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di Sandro Matteoni
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Culloden 1746
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Si avvertiva un’atmosfera tesa, quel 16 aprile, sul moor di Drumossie:
c’era l’attesa sfiduciata di Carlo Edoardo Stuart che pure si ostinava a
non rinunciare al suo sogno; si avvertivano le sorde correnti di rancore
che opponevano tra loro i capi del suo comando, ed era evidente, nei gesti e negli atteggiamenti, il furore contenuto degli Highlanders che il
freddo e la fame rendevano meno disposti del solito all’ordine e alla disciplina tattica.
I tamburi avevano iniziato a rullare all’alba,
accompagnati dal suono lungo delle cornaCarlo Edoardo (1720-1788), figlio del Vecchio
Pretendente Giacomo Edoardo, nacque a Roma e visse spostandosi attraverso l’Europa rientrando anche
clandestinamente in Inghilterra in un paio di occasioni. Dopo il fallimento della rivolta giacobita del 1745
riparò in Francia ma ne fu espulso due anni dopo in seguito ad accordi intercorsi tra Luigi
XVI e Giorgio II
d’Inghilterra.
Charles
Edward
(1720-1788), son of
the Old Pretender
James Edward, was
born in Rome and lived moving across
Europe, even coming
back to England secretly a couple of times. After the failure of the
Jacobite revolt in 1745 he fled to France but was deported two years later after an agreement between
Louis XVI and George II of England.
28mm Front Rank
muse ma l’esercito giacobita, congelato nell’attesa, restava immobile aspettando un ordine che il principe Carlo tardava a impartire. Poi, a metà mattinata, il silenzio grave fu
spezzato da un grido alto, feroce e corale, che
diede il via alla selvaggia carica, troppo a
lungo trattenuta.
Tutto si consumò in poco tempo. La fredda
efficienza delle truppe governative spezzò
la foga degli scozzesi travolti da un uragano
di proiettili; e sul moor di Drumossie calò di
nuovo il silenzio, carico questa volta di
morte.
La battaglia di Culloden non è solo l’ultima
battaglia campale combattuta su suolo britannico, ma anche, credo si possa dire, l’ultima
battaglia combattuta da un esercito “medievale” sia pure già in piena epoca moderna.
I guerrieri scozzesi, che si fecero massacrare
sul Culloden Moor quel 16 aprile del 1746
dal tiro dei moschetti inglesi, erano, infatti,
gli ultimi sopravvissuti di un modo di inten-
There was a tense atmosphere
on Drumossie Moor, that 16th
April. While Charles Edward
Stuart waited, obstinately not
wanting to give up on his ambitions, you
could feel the silent current of bad feeling
that had set his commanders against each
other and it became obvious, from the
Highlanders’ gestures, behaviour and
dampened ardour that the cold and hunger
had made them less willing than normal to
follow their orders.
The drums began to beat at dawn and they
were accompanied by the long mournful
sound of bagpipes, but the Jacobite army
had waited too long for an order that Prince
Charles had delayed giving. Then, half way
through the morning the deep silence was
broken by a loud, fierce and choral cry, unleashing a wild charge that had been held
back for too long. It all happened quite
quickly. The cold efficiency of the government troops broke Scottish hopes; the
Highlanders fell in a hail of fire, and a new
silence fell on Drumossie Moor that, this time, was charged with death.
The Battle of Culloden was not only the last
battle on British soil but also the last battle
fought by a “medieval” army, even though it
was by then the “modern” period. The
Scottish warriors that were mown down on
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INSURREZIONI GIACOBITE 1745-1746 / JACOBITE REBELLION 1745-1746
e nei pressi di Penrith la retroguardia si scontra con
l’avanguardia del duca di Cumberland / 18th
December 1745, the Jacobites retreat north and
near Penrith their rearguard fights the Duke of
Cumberland’s vanguard.
k. 20 dicembre 1745, il Giovane pretendente è di
nuovo in Scozia con il suo esercito / 20th December
1745, the Young Pretender is back in Scotland with
his army.
l. 17 gennaio 1746, l’esercito scozzese sconfigge a
Falkirk l’armata del generale Hawley che aveva lasciato Edimburgo per soccorrere Stirling / 17th
January 1746, the Scottish army beats General
Hawley’s army at Falkirk, who had left Edinburgh to
help Stirling.
m. I giacobiti si ritirano nei quartieri invernali ad
Inverness / The Jacobites retreat to their winter
quarters in Inverness.
Movimenti inglesi / English Movements:
1. Estate del 1745, Cope si sposta da Inverness verso Aberdeen / Summer 1745, Cope leaves
Inverness for Aberdeen.
2. 11 settembre 1745, le truppe al comando del generale Cope si imbarcano ad Aberdeen e arrivano a
Dunbar intorno al 18 settembre / 11th September
1745, men under General Cope embark from
Aberdeen for Dunbar (arriving on or around 18th
September).
3. 10 dicembre 1745, Wade muove da Newcastle
per intercettare l’esercito nemico in ritirata ma raggiunge Wigan con due giorni di ritardo / 10th
December 1745, Wade moves from Newcastle to intercept the retreating enemy army but gets to Wigan
two days late.
4. 8 aprile 1746, Cumberland sbarca ad Aberdeen /
8th April 1746, Cumberland lands at Aberdeen.
5. 15 aprile 1746, l’esercito inglese si accampa a
Nairn / 5th April 1746, the English army camps at
Nairn.
Sa
Movimenti giacobiti / Jacobite Movements:
a. luglio 1745, Carlo Edoardo Stuart sbarca sulle
Isole Ebridi con pochi mezzi ed uno sparuto gruppo
di seguaci / July 1745, Charles Edward Stuart lands
on the Hebrides with a few men and little equipment.
b. 25 luglio (oppure il 3 agosto, secondo altre fonti)
1745, il Giovane pretendente, sfuggendo alla sorveglianza inglese, arriva sul suolo scozzese presso
Arisaig / 25th July 1745 (or 3rd August, depending
on the source), the Young Pretender flees the
English and gets to Scotland near Arisaig.
c. 9 agosto (19 agosto per altri) 1745, Carlo innalza
il proprio stendardo a Glenfinnan / 9th August 1745
(some say the 19th August), Charles raises his flag
at Glenfinnan.
d. L’armata giacobita, rinforzatasi a Glenfinnan, conquista Perth e poi Stirling / The Jacobite army, after
reinforcing at Glenfinnan, takes Perth and then
Stirling.
e. 17 settembre 1745, i giacobiti prendono
Edimburgo / 17th September 1745, the Jacobites take Edinburgh.
f. 21 settembre 1745, l’esercito inglese al comando
di Cope viene sconfitto dall’armata giacobita di Carlo
Edoardo a Prestonpans / 21st September 1745, the
English army, under Cope, is beaten by Charles
Edward’s Jacobites at Prestonpans.
g. 9 novembre (oppure il 16 novembre) 1745,
Carlisle si arrende ai giacobiti / 9th November 1745
(or 16th November) Carlisle surrenders to the
Jacobites.
h. 28 novembre 1745, Carlo Edoardo fa il suo ingresso in Manchester / 28th November 1745,
Charles Edward enters Manchester.
i. 4 dicembre 1745, cade Derby, Londra è a un centinaio di miglia ma Carlo decide di ritornare in Scozia
/ 4th December 1745, Derby falls and London is only
100 miles away, but Charles decides to return to
Scotland.
j. 18 dicembre 1745, i giacobiti si ritirano verso nord
Culloden Moor on that 16th
April 1746 by English musket
fire were, in fact, the last survivors of a way of fighting
wars that was now history in Europe.
Halfway through the 18th Century, Northern
Scotland, or the Highlands, were still governed with a clan structure, an ancient social
organisation based on a widened family that
dated back to the first centuries before Christ
in Celtic society.
In the clans every man was a warrior and
every warrior owed his loyalty to his lord,
the clan chief. It was a military structure that
the English military historian John Keegan
has defined as pre-Clausewitzian; in a primitive social structure, like the highland clans,
war is a pre-political phenomenon that is
closely connected to a thousand year-old
way of life, a phenomenon that involved
every man, not as a soldier (we can’t call the
Scottish warriors that), but in so far as they
belonged to the clan itself.
Of course war was useful for political ends,
for the defence of the Clan’s territory or
raids to enlarge the herds, but it was also a
simple way for each active male in society to
prove himself.
The behaviour of the Jacobite army in 1745
was typical of an army of these warriors.
When they were in Derby, within sight of
London, Charles Stuart’s army turned its
shoulders on a possible victory and went home to Scotland; there were no clear strategic
or tactical reasons for this decision; maybe it
was the ancestral call of the mountains on
the Scottish warriors or maybe due to difficulties in dividing up the booty, we’ll never
know.
The dead that lay on Culloden Moor on the
evening of the 16th April 1746 were not only
a monument to the broken hopes of Scottish
independence, but also to the last existing
pre-modern military and social system that
Guglielmo Augusto duca di Cumberland (Londra
1721-1765) era il terzo figlio di Giorgio II (16831760), il re sul trono durante la rivolta giacobita del
1745. Nonostante la giovane età, il duca era uno dei più
competenti generali inglesi e prima di comandare l’esercito governativo a Culloden si era fatto una buona
esperienza militare sul continente. A causa della sua
durezza fu odiato dagli scozzesi tanto che
nelle Highlands è ricordato anche oggi
col soprannome che
gli fu affibbiato dopo
la
battaglia
di
Culloden: “Billy the
butcher”, cioè Billy il
Macellaio.
William
Augustus,
Duke of Cumberland
(London 1721-1765) was the third son of George II
(1683-1760), the reigning King during the Jacobite revolt of 1745. Despite his tender age the Duke was one
of the most competent English Generals around and
before commanding the government army at Culloden
he had gained good military experience on the continent. He was a hard man and was hated by the Scottish
so much so that even today the Highlands remember
him with the nickname given to him after the Battle of
Culloden: “Billy the Butcher”.
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still existed on a large scale in
dere la guerra ormai scomparso da tempo in
Europe.
Europa.
Il nord della Scozia, le highlands, era, ancora
The “Forty-Five”
alla metà del XVII secolo, governato secondo il sistema dei clan, antiche organizzazioni After the revolution in 1685 the hopes of a
sociali basate sulla famiglia allargata, risa- Jacobite restoration had never really died in
lenti nella società celtica ai primi secoli England, indeed they were stronger by 1744,
when the cause won the military support of
avanti Cristo.
All’interno del clan ogni uomo era un guer- King Louis XV of France, who liked to imariero, ed ogni guerriero doveva fedeltà al proprio signore, 15mm Essex - collezione Lorenzo Sartori
il capo del clan.
Si trattava di una struttura militare che lo storico militare
inglese John Keegan ha definito preclausewitziana; in una
struttura sociale primitiva, com’erano i clans delle highlands, infatti, la guerra è un
fenomeno prepolitico, connesso ad abitudini di vita millenarie, un fenomeno che riguarda ogni uomo, non in
quanto soldato, definizione
non pertinente ai guerrieri
scozzesi, ma in quanto appartenente al clan.
La guerra serve certo a scopi
politici, la difesa del territorio
del clan o la razzia per arricchirne le man- gine one of his candidates, who was even
drie, ma è anche semplice strumento d’affer- Catholic, on the throne of England, his etermazione di sé d’ogni membro attivo, ma- nal rival. In February ten thousand French
soldiers had been gathered in Dunkerque in
schio, della società.
Il comportamento dell’esercito giacobita nel order to be ferried over to Maldon, on the
1745 fu tipico di un’armata formata da questi Essex coast, from whence they would march
guerrieri. Ormai a Derby, in vista di Londra, to London. The Stuarts were represented by
l’armata di Carlo Stuart voltò le spalle alla the Prince of Wales Charles Edward, son of
possibile vittoria e se ne tornò in Scozia; non James III and grandson of the last Stuart
vi furono motivazioni strategiche o tattiche King of England James II.
chiare a motivare questo comportamento: The adverse atmospheric conditions caused
forse fu il richiamo atavico delle montagne the nearly complete destruction of the French
sui guerrieri scozzesi o forse le difficoltà nel- fleet and delayed the invasion plans; and afla spartizione del bottino, non lo sapremo ter the death of Louis XV that same year the
invasion was cancelled. James III was now
mai di certo.
I morti sparsi sul campo di Culloden la sera worthless in European politics and passed his
del 16 aprile del 1746 non erano solo un mo- dream down to his son Charles Edward, who
numento alle infrante speranze d’indipenden- from that moment on became the ”Young
za della Scozia, ma anche all’ultimo sistema Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie” in
militare e sociale premoderno esistente su European political circles as well as in high
society.
larga scala in Europa.
In 1745 Charles Edward decided to follow his
destiny and on the 16th July the adventure beL'ULTIMA RIVOLTA GIACOBITA
Le speranze di una restaurazione giacobita, gan. Along with a few friends and a meagre
dopo la rivoluzione del 1685, non erano mai supply of weapons and ammunition he left for
morte in Inghilterra, anzi parvero risollevar- Scotland on the light frigate “Du Teillay” comsi nel 1744, quando la sua causa ottenne l’ap- manded by Anthony Walsh, a famous pirate
poggio militare di re Luigi XV di Francia, and smuggler. The ship was supported by the
che vedeva di buon occhio sul trono “Elisabeth”, a 64-gun ship from the French
d’Inghilterra, l’eterna rivale, un suo candida- Navy and rented by the adventurous Walsh,
to, per di più cattolico. A febbraio diecimila who loaded on board a group of volunteers
soldati francesi erano stati radunati a who numbered less than a company.
Dunkerque in attesa di essere traghettati a Things didn’t start well. West of the Irish coMaldon, sulla costa dell’Essex, da cui avreb- ast the expedition met the British warship
bero marciato su Londra. A rappresentare gli “Lions” that tangled with the “Elisabeth”.
Stuart c’era il Principe di Galles Carlo Seriously damaged, the French ship was forEdoardo, il figlio di Giacomo III e nipote del- ced to flee to Brest with the troops and reserves meant for the insurrection but the “Du
l’ultimo re Stuart d’Inghilterra Giacomo II.
Le avverse condizioni atmosferiche, che cau- Teilley”, the Pretender’s ship, got through the
sarono la quasi completa distruzione della blockade and allowed Charles Edward to
flotta francese, fecero rimandare il progetto land on the Hebrides. From here he moved to
the Scottish mainland on the 25th July, landing at Loch nan Uamh, near Arisaig.
Immediately the Young Pretender sent messengers to summon the Clans and on the 9th
August he flew the Stuart flag at Glenfinnan
appointing himself Regent for his father. The
“45” had begun.
Charles gathered a small army of just 1,200
men, half of whom were the Camerons under
Sir Lochiel and half the Keppoch’s
MacDonalds. Other contingents joined them
as they moved East as far as Badenonoh,
along the roads that the English had built after the Jacobite insurrection in 1715 to help
them control the region. The government
army, under Sir John Cope that had been sent
swiftly to intercept the rebels preferred to
march to Inverness and Charles found the
road to Edinburgh free. In Perth he was joined by Lord George Murray, who would prove to be an excellent field commander.
On the 17th September the Pretender entered
Edinburgh and took up residence without opposition at Holyrood, the Stuart family home,
while the government troops protecting the
city stayed in the castle. After reaching
Aberdeen Sir Cope moved towards Dunbar to
march on Edinburgh: but on the 21st
September at Prestopans his army was swept
away in ten minutes by a tremendous charge.
Now Charles ruled Scotland, but he wanted
London.
On the 1st November the army began the
march and met with some successes: Carlisle
surrendered on the 16th November, they reached Manchester on the 28th and took Derby
on the 4th December. But it wasn’t all going
perfectly. The support that had been promised
by the English Jacobites was insufficient and
they came late. There were some bad misunderstandings between Charles and Lord
Murray regarding the strategy and around a
thousand Highlanders had gone home; moreover, as if that wasn’t enough, three government armies were coming together to
surround Charles.
He decided to retreat despite the fact that
London was only 127 miles away and the city
was in panic due to reports that French troops
had left Dunkerque and were already in the