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London Theaters reopen; actresses appear onstage for the first time
The playhouses were generally built with timber and plaster, and were three stories high. Individual theatre descriptions give additional information to their construction, such as flint stones being used to build the Swan. Theatres were also constructed to be able to hold large amounts of people. -
Charles II is proclaimed King of England (crowned in 1661)
A political crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. -
Plague claims more than 68,000 people in London
Plague is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, which is usually transmitted through the bite of an infected rat flea. -
Great Fire destroys much of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall. -
Glorious (Bloodless): Revolution James II is succeeded by Protestant rulers of William and Mary
Their joint reign began in February 1689 after they were offered the throne by the Convention Parliament irregularly summoned by William after his successful invasion of England in November 1688, the so-called Glorious Revolution. They replaced James II (& VII), Mary's father, who fled the country. -
Alexander Pope publishes part of The Rape of the Lock
Pope's most famous poem is The Rape of the Lock, first published in 1712, with a revised version published in 1714. A mock-epic, it satirises a high-society quarrel between Arabella Fermor (the "Belinda" of the poem) and Lord Petre, who had snipped a lock of hair from her head without her permission. -
Swift publishes A Modest Proposal, protesting English treatment of the Irish poor
A Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729. Swift suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocks heartless attitudes towards the poor, as well as British policy toward Ireland in general. -
Voltaire publishes Candide
It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply "optimism") by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. -
George III is crowned King of England; becomes known as the king who lost the American Colonies
George III is often accused of obstinately trying to keep Great Britain at war with the revolutionaries in America, despite the opinions of his own ministers. In the words of the Victorian author George Trevelyan, the King was determined "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal." -
British Parliment passes Stamp Act for taxing American colonies
The Stamp Act is an act of the British Parliament in 1756 that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the British Crown. -
African American poet Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subject, Religious and Moral is published in London
Phillis Wheatley broke barriers as the first American black woman poet to be published, opening the door for future black authors. -
Boston Tea {arty occurs
The Boston Tea Party (initially referred to by John Adams as "the Destruction of the Tea in Boston") was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
In it, Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the 18th century who did not believe women should have an education. -
Napoleon heads revolutionary government in France
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution
