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Year '1708' ('MDCCVIII') was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). Year 1708 of the Swedish calendar was a leap year starting on Wednesday, one day ahead of the Julian calendar.

Contents

Events of

January - June

July - December

Undated

Ongoing events

Births

Deaths

Events of

January - June

★ March 11 - Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.

★ March 23 - James Francis Edward Stuart unsuccessfully tries to land at the Firth of Forth.

July - December

★ July 1 - Tewoflos becomes Emperor of Ethiopia.

★ August - Wedding of the future Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

★ August 23 - Meidingu Pamheiba crowned King of Manipur.

★ September 28 - Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya.

Undated

★ Kandahar is conquered by Mir Wais.

★ One third of the population of Masuria, dies of plague.

★ Johann Sebastian Bach is appointed as chamber musician and organist at the court in Weimar, Germany.

★ Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico delivers his inaugural lecture to the University of Naples, later published as his first book, ''On the Study Methods of Our Time'', in 1709.

★ Fearful of Swedish attack, Russians blow up the city of Tartu in Estonia.

Ongoing events

★ Great Northern War (1700 - 1721).

★ War of the Spanish Succession (1702 - 1713).

Births

★ January 25 - Pompeo Batoni, Italian painter (d. 1787)

★ April 23 - Friedrich von Hagedorn, German poet (d. 1754)

★ October 16 - Albrecht von Haller, Swiss anatomist and physiologist (d. 1777)

★ October 22 - Frederic Louis Norden, Danish explorer (d. 1742)

★ November 15 - William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1778)

★ December 8 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1765)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ Richard Dawes, British classical scholar (d. 1766)

★
★ John Hulse, Anglican priest (d. 1790)
: ''See also .''

Deaths

★ March 29 - John Partridge, English astrologer and almanack-maker (born 1644)

★ May 6 - François de Laval, first bishop of New France (born 1623)

★ May 11 - Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (born 1646)

★ May 12 - Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born 1658)

★ June 30 - Emperor Tekle Haymanot I of Ethiopia (stabbed to death)

★ September 6 - John Morden, English merchant and philanthropist (born 1623)

★ October 1 - John Blow, British composer (born 1649)

★ October 2 - Anne-Jules, 2nd duc de Noailles, French general (born 1650)

★ October 7 - Guru Gobind Singh, Sikh religious leader (born 1666)

★ October 10 - David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (born 1659)

★ October 11 - Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician (born 1651)

★ October 22 - Hermann Witsius, Dutch theologian (born 1636)

★ October 24 - Seki Kowa, Japanese mathematician (born c.1640)

★ October 28 - Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne of England (born 1653)

★ November 17 - Ludolf Backhuysen, Dutch painter (born 1631)

★ December 22 - Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish writer (born 1681)

★ December 28 - Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (born 1656)
: ''See also .''