1740 - Political Events

Political Events

Prussia's Friedrich Wilhelm I dies at Potsdam May 31 at age 51 after a 27-year reign in which he has built up a standing army of 83,000—enormous for a country of 2.5 million. The complex and somewhat demented king is succeeded by his scholarly and Francophile 28-year-old son, whom he has considered effeminate and treated with uncomprehending contempt but who has married Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and will reign until 1786 as Friedrich (Frederick) II. The new king makes French the language of his court and establishes the knightly order Pour le Mérite, with a medal that will become known as the Blue Max; he sends an army to invade Silesia, precipitating a conflict with Austria that will continue for 15 of the next 23 years.

The Russian czarina Anna Ivanovna adopts her 8-week-old great-nephew October 5 and declares him her successor, making Count Biron regent for the infant czar Ivan VI (see 1730). She collapses at the table during one of her great banquets at St. Petersburg October 17 and dies at age 47 after a 10-year reign. Field Marshal Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, 57, enters the regent's bedroom at midnight November 19 and seizes the hated Biron, and a commission is appointed to try the regent (see 1741). The extravagant czarina has had the dining room of her winter palace at St. Petersburg lined with orange trees in bloom and offered her guests an endless array of delicacies.

The Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI dies at Vienna October 20 at age 55, the last of the Hapsburg line that began in 1516. His 23-year-old daughter Maria Theresa has recently become a mother and now becomes titular queen of Hungary and Bohemia as well as Austrian archduchess; she is crowned at Pressburg (Bratislava, which the Hungarians call Pozsny), disgruntled Hungarian noblemen take exception to crowning a woman as "king," and the king of Saxony, the elector of Bavaria, and Spain's Felipe V contest her right to succeed Karl. The War of the Austrian Succession will involve most of Europe's great powers in the next 8 years.

The Battle of Giria in Bengal April 9 ends with the defeat and death of the nabob Sarafraj Khan, who has reigned only 13 months. Alivardi Khan prevails and begins a reign as nabob that will continue until 1756 despite constant attacks by the Maratha and raids by Afghans.