A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

392 Ch. 1 1 • Dynastic Rivalries and Politics

of James III rose up in Scotland. Although by the Treaty of Utrecht the
king of France had officially renounced support for James, Catholic France
still wanted him on the British throne. But troops loyal to George I quickly
quelled the rebellion.
George II (1683-1760) became king in 1727. Like his father, he was
courageous and had led troops into battle in the German states. But unlike
his father, he took the time to learn English (although it remained decid­
edly his second language). He spoke it with a strong accent that his sub­
jects mocked (“I hate bainting and boetry!” he once announced). He had a
stiff, tedious personality, displaying impatience and a bad temper. On one
occasion he bellowed, “I am sick to death of all this foolish stuff, and wish
with all my heart that the devil may take all your bishops, ministers, Parlia­
ment, and the devil take the whole island—provided I can get out of it and
go to Hanover!”
In 1745, the dreamy pretender Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788)
planned an invasion of England, similar to the one his father had under­
taken thirty years earlier. “Bonnie Prince Charlie” landed in Scotland with
a small army of enthusiasts. Adding Scottish clansmen from the Highlands
to his force, he then marched into England with about 9,000 men. The
threat to the throne was serious enough to give birth to the British anthem
“God Save the King,” which dates from this time.
But Charles Edward found in England almost no support for his cause.
The young pretender hesitated a hundred miles from London and then
retreated to Scotland. Many highlanders deserted his ranks as English troops
ravaged their country, defeating Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden Moor
near Inverness in April 1746. It was the last battle fought on British soil to
this day. The pretender hightailed it back to France. The government
ordered the execution of two Scottish peers who had thrown their support
to the pretender, and forbade the wearing of kilts or tartans, symbols of the
highlanders. Thereafter, a handful of Jacobites continued to celebrate Stu­
art birthdays. They toasted “the king over the water” living in French exile
by holding their glasses of spirits over another glass filled with water.

The Prussian-Austrian Dynastic Rivalry in Central Europe

Prussia threatened Habsburg interests in Central Europe. Charles VI (ruled

1711-1740), the decent but mediocre Holy Roman emperor, had never

recovered from the Habsburg loss of Spain in the War of the Spanish Suc­

cession. He remained obsessed with keeping the remaining Habsburg

lands together. As Charles had no son, he spent years during his reign try­

ing to bribe or otherwise convince the other European powers to recognize

the integrity of the Habsburg inheritance upon his death. In 1713, he tried

to get them to recognize the Pragmatic Sanction, which asserted the indi­

visibility of the Habsburg domains and recognized the right of female as

well as male succession, should Charles have no sons.