Dziś ważna rocznica w historii

Szkocji. 278. rocznica Bitwy pod Culloden 16 kwietnia 1746 roku. Bitwa ta zniszczyla system stanowy w Szkocji. Spedzilem caly dzien studiujac i odswiezajac historie Szkocji. Pretendentem do tronu Szkocji byl potomek rodu krolewskiego Stuardow, Charles Edward Stuart, ktory w polowie mial krew polska. *** Clearly the bold Chevalier, Charles Edward Stuart, was an enormous threat to George II, and even after his defeat at Culloden the Bonnie Prince retained his popularity among Jacobites in Britain and Europe. In this regard, the greatest of all character assassinations was commenced by the Hanoverians at home, and by their dutiful ambassadors abroad. While George II's son, the Duke of Cumberland, pursued his violent subjugation of the Highlands, Charles Edward was portrayed in England as a rash and treacherous adventurer. In fact, he was labelled as a potentially dangerous usurper, even though it was his own family who had been usurped! (HRH Prince Michael of Albany, "The Forgotten Monarchy of Scotland"). *** Dzis 16 kwietnia 1964 roku ukazal sie debitancki album zespolu The Rolling Stones pt. The Rolling Stones. *** The story of the tragic Jacobite retreat from Derby to the day of nemesis on Culloden Moor (16 April 1746) is clouded with romantic nostalgia. Its progress filled all the newspapers throughout 1746. Despair explains all, not military dispositions. The facts are: the tiny Hanoverian force under King's brother, the Duke of Cumberland (1721-65), did not have the means to defeat the Jacobites, had open battle been avoided; Bonnie Prince Charlie had no pressing need, other than own mental state, to fight his pursuers on the unfavourable ground at Culloden; and he had still less reason to issue the general order of sauve qui peut when the battle was lost. As it was, the clansmen were ordered to charge uphill against a set position defended by massed cannon. They recited their clan genealogies in Gaelic, shouted their war cries, then moved off into a biting wind across deep heather. They faced an army of professionals that contained more Scots than their own. The Highland Charge rushed on into a shattering wall of heavy metal and fixed bayonets. It would never charge again. The survivors took to the hills. The Jacobite forces, who never even reached the battle, disbanded. The pursuing redcoats started the long job of destroying a civilization. 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' reached the Isle of Skye, dressed in petticoats and posing as Flora Macdonald's servant-girl (Norman Davies, The Isles: A History").