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[[File:5346336 198ca26a.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|Figure 1. The site of the Battle of Culloden.]]
The Battle of Culloden occurred on April 16, 1746, and was the last pitched battle in Britain. Effectively, it defeated and put an end to a series of Jacobite uprisings that had been ongoing since 1688 following the Glorious Revolution. It also put an end to the male-line succession of the House of Stuart on the British throne. The Jacobites ' primary goal was to restore the Stuart line. The Jacobites were predominately Scots who were Catholics from the highland regions of Scotland.
====Background to the Battle====
The House of Stuart had ruled Scotland from 1371 until 1603; from 1603 until the death of Queen Anne in 1714, they ruled the united crowns of England and Scotland and what became Great Britain after the act of Union that formalized the integration of Scotland and England. However, in 1688, the removal of James II in the Glorious Revolution effectively meant that the Stuart male -line succession would die out. While the revolution has often been seen as "bloodless," the reality was many people were not happy with the overthrow of the Stuarts and bloody repressions occurred, as the Stuarts were seen as the legitimate heirs by their supporters in Scotland and England.<ref>For more on the Stuarts and the Glorious Revolution, see: </ref> Massie, A. (2013) <i>The Royal Stuarts: A History of the Family that Shaped Britain</i>. New York, St. Martin’s Griffin.
This situation led to a series of revolts by supporters of the Stuarts, many of whom came from Scotland. While upheaval occurred as early as 1688, the major rebellions were 1715 and 1745. The last rebellion was effectively ended in the battle of Culloden, which occurred near Inverness. The battle pitted the British forces led by the Duke of Cumberland, or Prince William Augustus, who was the son of George II, and the Jacobites led by Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie), the Stuart heir. George II was the second Hanoverian king who ruled after the Stuart dynasty in Great Britain. While many Protestants wanted a Protestant monarch at all costs, others saw that the Hanovarian claim on the throne was not legitimate, as they were very distantly related to the Stuarts or any royal British family. On the other hand, the Hanovarian supporters realized they had to get a monarch who not likely try tries to weaken Parliament's increasing role in British affairs.<ref>For more on the Jacobite rebellions, see: Barthorp, M. & Embleton, G. (1982) <i>The Jacobitic rebellions 1689-1745</i>. London, Osprey.</ref>
The Duke of Cumberland saw the battle as an opportunity to prove himself. The Duke's military was checkered and going into the battle he was seen as a weak leader particularly after his failures in the War of Austrian Succession. He had been a leading general that fought against the French and Dutch, but he suffered major defeats while fighting in Europe. Culloden gave him another chance to prove himself. Charles Stuart, on the other hand, had a privileged upbringing in Rome, but he had relatively little battlefield experience. The Highland clans were the bulk of Stuart's support, while the British had a mix of English, Scottish, and German troops. The British troops were generally more professional, although the Jacobites also did have regular French and Irish troops, they made only a minority of the forces. The government forces were composed of nearly 8000, with many well-trained officers as well, while the Jacobites had about 7000.<ref>For more on the lead up to the battle, see: Pittock, M. (2016) <i>Culloden (Cùil Lodair): Great battles</i>. Oxford, Oxford University Press.</ref>
In addition to people being physically moved from Britain, Parliament passed laws, such as the Heritable Jurisdictions Act, which began to curtail the power of the clan chiefs in Scotland. While reprisals drove people from their homes, including arguably a concerted ethnic cleansing of clans in the highlands, the laws passed helped to begin the process of weakening the traditional clan chiefs and their power, including such families as the MacDonalds. Ultimately, this weakening of the clans allowed the government to step into the highland regions and make them more formally part of Great Britain through appointed government officials, sometimes coming from London, rather than local clan members. This also brought the highland regions into the economy of Great Britain. For others in Scotland, the downfall of the clan system in the Scottish highlands allowed new families to arise, in particular those with connections to the mercantile and trade towns that began to benefit from increased and expanding British trade in the 18th century. This included the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, where people from these towns began to have greater economic and political power in the highlands.<ref>For more on the downfall of the clan system in Scotland, see: Murphy, A. (2011) <i>Scotland Highlands & Islands handbook</i>. Bath, Footprint, pg. 424.</ref>
====Effect on North America====
For the natives of the region of Nova Scotia, such as the Mi'kmaq, they increasingly became marginalized and pushed deeper into the wilderness regions of Nova Scotia. This, over time, created a subjugation of not only the native population but also discrimination, often similar to what the fleeing highlanders' ancestors had faced back in Britain. The British government was also seen as the power to protect the migrants from native populations and later the United States. For the native population, the effects of Culloden were very negative, as it led to migration to their lands and their subjugation. Nova Scotia continued to be seen as a friendly place towards Scots into the 19th century, which hastened the pace of migration to Canada in that time from regions of Scotland.<ref>For more on the later history of migration into Canada and Nova Scotia, see: Owram, D. (1994) <i>Canadian history:: a reader’s guide. 1: Beginnings to Confederation</i>. Toronto, Univ. of Toronto Press.</ref>
====Summary====
The Jacobite uprising of 1745 proved to have a lasting impact, although probably quite different from what the British government and Jacobites had expected. For the British, they achieved immediate benefits in that they were able to integrate the Scottish highlands and effectively begin the process of destroying the clan system. However, policies also created the seeds for rebellion, in places such as the American colonies, but it also opened up areas such as Nova Scotia to become a major destination for Scottish and, by extension, Jacobite supporters.
