What happened in 1750–1759

World6

• 1752The British Empire (except Scotland, which had changed New Year's Day to January 1 in 1600) adopts today as the first day of the year as part of adoption of the Gregorian calendar, which is completed in September: today is the first day of the New Year under the terms of last year's Calendar Act of the British Parliament.
• 1753Major George Washington and British guide Christopher Gist arrive at Fort Le Boeuf (near modern-day Waterford, Pennsylvania and the city of Erie), a French fortress built in territory claimed by the British Crown Colony of Virginia. Washington presents the fort's commander, French Army Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, a message from Virginia's Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie advising that "The lands upon the Ohio River are so notoriously known to be the property of the Crown of Great Britain that it is a matter of equal concern and surprise... to hear that a body of French fortresses and making settlements upon that river, within His Majesty's dominions," adding that "It becomes my duty to require your peaceable departure." Captain Legardeur provides a reply for Washington to take to Dinwiddie, declaring that the rights of France's King Louis XV to the land "are incontestable", and refuses to back down, leading to beginning of the French and Indian War in 1754.
• 1755The Corsican Constitution is adopted by Corsican representatives, at the Consulta generale di Corte.
• 1758Battle of Cuddalore: A British fleet under Sir George Pocock engages the French fleet of Anne Antoine, Comte d'Aché indecisively near Madras.
• 1758Seven Years' War – Battle of Negapatam: Off the coast of India, Admiral Pocock again engages d'Aché's French fleet, this time with more success.
• 1759Battle of Pondicherry: An inconclusive naval battle is fought off the coast of India, between the French Admiral d'Aché and the British under George Pocock. The French forces are badly damaged and sail home, never to return.

Japan2

• 1751The Hōreki period begins in Japan.
• 1758Okadaya (岡田屋), predecessor of AEON, a multiple retailer group, founded in Yokkaichi, Japan.

North America18

• 1750Halifax, Nova Scotia is almost completely destroyed by fire.
• 1754French and Indian War: Battle of Jumonville Glen – The war begins when George Washington, 22, leads a company of militia from the Colony of Virginia, in an ambush on a force of 35 French Canadians.
• 1754French and Indian War – Battle of Fort Necessity: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers, the only surrender in Washington's military career.
• 1754Classes begin at Columbia University, founded on October 31 as King's College by royal charter of King George II of Great Britain. The college is originally located in Lower Manhattan in the Province of New York. Instruction is suspended in 1776, and the school reopens in 1784 as Columbia College. With the college's growth in the 19th century, it is renamed Columbia University in 1896.
• 1754What will become Columbia University is chartered as "a College in the Province of New York... in the City of New York in America... named King's College", with the charter submitted by New York's colonial governor, James De Lancey.
• 1755France completes the construction of Fort Duquesne, its new base to the west of the British colony of Pennsylvania. The British capture the fort during the French and Indian War and rename it Fort Pitt. The site, at the junction of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River, is now Pittsburgh.
• 1755After a two-week siege, the French commander of Fort Beauséjour in North America surrenders to the British, marking the end of "Father Le Loutre's War".
• 1755French and Indian War – Braddock Expedition: British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat inflicted by French and Indian forces. During the battle, British General Edward Braddock is mortally wounded. Colonel George Washington survives.
• 1755French and Indian War – Battle of Lake George: French Army troops, led by Jean Erdman, Baron Dieskau, and Canadian colonists, led by Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, drive south into Britain's New York province. They are met by British Army troops under General William Johnson being supplemented by 200 Mohawk troops led by the Mohawk war chief, Theyanoguin. After Theyanouguin and other Mohawks are killed in the battle, the clan matrons of the Mohawk nation forbid the men from participating in the war against the French until a French defeat seems certain.
• 1756Seven Years' War: French and Indian War – Fort Oswego falls to the French.
• 1756Seven Years' War – French and Indian War: Militias of the Royal Colony of North Carolina build a fort on the province's western frontier to protect it against natives allied with the French. The fort is named Fort Dobbs in honor of North Carolina Governor Arthur Dobbs, who persuaded the North Carolina legislature to fund the construction a year earlier.
• 1758Seven Years' War – French and Indian War: Siege of Louisbourg: James Wolfe's attack at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, commences.
• 1758Seven Years' War – Battle of Bernetz Brook: British troops defeat the French.
• 1758Seven Years' War – French and Indian War: Battle of Fort Duquesne: A British attack on Fort Duquesne (modern-day Pittsburgh) is defeated.
• 1759Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) – Battle of the Plains of Abraham: Quebec falls to British forces, following General James Wolfe's victory just outside the city. Both the French Commander (the Marquis de Montcalm) and the British General Wolfe are fatally wounded.

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Europe57

• 1751May 27 (May 13 Old Style) – Adoption of the Gregorian calendar: Royal assent is given to An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year; and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use (the "Calendar Act") passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, introducing the Gregorian Calendar, correcting the eleven-day difference between Old Style and New Style dates and making 1 January legally New Year's Day from 1752 in the British Empire. It is largely promoted by George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield.
• 1752September 2 of Julian calendar (Wednesday) (September 13 "New Style") Great Britain and the British Empire use the Julian calendar for the last time and adopt the Gregorian calendar, making the next day Thursday, September 14 in the English-speaking world. A newspaper at the time notes the next day that "Altho' we have more than once, for the Information of our Readers, publish'd some Accounts of the Alteration of the Style, which took Place this Day, agreeable to a late Act of Parliament, in all his Majesty's Dominions in Europe, Asia, Africa and America" and notes that "The Supputation of the Year began on the first Day of January last, and for the future the first Day of that Month will be stiled the first Day of every Year in all Accounts whatsoever, which Supputation or Reckoning never took Place before this Year in any Courts of Law until the 25th Day of March", and adds, "This Day, had not this Act passed, would have been the 3rd of September, but is now reckoned the 14th, eleven nominal Days being omitted."
• 1753Sweden adopts the Gregorian calendar, by skipping the 11 days difference between it and the Julian calendar, and letting February 17 be followed directly by March 1.
• 1756The Seven Years' War formally begins, when Great Britain declares war on France.
• 1756Seven Years' War: Battle of Minorca – The British fleet under John Byng is defeated by the French under Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière.
• 1756Seven Years' War: Siege of Fort St Philip at Port Mahón: The British garrison in Menorca surrenders to the French after two months' siege by the Duke of Richelieu.
• 1756Seven Years' War: Battle of Lobositz – Frederick defeats an Austrian army under Marshal Maximilian Ulysses, Reichsgraf von Browne.
• 1757Seven Years' War: The British East India Company Army, under the command of Robert Clive, captures Calcutta, India.
• 1757Seven Years' War: Battle of Prague – Frederick the Great defeats an Austrian army, and begins to besiege the city.
• 1757Seven Years' War: Battle of Kolín – Frederick is defeated by an Austrian army under Marshal Daun, forcing him to evacuate Bohemia.
• 1757Seven Years' War: Battle of Hastenbeck – An Anglo-Hanoverian army under the Duke of Cumberland is defeated by the French forces under Louis d'Estrées, and forced out of Hanover.
• 1757Seven Years' War: Battle of Moys – A Prussian army (some 13,000 men) under Hans von Winterfeldt fights an Austrian army of double their size. The Prussians are defeated near Moys and von Winterfeldt is killed.
• 1757Seven Years' War: Raid on Berlin – Hungarian raiders (3,400 horseman) under Count András Hadik plunder Berlin. He demands that the city council pay a ransom of 200,000 thalers and a dozen pairs of gloves for Empress Maria Theresa. The Hungarians leave the Prussian capital after they received messages about a Prussian relief force under Prince Dietrich von Anhalt-Dessau, marching towards Berlin.
• 1757Seven Years' War: Battle of Rossbach – Frederick defeats the French-Imperial army under the Duc de Soubise and Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, forcing the French to withdraw from Saxony.
• 1757Seven Years' War: Battle of Breslau – An Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine defeats the Prussian army of Wilhelm of Brunswick-Bevern, and forces the Prussians behind the Oder.

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USSR / Russia6

• 1753Russian scientist Georg Richmann becomes the first person to be electrocuted by his own equipment after he uses an insulated, but improperly grounded, lightning rod in an attempt to gather data on a thunderstorm. Richmann also becomes the first victim of ball lightning during his scientific experiment, in an attempt to replicate the experiments of American Benjamin Franklin.
• 1755January 23 (O. S. January 12, Tatiana Day, nowadays celebrated on January 25) – Moscow University is established.
• 1756Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly built Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo to Empress Elizabeth of Russia and her court.
• 1756The town of Gus-Khrustalny is established in Russia, with the setting up of a crystal glass factory.
• 1757Seven Years' War: Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf – A Prussian army under Hans von Lehwaldt is defeated by the Russian army under Marshal Stepan Apraksin.
• 1758Seven Years' War – Battle of Domstadtl: Austrian forces under Ernst Gideon von Laudon and Joseph von Siskovits rout an enormous convoy with supplies for the Prussian army, guarded by strong troops of Hans Joachim von Zieten.

Asia8

• 1751Zand Iran is established by Karim Khan Zand.
• 1752Alaungpaya, a village chief in Upper Burma, founds the Konbaung Dynasty; by the time of his death 8 years later, he will have unified the whole country.
• 1755Treaty of Giyanti: The kingdom of Mataram on Java is divided in two, creating the sultanate of Yogyakarta and the sunanate of Surakarta.
• 1755Construction of the Puning Temple complex in Chengde, China is completed, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.
• 1757The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, leads an attempt to retake Calcutta from the British. With just 1,900 soldiers and sailors, but superior cannon power, General Robert Clive forces the Nawab's much larger force into a retreat. The British sustain 194 casualties, but the Bengalis suffer 1,300.
• 1757Battle of Plassey: 3,000 troops serving with the British East India Company under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj ud-Daulah with the help of Mir Jafar, at Plassey in India, marking the first victory of the East India Company over India, which lasts until 1857.
• 1759Alamgir II, the Mughal Emperor of India, is assassinated in a conspiracy orchestrated by his Prime Minister, Imad-ul-Mulk. The Shah Alam II, a grandson of the 17th century Emperor Aurangzeb, is made the new Mughal Emperor.
• 1759Shah Jahan III is installed as the puppet ruler of India's Mughal Empire eleven days after the death of Alamgir II, but is removed after a reign of only ten months.

Middle East3

• 1754Osman III succeeds his brother Mahmud I as Ottoman Emperor; he will rule until his death in 1757.
• 1757Osman III dies, and is succeeded as Ottoman Sultan by Mustafa III.
• 1757A (decree) of Ottoman sultan Osman III (d. October 30) preserves the division of ownership and responsibilities of various Christian holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem (e.g. the former's Church of the Holy Sepulchre); this becomes established as the Status Quo in international law.