The Forty-five Rebellion | |||||||
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Part of Jacobite risings | |||||||
The Battle of Culloden by David Morier |
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Belligerents | |||||||
Jacobites Kingdom of France |
Great Britain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Charles Stuart Lord George Murray |
George II Henry Pelham Duke of Cumberland Sir John Cope |
The Jacobite rising of 1745 (Scottish Gaelic: Bliadhna Theàrlaich [ˈbliən̪ˠə ˈhjaːrˠl̪ˠɪç]) was the attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart. The rising occurred during the War of the Austrian Succession when most of the British Army was on the European continent. Charles Edward Stuart, commonly known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie" or "the Young Pretender", sailed to Scotland and raised the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands, where he was supported by a gathering of Highland clansmen. The march south began with an initial victory at Prestonpans near Edinburgh. The Jacobite army, now in bold spirits, marched onwards to Carlisle, over the border in England. When it reached Derby, some British divisions were recalled from the Continent and the Jacobite army retreated north to Inverness where the last battle on Scottish soil took place on a nearby moor at Culloden. The Battle of Culloden ended with the final defeat of the Jacobite cause, and with Charles Edward Stuart fleeing with a price on his head, before finally sailing to France.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688–89 resulted in the Roman Catholic Stuart king, James II of England and VII of Scotland, fleeing to exile in France under the protection of Louis XIV. James' daughter and her husband, who was also James's nephew, ascended the British throne as joint sovereigns William and Mary. In 1690 Presbyterianism was established as the state religion of Scotland. The Act of Settlement 1701 settled the succession of the English throne on the Protestant House of Hanover. The Scottish Act of Security 1704 required that Queen Anne's successor be Protestant, and the Act of Union 1707 applied the Act of Settlement to Scotland. With the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the Elector of Hanover, George I, succeeded to the British throne. James II's son, James Francis Edward Stuart, the "Old Pretender", attempted to gain the British throne in 1715 ("the Fifteen") but failed to do so. The accession of George I ushered in the Whig supremacy, with the Tories deprived of all political power. George II succeeded his father in 1727. In February 1742 Sir Robert Walpole resigned as Prime Minister after nearly 21 years, being replaced by Lord Wilmington until his death in July 1743. Thereafter, the Whig Henry Pelham was Prime Minister until 1754.