The Habsburg emperor Charles VI has a son, but the child dies within the year

The tsarevitch Alexis, heir to Peter the Great, dies from violence inflicted on him in prison

In a ceremony in St Petersburg's cathedral Peter the Great has himself proclaimed 'emperor of all Russia'

The Russian tsar Peter the Great dies and is succeeded by his wife as the empress Catherine I

On the death of his father, George I, George II becomes king of Great Britain

Handel composes Zadok the Priest for the crowning of George II, and it has been sung at every subsequent British coronation

An alliance between the French and Spanish Bourbons is the first of what become known as the Family Compacts

The leader of a gang of tribal brigands seizes the Persian throne and takes the name Nadir Shah

Florence loses her independence when the last Medici duke of Tuscany dies

In the Treaty of Vienna, France accepts the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI – the last of the European powers to do so

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

The Habsburg emperor Charles VI dies and is succeeded by his elder daughter, the 23-year-old Maria Theresa

Muhammad ibn Saud begins the expansion of power that will lead eventually to the establishment of Saudi Arabia

The Muslim reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab makes an alliance with Muhammad ibn Saud, of significance to the later Saudi dynasty

A tribal leader, Ahmad Shah Abdali, is elected king of the Afghans in an event seen as the foundation of the Aghan nation

On the death of his grandfather, George II, George III becomes king of Great Britain

The Russian empress Catherine the Great secures the throne of Poland for one of her lovers, as Stanislaw II

Gustavus III achieves a coup d'état which brings executive power in Sweden back into royal hands

Joseph II passes an Edict of Toleration, for the first time allowing Protestant worship in Habsburg territories

The French queen Marie Antoinette is wrongly implicated in a scandal involving a diamond necklace

Louis XVI and his family attempt to flee from Paris to the border but are captured at Varennes

Louis XVI is guillotined after a majority of just one in the national Convention has voted for death without delay

A Sikh maharajah, Ranjit Singh, captures Lahore and makes it his capital in his campaign to unify the Punjab

A Portuguese prince regent, the future John VI, rules on behalf of his deranged mother, Queen Maria

Napoleon abandons his army in Egypt and returns hastily to Paris at a time of great political opportunity