| |
| 1731 |
| |
| France forbade barbers to practice surgery, although the practice continued elsewhere in Europe. Jean-Sorieus Petit established the French Royal Surgery. | 1 |
| |
| 1739 |
| |
| Corvée (forced labor) employed for maintenance of roads. This increased the quality of French roads and transportation in the 18th century. | 2 |
| |
| 1740 |
| |
| Famine struck France again. Peasants forced to eat ferns and roots. | 3 |
| |
| 1744 |
| |
| Bouquel's Supériorité de l'homme sur la femme argued that men were superior to women but in 1749 Dinouart argued, in Le Triomphe du sexe, that women were the equals of men. | 4 |
| |
| 1749 |
| |
| A 5 percent tax on all incomes introduced, but the clergy were exempted after they protested. The Parlement objected to their exclusion but the king overruled that objection. | 5 |
| |
| 1750 |
| |
| Louis XV began storing grain surpluses to be used in case of famine. Rather than relieve concern, this practice led to increases in prices and continued shortages. | 6 |
| |
| 1750ff |
| |
| Aristocratic Reaction. Population pressure on aristocratic families, along with weaker monarchy, encouraged aristocratic pretensions. Few middle-class people allowed to obtain noble titles. Aristocrats' sons had a growing monopoly on top offices within the French church. | 7 |
| |
| 1751 |
| |
| Diderot's encyclopedia banned for containing radical ideas. Despite a temporary relaxation of censorship in the early 18th century, the government continued to censor objectionable works of the Enlightenment. | 8 |
| |
| 1756 |
| |
| Louis XV issued edicts that limited parlementary power and outlawed the judicial strike. Louis and the Parlement were engaged in a struggle for control, with Louis trying to continue as an absolute monarch. | 9 |
| |
| May |
| |
| A defensive alliance between France and Austria followed by war between France and Britain (See 1756–63). | 10 |
| |
| |
