Papro's monologue
Editor|Papro's monologue
Throughout the Hundred Years' War, as an ally of France, Scotland stood on the opposite side of England to help France contain England's attack, and it can be said that the entire Hundred Years' War process was also the process of Scotland's struggle for independence. Beginning in the early 16th century, England carried out a series of brutal attacks on Scotland, including King James IV who was also killed in the war, and even after Henry VIII set fire to Edinburgh, the Scots maintained an unyielding attitude.
It has been proven time and again that England cannot occupy Scotland by force, no matter how many times England defeats Scotland. After the war, Scotland did not stop demanding independence, using the alliance with France to continue to fight with England, although the war was not as fierce as before, the Scots got a lot of benefits in England, and still maintained an independent parliament and religious beliefs, making the Scottish issue a "heart disease" for Britain.
England looks for new ways to work together
The Hundred Years' War ended in the defeat of England, and England realized that if Scotland continued its alliance with France, it would inevitably threaten England's national security and unity, and the alliance between the two countries would have to be broken to reduce the threat to England. Of course, there are two possible ways to break up the alliance between the two countries: one is violent conquest and the other is peaceful evolution. Post-war England tried both approaches, with different results.
After the end of the Hundred Years' War, England fell into turmoil, followed by the outbreak of the 30-year Wars of the Roses (1455-1485), resulting in a withering of England, "the royal power continued to decline, the social order was seriously chaotic, the king was often empty, and the debt was high"~, the perennial war burned, so that Britain's economy stagnated, social development was slow, and Britain at that time "had a population of less than 3 million, about 1/5 and 1 / / 2, the territorial area is also much smaller than theirs", and Britain at that time did not have a standing army, let alone a navy related to national security.
In this environment, Britain has no more energy to continue to expand its territory, and the most urgent task is to restore domestic political and economic order and seek a peaceful and stable development environment externally. King Henry VII of England succeeded to the throne in 1485, and England entered the reign of the capital dynasty, in order to unite all forces to stabilize domestic order and restore the domestic economy, England took the initiative to show favor to neighboring Scotland.
In 1502, under the active promotion of Henry VII, England signed the Permanent Peace Agreement with Scotland, followed by King Henry VII of England in 1503 to marry his daughter Margaret to King James IV of Scotland. England tried to exchange peace between the two countries through agreements and marriages, but it always backfired, and eventually allied itself with Spain because of France's war with Spain.
Of course, France will not forget its allies one by one, Scotland, and in 1512, King Louis XII of France and King James IV of Scotland resumed their previous alliance. Scotland and England broke down in friendly relations, and the two countries began to fight each other again. Of course, this must not forget the role played by France as an ally, France's main purpose is to contain England through Scotland.
Things took a turn for the better in 1603, when Elizabeth King of England died and there was no successor, and Elizabeth passed the throne to her cousin James I, who was also King of Scotland, so that "Elizabeth solved not only the problem of succession to England, but also the problem of Scotland, which had long plagued England". Elizabeth tied Scotland and England again through a coalition in the throne, which was wiser than a struggle through war.
It should be noted that the union of the throne does not mean the union of two countries, except for nominally having a king, England and Scotland are otherwise two independent countries, maintaining an equal relationship, but in fact Scotland has become a vassal of England. "By nominally owning a king, England essentially controlled Scotland and limited the possibility of a new alliance between Scotland and France.
However, the union of the throne only temporarily solved the problem of Scottish resistance, and could not fundamentally eliminate the potential threat posed by Scotland as an independent kingdom to England, and Scotland could demand independent development at any time and rebel against English rule. The advantages of the union of the throne outweighed its hidden dangers, and it is recorded that most common kings lived in England for a long time from the time of James to the world, but long-term residence in England inevitably led to the Anglicanization of the co-sovereign status. “
Until the time of William and Anne, they had only proclaimed themselves kings of Scotland in England and had never set foot on Scottish soil. Although the union of England and France nominally placed Scotland under English control, Scotland maintained considerable independence in many respects, such as ensuring the power of the Scottish Parliament and ensuring that Scottish religion was protected from the encroachment of foreign religions.
England allowed Scotland to retain a great deal of independence for a reason, because at that time "France's attempt to support Europe was a major rival of England in Europe, directly threatening England's strategic security, which made England's relationship with Scotland very sensitive." The potential Scottish-French military alliance would be very scary for England, and Scotland's relations with France would return to the grand alliance period. France will make full use of the confrontation between England and Scotland to serve its goals."
Unfortunately, Queen Anne's last child died in 1700, and Queen Anne had no legal heir, which means that after Queen Anne's death, Scotland and England lost a common king, which is an unimaginable consequence for England, because once there is no common king, Scotland will inevitably demand independence, which England does not want, because "tolerating Scotland becoming an independent country and becoming rich and strong is absolutely contrary to the interests of England."
Scotland's independence and strength will at some point certainly harm England's interests." At the same time, King William III of England understood that "the instability of Scottish politics would only benefit the people of England" and would directly threaten his grand plans for war against France. William III was anxious to see that Scotland would soon make the same choice as England in terms of succession to the throne, so that France could close the back door to the island of Great Britain.
The only way to really with France
The English knew that "union with Scotland became the only way to prevent Scotland from reuniting with France." So with the efforts of the King of England, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland negotiated the union, and in 1707, the two sides concluded the Treaty of Union. The treaty provided that the two countries would merge to form a unified United Kingdom of Great Britain; The Parliament of Scotland was dissolved and merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great Britain.
Scotland sent 6 members of the House of Lords and 45 members of the House of Commons to join. The Act codified the provisions of the treaty, eventually merging the two kingdoms to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Scottish problem was temporarily resolved. It should be seen that the interests of the two countries are oriented towards the merger, and Scotland can use England's strong economic strength to develop the economy of the region, and England has also jointly fought France.
After the merger, Scotland has a lot of autonomy, because from the beginning of contact with England, Scotland has maintained a relatively independent state of development, and this sense of independence has been retained, so the merged Scotland still insists that "the new system must have the characteristics of two countries, not the original of England, to add the Scottish component; Scotland retains its own national laws and religions".
Although it has been more than three hundred years since the signing of the Merger Act, Scotland still maintains an independent national spirit, independent parliament and executive power. Until 2015, Scotland was still holding a referendum, which shows that the Scottish problem has not been completely resolved, and it is still a problem for England - a matter of hands.
At the beginning of the relationship, the relationship between the two was friendly, but with the development of feudal society in England, in order to fight for more territories to constantly invade Scotland, the warlike Scots were not afraid of the English, and the relationship between the two countries eventually met each other, and the attack of the English was accompanied by the continuous resistance of the Scots. Because of the succession to the French throne, England provoked another Hundred Years' War.
France, which was originally across the sea from England, was pulled into it, and the clever French took full advantage of the contradictions between England and Scotland and took the initiative to befriend Scotland and form an alliance, so Scotland, England and France were forced to get involved in the Hundred Years' War. After the alliance between Scotland and France, they supported each other in the Hundred Years' War, and France was passive at the beginning of the war, and later the appearance of Joan of Arc turned the whole war around.
Although England was eventually defeated, Scotland's alliance with France was preserved and continued to develop, and in the later struggle for independence in Scotland, France helped Scotland a lot, and Scotland formed a strong sense of independence in the war, and continued to fight with England for independence after the war. Although Scotland and England later implemented a political union for practical reasons, the Anglo-Soviet union did not completely erase the distinctive national character of the Scots.
To this day, they proudly call themselves "Scots". It is precisely this ever-strengthening of independence that has led the Scots to show remorse and dissatisfaction after uniting with the English, in which they believe that Scotland is only in a passive role.
After the union, Scotland still maintained a great deal of autonomy, with independent parliamentary and executive powers, which undoubtedly revealed England's compromise with Scotland, and also contributed to the preservation and continuation of Scotland's sense of independence.
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