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January 2 - Britain captures Calcutta, India.

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March

March 14 - Seven Years' War: On-board the HMS Monarch, Royal Navy Admiral John Byng is executed by firing squad for breach of the Articles of War.

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May

May 6 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Prague: Frederick the Great defeats an Austrian army and begins to besiege the city.

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June

June 18 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Kolin: Frederick is defeated by an Austrian army under Marshal Daun, forcing him to evacuate Bohemia.
June 23 - Battle of Plassey: 3000 British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj-ud-Dawlah at Plassey.

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July

July 26 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Hastenbeck: An Anglo-Hanoverian army under the Duke of Cumberland is defeated by the French under Louis d'Estrées and forced out of Hanover.
July 30 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf: A Prussian army under Hans von Lehwald is defeated by the Russian army of Marshal Stepan Apraksin.

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August
French and Indian War: A French army under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm forces the English to surrender Fort William Henry. The French army's Indian allies slaughter the survivors, not understanding what the terms of the surrender where.


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October

October 16 - Seven Years' War: Austrian raiders plunder Berlin.
October 30 - Osman III dies and is succeeded as Ottoman Sultan by Mustafa III.

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November

November 5 - Seven 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.
November 22 - Seven 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 Austrians behind the Oder.

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December

December 6 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Leuthen: Frederick defeats Prince Charles's Austrian army in what is generally considered the Prussian king's greatest tactical victory.

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Ongoing events

French and Indian War (1754-1763)
Seven Years' War (1756-1763)

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Births

January 16 - Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1834)
February 20 - John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, English philanthropist (d. 1834)
April 9 - Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (d. 1833)
May 30 - Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1844)
June 18 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentine leader (d. 1833)
July 20 - Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician (d. 1811)
September 6 - Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, French soldier and statesman (d. 1834)
October 9 - King Charles X of France (d. 1836)
October 21 - Pierre François Charles Augereau, duc de Castiglione, French marshal (d. 1816)
November 28 - William Blake, English poet (d. 1827)
December 25 - Benjamin Pierce, American politician (d. 1839)

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Deaths

January 9 - Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters (born 1657)
January 19 - Thomas Ruddiman, Scottish classical scholar (born 1664)
March 1 - Edward Moore, English writer (born 1712)
March 8 - Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (born 1701)
March 14 - John Byng, British admiral (executed) (born 1704)
March 27 - Johann Stamitz, Czech-born composer (born 1717)
May 6 - Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne, Austrian field marshal (born 1705)
May 6 - Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, British politician (born 1683)
May 6 - Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (born 1684)
July 23 - Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (born 1685)
August 28 - David Hartley, English philosopher (born 1705)
October 17 - René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist (born 1683)
October 25 - Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (born 1672)
October 30 - Osman III, Ottoman Sultan (born 1699)
November 12 - Colley Cibber, English poet (born 1671)
December 11 - Edmund Curll, English bookseller and publisher (born 1675)