War of the Austrian Succession
Frederick II seizes Silesia from Maria Theresa
When Emperor Charles VI died, Prussia, France, Bavaria and Spain challenged his daughter Maria Theresa's right to the Habsburg lands; Frederick II opened the war by invading Silesia. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 left Maria Theresa her inheritance, but Silesia stayed Prussian.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1721 Proclamation of the Russian Empire — 19 years earlier
- 1762 Accession of Catherine the Great — 22 years later
- 1764 Founding of the Hermitage — 24 years later
Middle East
- 1722 Fall of Isfahan — 18 years earlier
- 1736 Nader Shah takes the throne of Iran — 4 years earlier
- 1747 Ahmad Shah Durrani founds the Afghan state — 7 years later
Asia
- 1755–1758 The Dzungar genocide — 15 years later
- 1757 Battle of Plassey — 17 years later
- 1761 Third Battle of Panipat — 21 years later
Alive at the time
- Johann Sebastian Bach (aged 55)
- Voltaire (aged 46)
- Benjamin Franklin (aged 34)
- Mikhail Lomonosov (aged 29)
- James Cook (aged 12)
- Catherine the Great (aged 11)
- George Washington (aged 8)
- Vitus Bering (aged 59)
- Tokugawa Yoshimune (aged 56)
- Nader Shah (aged 52)