[Also answered over in r/AskHistory]

The Jacobite risings were collectively focused on restoring the Stuart monarchs to the throne of the Three Kingdoms of Britain and Ireland. Though often portrayed as a conflict that pitted Scotland against England, the reality was wholly different. Rather, it was the epitome of a civil war in an international context that sharply divided regions, faiths, and families against one another through a century of military struggle and political jockeying.

Further to the point, there was no 'English cause' at play, but by 1745, a violent reaction from the British government under the Hanoverian George II was organized to put down the rising for good after dealing with three major military episodes since the Glorious Revolution in 1688-9. The British 'cause' was focused on preserving the parliamentary Union of 1707 and ensuring the longevity of the Presbyterian kirk in Scotland, and plenty of Scots fought in the British army against the Jacobite threat to support those aims.

Scotland itself was hardly united against the British government, as only a little over 1% of the Scottish population actually took up arms in the Jacobite army during the 1745 rising. Jacobitism remained an international movement through its hundred years of existence, and though it drew the majority of its military and civilian support from Scotland – and while most of the Jacobite-related battles were indeed fought in Scotland – it was but one facet of a much larger tableau played out amidst the War of Austrian Succession and beyond. France and Ireland were deeply involved, and there were also Welsh, Spanish, Flemish, and Italians present in the Jacobite army of 1745-6.

/u/Von_Baron's post furthers a number of myths about the movement's composition and cause. The dissolution of the Union was only one motivation that drew Jacobite attention, but it is important to note that while Charles Edward and his father dangled this (amongst many other things) to attract support, the regnal union between England and Scotland had been active since 1603 and the Stuarts fully intended to claim the entire kingdom. In short, it was never only going to be Scotland, and they made this clear repeatedly – hence Charles Edward's insistence on crossing the border after the capture of Edinburgh and the victory at Prestonpans in September 1745.

Likewise, the Jacobite army did not consist mostly of Highlanders, though troops from the Western Highlands were some of the first supporters in the early autumn of 1745 and they provided the foundation of Jacobite military might. The majority lay in the non-juring Episcopalians from the north-eastern Lowland counties of Scotland, including Angus/Forfarshire, Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, and Morayshire. Lowlanders did not, simply by their nature, tend to side with the British government; the vast majority of Britons – both English and Scottish – were by then in favor of the Union and supportive of the established Hanoverian government.

Like any civil war, it was set against an intensely complex backdrop, and people tend to participate or abstain from participating in such conflicts due to a variety of factors. I explore this topic in my doctoral thesis, 'Spines of the Thistle: The Popular Constituency of the Jacobite Rising in 1745-6', which specifically deals with the plebeian participants, and includes themes of recruitment, motivation, and demographics. The thesis is available as a free download in the University of St Andrews digital repository.

With regard to further reliable reading on the history of Jacobitism, I have recently written up a list of 'essentials' on my research blog, Little Rebellions. I encourage you to have a look and see if anything strikes your fancy. And feel free to ask any further questions you might have!

With best wishes,

Dr Darren S. Layne
Creator and Curator, The Jacobite Database of 1745
(recently of the Institute for Scottish Historical Research, University of St Andrews)