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Prologue: Part I

"The Bonnie Prince's War, or, as most readers most likely know it as, the Third War of Independence, is one of the most famed and glorified of Scottish wars. What isn't heavily known is that the Bonnie Prince, known now as one of the founders of the modern Scottish state, wasn't actually trying to wage war for his ancestral homeland; he was actually trying to take over the entirety of Great Britain. Scotland was more or less a compensation."

- An excerpt from the prologue of Edward Dunkirk's "Fact, Fiction, and Fabrications: Busting the Myths of Scottish History"


1688 brought a grand change for Great Britain. The Roman Catholic King James II and VII was disposed by the people and his daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William gained the throne. The two never had issue, and so after their deaths, Mary's sister Queen Anne had become Queen of England and Scotland. The only problem is that she, too, was childless, and so after her death in 1714, the Kingdom had no clear heir, as the old line descended from King James II and VII was barred from taking the throne as they were deemed to be catholic. Instead, the Elector of Hanover succeeded her as King George. A year later, the son of the former King James, Prince James Francis, attempted a takeover in order to bring the British Isles back into the domain of the House of Stuart. He claimed that it was his birthright, which was largely true - if he hadn't of been catholic he would've succeeded his sisters to the throne. In the end, however, he clearly failed. King George continued to give more and more power to the Whig party during his reign until his death in 1727. His son succeeded him as King George II. The Hannoverians would continue their reign over Britain until 1745.

In 1743, however, Prince James was at it once again. He had attempted to use the concurring War of the Austrian Succession, in which the Hannoverian Kings had brought the Kingdom of Great Britain into, to his own advantage in order to regain the throne. He was convinced that if he managed to prove that enough Englishmen supported him, that the French would back a short invasion of England that placed him back upon the throne. Tory leaders had been in contact with the French in order to negotiate the addition of 10,000 French soldiers landing at Maldon, and then joining with the loyal Jacobite militias there. Louis XV's Master of Horse, James Butler, traveled to England in order to gauge the amount of support of the Jacobite cause, under pretenses of buying a horse. He returned with news of how the English want revolution 'with great zeal'. Plans were made for an invasion to be led by Prince Charles Edward, son of Prince James Francis. In return for French backing, Prince James would "abdicate" his position as the Jacobite heir to England, and Charles Edward would succeed to the throne once they had taken the Isles. In the later months of 1743, Prince James did so; interestingly enough, he signed two different abdications, one for England and one for Scotland. He claimed the Kingdom of Great Britain was a 'pretended union'.

In 1745, Charles Edward, called the Young Pretender by some (opposed to the Old Pretender, his father) and Bonnie Prince Charlie by others, landed in Scotland. In quick succession he gathered the folk loyal to him, mostly Highland Scots loyal to the Roman Catholic Church, and marched through Scotland. In September, Edinburgh and Perth surrendered to him. In October this culminated in the Battle of Presterpans, in which the Scottish army led by Charles won a large battle against the English, cementing their control of Scotland. Prince Charles then, in what could be seen as a wiser move, decided to consolidate his gains in Scotland before marching south into England [1]. He led a siege of Edinburgh Castle, ridding it of the Englishmen who continued to hold it. However, while he remained in Scotland, the English had decided to move on the offense, and an army rode north to take Scotland back. In fear of the armies coming north, Prince Charles knew he needed to increase both the size of his army, and the support of the local Scotsmen, and on Christmas Day, 1745, publicly converted to Presbyterianism [2]. He chose Presbyterianism as it was highly popular in Scotland, and he hoped to gather their loyalty for the upcoming battle. While many of his Highlander army deserted after this, even more Lowlanders joined his cause. In January of 1746, the Jacobite army, now increased with the protestant Lowland Scots, won a decisive defensive victory in the Battle of Edinburgh, and finally began their march south.

[1] The POD, which is BPC deciding to consolidate his gains, allowing for an earlier, defensive victory against the English armies.
[2] In OTL he converted to the Anglican faith. Before people call out, "Presbyterianism won't allow him to take the English throne!" technically, as long as he wasn't Catholic, he could. Not saying that he will take the English throne, just that it's possible.
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