-
London Theaters reopen; actresses appear onstage for the first tiime
1660 was one of the most eventful years in the history of England, and also proved to be one of the most important in the development of English theatre, including the advent of the first English actresses. -
Charles II is proclaimed king of England ( crowned in 1661 )
was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. -
Plague claims more than 68,000 people in London.
The Plague was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1346–53.[ -
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. It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St Paul's Cathedral and most of the buildings of the City authorities. It is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's 80,000 inhabitants. -
Glorious(Bloodless): Revolution James II is succeeded by Protestant rulers of William and Mary
was the overthrow of King James II of England (James VII of Scotland and James II of Ireland) by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau. -
Alexander Pope publishes part of The Rape of theLock.
expanded and reissued in an edition "Written by Mr. Pope" on 4 March 1714, The final form of the poem was available in 1717 with the addition of Clarissa's speech on good humour. -
Swift publishes A Modest Proposal, protesting English treatment of the Irish poor.
Swift suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocks heartless attitudes towards the poor, as well as British policy toward Ireland in general. -
Voltaire publishes Candide
As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy. -
George III is crowned king of England; becomes known as the king who lost the American Colonies,
Further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. -
British Parliament passes Stamp Act for taxing American Colonies.
The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. -
African American poet Phillis Wheatleys Poems on Various Subject, Reliigious and Moral is published in London.
is a collection of 39 poems, and Phillis Wheatley is the first professional African-American woman poet in America and the first African-American woman whose writings were published. -
Boston Tea Party occurs
was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. The demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, in defiance of the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company. -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Women
was the first great feminist treatise. Wollstonecraft preached that intellect will always govern and sought “to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonimous with epithets of weakness.” -
Napoleon heads revolutionary government in France.
The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, experienced violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon that rapidly brought many of its principles to Western Europe and beyond.
