Military history of Scotland

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Thin Red Line of 1854, by Robert Gibb, in his 1881 painting

Historically,

armed forces of the United Kingdom, more usually referred to domestically within Britain as the British Armed Forces
.

History prior to the Union

Royal Scots Navy

Main articles:
History of the Royal Navy
A carving of a birlinn from a sixteenth-century tombstone in MacDufie's Chapel, Oronsay, as engraved in 1772

There are mentions in Medieval records of fleets commanded by Scottish kings including

Hakon Hakonsson's Kristsúðin, built at Bergen from 1262 to 1263, which was 260 feet (79 m) long, of 37 rooms.[4] In 1263 Hakon responded to Alexander III's designs on the Hebrides by personally leading a major fleet of forty vessels, including the Kristsúðin, to the islands, where they were swelled by local allies to as many as 200 ships.[5] Records indicate that Alexander had several large oared ships built at Ayr, but he avoided a sea battle.[1] Defeat on land at the Battle of Largs and winter storms forced the Norwegian fleet to return home, leaving the Scottish crown as the major power in the region and leading to the ceding of the Western Isles to Alexander in 1266.[6]

English naval power was vital to Edward I's successful campaigns in Scotland from 1296, using largely merchant ships from England, Ireland and his allies in the Islands to transport and supply his armies.[7] Part of the reason for Robert I's success was his ability to call on naval forces from the Islands. As a result of the expulsion of the Flemings from England in 1303, he gained the support of a major naval power in the North Sea.[7] The development of naval power allowed Robert to successfully defeat English attempts to capture him in the Highlands and Islands and to blockade major English controlled fortresses at Perth and Stirling, the last forcing Edward II to attempt the relief that resulted at English defeat at Bannockburn in 1314.[7] Scottish naval forces allowed invasions of the Isle of Man in 1313 and 1317 and Ireland in 1315. They were also crucial in the blockade of Berwick, which led to its fall in 1318.[7]

After the establishment of Scottish independence, Robert I turned his attention to building up a Scottish naval capacity. This was largely focused on the west coast, with the Exchequer Rolls of 1326 recording the feudal duties of his vassals in that region to aid him with their vessels and crews. Towards the end of his reign he supervised the building of at least one royal

Lord High Admiral was probably founded in this period. In his struggles with his nobles in 1488 James III received assistance from his two warships the Flower and the King's Carvel also known as the Yellow Carvel.[8]

Royal Museum

There were various attempts to create royal naval forces in the fifteenth century. James IV put the enterprise on a new footing, founding a harbour at

major expedition to Biscay.[17] The Scots also returned to West Indies[18] and in 1629 took part in the capture of Quebec.[19]

During the Bishop's Wars the king attempted to blockade Scotland and planned amphibious assaults from England on the East coast and from Ireland to the West.

Darien Scheme,[27] and a professional navy was established for the protection of commerce in home waters during the Nine Years' War, with three purpose-built warships bought from English shipbuilders in 1696. After the Act of Union in 1707, these vessels were transferred to the Royal Navy.[28]

Scottish armies

Main articles:
Royal Scottish Army
Scottish soldiers in the period of the Hundred Years' War, detail from an edition of Froissart's Chronicles

Before the

Garde Écossaise.[32]
Scotland played a major role in the Hundred Years War, with many Scots present from Bauge all the way to the end of the Loire Valley Campaign and the Battle of Patay "The Scots Men-at-Arms and Life-Guards in France, From Their Formation Until Their Final Dissolution, A.D. MCCCCXVIII-MDCCCXXX (Volume I)". The Stewarts also adopted major innovations in continental warfare, such as longer pikes and the extensive use of artillery. However, in the early 16th century one of the best armed and largest Scottish armies ever assembled still met with defeat at the hands of an English army at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, which saw the destruction of a large number of ordinary troops, a large section of the nobility and the king James IV.[33]

The earliest image of Scottish soldiers wearing tartan; 1631 German engraving.

In the sixteenth century the crown took an increasing role in the supply of military equipment.[34] The pike began to replace the spear and the Scots began to convert from the bow to gunpowder firearms.[35] The feudal heavy cavalry had begun to disappear from Scottish armies and the Scots fielded relatively large numbers of light horse, often drawn from the borders.[36] James IV brought in experts from France, Germany and the Netherlands and established a gun foundry in 1511.[15] A clan leader like John Grant of Freuchie in 1596 could muster from his kin, friends, and servants 500 men able to fight for King James and the Sheriff of Moray. Of these 40 had habergeons, two handled swords, and helmets, and another 40 were armed "according to the Highland custom" with bows, helmets, swords, and targes.[37]

In the early seventeenth century relatively large numbers of Scots took service in foreign armies involved in the

James Graham, Marquis of Montrose (1643–44) and in Glencairn's rising (1653–54), were mainly composed of conventionally armed infantry with pike and shot.[42] Montrose's forces were short of heavy artillery suitable for siege warfare and had only a small force of cavalry.[43]

Soldier of the Black Watch c. 1740

At the Restoration the Privy Council established a force of several infantry regiments and a few troops of horse and there were attempts to found a national militia on the English model. The standing army was mainly employed in the suppression of Covenanter rebellions and the guerrilla war undertaken by the

King William II's continental wars, beginning with the Nine Years' War in Flanders (1689–97).[46] By the time of the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Scotland had a standing army of seven units of infantry, two of horse and one troop of Horse Guards, besides varying levels of fortress artillery in the garrison castles of Edinburgh, Dumbarton, and Stirling.[47]

Wars and battles to 1707

Main article: List of battles involving the Kingdom of Scotland
The earliest known depiction of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 from a 1440s manuscript of Walter Bower's Scotichronicon
Battle of Pinkie, woodcut illustration from William Patten, (1548)

Castles

Main article:
Scottish castles
Caerlaverock Castle, a moated triangular castle, first built in the thirteenth century

Castles arrived in Scotland with the introduction of

livery and maintenance" castles that could support a large garrison.[50] Gunpowder weaponry led to the use of gun ports, platforms to mount guns and walls adapted to resist bombardment.[52]

Many of the late Medieval castles built in the borders were in the form of

estate houses, which were built largely for comfort, but with a castle-like appearance.[55][56] In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the military significance of castles declined,[57][58] but they increasingly became tourist attractions.[59] Elements of the Scots Baronial style would be revived from the late eighteenth century[60] and the trend would be confirmed in popularity by the rebuilding of Balmoral Castle in the nineteenth century and its adoption as a retreat by Queen Victoria.[61] In the twentieth century there were only isolated examples of new castle-influenced houses.[62][63]

Part of the British Armed Forces

Scottish soldier's cap worn after the 1707 Union
Comical depiction of a Scottish soldier, c.1720
Main articles:
British military history and History of the British Army

After the

American Wars of Independence (1775–83).[44]

Napoleonic Wars

Scots had a notable influence in warfare during this period. Prominent sailors of the era included:

Victorian & Colonial Warfare

First World War

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in a trench at the Somme, 1916

Field Marshal Sir

Douglas Haig led the British Army on the Western Front from 1915, and oversaw some of the largest and bloodiest episodes of the war. Battles included the Somme(1916) Ypres (1917) Cambrai (1917) Amiens (1918) and Arras (1918) Due to the kilts worn by the Scottish soldiers on the World War I battlefront, their German enemies called them the "ladies from hell".[65]
Haig founded the Earl Haig Poppy Fund, for ex-servicemen in the aftermath.

According to the historian T C Smout, "It is still not known how many Scots died in the war. One well-argued estimate put the figure at 110,000, equivalent to about 10 percent of the Scottish male population aged between sixteen and fifty, and probably to about 15 per cent of total British war dead — the sacrifice was higher in proportionate terms than for any other country in the Empire."[66]

Second World War

Scottish soldiers fought in many battles in World War II, in both the Pacific and European theatres.

The Cold War & The End of Empire

Defence establishments in Scotland

Army

In the wake of the

Gruinard was used for an exercise in biological warfare. Regular British Army Garrisons currently operational in Scotland are: Fort George near Inverness; Redford Barracks and Dreghorn Barracks in Edinburgh; and Glencorse Barracks at Penicuik
.

Royal Naval

Between 1960 and 1991, the

Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines is based at HMNB Clyde
.

Since 1999, the

Cessna 406 maritime patrol aircraft.[68]

Royal Air Force

A single front-line

RAF's northern QRA(I) base, supported by four squadrons of Typhoons
.

Military Training Areas

The only open air live depleted uranium weapons test range in the British Isles is located near Dundrennan.[69] As a result, over 7000 weakly radioactive munitions lie on the seabed of the Solway Firth.[70] In 2007, the MoD land holdings in Scotland (owned, leased or with legal rights) was 1,153 km2 representing 31.5% of the MoD's British estate.[71] Prominent Training Areas include Garelochhead, Cape Wrath, Barry Buddon, The Army Selection and Development Center in Penicuik, and Castlelaw in the Pentland Hills.

Industry

BAE Systems Surface Ships in Glasgow. Although diminished from its early 20th century heights, Glasgow remains the hub of the UK's shipbuilding
industry.

Babcock
.

Royal Navy bases in Scotland

Former Royal Navy bases in Scotland

Former Royal Naval Air Stations in Scotland

Royal Air Force stations in Scotland

Tornado GR4
aircraft

Former Royal Air Force stations in Scotland

Scottish Units in the British Army

Previously within the

Combat Support Arms and Services (RA, RE, Signals, Intelligence, AAC, RLC, AGC, REME and AMS), Special Forces, the Household Cavalry and the Parachute Regiment of the British Army
, with the following current Formations and Units having specific Scottish connections:

Former Scottish Units in the British Army

Regular British Army Units currently based in Scotland

Scottish units that are not part of the British Army

Scottish regiments in other countries

Australia

List of active regiments in the Australian Army:

  • 5th/6th Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment (Victorian Scottish Regiment)
  • 10th/27th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment (South Australian Scottish Regiment)
  • 16th Battalion, Royal Western Australia Regiment (Cameron Highlanders)
  • 41st Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment (Byron Scottish Regiment)

List of former Scottish regiments in Australia:

  • 30th Battalion (The New South Wales Scottish Regiment)
  • 61st Battalion (The Queensland Cameron Highlanders)

List of former Scottish regiments in the

Australian colonial forces
:

  • Byron Regiment (Sutherland)
  • New South Wales Scottish Regiment
  • South Australian Scottish Regiment
  • Victorian Scottish Regiment (VSR)

Canada

List of active regiments in the

Canadian Forces
:

  • 42nd Field Artillery Regiment (Lanark and Renfrew Scottish), RCA
  • 48th Highlanders of Canada 1891
  • The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's)
    1903
  • The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
    1862
  • Cape Breton Highlanders 1871–1954 2011–present
  • The Calgary Highlanders
    1910
  • The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (Duke of Edinburgh's Own)
    1881
  • The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's)
    1912
  • The Essex and Kent Scottish
    1954
  • The Lake Superior Scottish Regiment
    1905
  • The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment)
    1866
  • The Nova Scotia Highlanders
    1871
  • The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada
    1910
  • The Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada
    late 1940s
  • The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada
    1910
  • The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
    1804
  • The Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)
    1920

Defunct Scottish regiments, many merged to former larger regiments:

France

Inactive regiments of the French Army:

  • Garde Écossaise
    1418–1830
  • Gens d'Armes Ecossais
    (Scots Men-At-Arms) – formed 1419 and dissolved 1791

South Africa

Troops of the South African Scottish regiment in France, 1917

There are three regiments in the South African Defence Force with Scottish roots:

New Zealand

  • New Zealand Scots Regiment (1st NZ Scottish Regiment and 1st Armoured Car Regiment) was raised in 1939 and renamed 1990 as New Zealand Scottish and disbanded amongst other units:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b P. F. Tytler, History of Scotland, Volume 2 (London: Black, 1829), pp. 309–10.
  2. ISBN 1-78057-006-6
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  3. ISBN 0-7509-2977-4
    , p. 147.
  4. ISBN 0-14-191257-X
    , pp. 74–5.
  5. ISBN 0-7864-4038-4
    , p. 157.
  6. ISBN 0-7509-2977-4
    , p. 153.
  7. ^ a b c d N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain. Volume One 660–1649 (London: Harper, 1997) pp. 74–90.
  8. ^ a b c d J. Grant, "The Old Scots Navy from 1689 to 1710", Publications of the Navy Records Society, 44 (London: Navy Records Society, 1913-4), pp. i–xii.
  9. ^ N. Macdougall, James IV (Tuckwell, 1997), p. 235.
  10. ^
    ISBN 0-85976-338-2
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  11. ^
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  12. ISBN 0748614559
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  13. ISBN 9004185682
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  14. ^ T. Andrea, The Princelie Majestie: The Court of James V of Scotland 1528–1542 (Birlinn, 2005), p. 164.
  15. ^
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  16. ISBN 90-04-18568-2
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  17. ISBN 0199261490
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  18. ISBN 90-04-18568-2
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  19. ISBN 90-04-18568-2
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  20. ^
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  21. ISBN 90-04-18568-2
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  22. ISBN 90-04-18568-2
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  23. ISBN 9004185682
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  24. ISBN 0813933528
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  25. ISBN 0748617906
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  26. ISBN 9004185682
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  27. ISBN 900414711X
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  28. ^ J. Grant, "The Old Scots Navy from 1689 to 1710", Publications of the Navy Records Society, 44 (London: Navy Records Society, 1913-4), p. 48.
  29. ISBN 0-903903-24-5
    , p. 56.
  30. ISBN 0-7486-3333-2
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  31. ISBN 0-7486-1238-6
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  32. ISBN 0-85976-341-2
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  33. ISBN 0-7486-0276-3
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  34. ISBN 0851157467
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  35. ISBN 0851157467
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  36. ISBN 0851157467
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  37. ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council, Addenda 1545-1625, vol. 14 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 376-7.
  38. ISBN 0415278805
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  39. ISBN 0415221315
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  40. ISBN 9004128239
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  41. ISBN 0521466865
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  42. ISBN 0901824925
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  43. ISBN 184415128X
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  44. ^
    ISBN 0-19-211696-7
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  45. ISBN 0-19-211696-7
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  46. ISBN 184415405X
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  47. ISBN 978-0-7134-7484-8
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  48. ISBN 978-0-85115-904-1
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  49. ISBN 0-85263-748-9
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  50. ^
    ISBN 0-85263-748-9
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  51. ISBN 1-4411-5712-3
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  52. ISBN 0-85263-748-9
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  53. ISBN 1-84176-962-2
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  54. ISBN 0-7486-0849-4
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  55. ISBN 0-300-05886-1
    , pp. 502–11.
  56. ISBN 0-300-05886-1
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  57. ISBN 978-0-415-02992-6
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  58. ISBN 1-84176-962-2
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  59. ISBN 978-0-7546-3694-6
    , pp. 19 and 152.
  60. ISBN 0-19-959399-X
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  61. ISBN 0-300-05320-7
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  62. ISBN 0-19-969305-6
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  63. ^ "New hotel is Scotland's first castle of the 21st century". Sourcewire. 10 August 2007.
  64. ISBN 0-19-211696-7
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  65. ^ "Ladies From Hell, Chicago Chapter". 28 July 2009. Archived from the original on 28 July 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  66. ^ T C Smout, A Century of The Scottish People, 1830–1950, Collins 1986, p.267
  67. ^ House of Commons Written Answers, Hansard, 14 Jul 1998 : Column: 171
  68. ^ Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency
  69. ^ BBC Scotland News Online "DU shell test-firing resumes", BBC Scotland News, 2001-02-21. Retrieved on 2006-09-13. (in English)
  70. ^ Parliament of the United Kingdom – Debates 7 February 2001 Depleted Uranium (Shelling)
  71. ^ UK Defence Statistics, 2005 "UKDS 2007 - Chapter 6 - Land Holdings and Buildings". Archived from the original on 14 June 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2007..
  72. ^ "Buttergask". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  73. ^ "Connel (Oban)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  74. ^ "Helensburgh (Rhu)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  75. ^ "Kidsdale / Burrow Head". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  76. ^ "Kirkandrews". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  77. ^ "Kirkpatrick". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  78. ^ "Largs". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  79. ^ "Lerwick". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  80. ^ "Whitefield". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  81. ^ "Woodhaven (Newport) (Tayport)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 September 2022.

Further reading

  • Dziennik, Matthew. "Fatal land: war, empire, and the Highland soldier in British America, 1756–1783." (PhD dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 2011). Online, With detailed bibliography
  • Henshaw, Victoria. Scotland and the British Army, 1700–1750: Defending the Union (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014)
  • Kenyon, John, and Jane Ohlmeyer. The British and Irish Civil Wars: A Military History of Scotland, Ireland, and England, 1638–1660 (1998).
  • Konstam, Angus, and Peter Dennis. Strongholds of the Picts: The fortifications of Dark Age Scotland (2013)
  • Murdoch, Steve, and A. Mackillop. Fighting for Identity: Scottish Military Experience C. 1550–1900 (2003)
  • Peters, David. Scotland's Military History (2013)
  • Phillips, Gervase. The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513–1550: A Military History (1999)
  • Scobie, Ian Hamilton Mackay, ed. The Scottish regiments of the British army (Oliver and Boyd, 1942)
  • Spiers, Edward M. and Jeremy A. Crang. A Military History of Scotland (2014)
  • Spiers, Edward M. The Scottish Soldier and Empire, 1854–1902 (Edinburgh University Press, 2006).
  • Watt, Patrick. 2019. " Manpower, Myth and Memory: Analysing Scotland's Military Contribution to the Great War." Journal of Scottish Historical Studies 39.1, 2019, 75–100
  • Wood, Stephen. The Scottish Soldier: An illustrated social and military history of Scotland's fighting men through two thousand years (1999)

External links

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