The Making of Today: The Siege of Minorca and Black Hole of Calcutta: The Seven Years’ War goes global, April-June 1756

Quite a few of our last The Making of Today posts have been about the conflict in North America between France and Britain. Both sides hoped that the conflict would remain a regional one, but in the second quarter of 1756 it spread to not only Europe, but also Asia. Today we’ll be looking at

The Making of Today: The Battle of Vijaydurg and Power in the Indian Ocean, January-March 1756

At the start of 1756 the Maratha navy was destroyed at the fort of Vijaydurg by the British East India Company, and the Marathas themselves. The Sarkhel, or Grand Admiral, of the Marathas, Tulaji Angre, had been rebelling so the peshwa, prime minister, allied with an enemy to take down the Sarkhel. This was a

The Making of Today: The Lisbon Earthquake, October-December 1755

On November 1 the residents of Lisbon were celebrating All Saints’ Day in the many churches of the city. Lisbon was the capital of a global empire that comprised of the Portuguese mainland, the Azores and Madeira, Brazil, Sao Tome and Principe, Capo Verde, parts of Angola and Mozambique, Macau, ports in India, and trading

The Making of Today: Edward Braddock Arrives in North America and the future Braddock Expedition, January-March 1755

In February 1755 the British commander-in-chief for North America General Edward Braddock landed in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Braddock had made a name for himself in the European theatre of the earlier War of Austrian Succession and was seen as a good fit to quickly and decisively defeat the French in the Ohio Valley. Instead, his

The Making of Today: Wu Jingzi, The Scholars, and Elites in Qing Society, October-December 1754

In December 1754, or possibly January 1754 (I have seen both months suggested), Chinese scholar and writer Wu Jingzi died. In 1750 his novel Rulin Waishi, or The Unofficial History of the Scholars, shortened to The Scholars, was published which was a mixture of autobiography, fictional narrative, and social critique. There are some disagreements about

The Making of Today: The Albany Plan of Union, July-September 1754

The Albany Plan of Union of 1754, drafted by Benjamin Franklin at the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War, envisioned the creation of a Grand Council composed of delegates from each colony, with the power to levy taxes and deal with Indian relations and the common defense. Rejected by the colonial assemblies, whose powers Franklin’s

The Making of Today: The French and Indian War begins, the Battles of Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity, April-June 1754

On May 28 British forces under George Washington with his Haudesaunee allies under Tanacharison attacked French forces under Ensign Joseph Coulon de Jumonville. This was the first battle of the French and Indian War, and through this would also be the first battle of the global Seven Years’ War. We’re also going to look ahead

The Making of Today: The Guarani War Breaks Out, January-March 1754

In our first The Making of Today we looked at the Treaty of Madrid of 1750, which you can read here, redrew the Spanish-Portuguese colonial borders in the Rio de la Plata region. However, many people lived there already, and were not happy that they suddenly moved from a Spanish colony to a Portuguese colony.

The Making of Today: The French and Indian War on the Horizon, October-December 1753

The French and Indian War (1754-1763) would greatly shape the face of North America, especially when it merged with wars in Europe and Asia forming the greater Seven Years’ War. On December 11 1753 a young British major called George Washington arrived at the French constructed Fort Le Boeuf in what is now Pennsylvania on

The Making of Today: The 1753 Jewish Naturalisation Act and the Limits of Acceptance in Britain, July-September 1753

On July 7 the Jewish Naturalisation Act received royal assent in the British Parliament, which then made it a law. This act allowed Jews, including non-British Jews, to apply for naturalisation by excluding Jews from having to take the Anglican sacrament. However, the act lasted just a year and was repealed due to an anti-Jewish