Army camps outside of Smolensk and the Thirteen Years' War starts between Russia and Poland over Ukraine. July 10 – Peter Vowell and John Gerard are executed in London for plotting to assassinate Oliver Cromwell. Don Pantaleon, brother of the Portuguese ambassador to England, is executed after the death of an innocent man following a fracas at the exchange in Exeter. August 12 – The Battle of Shklow, one of the first clashes of the Russo-Polish War, takes place at what is now the Belarusan town of Škłoŭ during a total eclipse of the Sun visible over Eastern Europe. The Russian troops retreat. August 18 – Oliver Cromwell launches the Western Design with the appointment of Admiral William Penn to prepare for a fleet to leave on Christmas Day for an English expedition to the Caribbean to counter Spanish commercial interests, effectively beginning the Anglo-Spanish War (which will last until after the English Restoration in 1660). The fleet leaves Portsmouth in late December. August 22 – Jewish arrival in New Amsterdam: 23 Sephardic Jews arrive as refugees from Brazil and settle in New Amsterdam, forming the nucleus of what will be the second largest urban Jewish community in history, that of New York City, and of Congregation Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in North America. August 25 – Russia routs the Polish Army in the Battle of Shepeleviche. September 3 – In England, the First Protectorate Parliament assembles. September 12 – Oliver Cromwell orders the exclusion of 120 members of Parliament who are hostile to him. September 23 – Smolensk falls to the Russian Army after almost three months. October –December October 12 – The Delft Explosion, in the arsenal, devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100, among whom is Carel Fabritius (32), the most promising student of Rembrandt. October 31 – Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria, is crowned. His absolutist style of leadership becomes a benchmark for the rest of Germany. November 23 – French mathematician, scientist and religious philosopher Blaise Pascal experiences an intense mystical vision that marks him for life. December 11 – Sir William Petty wins the contract from the Commonwealth of England to make a survey of Ireland. December 14 – Jerónimo de Ataíde, Count of Atouguia, becomes Portugal's new Governor-General of Brazil, succeeding João Rodrigues de Vasconcelos e Sousa. December 25 – The English Navy sends a fleet of 17 warships