* 1740 – Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux, French general ( d. 1817 )

* 1688 – Frederick William I of Prussia ( d. 1740 )

* 1740 – Pope Pius VII ( d. 1823 )

The last maker of the family was Nicolo's son, Girolamo Amati, known as Hieronymus II ( February 26, 1649 – February 21, 1740 ).

* 1740 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English merchant banker ( d. 1810 )

* 1752 – Start of Konbaung-Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in Burmese Civil War ( 1740 – 1757 )

* 1740 – War of Jenkin's Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa.

* 1740 – Samuel Arnold, English composer and organist ( d. 1802 )

* 1652 – Pope Clement XII ( d. 1740 )

In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great ( 1740 – 1786 ), came to power.

( 1739 – 1740 )

Meanwhile, under the direction of Benedict XIV ( pope 1740 – 1758 ), a special congregation collected much material for an official revision, but nothing was published.

1710 – 14 October 1740 ) was an Italian singer, harpsichordist, and composer whose works bridge the Baroque and Classical periods.

* 1814 – Marquis de Sade, French writer ( b. 1740 )

* 1740 – Arthur Lee, American diplomat ( d. 1792 )

In 1757, he married Mary ( Polly ) Howard ( 1740 – 1770 ).

Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821 ) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress and was elected as a U. S. Congressman for New Jersey following the American Revolutionary War.

* 1740 – Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal ( b. 1667 )

* 1693 – Empress Anna of Russia ( d. 1740 )

* 1740 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver ( d. 1813 )

The Royal Navy captured a handful of the new French frigates during the War of the Austrian Succession ( 1740 – 1748 ) and were impressed by them, particularly for their inshore handling capabilities.

Frederick William I () ( 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740 ) was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg ( as Frederick William II ) from 1713 until his death.

Matthias Claudius ( August 15, 1740 – January 21, 1815 ) was a German poet, otherwise known by the penname of “ Asmus ”.

* January 21-Matthias Claudius, poet ( born 1740 )

Claudius Aymand ( c. 1681, Paris – 7 July 1740 ) was a French born English surgeon who in 1735 performed the first recorded successful appendectomy.

* 1721 – Johann Philipp Baratier, German scholar ( d. 1740 )

* Christoph Christian Sturm ( 1740 – 1786 ), German preacher and author, who wrote the majority of his devotional works here

* 1740 – Johann Heinrich Jung, German author ( d. 1817 )

* January 10 – Johann Philipp Baratier, German scholar ( d. 1740 )

These included leading figures of the European ' Enlightenment ' including the philosophers Voltaire, 1694 – 1778 ) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( 1712 – 1778 ); the future US Presidents John Adams ( 1735 – 1826 ) and Thomas Jefferson ( 1743 – 1826 ); Benjamin Franklin ( 1706 – 1790 ); the German landscape artist Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau ; the Italian statesman Giuseppe Garibaldi ( 1807 – 1882 ); Russian Tsars Nicholas I ( 1796 – 1855 ) and Alexander I ( 1777 – 1825 ); the king of Persia ; Queen Victoria ( 1819 – 1901 ) and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg ( 1819 – 61 ); Sir Walter Scott ( 1771 – 1832 ); Prince Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau ( 1740 – 1817 ); Prime Ministers William Ewart Gladstone ( 1809 – 1898 ) and Sir Robert Walpole ( 1676 – 1745 ); Queen Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach ( 1683 – 1737 ); John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute ( 1713 – 92 ) his architect William Burges ( 1827 – 1881 ) and the present Prince of Wales and Princess Margaret.

German Moravian settlers built on land in the Palmer area in 1740.

Though no barometric or temperature readings for Ireland ( population in 1740 of 2. 4 million people ) survive from the Great Frost, English people were using the mercury thermometer invented 25 years earlier by the German pioneer Fahrenheit.

Throughout the reign of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia ( 1688 – 1740 ) the unit was known as the " Potsdamer Riesengarde " (" giant guard of Potsdam ") in German, but the Prussian population quickly nicknamed them the Lange Kerls (" long guys ").

* May 22-Johann Georg Heinrich Feder, German philosopher ( born 1740 )

Frederick the Great -- who ruled Prussia 1740 – 1786, was an enthusiast for French ideas ( he ridiculed German culture and was unaware of the remarkable advances it was undergoing ).

Frederick the Great of Prussia seized Silesia from Maria Theresa of Austria in 1740 in the War of Austrian Succession, after which it became a part of Prussia and, in 1871, the German Empire.

Johann Georg Abicht ( 21 March 1672 – 5 June 1740 ) was a German Lutheran theologian, born at Königsee, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.

Johann Georg Jacobi ( September 2, 1740 – January 4, 1814 ) was a German poet.

Valentin Adamberger, also known by his Italian name Adamonti, ( 22 February 1740 or 6 July 174324 August 1804 ) was a German operatic tenor.

Ján Kupecký or Jan Kupecký ( in German: Johann Kupetzky, in Hungarian: Kupecky János, or Kupeczky János, 1667, Bazin, Royal Hungary ( today Slovakia ) – July 16, 1740, Nürnberg ) was a Czech and Slovak portrait painter during the baroque.

Johann van Beethoven ( 14 November 1740 – 18 December 1792 ) was a German musician, teacher, and singer who sang in the chapel of the Archbishop of Cologne, whose court was at Bonn.

About 1740 European immigrants, mostly Scots-Irish and German, began to settle the area.

Philip James de Loutherbourg, sometimes Philippe-Jacques and Philipp Jakob and with the appellation the Younger ( 31 October 1740 – 11 March 1812 ) was an English painter of German origin who became known for his elaborate set designs for London theatres, and for his invention of a mechanical theatre called the " Eidophusikon ".

Johann Heinrich Jung ( 12 September 1740, Grund – 2 April 1817, Karlsruhe ), best known by his assumed name of Heinrich Stilling, was a German author.

The Gardes had been established by Prussian King Frederick the Great in 1740, and was considered the most prestigious posting in the Imperial German Army, it was even patroned by Emperor Wilhelm II.

Blue Max is an informal name of Pour le Mérite, a German military decoration from 1740 until the end of World War I.

Vincent Lübeck ( c. September 1654 – 9 February 1740 ) was a German composer and organist.

* 1740: The German Lutheran Church ( Hebron Lutheran Church today ) is built with funds raised in Germany