 In the early afternoon on the 16th of April 1746, the last pitched battle to take place on British soil came to a conclusive end. For the losing side, it was a bloody affair, with accounts from the time, describing the battlefield on that brutally wild day as being thick with dead. To understand this battle, however, we need to understand the events that sparked the Jacobite rebellion decades earlier. The Jacobite rebellion was a complex and nuanced period in the history of the British Isles, beginning with the glorious revolution of 1688 and ending with the death of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, who is commonly referred to as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the young pretender in 1788. It began when the Roman Catholic monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland, who was from the House of Stuart, known as James the Seventh in Scotland and James the Second in England, was overthrown in the glorious revolution of 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, who corrained until Mary's death five years later, with William of Orange solely reigning until his death in 1702. After William's death, Mary's sister Anne reigned as Queen until 1714, when the throne was passed to King George I of the House of Hanover. Over the coming years and decades, there were multiple instances of Jacobite revolt, with an overarching aim of these revokes being the restoration of the House of Stuart II power. The Jacobite movement was a highly complex one, however, with many divergent aims and sub-aims desired in respective movements in Scotland, England and Ireland, with French influence being a consistent force throughout. Broadly speaking, the Jacobite movement was usually characterised as being opposed to the status quo, shaped by Hanoverian, Protestant and Whig interests, with the myriad of Jacobite aims usually finding expression under the umbrella of restoring the House of Stuart to the throne. In the context of Scotland, one element that influenced the Jacobite movement in the North was the question of Scottish nationalism, as England and Scotland had merged into one political entity through the Acts of Union in 1707. The Jacobite ranks were divided on this issue, however, yet some prominent leaders of the Jacobite movement used the cause of restoring the Stuart to power as merely a tool to advance the cause of founding an independent republic of Scotland. In 1745, another instance of Jacobite revolt erupted after Prince Charles Edward travelled to the Scottish Highlands and rallied thousands of clansmen to fight under the banner of restoring the Stuart monarchy. After some initial success that led to the Jacobite army reaching the English town of Darby in November, the strength of the Jacobite force began to weaken by early 1746. Despite victory at the Battle of Falkirkmure in January, food and resources were scarce, with Jacobite soldiers living off a ration of just three biscuits a day in the run-up to the Battle of Culloden, as senior commanders warned Prince Charles Edward to avoid fighting a pitched battle against the well-nourished British army. After failing to successfully execute a stealth attack on the British army during the night, however, the Jacobite army found themselves fighting what would be the last pitched battle on British soil against the forces of King George II, who had reigned as King of Great Britain in Ireland since 1727. Following the unsuccessful surprise attack, the Jacobite army retreated to Culloden Muir, around five miles east of Inverness. Tactically, this land was a poor choice for the Jacobite forces, giving the British artillery an open field of fire. A letter from a British soldier who fought in the battle suggests that the Jacobite commanders picked the Muir because they mistakenly thought that British cannons would get bogged down and be unusable in the battle. On the day of the battle, the Jacobites were led by Prince Charles Edward, with George II's son, the Duke of Cumberland, leading the opposing army. The leaders on that day stood in stark contrast with Prince Charles Edward, born and bred in Italy, having little military experience compared to the Duke of Cumberland. The Jacobite army consisted of 5,000 men and lacked other capabilities, compared to the comprehensive 9,000 strong army the Duke headed. Outnumbered, the Jacobite army was sliced through by the British cavalry, and just under an hour, approximately 1,300 men were killed, around 1,250 of which were Jacobites. In the wake of battle, Prince Charles Edward fled Scotland and ended up in France. In the Highlands, the remains of the clan system and the Highland lifestyle were destroyed by the British government. On one hand, Cumberland's forces burned homes in freed cattle, leading Cumberland to earn the nickname the Butcher. On the other hand, the British government passed legislation banning the wearing of highland dress and outlawing people from carrying weapons, with this all aimed at dismembering the clan system of Northern Scotland. The Battle of Culloden consolidated the House of Hanover's hold on the British throne, a hold that lasted until the reign of Queen Victoria, the last Hanoverian monarch to rule Britain. Queen Victoria's marriage to her first cousin, Prince Albert, introduced the House of Saxe, Coburg and Gotha into Britain. And then, in 1917, King George V changed the name of the royal family to the more English sounding Windsor, at a time when anti-German sentiment was strong in Britain given the World War. With this exacerbated, when 18 children were killed in London, in a 1917 German air raid by Gotha Bommers.