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[THREAD] Scottish History that sadly many of our countrymen won’t know anything about or will have been misled about, due to misconceptions or even deliberate misinformation from nationalists. Noticed a lot of it recently. Please retweet widely:
The Massacre at Glencoe (1692): despite what the nationalists say, the massacre of the Glencoe MacDonalds had nothing to do with England. It was carried out by a Scottish army infantry regiment, led by Scottish commanders, under orders from the independent Scottish Government...
Specifically those orders came from John Dalrymple, Lord Stair. He and the Scottish Government swore allegiance, along with the majority of Scotland’s predominantly Protestant population, to King William of Orange. It was a Protestant/Catholic conflict, not England/Scotland.
The Battle of Culloden (1746):
Another event which is portrayed as a Scotland/England conflict, and even sometimes a battle for Scottish Independence by some nationalists. This couldn’t be less true...
Another event which is portrayed as a Scotland/England conflict, and even sometimes a battle for Scottish Independence by some nationalists. This couldn’t be less true...
The Scottish Jacobites, while having some sympathies with anti-Union sentiment, were also heavily bolstered by forces from all over Britain and Ireland. They were led by and fighting to restore the Catholic Stuart’s to the British throne. They weren’t fighting for independence...
It also wasn’t simply English on the government side. A massive proportion of troops in the government army were Scottish. Again, the majority of Scots supported the government, including King George, and were Protestants during this period.
A victory for the Jacobites would have resulted in the British Monarchy again becoming secondary to the Papacy in Rome, which - due to its belief in absolutism - would remove power from parliament and therefore the people.
The Highland Clearances (1750-1850):
Once again, often portrayed by nationalist commentators as an England/Scotland affair, even being called “genocide” on occasion, the clearances were much more nuanced than that...
Once again, often portrayed by nationalist commentators as an England/Scotland affair, even being called “genocide” on occasion, the clearances were much more nuanced than that...
The primary reasons for the clearances were economic. Those that weren’t economic were typically the fault of lowland Scots who had long hated the Highlanders, especially following the Jacobite uprisings. For example eviction laws for Catholics were different until the 1790s...
The highland landowners (i.e clan chiefs, mainly) were ultimately those who were most responsible. They evicted their tenants (or serfs, as they were still living in a sort of feudal society) en masse. This was the result of many different factors...
These include; overpopulation, the highland potato famine, financial strife, the industrial revolution and emigration. Many highlanders chose to move to the cities or to the colonies for better opportunities than they were afforded at home. Many others joined the military...
The Clearances were a sad, rapid and yet unavoidable fate for the rural communities of Scotland entering the new world. The economy of the highlands wasn’t diverse enough to maintain an even playing field with the lowlands, and couldn’t support its massive population properly.
Could it have been handled better? Undoubtedly. Was it the fault of the English? Absolutely not. Was highland culture deliberately exterminated? Again, no. As it happened in the end, the Highland landowners and clan chiefs sold out their own people when they faced hard times.
The Sacrifice of the 51st at St Valery (1940):
The common myth with this one is that Churchill deliberately left the 51st Highland Division in France as a sacrifice to the Germans because they were Scottish and he wanted English troops to escape at Dunkirk. Nonsense, obviously...
The common myth with this one is that Churchill deliberately left the 51st Highland Division in France as a sacrifice to the Germans because they were Scottish and he wanted English troops to escape at Dunkirk. Nonsense, obviously...
The 51st were far from the only British soldiers that couldn’t be rescued during Operation Dynamo. 40,000 British soldiers were captured in total around Dunkirk. Thousands were captured at the nearby port of Calais, which saw brutal fighting to the last man...
However these units were all part of the main body of the BEF. Fighting in Belgium and the very north of France. The 51st has been sent to the Maginot Line at the start of the war, to be under the command of the French 3rd (and later, 10th) army...
The 51st never took part in Dunkirk. They were never ordered to stay behind by Churchill. The speed of the German advance meant it was nigh on impossible for them to be rescued. They weren’t even entirely Scottish and certainly weren’t the only ones left stranded in France.
The Acts of Union (1707):
Many portray the Acts of Union as a betrayal of regular Scots. That it should never have happened. That most Scots were against it. Or maybe that England bullied Scotland into it. Here’s the truth...
Many portray the Acts of Union as a betrayal of regular Scots. That it should never have happened. That most Scots were against it. Or maybe that England bullied Scotland into it. Here’s the truth...
Ever since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, and even beforehand, the people of Britain had been growing closer in culture. In 1603 our partnership was secured when James VI inherited the crown of England. Shortly after, he would make moves to further link the two kingdoms...
Three attempts at unifying the kingdoms were made prior to 1707 - in 1606, 1667 and 1689 - and a brief period as part of Cromwells commonwealth meant both countries were effectively one during the 1650s. These attempts ended in failure for a multitude of political reasons...
However in 1707 both parliaments came to an agreement. The English because they didn’t want the Scots to choose a different monarch which would potentially cause more conflict, and the Scots because of many more reasons...
Including a storm of problems occurring in short order, such as famine, piracy from foreign powers and most notoriously the failed colonial attempts in modern Panama known as the Darien scheme. England promised to put a stop to foreign piracy and provide financial assistance...
And so the Union was born. Nationalists will cite the petitioning of the Scottish Gov as reason for the Scottish public not wanting Union, but there is no evidence that a majority supported this position and the main contention was merely the end of the Scottish Parliament...
The Acts of Union created the most successful Union and country in history. We’ve done a lot of dubious things over the centuries but also a damn lot more good too. The world is a much better place for the existence of the UK and it’s people, inventions, culture and values.
