1734–1739 Austro-Russian war with Turkey.
1739–1748 War of Jenkins’s Ear between Britain and Spain.
1740 Empress Anne of Russia dies, 1741 Elizabeth seizes power from Ivan VI (a baby).
1740–1748 War of the Austrian Succession when Marie Theresa succeeds as Holy Roman Empress; Frederic II (the Great) of Prussia invades Silesia; France declares war on Britain and Austria (1744).
1754 Osman III succeeds Mahmud I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
1754–1763 Anglo-French War in North America (‘The French and Indian War’), from 1756, part of the Seven Years War: the struggle between Prussia and Austria becomes a world conflict fought between shifting alliances containing Britain and France in opposition. Treaty of Paris: Britain gains New France in North America and Florida from Spain, islands in the West Indies, Senegal and trading supremacy in India; Treaty of Hubertusburg maintains the status quo between Prussia and Austria.
1757 Mustafa III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire: a modernizer.
1760 George III succeeds his grandfather George II to the British throne.
1762 Peter III succeeds as Emperor of Russia; is murdered, accession of Catherine II, the Great (Ivan VI murdered 1764).
1766 Anglo-Russian treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation.
1767–1772 Ali Bey rebels against the Ottoman Empire and attempts to make Egypt independent, eventually driven into exile by his troops.
1768–1774 Russio-Turkish War; 1771 Austria allies with Turkey; Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, Russia consolidates its gains at the expense of Turkey.
1773 Unrest in Britain’s American colonies: Boston Tea Party, protest against tea duty.
1775–1783 American War of Independence: France, Spain and the Netherlands ally to the colonies; Treaty of Versailles, Britain recognizes their independence.
1774 Louis XVI succeeds Louis XV as King of France. Abdul Hamid I succeeds as Sultan.
1780 Emperor Joseph II succeeds Maria Theresa of Austria.
1786 Frederick William II succeeds Frederick the Great of Prussia.
1787–1792 Russio-Turkish War: Austria allies with Russia (1788–1790), Prussia with Turkey (1790-1792); Turkey defeated; 1789 the reformist Selim III becomes Sultan.
1789–1794 Short-lived Belgian Republic breaks from Austrian domination.
1789–1799 The French Revolution: 1792 France declared a Republic; 1793 execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Louis XVII dies in prison (1795); Reign of Terror; Revolutionary army formed; The First Coalition (Austria, Spain, Great Britain, et al.) against France.
1790 Leopold II Holy Roman Emperor followed by Francis II (1792).
1796 Paul I succeeds Catherine the Great.
1797–1802 France’s armies under Napoleon successful in Austria and Italy; Treaty of Campo Formio, Austria keeps Venice but Venetian territories that include the Ionian Islands go to France (1797); 1798 Napoleon victorious in Egypt but Nelson defeats the French Fleet (Battle of the Nile); Osman Pazvantoğlu Ottoman governor of Vidin (Bulgaria) sets up a rebel state (1798–1807); 1799 Napoleon returns to France, overthrows the Directory and sets up the Consulate. Russia and Turkey take the Ionian Islands. 1800 sees the French defeat the Austrians (Morengo). 1801 sees the British defeat the French at Copenhagen, Britain and Turkey defeat the French in Egypt; France makes peace with Austria, Spain, Portugal and Naples. Paul I of Russia murdered, succeeded by Alexander I. In 1802 Napoleon becomes Consul for life and President of the Italian Republic; Peace between Britain and France (Treaty of Amiens), Sri Lanka recognized as British colony.
1803–1815 Napoleonic Wars; 1804 Napoleon crowned Emperor; Serbia rises in revolt against Turkey. 1805 Alliance between Britain, Russia, Austria, Naples and Sweden; Battle of Trafalgar; Napoleon crowned king in Italy, deposes King of Naples, takes Venice and Ancona; Austria and Russia defeated (Austerlitz), Austria makes peace. Mehemet Ali Pasha takes control of Egypt. 1806 Napoleon abolishes the Holy Roman Empire (Francis II becomes Francis I of Austria), defeats Prussia (Jena), successful in Italy and Poland, invades Portugal (the Peninsular War 1807–14).
1806–1812 Russo-Turkish War.
1807 Napoleon routs the Russians (Friedland); Treaty of Tilsit, France and Russia become allies dividing Europe between them; France agrees to help Russia against Turkey if Russia joins against the British Empire; the Ionian Islands handed to the French; British expedition to Egypt. The janissaries depose Selim III in favour of Mustafa IV. 1808 Congress of Erfurt, Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I’s secret plan to partition the Ottoman Empire breaks down over Constantinople and the Straits; France subdues Sweden and Spain, Russia invades Finland, Moldavia and Wallachia. Selim III assassinated by Mustafa IV, in turn deposed and killed by Mahmud II. 1809 War between Austria and France; the British begin taking the Ionian Islands.
1810–1836 Spain loses control of its American colonies.
1812–15 Napoleon invades Russia, the retreat from Moscow; Treaty of Bucharest between Russia and Turkey grants Serbia autonomy, which Turkey ignores, second Serbian revolt 1815–17 leading to the semi-independent Principality of Serbia. 1814 Napoleon defeated, Louis XVIII becomes king; Treaty of Paris, Ionian Islands a British protectorate. 1815 Napoleon escapes from Elba, defeated at Waterloo; Congress of Vienna reverses all French gains.