History of a fraught relationship
History of a fraught relationship
London – If Scotland votes for independence on Thursday, it will be dissolving a 307-year-old union with the rest of the UK. Here are some key dates in what has been at times a rocky relationship:
1314: Led by Robert the Bruce, Scotland wins a decisive victory over England’s Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn, re-establishing a separate Scottish monarchy.
1371: Robert II becomes the first Stewart king of Scotland, the dynasty which goes on to rule the country, and, eventually, the rest of Britain, for the next 300 years.
1541: Henry VIII of England, most well known for having six wives, is declared King of Ireland.
1542: Mary, Queen of Scots, famous for her later rivalry with her cousin, England’s Elizabeth I, inherits the Scottish throne when she is only six days old.
1567: After Scottish nobles turn against her, Mary is forced to abdicate in favour of her infant son, James VI. She flees to England, where she is imprisoned for almost 20 years by Elizabeth.
1587: Elizabeth has Mary beheaded, after the Scottish queen is implicated in the Babington Plot, an attempt to assassinate the monarch.
1603: When Elizabeth dies without an heir, James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England and Ireland too. But he fails in his desire to unite the two kingdoms under one parliament and one church.
1688-89: The Glorious Revolution sees the deposition of the Roman Catholic King James II of England and VII of Scotland and his replacement by the Protestant William III of Orange.
1698: The first ships belonging to the Company of Scotland set sail to Darien, Panama, with the intention of setting up a Scottish trading colony. The project, in which about a quarter of Scotland’s wealth was invested, was a disaster, made worse by William bidding English colonies to withhold aid.
1707: Scotland agrees to the Act of Union, which unites it with England under one parliament in Westminster. It is often argued that Darien, which left many Scots facing financial ruin, led directly to the act, which gave investors compensation for their losses.
1715: The Jacobite rising, aimed at reinstalling the now exiled House of Stuart, succeeds in reclaiming large areas of Scotland, but is eventually put down by British forces.
1745-46: The second Jacobite uprising, led by Charles Edward Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, ends in defeat at the Battle of Culloden, putting paid to Stuart hopes of regaining the crown.
1916: The Provisional Government of the Irish Republic declares independence from the rest of the UK during the Easter Rising, a rebellion against British rule.
1922: The Anglo-Irish Treaty splits the island of Ireland between the Irish Free State, which becomes a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, and Northern Ireland, which remains part of the UK.
1934: The Scottish National Party (SNP), which campaigns for Scottish independence, is founded.
1945: The first SNP parliamentarian is elected to Westminster.
1979: A referendum on Scottish independence ends in favour of devolution, but does not gain the required 40 percent turn-out.
1997: In a referendum, Scots vote by a majority for a devolved parliament in Edinburgh. Their wish is granted and Holyrood sits for the first time two years later.
May 2011: The SNP, led by Alex Salmond, wins an absolute majority in Holyrood. Salmond announces that a referendum on independence will take place within the next five years.
October 2012: Salmond and British Prime Minister, David Cameron, sign an agreement giving Scotland the right to hold a referendum by the end of 2014.
March 2013: Salmond announces that the referendum will be held on September 18, 2014. –
Sapa-dpa
Source: iol.co.za