A massive earthquake, followed by a tsunami and fires, devastates Lisbon, killing tens of thousands and deeply influencing Enlightenment thought.
A global conflict among the European powers fought in Europe, North America and India; Britain gains colonial supremacy and Prussia confirms its great-power status.
The Classical-era composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born in Salzburg.
Diderot and d'Alembert publish the first volume of the Encyclopédie, a defining work of the Enlightenment.
The Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach dies in Leipzig.
James Watt's patent for a separate condenser makes steam engines far more efficient, driving the Industrial Revolution.
Napoleon Bonaparte is born in Ajaccio, Corsica; he will later become Emperor of the French.