1741
Handel Composes Messiah
George Frideric Handel, his Italian-opera career collapsing in London, shut himself up for twenty-four days and composed his greatest oratorio. It premiered in Dublin the next April to a small, rapturous audience. King George II, hearing the Hallelujah Chorus in London, rose to his feet. The world's audiences have been rising ever since.
Bering Sights Alaska
On his second Pacific voyage, Vitus Bering and the naturalist Georg Steller sighted Mount Saint Elias through the mist off the Alaskan coast. Steller was allowed ashore for ten hours, the first European scientist on Alaskan soil. Scurvy would take Bering on the return voyage, but Russian America had been claimed.
Dahomey Sacks Whydah
King Agaja of Dahomey completed his conquest of the coastal kingdom of Whydah, making his land-locked monarchy a direct player in the Atlantic slave trade. European factories along the Bight of Benin now answered to Abomey. A militarized West African state, with female royal bodyguards and annual customs, had emerged at full strength.
Elizabeth of Russia Seizes the Throne
Peter the Great's daughter, after years of neglected princesshood, marched into the Preobrazhensky Guards' barracks at midnight and led them to the Winter Palace. The infant Ivan VI was deposed; the Germans around him were arrested. Russia suddenly had a Russian tsarina again, and a court that would sponsor Rastrelli, Lomonosov, and war with Prussia.
Battle of Mollwitz
In his first battle, Frederick II almost lost Silesia and his life when his cavalry fled. His old generals told him the day was lost; Frederick himself rode from the field. But the Prussian infantry, drilled to a machine by his father, held and won without him. Frederick learned two lessons about war, both lasting.