Editing 1762 (section)

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 4]] &ndash; [[Seven Years' War]]: [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] declares war against [[Enlightenment in Spain|Spain]] and [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], following their [[Treaty of Paris (1761)|recent alliance]] with France.
* [[January 5]] &ndash; [[Elizabeth of Russia|Empress Elisabeth]] of [[Russian Empire|Russia]] dies, and is succeeded by her nephew [[Peter III of Russia|Peter III]]. Peter, an admirer of [[Frederick the Great]], immediately opens peace negotiations with the [[Prussia]]ns.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/1762 |title=Historical Events for Year 1762 &#124; OnThisDay.com |website=Historyorb.com |date=October 6, 1762 |access-date=2018-04-04}}</ref>
*[[January 16]] &ndash; British forces under [[Robert Monckton]] land on the French island of [[Martinique]] in the [[Caribbean]].<ref>Greentree, David. ''A Far-Flung Gamble: Havana 1762''. Osprey, 2010. p.16</ref>
* [[February 5]] &ndash; The [[Sikh holocaust of 1762|Great Holocaust]] of the [[Sikh]]s is carried out by the forces of [[Ahmed Shah Abdali]] in [[Punjab (region)|Punjab]]. In all, around 30,000 men, women and children perish in this campaign of slaughter.
* [[February 15]] &ndash; [[Invasion of Martinique (1762)]]: French forces on Martinique surrender to the British.<ref>Greentree p.17</ref> The island is subsequently returned to France, as part of the Peace of Paris.
* [[March 5]] &ndash; A [[Royal Navy]] fleet with 16,000 men departs Britain from [[Spithead]] and sets sail toward Cuba in order to seize strategic Spanish Empire possessions in the Americas.<ref name=Hull>Christopher Hull, ''British Diplomacy and US Hegemony in Cuba, 1898–1964'' (Springer, 2013)</ref>
* [[March 10]] &ndash; [[Jean Calas]], a 68 year old French merchant convicted unjustly of murdering his son because of religious differences, is brutally executed on orders of the [[Parlement of Toulouse]]. After his legs and hips are broken and crushed, Calas is tortured on the [[breaking wheel]] (''la roue''), to remain "in pain and repentance for his crimes and misdeeds, for as long as it shall please God to keep him alive."<ref>Ronald Schechter, ''A Genealogy of Terror in Eighteenth-Century France'' (University of Chicago Press, 2018) p. 64</ref>
* [[March 17]] &ndash; The first [[Saint Patrick's Day in the United States#New York City|Saint Patrick's Day Parade in New York City]] takes place in lower Manhattan, inaugurating an annual tradition; the Ancient Order of the Hibernians organization later becomes the sponsor of the event, which attracts as many a 300,000 marchers in some years.<ref>Alison Fortier, ''A History Lover's Guide to New York City'' (Arcadia Publishing, 2016) p. 135</ref>
* [[March 20]] &ndash; Innovative publisher Samuel Farley launches the weekly newspaper ''The American Chronicle'', the seventh in New York City.<ref>James Melvin Lee, ''History of American Journalism'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1917) p. 66</ref>