What happened 1754 AD

In February 1754, Dinwiddie promoted Washington to lieutenant colonel and second-in-command of the 300-strong Virginia Regiment, with orders to confront French forces at the Forks of the Ohio.

Washington set out for the Forks with half the regiment in April but soon learned a French force of 1,000 had begun construction of Fort Duquesne there. In May, having set up a defensive position at Great Meadows, he learned that the French had made camp seven miles (11 km) away; he decided to take the offensive.

The Battle of Jumonville Glen, also known as the Jumonville affair, was the opening battle of the French and Indian War, fought on May 28, 1754, near present-day Hopwood and Uniontown in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. A company of colonial militia from Virginia under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Washington, and a small number of Mingo warriors led by Tanacharison (also known as "Half King"), ambushed a force of 35 Canadiens under the command of Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville.

The full Virginia Regiment joined Washington at Fort Necessity the following month with news that he had been promoted to command of the regiment and to colonel upon the death of the regimental commander. The regiment was reinforced by an independent company of 100 South Carolinians led by Captain James Mackay, whose royal commission outranked that of Washington, and a conflict of command ensued. On July 3, a French force attacked with 900 men, and the ensuing battle (Battle of Fort Necessity) ended in Washington's surrender. In the aftermath, Colonel James Innes took command of intercolonial forces, the Virginia Regiment was divided, and Washington was offered a captaincy which he refused, with resignation of his commission.

1754 Cairo earthquake occurred on September 2, 1754, in Ottoman Empire (now Egypt), there were an estimated 40,000 deaths.

The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian code of law of ancient Mesopotamia, dated to about 1754 BC (Middle Chronology). It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code. A partial copy exists on a 2.25-meter-tall (7.4 ft) stone stele. It consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (lex talionis) as graded based on social stratification depending on social status and gender, of slave versus free, man versus woman.

The co- founder of Harvard Medical School and the pioneer of the smallpox vaccine, Benjamin Waterhouse, was born in Newport, Rhode Island.

The Marquis of Ensenada, Zenón de Somodevilla y Bengoechea, became the premier of Spain.

The Baron of Holberg, the founder of modern Danish and Norwegian literature, Ludvig Holberg, died at the age of 69.

Dieudonne-Pascal Pieltain was christened in Lige, Belgium in 1754.

The Scottish inventor, William Murdoch, was born in Cumnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland.

The British soldier and politician, named Banastre Tarleton, was born in England.

Nicolas Baudin, a French explorer, was born in St-Pierre-de-Ré, France.

Antonio Frantisek Becvarovsky was born in Mlada Boleslav, Bohemia, in 1754.

The Italian royal painter, Andrea Appiani, was born in Milan in 1754.

Irish politician and animal rights activist Richard Martin was born in Ballynahinch Castle.

John Laurens, an American soldier and diplomat, was born in South Carolina in 1754.