1723
Adam Smith Born in Kirkcaldy
A customs official's posthumous son was born in a little Fife port across the Firth from Edinburgh. He would become, fifty-three years later, the first great theorist of the invisible hand, the division of labor, and the wealth of nations. His childhood, his friends said, was spent mostly inside books.
Afghans Overrun Isfahan
The Hotaki Afghan army under Mahmud swept into Isfahan, ending Safavid rule over Persia's ancient capital. The siege had starved the city to the point of cannibalism. One of the Islamic world's greatest cultural centers was left in ruins. Persia would not recover stability until Nader Shah's iron hand restored it a decade later.
Bach Appointed Cantor at Leipzig
Johann Sebastian Bach, middle-aged and stubborn, became director of music at the St. Thomas Church. For the next twenty-seven years he would produce cantatas weekly, passions annually, and works that almost no one outside Leipzig heard. He grumbled constantly about the town council. The Baroque was reaching its culmination in a parish job.
Death of the Regent Philippe of Orleans
The Regent of France, who had guided the kingdom through Louis XV's minority with intelligence, debauchery, and John Law, collapsed at Versailles in the arms of a mistress. His experiment with collegial government died with him. The boy-king, now thirteen, was declared of age and handed to cardinals. Cardinal Fleury would govern France quietly and competently for the next twenty years in the Regent's shadow.