Scotland

On 19 August 1745, Charles Edward Stuart raised the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan, launching the '45 rebellion. The romantic myth of Bonnie Prince Charlie hides what the venture really was: an Italian-born prince gambling a centuries-old Celtic society on a dynastic fantasy.

On 22 July 1706, English and Scottish commissioners struck the deal behind the Acts of Union. Scotland's negotiators were men whose fortunes had been wrecked by the Darien disaster - and the treaty they signed paid them back for it.