Events of 1757

January–June

• January 2 – Britain captures Calcutta (part of the fighting in the Seven Years War).

• January 5 – Robert-François Damiens makes an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Louis XV of France.

• March 14 – Seven Years' War: On-board the HMS Monarch, Royal Navy Admiral John Byng is executed by firing squad for breach of the Articles of War.

• May 6 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Prague: Frederick the Great defeats an Austrian army and begins to besiege the city.

• June 18 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Kolin: Frederick is defeated by an Austrian army under Marshal Daun, forcing him to evacuate Bohemia.

• June 23 – Battle of Plassey: 3,000 British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj ud-Daulah at Plassey.

July–December

• July 26 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Hastenbeck: An Anglo-Hanoverian army under the Duke of Cumberland is defeated by the French under Louis d'Estrées and forced out of Hanover.

• July 30 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf: A Prussian army under Hans von Lehwald is defeated by the Russian army of Marshal Stepan Apraksin.

• August 3 – August 9 – French and Indian War: A French army under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm forces the English to surrender Fort William Henry. The French army's Indian allies slaughter the survivors for unclear reasons.

• October 16 – Seven Years' War: Hungarian raiders plunder Berlin.

• October 30 – Osman III dies and is succeeded as Ottoman Sultan by Mustafa III.

• November 5 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Rossbach: Frederick defeats the French-Imperial army under the Duc de Soubise and Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, forcing the French to withdraw from Saxony.

• November 22 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Breslau: An Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine defeats the Prussian army of Wilhelm of Brunswick-Bevern and forces the Austrians behind the Oder.

• December 6 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Leuthen: Frederick defeats Prince Charles's Austrian army in what is generally considered the Prussian king's greatest tactical victory.

Ongoing events

• French and Indian War (1754–1763)

• Seven Years' War (1756–1763)

Births

• January 16 – Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1834)

• February 20 – John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, English philanthropist (d. 1834)

• April 9 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (d. 1833)

• May 30 – Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1844)

• June 18 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentine leader (d. 1833)

• June 22 – George Vancouver, British explorer (d. 1798)

• July 20 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician (d. 1811)

• August 9 – Thomas Telford, British engineer & architect (d. 1834)

• September 6 – Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, French soldier and statesman (d. 1834)

• October 9 – King Charles X of France (d. 1836)

• October 21 – Pierre Augereau, Marshal of France and duc de Castiglione (d. 1816)

• November 1 – Antonio Canova, Italian sculptor (d. 1822)

• November 28 – William Blake, English poet (d. 1827)

• December 17 – Nathaniel Macon, American politician (d. 1837)

• December 25 – Benjamin Pierce, American politician (d. 1839)

Deaths

• January 9 – Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters (b. 1657)

• January 19 – Thomas Ruddiman, Scottish classical scholar (b. 1664)

• March 1 – Edward Moore, English writer (b. 1712)

• March 8 – Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (b. 1701)

• March 12 – Giuseppe Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/painter (b. 1696)

• March 14 – John Byng, British admiral (executed) (b. 1704)

• March 27 – Johann Stamitz, Czech-born composer (b. 1717)

• May 6 – Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)

• May 6 – Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, British politician (b. 1683)

• May 6 – Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (b. 1684)

• July 23 – Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (b. 1685)

• August 28 – David Hartley, English philosopher (b. 1705)

• October 17 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist (b. 1683)

• October 25 – Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (b. 1672)

• October 30 – Osman III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1699)

• November 12 – Colley Cibber, English poet (b. 1671)

• December 11 – Edmund Curll, English bookseller and publisher (b. 1675)