When Scotland Ruled the World

Scotland's people may be few in number, but their influence and contribution have been enormous. This text takes a look at 200 years between 1750 and 1950 when the inventiveness and genius of the Scots was seen throughout the world. In 1750 Scotland had emerged from half a century of civil strife. Its parliament was subsumed by Westminster, English troops kept an eye open for any signs of Jacobite rebellion, and the kilt was forbidden. But despite all this, Scotland was to enjoy an unprecedented period of resurgence and influence which lasted 200 years. This book is the story of that period and the people who dominated it with their ideas and their entrepreneurial skills, explorers in every area of human thought. It is the story of a people who thrived on the Union and the Empire, and exercised influence far beyond their numbers and their position on the fringes of north-western Europe. The Calvinist system of church/state concordat enabled the frustrations which elsewhere resulted in revolution to pass Scotland by and her energies to be sublimated into creative enterprises.