- Jan 4 Netherlands, Great Britain & France sign Triple Alliance
- Jan 5 Prussian King Frederik Willem I buys conscript for nobles
- Jan 14 German mob leader and thief "Sjako" sentenced to death in Amsterdam
- Feb 1 Henri d'Aguesseau's 1st appointment as chancellor of France
- Mar 2 The Loves of Mars and Venus becomes the first ballet performed in England
- Mar 31 A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provokes the Bangorian Controversy
- Jun 24 1st Free Masons' grand lodge founded in London
- Jul 28 Prussian King Frederik Willhelm I orders compulsory education for 5-12 year olds
Pirate Attack
Nov 28 Blackbeard attacks and captures a French merchant slave ship, which he renames as his flagship the "Queen Anne's Revenge"
- Dec 5 English pirate Blackbeard ransacks the merchant sloop "Margaret" and keeps her captain, Henry Bostock prisoner for 8 hours before releasing him. Bostock later provides 1st record of Blackbeard's appearance, and the source for his name
- Dec 25 Floods ravage Dutch coast provinces, thousands killed