- Jan 4 Netherlands, Great Britain & France sign Triple Alliance
- Jan 5 Prussian King Frederik Willem I buys conscript for nobles
- Jan 14 German mob leader and thief "Sjako" sentenced to death in Amsterdam
- Feb 1 Henri d'Aguesseau's 1st appointment as chancellor of France
- Feb 1 Silent Sejm session of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth parliament marks the end of Augustus II's attempts to create an absolute monarchy and the start of Russia's influence and control over the Commonwealth [1]
- Mar 2 The Loves of Mars and Venus becomes the first ballet performed in England
- Mar 31 A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provokes the Bangorian Controversy
- Jun 24 1st Free Masons' grand lodge founded in London
Water Music
Jul 17 George Frideric Handel's "Water Music" premieres repeatedly on a barge cruising the River Thames in London
- Jul 28 Prussian King Frederik Willhelm I orders compulsory education for 5-12 year olds
- Aug 16 Prince Eugenius of Savoye occupies Belgrade
- Aug 17 France, Russia & Prussia sign agreement
- Aug 22 Spanish troops land on Sardinia
- Sep 5 Britain's King George I issues Proclamation "For Suppressing Pirates in the West Indies", granting pirates who surrender a pardon (re-issued 1718)
- Sep 27 French founder of Detroit Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac is imprisoned in the Bastille for speaking “against the government of the state and the colonies ” (freed 1718) [1]
Blackbeard Captures his Flagship
Nov 28 Blackbeard attacks and captures a French merchant slave ship, which he renames as his flagship the "Queen Anne's Revenge"
- Dec 5 English pirate Blackbeard ransacks the merchant sloop "Margaret" and keeps her captain, Henry Bostock prisoner for 8 hours before releasing him. Bostock later provides the first record of Blackbeard's appearance, and the source for his name.
- Dec 25 Floods ravage Dutch coast provinces, thousands killed
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies