Editing 1757 (section)

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 2]] &ndash; [[Seven Years' War]]: The British [[East India Company]] Army, under the command of [[Robert Clive]], captures [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], India.  
* [[January 5]] &ndash; [[Robert-François Damiens]] makes an unsuccessful assassination attempt on [[Louis XV of France]], who is slightly wounded by the knife attack. Damiens is executed on March 28.<ref name=Redman>Herbert J. Redman, ''Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War, 1756–1763'' (McFarland, 2015) p33</ref>
* [[January 12]] &ndash; [[Koca Ragıp Pasha]] becomes the new [[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire]], and administers the office for seven years until his death in 1763.
* [[January 17]] &ndash; [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] leads his [[Durrani Empire|Afghan forces]] to [[Sack of Delhi (1757)|sack Delhi]] during his [[Indian campaign of Ahmad Shah Durrani|invasions of India]].
* [[February 1]] &ndash; King [[Louis XV of France]] dismisses his two most influential advisers.  His Secretary of State for War, the [[Marc Antoine René de Voyer|Comte d'Argenson]] and the Secretary of the Navy, [[Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville]], are both removed from office at the urging of the King's mistress, [[Madame de Pompadour]].<ref>Clare Haru Crowston, ''Credit, Fashion, Sex: Economies of Regard in Old Regime France'' (Duke University Press, 2013) p10</ref>
* [[February 2]] &ndash; At [[Versailles]] in [[France]], representatives of the Russian Empire and the Austrian Empire enter into an alliance against Prussia, with each nation pledging 80,000 troops.<ref>Martin Philippson, and John Henry Wright, translator ''The Age of Frederick the Great'', Volume 15 (Lea Brothers & Company, 1905) p48</ref> Other clauses to the treaty, not disclosed to the public, commit Austria to pay Russia one million [[Russian ruble|ruble]]s per year during the war to pay for the expenses of 24,000 of the Russian troops, and two million rubles upon the conquest of [[Silesia]] (a Prussian province that had been seized from Austria in 1746).<ref name=Nester> William R. Nester, ''The French and Indian War and the Conquest of New France'' (University of Oklahoma Press, 2014) p219-221</ref>
* [[February 3]] &ndash; French artist Robert Picault begins the rescue of the [[fresco]]es at the King's Chamber of the [[Palace of Fontainebleau]] before architect Ange-Jacques Gabrel begins renovations.<ref>Noémie Étienne, ''The Restoration of Paintings in Paris, 1750-1815'' (Getty Publications, 2017) p120</ref>
* [[February 5]] &ndash; The [[Nawab of Bengal]], [[Siraj ud-Daulah]], leads an attempt to retake Calcutta from the British.  With just 1,900 soldiers and sailors, but superior cannon power, General Robert Clive forces the Nawab's much larger force into a retreat.  The British sustain 194 casualties, but the Bengalis suffer 1,300.<ref name=Stevenson> Richard Stevenson, ''Bengal Tiger and British Lion: An Account of the Bengal Famine of 1943'' (Lionheart LLC, 2005) pp53-54</ref>
* [[February 9]] &ndash; The Nawab and General Clive sign the [[Treaty of Alinagar]], with Bengal compensating the British East India Company for its losses and pledging respect for British control of India.<ref name=Stevenson/> 
* [[February 22]] &ndash; King [[Frederick V of Denmark]] issues an order to create a Lutheran mission for African slaves at the [[Danish West Indies]] (the modern-day [[United States Virgin Islands]]) at [[St. Croix]].<ref>Theodore Emanuel Schmauk, ''The Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania'' (Pennsylvania-German Society, 1900) pp18-19</ref>
* [[February 23]] &ndash; A revolt against the government of King [[Joseph I of Portugal]] takes place in the city of [[Porto]]. After the riot's suppression, the King's minister, [[Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal]], orders harsh punishments against the perpetrators, carried out in October.<ref name=Aguilera>Bruno Aguilera-Barchet, ''A History of Western Public Law: Between Nation and State'' (Springer, 2014) p276</ref>
* [[March 14]] &ndash; British Royal Navy Admiral [[John Byng]] is executed by firing squad on board the ship [[HMS Monarch (1747)|HMS ''Monarch'']] in the Solent after his court martial conviction for failing in the [[Battle of Minorca (1756)]] to save British troops who had been besieged by a numerically superior French force in the [[Siege of Fort St Philip (1756)|Siege of Fort St Philip]].<ref>Chaim M. Rosenberg, ''Losing America, Conquering India: Lord Cornwallis and the Remaking of the British Empire'' (McFarland, 2017) p59</ref> General Edward Cornwallis, the ranking British Army officer at the battle, is exonerated of charges of dereliction of duty, but his career is ruined. Byng's execution is the origin of the [[Battle_of_Minorca_(1756)#Aftermath|phrase]] "In this country, it is wise to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others", coined by [[Voltaire]] in his novel ''Candide''.
* [[March 21]] &ndash; [[Sweden]] signs an alliance treaty with [[France]] and [[Austria]] in the multinational effort to remove King [[Frederick the Great]], even though Queen Consort Ulrika of Sweden is Frederick's sister.  Sweden agrees to contribute 25,000 troops to the French and Austrian force.<ref name=Nester/>
* [[March 23]] &ndash; The British [[East India Company]] takes control of [[Chandannagar]] and forces out the French Indian administrators.<ref>Sanjay Subrahmanyam, ''Europe's India: Words, People, Empires, 1500–1800'' (Harvard University Press, 2017) p247</ref>
* [[March 28]] &ndash; [[Robert-François Damiens]] is tortured, then [[Dismemberment|dismembered]] and his remains burned in public for his January 5 assassination attempt on King Louis XV of France, the last person in France to suffer this punishment.<ref name=Redman/><ref>"Executions and Executioners", by John De Morgan, in ''The Green Bag'' magazine (March, 1900) p127-128</ref>
* [[March 30]] &ndash; The [[Rigshospitalet]], national hospital of [[Denmark]], is founded at [[Copenhagen]].<ref>Adrian Raine, ''The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime'' (Vintage Books, 2014) p185</ref>