1648

1606–1657	Ottoman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy, Hungary, Transylvania [treaties]	The 1606 peace treaties between the Habsburg and Ottoman empires lead to half a century of peace and stability in Hungary; no major campaigns are fought between the two, though frontier skirmishes and raids are endemic, and Transylvania develops into a rich regional power.
1607–1700	North America, UK [food and drink]	Fruits introduced to the North American colonies from England include apples, which adapt well in New England, and peaches, which grow easily in Virginia and other warmer regions. Native vegetables like pumpkins, squash, and beans are favoured over European vegetables.
1640–1700	North America [literature and language]	Literacy rates in the colonies, particularly in New England, are high relative to those in the Old World. Shipton, New England has a 95% literacy rate; males in Virginia have a literacy rate between 54% and 60%.
1648	Netherlands [painting]	The Dutch artist Paulus Potter paints Cow Reflected in the Water
1648	France [painting]	French artist Nicolas Poussin paints The Burial of Phocion.
1648	France [physics]	French mathematician Blaise Pascal proves, with his brother-in-law, that the pressure of air decreases with increasing height, by measuring the column of height of a mercury barometer carried up a mountain.
1648	Germany [statistics and demography]	At the end of the Thirty Years' War, the population of the German states has gone down from 21 million to less than 14 million.
1648	India, Mogul Empire [architecture]	The Taj Mahal, at Agra, India, is completed. Built by Shah Jahan as a monument to his wife, it is meant to be an image of Paradise as described in the Koran. It was probably designed by the mogul architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori.
1648	UK [British Civil Wars (1642–51)]	A series of regional uprisings occur in England against the New Model Army and radicals in Parliament. These take place in Wales in March, Kent in May, and Essex in June. A naval mutiny also takes place on 27 May 1648 in the Downs and a Leveller officer is removed. In addition, a Royalist revival takes place when the town of Pembroke declares for King Charles I in March and Berwick and Carlisle are taken by Royalist supporters in April. The scene is set for a second Civil War in England.
1648	Bohemia [thought and scholarship]	The Bohemian philosopher and educationalist Comenius publishes his reflections on the religious consequences of the Thirty Years' War: Kšaft Umírající Matky Jednoty Bratrské/Testament of the Dying Mother, the Unity of Brethren.
3 January 1648	UK [law and government]	After a long debate in the English House of Commons, the ‘Vote of No Addresses’ is passed, which pledges to discontinue all negotiations with King Charles I of Great Britain and Ireland.
30 January 1648	Spain, United Netherlands, France, Spanish Netherlands [treaties]	Following the French capture of Dunkirk and the advance of French forces into the northern Spanish Netherlands, a separate peace is signed between Spain and the United Netherlands at Münster in the Holy Roman Empire, thereby ending the alliance between France and the Dutch. The treaty thwarts the French chief minister Cardinal Jules Mazarin's plan of securing possession of the entire Spanish Netherlands and also secures the future commercial dominance of Amsterdam by providing for the closure of the River Scheldt, the main water route into Antwerp, the Dutch city's trading rival in northwestern Europe.
May 1648	Poland [colonization]	Following a period of colonization of their lands by Polish noblemen, the Zaporog and Dneiper Cossacks, led by Bohdan Khmel'nitsky, rise in revolt against Poland. Polish rule collapses in the southeastern districts of Poland and it is never restored.
17 May 1648	Sweden, France, Bavaria, Germany, Holy Roman Empire [Thirty Years War (1618–48)]	Swedish and French forces, under Karl Gustaf Wrangel and Marshal Turenne, defeat a Bavarian-imperial army at the Battle of Zusmarshausen, near Augsburg. Bavaria is overrun once again.
20 May 1648	Poland [births and deaths]	Wladyslaw IV Vasa, king of Poland 1632–48, who secured Poland against the Russians and Turks, dies in Merecz, Poland (52).
June 1648	Russia [political events]	A violent rebellion in Moscow forces Tsar Alexis I Romanov of Russia to exile his tutor and chief minister B I Morozov in order to save his life. He also calles a Zemskii Sobor (parliament) to satisfy grievances, which sits between September 1648 and January 1649. The body produces a new Ulozhenie (Code of Law) which bolsters the privileges of the middle classes at the expense of the clergy, boyars (gentry), and peasants.
July 1648	Sweden, Bohemia, Habsburg Monarchy, Holy Roman Empire [Thirty Years War (1618–48)]	A Swedish army under the Count von Königsmarck invades Bohemia and calls for Prague to surrender. Despite the spirited defence of the city by its inhabitants, the siege becomes an important factor in the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III's decision to accept the Peace of Westphalia.
8 July 1648	UK [British Civil Wars (1642–51)]	A Scottish army under James, Duke of Hamilton, crosses the border and invades England in support of King Charles I (who is still captive in Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight).
8 August 1648	Ottoman Empire [political events]	The Ottoman sultan Ibrahim is deposed in a revolt by the Janissaries (infantry) and Ulama (religious notables). He is executed ten days later on 18 August and is succeeded by Mehmed IV.
17 August 1648	UK [British Civil Wars (1642–51)]	The English parliamentarian commander Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army defeat the invading Scottish forces, under James, 3rd Marquis and 1st Duke of Hamilton, at the Battle of Preston.
20 August 1648	France, Austria, Spain, Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy [Thirty Years War (1618–48)]	French forces prevent an Austro-Spanish invasion of Paris, France, when they defeat the allied armies at Lens, Artois. The failure of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III's plans quickens the pace of the peace negotiations in Münster and Osnabrück.
28 August 1648	UK [British Civil Wars (1642–51)]	After a siege that started on 14 June, parliamentarian forces under General Thomas Fairfax take the town of Colchester, Essex, England, from its Royalist governor Charles Lucas, together with 4,000 troops. The surrender marks the end of the second Civil War in Essex and southeast England.
2 October 1648	UK, Ireland [treaties]	At the Newport (Isle of Wight) Treaty negotiations, King Charles I of Great Britain and Ireland agrees to accept Parliament's demands on the issue of church government, on condition that episcopacy will not be completely abolished. He also agrees to surrender the militia for 20 years, as well as the government of Ireland.
24 October 1648	Holy Roman Empire, Germany, France, Sweden, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Swiss Confederation, Saxony [treaties]	The Peace of Westphalia is signed, ending the Thirty Years' War and marking the failure of the Holy Roman Emperor's attempt to turn Germany into an absolute monarchy. By its terms: (1) France gains Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and Breisach and Phillipsburg on the east side of the Rhine, Pinerolo in Piedmont, Italy, and rights in Alsace which sow the seeds of later disagreements; (2) Sweden gains western Pomerania, including Stettin (modern Szczecin) and the Oder estuary, Wismar in Mecklenburg, Bremen and Verdun, which gives it control of the Elbe and Weser estuaries, and 5 million taler; (3) Bavaria retains the Upper Palatinate and the electoral dignity; (4) Brandenburg gains East Pomerania, Kammin, Halberstadt, Minden, and the succession to the archbishopric of Magdeburg; (5) the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III repeals the Edict of Restitution of 1629 and the Peace of Prague of 1635, agrees that all ecclesiastical disputes are to be settled in accordance with the situation on 1 January 1624, and grants the same rights to Calvinists as Lutherans possess, in effect giving full independent sovereignty to all German princes and cities; (6) the Swiss confederation is separated from the Holy Roman Empire; (7) Saxony keeps Lusatia (part of Bohemia).
6 December 1648	UK [political events]	‘Pride's purge’ of the English House of Commons takes place under the auspices of the English parliamentarian Col Thomas Pride. Many Presbyterian members of Parliament are prevented from sitting. The remainder, about 60 independent radical members, continue to sit as the Rump Parliament. Subsequently, they reinstate the ‘Vote of No Addresses’ of 3 January and discontinue the Newport Treaty negotiations with King Charles I. The action transforms the political situation in England.