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.

Events of 1708

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 - The future Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor weds Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
• August 23 - Meidingu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.
• August 29 - A native American attack in Haverhill, Massachusetts kills 16 settlers.
• September 28 - Battle of Lesnaya: Peter the Great defeats the Swedes.

Undated

Plague in Masuria, Poland.

• Kandahar is conquered by Mir Wais.
• One third of the population of Masuria dies of the 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 a Swedish attack, the 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 Category: 1708 births.

Deaths

• March 29 - John Partridge, English astrologer and almanack-maker (b. 1644)
• May 6 - François de Laval, first bishop of New France (b. 1623)
• May 11 - Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (b. 1646)
• May 12 - Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)
• June 30 - Emperor Tekle Haymanot I of Ethiopia (stabbed to death)
• September 6 - John Morden, English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1623)
• October 1 - John Blow, British composer (b. 1649)
• October 2 - Anne-Jules, 2nd duc de Noailles, French general (b. 1650)
• October 7 - Guru Gobind Singh, Punjabi scholar, theologian, social reformist, poet, head of a faith, representative of an ethnicity and a military head (b. 1666)
• October 10 - David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (b. 1659)
• October 11 - Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician (b. 1651)
• October 22 - Hermann Witsius, Dutch theologian (b. 1636)
• October 24 - Seki Kowa, Japanese mathematician (b. c. 1640)
• October 28 - Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne of Great Britain (b. 1653)
• November 17 - Ludolf Backhuysen, Dutch painter (b. 1631)
• December 22 - Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish writer (b. 1681)
• December 28 - Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (b. 1656)

See also Category: 1708 deaths.