Timeline May 1747

Events in May 1747 3

• 1747 First Battle of Cape Finisterre Royal Navy under Anson routs a French convoy escort A British fleet commanded by Admiral George Anson intercepted and defeated a French squadron escorting convoys to the East and West Indies off the coast of Galicia. The victory netted several French warships and merchant vessels and boosted British naval prestige during the War of the Austrian Succession.
• 1747 William IV restored as hereditary stadtholder Dutch Republic turns to the House of Orange amid French invasion fears Facing a French invasion of Dutch territory during the War of the Austrian Succession, the States of Holland and Zeeland appointed William IV of Orange as their hereditary stadtholder, ending decades without an Orange stadtholder in those provinces. Popular unrest and distrust of the ruling oligarchy drove the sudden shift, which spread to the remaining provinces over the following months.
• 1747 – 1792 Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747-1792) Died 1 March 1792, aged 44 Leopold II was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria, succeeding his brother Joseph II in 1790 and the brother of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. He pursued cautious reform at home while working to contain the revolutionary crisis in France. His sudden death in Vienna on 1 March 1792 brought his son Francis II to the throne shortly before war broke out with France.