Year 1745 (MDCCXLV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1745

January - June

May 11: Battle of Fontenoy.

• May 11 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy - French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army including the Black Watch.
• June 4 - Frederick the Great destroys the Austrian army at Hohenfriedberg.

July - December

• August 19 - The '45 Jacobite Rising begins at Glenfinnan.
• September 12 - Francis I is elected Holy Roman Emperor with the support of his wife, Maria Theresia of Austria. He is the successor of Charles VII Albert of Bavaria, an enemy of Habsburg, who died on January 20 of this year.
• September 14 - Madame de Pompadour is officially presented in the court of Louis XV of France.
• September 21 - Battle of Prestonpans: British Government forces are defeated.
• 4 December - The Jacobite Army reaches Derby; two days later it begins retreat.
• December 25 - The Treaty of Dresden gives Prussia full possession of Silesia.
• December 28 - For 5 days, fire destroys buildings in Istanbul.

Ongoing events

• War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748).
• The "Forty Five"/Bliadhna Theàrlaich, part of the second Jacobite Rising, mainly in Scotland.

Births

• February 18 - Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (d. 1827)
• February 20 - Henry James Pye, English poet (d. 1813)
• March 4 - Charles Dibdin, English composer (d. 1814)
• March 10 - John Gunby, Maryland soldier in the American Revolutionary War (d. 1807)
• April 6 - Thomas Peters, Dutch supercentenarian (d. 1857)
• July 13 - Robert Calder, British naval officer, (d. 1818)
• August 20 - Francis Asbury, American Methodist Bishop (d. 1816)
• September 16 - Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (d. 1813)
• November 23 - John Treadwell, the fourth Governor of Connecticut (d. 1823)
• December 15 - Johann Gottfried Koehler, German astronomer (d. 1801)
• date unknown - Danwon, Korean painter (d. 1806)

Deaths

• January 20 - Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1697)
• March 18 - Robert Walpole, first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1676)
• May 9 - Tomaso Antonio Vitali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1663)
• May 22 - François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (b. 1671)
• October 19 - Jonathan Swift, Irish writer (b. 1667)
• November 16 - James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish statesman and soldier (b. 1665)
• December 8 - Etienne Fourmont, French orientalist (b. 1683)
• December 19 - Jean-Baptiste van Loo, French painter (b. 1684)