January 5 - Robert-François Damiens makes an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Louis XV of France, who is slightly wounded by the knife attack. On March 28 Damiens is publicly executed by burning and dismemberment, the last person in France to suffer this punishment.
February 2 - 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. Other clauses to the treaty, not disclosed to the public, commit Austria to pay Russia one million rubles 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.
February 3 - French artist Robert Picault begins the rescue of the frescoes at the King's Chamber of the Palace of Fontainebleau before architect Ange-Jacques Gabrel begins renovations.
February 5 - 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.
February 23 - A revolt against the government of King Joseph I of Portugal takes place in the city of Oporto. After the riot's suppression, King Joao's minister, the Marquis of Pombal, orders a harsh punishment against the perpetrators. Of 478 people arrested, 442 of them are condemned to various sentences carried out in October.
March 14 - British Royal Navy Admiral John Byng is executed by a firing squad after his court martial conviction for failing to save British troops who had been besieged by a numerically superior French force at the Battle of Minorca. 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 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 - 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.
April 6 - William Pitt is dismissed from the government King George II to depart from the British government after several military reverses in Britain's fight against France in America. After a public outcry, Pitt is called back to conduct Britain's foreign and military affairs and given greater control.
*In the wake of public unrest in France, the King's Council issues a decree that bars anyone from writing, printing anything that would tend toward émouvoir les esprits against the government, with violations punishable by death.
April 29 - Inside a house at Stratford-upon-Avon in England, a bricklayer, identified only as "Mosely", discovers the testament of John Shakespeare, father of William Shakespeare, more than 150 years after the elder's death. The finding, done while Mosely is re-tiling the roof of what is now called Shakespeare's Birthplace, starts "what remains one of the most controversial topics in Shakespeare studies" because of disagreements over its authenticity.
May 1 - France and Austria sign a second treaty of alliance at Versailles, committing France to sending an additional 105,000 troops to the war against Prussia, and to pay expenses to Austria at the rate of 12 million florins annually.
May 6 - Seven Years' War - Battle of Prague: Frederick the Great defeats an Austrian army, and begins to besiege the city.
June 18 - Seven Years' War - Battle of Kolín: Frederick is defeated by an Austrian army under Marshal Daun, forcing him to evacuate Bohemia.
June 23 - Battle of Plassey: 3,000 troops serving with the British East India Company under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj ud-Daulah through treachery with the help of Mir Jafar, at Plassey, India, marking the first victory of the East India Company upon India.
June 25 - The 1755 rebellion against the Chinese Empire by Mongolian Oirat Prince Amursana is met by a Chinese army of 10,000 attackers against Amursana's 2,500 man force at their capital at Bor Tal. The rebels are able to hold out for 17 days before being routed.
July–September
July 2 - The Duke of Newcastle is asked to form a new government and fills the office of Prime Minister of Great Britain, vacant since his forced resignation eight months earlier.
July 17 - Amursana's Mongolian rebellion against the Chinese Empire is crushed after a battle of 17 days, and the survivors flee to Russia, where Amursana unsuccessfully seeks Russian aid.
August 3-9 - French and Indian War: A French army under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm forces the English to surrender Fort William Henry. The French army's Indian allies slaughter the survivors for unclear reasons.
September 6 - The life of Najib ad-Dawlah is spared by Raghunathrao upon the intercession of General Malhar Rao Holkar. Najib and his family are permitted to leave the Fort along with most of their property, and the Emperor Alamgir II is restored the Mughal throne as a nominal ruler.
September 13 - A column of troops from Sweden begins the surprise invasion of Prussia, setting up a pontoon bridge across the Peene River that marks the boundary between Swedish Pomerania and northern Prussia. After crossing at Loitz in the early morning hours, the troops march and begin the occupation of the undefended Prussian town of Demmin. Hours later, another Swedish infantry regiment charges across the border into the Prussian town of Anklam, where the city gate had been left open.
September 23 - The "Raid on Rochefort" is carried out as a pre-emptive strike by Great Britain to neutralize France's Arsenal de Rochefort before the French Navy can carry out plans to invade England. Led by Royal Navy Admiral Edward Hawke, HMS Neptune and six other vessels sail in and capture the Île-d'Aix and its battery of cannons, effectively blocking the departure of any ships from the mouth of the Charante river.
October–December
October 4 - Bearing British flags, two French privateers sail up the Gambia River and attempt to capture the British fort on James Island, but their ruse is discovered the next day before they can stage their attack. The two ships are captured by the Royal Navy after retreating
October 14 - Of the 442 men, women and children who are convicted for their roles in the Oporto riot in February, 13 men and one woman are hanged; afterward, their bodies are then quartered and the severed limbs are publicly displayed on spikes. Another 49 men and 10 women are exiled at Portuguese colonies in Africa and India, and the others are either flogged, imprisoned or pressed into service rowing galley ships.
October 24 - 1757 Hajj caravan raid: Led by Bedouin warriors of the Beni Sakhr tribe conducts a massive assault against a caravan of thousands of Muslim travelers who are on their way back to Damascus after the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. The attack, made at Hallat Ammar after the group has been resupplied at Tabuk, leads to the annihilation of 20,000 of the pilgrims. Those who are not killed outright die later in the desert from thirst and starvation. According to one Arabic source, the largest attack takes place on 10 Safar 1171 A.H.
October 31 - News of the massacre of Muslim pilgrims first reaches Damascus; the officials who had been in charge of protecting the pilgrimage are executed by beheading.
November 5 - Seven Years' War - Battle of Rossbach: Frederick defeats the French-Imperial army under the Duc de Soubise and Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, forcing the French to withdraw from Saxony.
November 22 - Seven Years' War - Battle of Breslau: An Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine defeats the Prussian army of Wilhelm of Brunswick-Bevern, and forces the Prussians behind the Oder.
December 5 - Seven Years' War - Battle of Leuthen: Frederick defeats Prince Charles's Austrian army, in what is generally considered the Prussian king's greatest tactical victory.
Nam tiến, the southward expansion of the territory of Vietnam into the Indochina Peninsula, is concluded.
Robert Wood publishes The ruins of Balbec, otherwise Heliopolis in Coelosyria in English and French, making the ancient city of Baalbek, Syria known to the West.
