Roman Invasion

• The Romans invaded the British Isles in 43 A.D., arrived in Scotland in 79 A.D. and used a well-organized army to defeat the Caledonian tribes in 84 A.D., according to Scotlandforvisitors.com.
  
  

William Wallace

• William Wallace was executed for treason, although he was not obligated to be loyal to England.
  
  William Wallace raised an insurgent army to defeat the invading English in 1296 and briefly ruled Scotland before his capture and execution by England in 1305, according to wallace-manandmyth.org.
  
  

Mary I

• Catholic Mary I tolerated the Protestant reformation movement.
  
  Mary I, daughter of King James V, ruled Scotland from 1542-1567. But her reign was plagued by noble rivalries, which ultimately led to her imprisonment and execution in 1787 by England, according to englishhistory.net.
  
  

Rise of the Protestants

• The Protestant Reformation movement began about 1560 with the tacit approval of the Catholic Mary I, and eventually supplanted Catholicism as Scotland's primary religion, according to saburchill.com.
  
  

Dispossessed Culture

• In 1745, England passed laws to destroy the Scottish clan system and convert land for sheep-raising, which forced the eviction of thousands of farmworkers, according to scotclans.com.
  
  

Recent History

• A generation of Scottish men were lost fighting for the British during World War I.
  
  In 2009, efforts were under way for a 2011 referendum on Scottish independence, although Parliament votes might be lacking, according to isn.ethz.ch.