1708

Millennium: 2nd millennium
Centuries: 17th century – 18th century – 19th century
Decades: 1670s  1680s  1690s  – 1700s –  1710s  1720s  1730s
Years: 1705 1706 1707 – 1708 – 1709 1710 1711

1708 in topic:
Subjects:     Archaeology – Architecture –
Art – Literature (Poetry) – Music – Science
Countries:   Great Britain –
Leaders:   State leaders – Colonial governors
Category: Establishments – Disestablishments
Births – Deaths – Works

Year 1708 (MDCCVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). Year 1708 of the Swedish calendar was a leap year starting on Wednesday, one day ahead of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1708

January–June

• March 11 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
• March 23 – James Francis Edward Stuart unsuccessfully tries to land at the Firth of Forth.

July–December

• July 1 – Tewoflos becomes Emperor of Ethiopia.
• August – The future Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor weds Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
• August 23 – Meidingu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.
• August 29 – A native American attack in Haverhill, Massachusetts kills 16 settlers.
• September 28 – Battle of Lesnaya: Peter the Great defeats the Swedes.

Undated

• Kandahar is conquered by Mir Wais.
• One third of the population of Masuria dies of the plague.
• Johann Sebastian Bach is appointed as chamber musician and organist at the court in Weimar, Germany.
• Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico delivers his inaugural lecture to the University of Naples, later published as his first book, On the Study Methods of Our Time, in 1709.
• Fearful of a Swedish attack, the Russians blow up the city of Tartu in Estonia.

Ongoing events

• Great Northern War (1700 – 1721).
• War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714).
• Bulavin Rebellion (1707 – 1708).

Births

1708 in other calendars Gregorian calendar 1708
MDCCVIII
Ab urbe condita 2460
Armenian calendar 1157
ԹՎ ՌՃԾԷ
Bahá'í calendar -136 – -135
Bengali calendar 1115
Berber calendar 2658
Buddhist calendar 2252
Burmese calendar 1070
Byzantine calendar 7216 – 7217
Chinese calendar 丁亥年十二月初九日
(4344/4404-12-9) 戊子年十一月二十日
(4345/4405-11-20)
Coptic calendar 1424 – 1425
Ethiopian calendar 1700 – 1701
Hebrew calendar 5468 – 5469
Hindu calendars
 - Bikram Samwat 1764 – 1765
 - Shaka Samvat 1630 – 1631
 - Kali Yuga 4809 – 4810
Holocene calendar 11708
Iranian calendar 1086 – 1087
Islamic calendar 1119 – 1120
Japanese calendar Hōei 5
(宝永5年)
Korean calendar 4041
Thai solar calendar 2251

• January 25 – Pompeo Batoni, Italian painter (d. 1787)
• April 23 – Friedrich von Hagedorn, German poet (d. 1754)
• October 16 – Albrecht von Haller, Swiss anatomist and physiologist (d. 1777)
• October 22 – Frederic Louis Norden, Danish explorer (d. 1742)
• November 15 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1778)
• December 8 – Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1765)
• date unknown
  • Richard Dawes, British classical scholar (d. 1766)
  • John Hulse, Anglican priest (d. 1790)

See also Category: 1708 births.

Deaths

• May 6 – François de Laval, first bishop of New France (b. 1623)
• May 11 – Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (b. 1646)
• May 12 – Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)
• June 30 – Emperor Tekle Haymanot I of Ethiopia (stabbed to death)
• September 6 – John Morden, English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1623)
• October 1 – John Blow, British composer (b. 1649)
• October 2 – Anne-Jules, 2nd duc de Noailles, French general (b. 1650)
• October 7 – Guru Gobind Singh, 10th and final human Sikh Guru, founder of the Khalsa, starter of a military revolt against the Mughal empire, Punjabi scholar, theologian, social revolutionary, poet, head of a faith, representative of an ethnicity and a military head (b. 1666)
• October 10 – David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (b. 1659)
• October 11 – Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician (b. 1651)
• October 22 – Hermann Witsius, Dutch theologian (b. 1636)
• October 24 – Seki Kowa, Japanese mathematician (b. c. 1640)
• October 28 – Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne of Great Britain (b. 1653)
• November 17 – Ludolf Backhuysen, Dutch painter (b. 1631)
• December 22 – Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish writer (b. 1681)
• December 28 – Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (b. 1656)

See also Category: 1708 deaths.