1656

January 5 – The First War of Villmergen, a civil war in the Confederation of Switzerland pitting its Protestant and Roman Catholic cantons against each other, breaks out but is resolved by March 7. The Lutheran cantons of the larger cities of Zurich, Bern and Schaffhausen battle against seven Catholic cantons of Lucerne, Schwyz, Uri, Zug, Baden Unterwalden (now Obwalden and Nidwalden) and St. Gallen. January 17 – The Treaty of Königsberg is signed, establishing an alliance between Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. January 24 – The first Jewish doctor in the Thirteen Colonies of America, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland. January 20 – Reinforced by soldiers dispatched by the Viceroy of Peru, Spanish Chilean troops defeat the indigenous Mapuche warriors in a battle at San Fabián de Conuco in what is now central Chile, turning the tide in the Spanish colonists favor in the Mapuche uprising after more than a year. February 18 (February 8 O.S.) – Swedish Empire troops led by King Carl X Gustav defeat troops of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth commanded by General Stefan Czarniecki in the first major engagement of the Swedish Deluge, meeting in the Battle of Golab. February 23 – London's Lord Mayor Christopher Packe suggests to Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector and chief executive of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, that the monarchy should be restored with Cromwell as its King. Cromwell declines to become King Oliver, but his right to name his successor becomes effective on May 25, 1657 with the commencement of the Humble Petition and Advice. February 26 – A rebellion of Turkish soldiers, leading to the "Çınar incident", takes place after a palace guard for Ottoman Sultan Mehmet IV turns away a representative group who had come for payment for their services during the war in Crete. The rebellion ends with the mass killing 30 men identified by the rebels as being responsible for the non-payment.