EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. (1700-1800.) FRANCE holds about the same position till near the close of the century, when the Revolution breaks out, and the Republic makes large accessions of territory in the Austrian Netherlands, Savoy, Piedmont, and the islands of the Mediterranean. GREAT BRITAIN is engaged in foreign wars, and loses a large part of her American colonies, which win their independence in 1783. Her dominion in India is greatly extended during this period. SPAIN rises very considerably in importance. The UNITED PROVINCES become in the last years of the century a dependency of France. The TURKISH dominion, though with occasional successes, is on the decline. PRUSSIA becomes an important European state under her king, Frederick the Great. AUSTRIA is engaged in frequent wars, which somewhat diminish her power. The GERMAN EMPIRE, though still in existence, is more a dignity than a power, its functions being wielded chiefly by the great kingdoms of Austria and Prussia. RUSSIA, under Peter the Great, rises to a front rank among the states of Europe and makes large gains of territory. The UNITED STATES of America come into being as an independent nation in 1783. ITALY makes some progress toward freedom, but her territory is still divided among foreign princes. The republic of VENICE comes to an end. The kingdom of POLAND is partitioned between Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and destroyed in 1795. The NORTHERN kingdoms sink to an inferior position, but without much geographical change. SWITZERLAND, in 1798, becomes a league of states, under the name of the Helvetic Republic. PORTUGAL is of little account at this time. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1701. Prussia recognized as a kingdom. 1702 Beginning of war of the Spanish succession between the Allies and France. 1703. St. Petersburg founded by Peter the Great. 1704. Battle of Blenheim. Defeat of the French. 1704. Capture of Gibraltar by the English. 1706. Battle of Ramillies. Defeat of the French. 1708. Battle of Oudenarde. 1709. Battle of Malplaquet. 1709. Battle of Paltowa. 1713. Treaty of Utrecht, between the Al- 1733. Georgia settled by the English. 1745. The French victorious at Fontenoy. War. 1755. Great earthquake in Lisbon. 1756-1763. Seven Years' War. 1759. Capture of Quebec by the English. 1765. The Stamp Act passed. 1769. Steam-engine patented by James 1772. First partition of Poland. 1775. Battle of Lexington. 1776. Declaration of American Indepen- 1777. Burgoyne's army surrenders at Saratoga. 1781. Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown. 1789. Storming of the Bastile. States. 1792. Kentucky admitted into the United 1792. Second partition of Poland. 1793. Louis XVI. executed. 1793. Cotton-gin invented by Eli Whitney. 1795. Third and final partition of Poland. 1796. Tennessee admitted into the United States. 1796. Vaccination successfully tried in England by Jenner. 1798. Battle of the Nile. French fleet defeated by Nelson. 1799. Napoleon becomes First Consul. PROMINENT NAMES OF THE CENTURY. Kings. -Louis XIV., Louis XV., Louis XVI., the Republic. GREAT BRITAIN. Kings. — William and Mary, Anne, George I., George II., George III. PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. George Washington, John Adams. Dryden, Locke, Bayle, Bossnet, Boileau, Fénelon, Burnet, Leibnitz, Addison, Marlborough, Newton, Steele, De Foe, Pope, Swift, Le Sage, Montesquieu, Jonathan Edwards, Handel, Wolfe, Gray, Swedenborg, Goldsmith, Hume, Voltaire, Rousseau, Chatham, Linnæus, Lessing, D'Alembert, Johnson, Buffon, Franklin, Arkwright, Wesley, Mozart, Lavoisier, Gibbon, Burns, Burke, Galvani, Marmontel, Washington, Cowper, Samuel Adams, Priestley, Kant, Nelson, Schiller, Paley, Fox, Pitt, Fisher Ames, Haydn, Wieland, Madame de Staël, Watt, Grattan, Canova, Béranger, Herschel, Erskine, Richter, Hamilton, Jefferson, Eli Whitney, Beethoven, Canning, Laplace, Hegel, Goethe, Scott, Cuvier, Coleridge, Thorwaldsen, John Quincy Adams, Wordsworth, Wellington, Humboldt. |