acts of Union, which combine the Kingdoms of Scotland and England into a single united Kingdom of Great Britain, and merge the Parliaments of England and Scotland, to form the Parliament of Great Britain.
• 1709July 8 (June 27 Old Style; June 28 in the Swedish calendar) – Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava in the Cossack Hetmanate (Ukraine) – Peter the Great leads forces of the Tsardom of Russia to a decisive victory over Swedish forces under Charles XII, ending the Swedish invasion of Russia and effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.
• 1709September 11 (August 31 Old Style) – War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Malplaquet – Troops of the Dutch Republic, Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Prussia, led by the Duke of Marlborough, drive the French from the field, but suffer twice as many casualties.

53 more in the app

Asia4

• 1705First Javanese War of Succession: On the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), Pakubuwono I becomes the new Sultan of Martaram, capturing Kartosuro and deposing Sultan Amangkurat III.
• 1706In Tibet, Lha-bzang Khan, khan of the Khoshut, kills the regent and kidnaps the 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, and kills the Lama's regent.
• 1706Five months after having been deposed from his position as the Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso disappears while in exile in Qinghai and is presumed to have been murdered.
• 1707Emperor Aurangzeb dies in Ahmednagar, Aurangabad.

Middle East2

• 1703Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned.
• 1703Ahmed III succeeds the deposed Mustafa II as Ottoman Emperor.