Gustavus II and the Swedish army win a conclusive victory over the imperial forces at Breitenfeld

The Swedish army wins another convincing victory at Lützen, but Gustavus II dies leading a cavalry charge

A Passion play is performed for the first time at Oberammergau, in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation

The Peace of Westphalia finally brings to an end the Thirty Years' War

A German burgomaster, Otto von Guericke, devises an air pump capable of creating a vacuum

Otto von Guericke uses sixteen horses to demonstrate in Regensburg the power of a vacuum

The berlin, developed in Berlin, becomes the most successful carriage of the seventeenth century

Mennonites and other from Germany (later known as the Pennsylvania Dutch) begin to settle in Penn's liberal colony

The French scientist Denis Papin, while professor of mathematics at Marburg, develops the first steam engine to use a piston

German chemist Georg Stahl coins the name phlogiston for the substance believed to be released in the process of burning

The duke of Marlborough wins a major victory over the French at Blenheim, capturing twenty-four battalions and four regiments

The secret of true porcelain is at last discovered in the west, at Dresden, by Johann Friedrich Böttger

Cosmas Damian Asam begins work on a highly theatrical creation, the Benedictine Abbey of Weltenburg (1714-1735), joined by his younger brother Egid Quirin from 1721

Fahrenheit perfects the mercury thermometer and decides on a 180-degree interval between the freezing and boiling points of water

In his Monadology Leibniz describes a universe consisting of forceful interactive parts that he calls 'monads'

Johann Sebastian Bach compiles the Little Keyboard Book a set of pieces to teach his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach writes the six Brandenburg Concertos for his employer at the court of Köthen

J.S. Bach publishes The Well-Tempered Clavier, a collection of 24 Preludes and Fugues

J.S. Bach conducts the first performance of his St Matthew Passion in the St Thomas's church in Leipzig

The Asam brothers build at their own expense the tiny and brilliant baroque church of St John Nepomuk, attached to their own house in Munich

Frederick II, inheriting the throne in Prussia, establishes a cultured and musical court

Frederick II, the king of Prussia, invades the neighbouring Habsburg province of Silesia, launching the War of the Austrian Succession

J.S. Bach publishes his set of Goldberg Variations, supposedly written for performance by the young harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg

An Austrian army captures the Bavarian capital city, Munich

George II leads a British army to victory over the French at Dettingen