The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 was a direct result of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England. The Protestant forces of the dual monarchs William and Mary overthrew the reign of the Catholic James II. Many Catholics were offended by this and took the name Jacobites from the Latin Jacobus, or James to show allegiance to their disinherited king. Minor uprisings of these Jacobites occurred in the British Isles from as early as 1689 to 1719. The eventually culminated in the Jacobite uprising of 1745. This rebellion had a chance to succeed where the others had failed due to one thing. This time the Catholics had a Stuart to return to power in Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Casmir Stuart, known affectionately by his followers as �Bonnie Prince Charlie.�
Born in 1720, Charles was the grandson of the dethroned King James II. His father had become so taxed, both financially and politically, that he had to retire to Italy and the protection of the Pope in 1715. Raised in Italy and France for his entire life, Charles had no contact with the land he was to one day start a civil war in. In 1744, his father, James the Pretender, arranged for an invasion of England with French support. A flotilla of French warship were supposed to land in Kent with 10,000 men. Alas, the " Protestant Winds " and the quickly mobilized British fleet prevented them from crossing the English Channel. Charles nonetheless moved forward with the plan and went to the Scottish Highlands himself where his Jacobite support was greatest. He landed on the Isle of Eriskay. Eventually he gained a meeting with some Jacobite chiefs. He spoke no Gaelic and found it hard to communicate with his supporters in heavily accented English. Charles soon found the Highlanders apathetic in their support of his cause. Playing on the clannish tradition of honor and bravado, he quickly gained the support of the chieftains.
Yet for as many saw the Stuart side of things, others saw this for what it really was, a civil war. Old grudges and fueds were given rise to in the support or opposition of Charles. Pehaps the greatest of these sort was the rivalry of the Donalds and the Campbells. When the Donalds pledged their loyalty to Charles, Campbell moved to the Hanoverian side. Eventually Campbell militia would aid Cumberland�s troops in the genocide that swept the higlands after Charles� defeat at Culloden. With his newly formed army Charles quickly set out to make good on his promise to take Britain for the Stuart name.