11. The beginnings of the uprising of 1745
Although much less well known than the failure of the Spanish Armada a century and a half earlier, a similar event, in which the British Isles faced imminent invasion by an army conveyed to the shores of Britain by a foreign fleet, occurred during the War of the Austrian Succession in 1744. The French planned to launch an invasion of the British Isles with the support of the Jacobite parties in Scotland. England had been at war with the Spanish since 1739, and a resurgent France planned to launch an invasion against the preoccupied British from Dunkirk after first joining the war on the side of Spain. After defeating the British army the French intended to remove the Hanoverian King George and install James Edward on the British throne, an act which would have guaranteed them the support of the Highland clans.
As with the Spanish Armada, the French fleet was defeated primarily by the inclement weather in the British Channel, which sank at least a dozen of the transport ships carrying French troops, seven going down without any survivors. The heavy loss of life and the disposition of the British fleet convinced the French to call off the invasion. The French troops aboard the surviving ships were removed and dispatched to fight against their enemies in Flanders. The Jacobite leaders in Scotland took the opportunity to prepare for a much smaller attack in Scotland, which was calculated to gain the support of the Jacobite clans as it moved across the country. That expedition would be led by a new Jacobite and Scottish hero to whom it was believed the clans would rally. The son of James Edward, he was known as Charles Edward Stuart, becoming to the true believers Bonnie Prince Charlie.