| February 28 | Tsarina Anna Ivanovna leads autocracy |
| March 16 | Willem Charles Henry Friso installed as viceroy of Drenthe |
| April 8 | 1st Jewish congregation in U.S. forms synagogue, "Shearith Israel, New York City" |
| May 15 | Robert Walpole becomes England 1st prime minister (was: chief min) |
| July 12 | Lorenzo Corsini chosen as Pope Clemens XII |
| July 21 | States of Holland put death penalty on "sodomy" |
| August 4 | Crown prince Frederik of Prussia escapes to England |
| September 1 | Benjamin Franklin marries Miss Read |
| September 17 | Turkish coup under Mahmud I; Sultan Ahmed III flees |
| September 30 | Duke Victor Amadeus XI of Savoye resigns |
| October 12 | Christian VI succeeds Frederik IV as king of Denmark |
| December 11 | Voltaire's "Brutus," premieres in Paris |
