1771 - Political Events

Political Events

Sweden's Adolf Frederik dies at Stockholm February 12 at age 60 after a 20-year reign in which the riksdag has deprived him of all his powers of state. He is succeeded by his 25-year-old son, who will regain absolute monarchical power next year by rousing fears of Russia and Prussia and will reign until 1792 as Gustav III.

Russian Cossacks conquer the Crimean peninsula of the Ukraine for Catherine II (the Great) in a triumph assisted indirectly by the British (see 1770). The Russian success alarms Prussia's Friedrich II (the Great) (see Poland, 1772; Crimean annexation, 1783).

Damascus falls to the Mameluke forces of Egypt's ruler Ali Bey, 43 (see 1524; 1773).

Maratha forces from the Deccan Plateau drive the Afghans out of Delhi February 10, install the son of the exiled Mughal emperor Shah Alam II as temporary ruler, and in April install Shah Alam himself as their puppet emperor, raising anxiety among the British, who have kept Shah Alam in custody in Allahabad (see 1780).

Vietnamese rebel Nguyen Hue and his older, less capable brother Nguyen Nhac lead an insurrection that will be remembered as the Tay Son Rebellion (both 19, the Nguyens are from the village of Tay Son and are known as the Tay Son Brothers) (see 1630; 1777).

Former Massachusetts colonial governor William Shirley dies at Roxbury March 24 at age 76.

The Battle of Alamance May 16 ends in a rout of back-country North Carolina farmers known as Regulators who have attacked the courts in a protest against taxes (see 1770). The colonial governor William Tryon has called for volunteers March 19, and when response was slow he offered 40 shillings per man as an incentive. Artillery, muskets, ammunition, and other requested supplies have come in from Fort Johnston on the Cape Fear River. Tryon's 1,068-man militia force includes 151 officers. He has the support of another 284 officers and men, and although the Regulators have an estimated 2,000 men they lack leadership and weapons; the militia puts them to flight. About nine men are killed on each side, 61 militiamen are wounded, a larger number of Regulators are wounded, Tryon takes 15 prisoners, and he has some executed on the spot to discourage further insurgencies. Tryon leaves in July to succeed John Murray, 4th earl of Dunmore, as governor of the New York colony, Dunmore having been promoted to governor of the Virginia colony (see 1774).