The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century: 1660-1800

By jacob.kiefer
  • London theaters reopen; actresses appear onstage for the first time.

    London theaters reopen; actresses appear onstage for the first time.

    The first woman to appear in a Shakespeare play did so in 1660 – 44 years after Shakespeare's death.
  • Charles II is proclaimed king of England (crowned in 1661).

    Charles II is proclaimed king of England (crowned in 1661).

    Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Charles II's father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War
  • Plague claims more than 68,000 people in London.

    Plague claims more than 68,000 people in London.

    The Great Plague, lasting from 1665 to 1666, was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England
  • Great Fire destroys much of London

    Great Fire destroys much of London

    The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666
  • Glorious (Bloodless): Revolution James II is succeeded by Protestant rulers of William and Mary

    Glorious (Bloodless): Revolution James II is succeeded by Protestant rulers of William and Mary

    The Glorious Revolution is also occasionally termed the Bloodless Revolution, albeit inaccurately. The English Civil War
  • Alexander Pope publishes part of The Rape of the Lock.

    Alexander Pope publishes part of The Rape of the Lock.

    The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellaneous Poems and Translations in May 1712 in two cantos
  • Swift publishes A Modest Proposal, protesting English treatment of the Irish poor.

    Swift publishes A Modest Proposal, protesting English treatment of the Irish poor.

    By the time Swift published A Modest Proposal, he'd already had his work misinterpreted by the Queen of England and countless other humorless readers who didn't understand irony. Swift wasn't winning any popularity contests in England, that's for sure.
  • Voltaire publishes Candide

    Voltaire publishes Candide

    Candide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment
  • George III is crowned king of England; becomes known as the king who lost the American Colonies

    George III is crowned king of England; becomes known as the king who lost the American Colonies

    George III was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death
  • British Parliament passes Stamp Act for taxing American Colonies.

    British Parliament passes Stamp Act for taxing American Colonies.

    This legislation caused tensions between colonists and imperial officials, who made it clear that the British Parliament would not address American complaints that the new laws were onerous
  • African American poet Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subject, Religious and Moral is published in London

    African American poet Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subject, Religious and Moral is published in London

    Phillis Wheatley broke barriers as the first American black woman poet
  • Boston Tea Party occurs

    Boston Tea Party occurs

    The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773. The Boston Tea Party happened in 3 British ships in the Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea Party took place because the colonists did not want to have to pay taxes on the British tea.
  • Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

    Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

    A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, written by the 18th-century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy
  • Napoleon heads revolutionary government in France.

    Napoleon heads revolutionary government in France.

    Napoléon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars