1760 - Political Events

Political Events

The Battle of Landshut June 23 in Bavaria ends with Austrian forces under the command of Field Marshal Gideon Loudon defeating and capturing a Prussian army. But Friedrich II (the Great) prevents a linkup of Russian and Austrian forces, fights his way out of a trap, and defeats the Austrians August 15 at the Battle of Liegnitz 35 miles of Breslau in Silesia. Some 6,000 of Loudon's 30,000-man army are taken prisoner, 4,000 are killed or wounded, and 82 of his guns are captured (Prussian losses total about 1,000).

A Russian army surprises Berlin October 9 and burns it in 3 days before retreating at news that Friedrich II (the Great) is rushing to relieve the city. Friedrich marches north, finds a 65,000-man Austrian army under the command of Marshal Leopold Jozef, graf von Daun, in a strong position at Torgau, 65 miles south of Berlin on the Elbe. Von Daun sustains a severe wound and Friedrich narrowly defeats the Austrians with his 44,000-man army November 3, forcing them to fall back east of the Elbe; he takes 7,000 prisoners and the Austrians sustain 4,200 casualties (dead and wounded), but Prussian losses are heavier: 13,120 dead and wounded. Both sides retire to winter quarters.

Former Jacobite general Lord George Murray of 1745 Battle of Falkirk fame dies at Medemblik in the Netherlands October 11 at age 66.

Britain's Hanoverian king George II dies of a heart attack while sitting on his commode at London October 25 at age 77 after a 33-year reign in which he has lost support by favoring Hanover's interests over those of Britain. His son Frederick Louis was killed by a cricket ball in 1751 so his 22-year-old grandson George William Frederick assumes the throne as George III of Great Britain and Ireland and Elector of Hanover to begin a 60-year reign that will prove disastrous.

The Battle of Barari Ghat 10 miles north of Delhi January 9 ends in victory for Afghan forces under the command of Ahmad Shah Durrani (see 1759); they conceal themselves in high reeds and cross the Jumna (later Yamuna) River at the ferry station to surprise the Maratha chief Dattaji Sindhia, who has been retreating from Ahmad Shah's army in the Punjab. Dattaji is killed, his army scattered, and the Afghan victory removes the major obstacle to Afghan occupation of Delhi.

British East India Company forces under the command of Irish-born Lieutenant Colonel Eyre Coote, 33, defeat a French army under the command of General Thomas-Arthur, 58, comte de Lally, at Wandiwash January 22 (see Dupleix recall, 1754). Admiral d'Aché's fleet has withdrawn, leaving Lally without naval support, and despite lack of funds and dissension in his ranks, he has tried to recover the fort of Wandiwash near Pondicherry. General Coote has attacked him with about 1,700 troops and routed Lally's superior force of about 2,000, capturing Lally's best general, the marquis de Bussy. Coote lays siege to Pondicherry, a port the French will hold for nearly a year despite terrible privation (see 1761).

The British East India Company ousts its incompetent puppet Mir Jafar, who as nabob of Bengal has failed to pay his dues (see 1757); he is replaced by his more competent son-in-law Mir-Qasim, who will pay the dues but move his capital from Murshidabad to Monghyr, in Bihar, and try to reorganize his own army (see 1764).

Burma's king Alaung Alompra (or Alaungpaya) surrounds the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya in April but is driven off and fatally wounded while retreating; he dies at Kinywa April 13 at age 45 after an 8-year reign in which he has unified his country and founded a dynasty that will hold power until 1886 (see 1767).

The Japanese shōgun Ieshige Tokugawa abdicates at age 49, drunken and ill after 15 years in power. He is succeeded by the 23-year-old son of the late shōgun Yoshimune, who will rule until 1786 as the shōgun Ieharu despite his mental incompetence.

British forces under the command of General Sir Jeffery Amherst take Montreal from the French, and Sir Jeffery becomes governor general of British North America, with headquarters at New York. He will hold the position until 1763 (see Pontiac, 1763). Major Robert Rogers and his Rangers have helped the British, who treat them as inferiors, and some of them quit after the French capitulate; Rogers's lieutenant John Stark, 32, resigns after a dispute with his superiors (born at Londonderry in the New Hampshire colony, Stark has helped Amherst build a road from Crown Point to Fort No. 4 at Charlestown but now returns to his wife, Molly (née Elizabeth Page), at Derryfield (later Manchester Bunker Hill, 1775).

Benjamin Franklin publishes a pamphlet under the title, "The Interest of Great Britain Considered with Regard to Her Colonies, and the Acquisitions of Canada and Guadeloupe." Franklin has been at London since 1757 and will remain there until 1762 (see 1764).