1715
Events
For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar by adding 11 days.
January–March
- January 13 - A fire in London, described by some as the worst since the Great Fire of London almost 50 years earlier, starts on Thames Street when fireworks prematurely explode "in the house of Mr. Walker, an oil man"; more than 100 houses are consumed in the blaze, which continues over to Tower Street before it is controlled.
- January 22 - Voting begins for the British House of Commons and continues for the next 46 days in different constituencies on different days.
- February 11 - Tuscarora War: The Tuscarora and their allies sign a peace treaty with the Province of North Carolina, and agree to move to a reservation near Lake Mattamuskeet, effectively ending the Tuscarora War. Large numbers of Tuscarora subsequently move to New York.
- March 9 - Voting for the British House of Commons concludes, with the liberal Whig Party winning 341 of the 558 seats, and reducing the conservative Tory Party share to 217 seats. Spencer Compton, the Earl of Wilmington, becomes the Speaker of the House of Commons.
- March 14 - James Stuart, the "Old Pretender" attempting to restore the House of Stuart to control of Great Britain as King James III of England and James VIII of Scotland, meets with Pope Clement XI for the assistance of the Roman Catholic Church in the Jacobite rising.
- March 27 - Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, flees from Great Britain to France. His part in secret negotiations with France, leading to the Treaty of Utrecht, has cast suspicion on him in the eyes of the Whig government of Britain. He becomes secretary of state to the Pretender, James Edward Stuart.
April–June
- April 1 - The Battle of Gurdas Nangal begins during the Mughal-Sikh Wars in India, as the Mughal Army begins an eight-month siege of a fortress near Gurdaspur, where Sikh General Banda Singh Bahadur and 1,250 of his men have fled. The siege ends on December 7 when the 750 survivors, including Banda Singh, are captured. By June 1716, most of the Sikh prisoners have been tortured, killed and executed, with Banda Singh dying on June 9.
- April 15 - In the British colonial Province of South Carolina, the Yamasee Confederation launches an attack on English settlements in disputed territory on Good Friday, launching the two-year long Yamasee War. The day before, agents Thomas Nairne, William Bray and Samuel Warner had participated in peace negotiations with the Yamasee at Pocotaligo. Bray and Warner are killed that day, while Nairne is tortured to death and dies on April 17.
- April 24 - The Battle of Fehmarn takes place in the Baltic Sea as part of the Great Northern War. Ten warships of Denmark, under the command of Christian Gabel, overwhelm a force of Swedish Navy ships led by Carl Wachtmeister. By the time the battle ends the next day, five Swedish ships and 1,626 crewmen have been captured, and another 353 killed. The Danish navy suffers 65 deaths.
- May 3 - A total solar eclipse is seen across southern England, Sweden and Finland. English astronomer Edmond Halley records the first observation noted of the phenomenon of "Baily's beads", in which higher elevations on the moon can be observed obscuring portions of the light moments before and after totality.
- May 28 - Rioting begins in England on the birthday of King George I as supporters of the Old Pretender, James of the House of Stuart, begin mass protesting against the rule of the House of Hanover, near London in the towns of Smithfield and Highgate, and the Cheapside financial district in London.
- June 9 - King Philip, ruler of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon unifies the two monarchies into a single state, centralizing rule of a unified Kingdom of Spain.
- June 22 - Tsar Peter the Great of Russia witnesses the attempt of 45 Dutch and English ships to enter the small harbour at Saint Petersburg and decides that additional harbours are necessary for Russia to be able import Western goods.
- June 29 - Britain's Treason Act 1714 takes effect, providing for forfeiture to the British Crown of property owned by any person convicted of treason in the Kingdom. The Act remains in effect until June 24, 1718.
July–September
- July 20 - Ottoman–Venetian War : The fall of Nauplion, the capital of the Venetian "Kingdom of the Morea", seals the fate of the Peloponnese Peninsula, which is soon completely retaken by the Ottomans.
- July 24 - 1715 Treasure Fleet: A Spanish treasure fleet of 12 ships, under General Don Juan Ubilla, leaves Havana, Cuba for Spain. Seven days later, 11 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida.
- August 31 - Old Dock, Liverpool, England, the world's first enclosed commercial wet dock, opens.
- September 1 - King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years, leaving his throne to his 5 year old great-grandson Louis XV. Philippe d'Orléans, the nephew of Louis XIV, serves as Regent.
- September 6 - The first major Jacobite rising in Scotland against the rule of King George I of Great Britain breaks out. The Earl of Mar raises the standard of James Edward Stuart, and marches on Edinburgh. James, the son of the deposed King James VII, arrives from France.
- September 14 - Less than two weeks after King Louis XIV's death, Daniel Voysin de la Noiraye, France's Secretary of State for War since 1709, steps down at the request of the new regent, the Duke of Orleans.
October–December
- October 2 - During the rebellion in Great Britain by supporters of the Pretender to the Throne, James Stuart, the Jacobites raid the Scottish parish of Burntisland, capture an arsenal of weapons, and begin an occupation of the area on October 9 in the name of Stuart as King James VIII of Scotland.
- October 11 - William Aislabie resigns as the British East India Company's administrator of Bombay and the company's territories and is replaced at year's end by Charles Boone.
- October 12
- *William Mackintosh of Borlum, leader of the Jacobite rising against Great Britain, lands with 1,500 men in Scotland after crossing the Firth of Forth from France.
- *Baron Onslow resigns as Great Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer and is replaced by future Prime Minister Robert Walpole.
- October 28 - The Treaty of Greifswald is signed between Russia and the Electorate of Hanover, with George I of Great Britain and Hanover agreeing to Russia's annexation of Swedish Ingria and Estonia, and Hanover claiming the Bremen-Verden Swedish duchies of Bremen and Verden.
- November 13 - Jacobite rising in Scotland - Battle of Sheriffmuir: The forces of the Kingdom of Great Britain, led by John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, halt the Jacobite advance, although the action is inconclusive.
- November 14 - Battle of Preston: Government forces defeat the Jacobite incursion, at the conclusion of a five-day siege and action.
- November 15 - The Third Barrier Treaty is signed by Britain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic.
- November 28 - The application of the Nueva Planta decrees, in Mallorca and the other Balearic Islands, bring them under the laws of the Crown of Castile.
- December 22 - James Edward Stuart rejoins Jacobite rebels in Scotland, but fails to rouse his army.
Date unknown
- Karlsruhe Palace is built, resulting in the town of Karlsruhe growing up around it.
- The ancient right to evaluate royal decrees publicly, before they are given the force of law by the Parlement of Paris, is restored.
- Filippo Juvarra starts working on the previously postponed construction of the church of Santa Christina in Turin.
- Filippo Juvarra starts rebuilding the church of San Filippo Neri, Turin, in which the roof had collapsed, during the siege of Turin, during the War of the Spanish Succession.
- Coffee is first grown in the French colony of Saint-Domingue.
- Around this year, a breech loading firearm is made for Philip V of Spain.