As a massive Culloden nerd, I present a thread about the battle: https://twitter.com/NoTrueScotist/status/1250653911939088385

First, the context. The 45 is often presented today as a Scotland vs England thing, but it was really more of a Catholic v Protestant thing. Huge numbers of lowland Scots did not support the Stuarts or the highlanders, who were alien to their anglicised, Calvinist culture

Neither army at Culloden was uniformly Scottish or English. The Jacobites had a good number of English and Irish Catholics, the loyalist army had a large number of lowland Scots in its ranks

Next, the scale. This is often referred to as 'the last pitched battle on British soil', which is probably accurate.

However, there were only a few thousand participants on either side, so in some ways it can be considered more of a police action than a military engagement

It would be plainly inaccurate to say that this was a battle to decide the fate of Britain. It was not. Even if the Jacobites had won (which they could have) they had almost no realistic prospect of winning the war, let alone taking the throne. This was a romantic last stand

We should address a widely misunderstood topic: the highland charge

The highland charge is sometimes caricatured as a medieval throwback. It was, but it was also employed in an intelligent and tactically sound way and could be devastatingly effective

The highlanders lacked muskets, money and well drilled infantry. What they did have was big, brave men willing to put their lives on the line for their clan.

They exploited a weakness in conventional infantry tactics at the time to make the most of this

18th century muskets had an effective range of barely 50 yards and were slow to load.

The highlanders would advance in small, clan groups of relatives to within the outer limit of this range, discharge their own muskets to make the enemy fire early, then rush while they reloaded

This meant that enemy infantry would have wasted their first shot. This combined with the fear of big men rushing at them with swords screaming in Gaelic would enable them to get into the enemy line.

18th century soldiers weren't trained for melee and would usually panic and run

The charge was really an early example of insurgent tactics, turning the enemy's strength in manpower and technology into a weakness. It wasn't just some hare-brained barbarian hangover

It also worked. At Prestonpans in 1745, Falkirk in 1746, Killiecrankie in 1689 and Tippermuir in 1642, highlanders routed well-organised, musket-armed infantry using the highland charge to break up their line and defeat them in detail

All of this makes Bonnie Prince Charlie's handling of Culloden look all the more tragic and dreadful.

Charles decided to fight on a boggy moor near Inverness which was impossible to advance over cleanly.

The reason? He wanted to fight a *defensive* battle

The Jacobites were tired, malnourished and low on morale. They had few muskets and limited ammunition. They had cannon from their French allies, but these were inferior to the loyalist pieces.

Literally their only shot was to deliver the highland charge and Charles fluffed it

He lined his men up in defensive ranks like he was Frederick the Great. They stood and withstood an artillery barrage. After taking casualties, several of the clans effectively mutinied and decided to try and deliver the charge anyway

They staggered forward over boggy ground, being scythed down by canister shot from the loyalist guns. When they reached the redcoats, they were exhausted.

Despite *All of this* a shredded and entangled mass of highland units still managed to deliver an effective charge on the government force's left flank. The 4th and 37th regiments were badly cut up and forced to withdraw, only for reserve regiments to plug the gap

The highlanders were forced back and defeated within barely an hour. They lost about 2000 men compared to the loyalist's 2-400. The Jacobite cause was effectively lost for good, and the highland charge consigned to history. Bonnie Prince Charlie ended up an exiled drunkard