Rousseau's Confessions published
The book where 'let them eat brioche' first appears

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's autobiography appeared after his death, in 1782. In it he recalls 'a great princess' telling breadless peasants to eat brioche — lines written around 1765, when Marie Antoinette was nine.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century
Did you know
Marie Antoinette almost certainly never said 'Let them eat cake'. Rousseau attributed the line to 'a great princess' around 1765, when the future queen was nine and living in Vienna. Share →
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1762 Accession of Catherine the Great — 20 years earlier
- 1764 Founding of the Hermitage — 18 years earlier
- c. 1768 Extinction of Steller's sea cow — 14 years earlier
- 1772–1795 Partitions of Poland — 10 years earlier
- 1783 Russian annexation of Crimea (1783) — 1 year later
Africa
- 1798 Battle of the Pyramids — 16 years later
- 1804–1903 Usman dan Fodio's jihad and the Sokoto Caliphate — 22 years later
- 1805–1848 Muhammad Ali becomes ruler of Egypt — 23 years later
Asia
- 1757 Battle of Plassey — 25 years earlier
- 1761 Third Battle of Panipat — 21 years earlier
Americas
- 1776 US Declaration of Independence — 6 years earlier
- 1787 US Constitution — 5 years later
- 1791–1804 Haitian Revolution — 9 years later
- 1803 Louisiana Purchase — 21 years later
Oceania
- 1768–1771 Cook's first voyage — 14 years earlier
- 1788 First Fleet arrives in Australia — 6 years later
Alive at the time
- Benjamin Franklin (aged 76)
- Catherine the Great (aged 53)
- George Washington (aged 50)
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (aged 33)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (aged 26)
- Napoleon Bonaparte (aged 13)
- Ludwig van Beethoven (aged 12)
- Leonhard Euler (aged 75)
- Qianlong Emperor (aged 71)
- Frederick the Great (aged 70)