Made the British-Scotland union: Who is Anne Stuart?

(1665-1714) Queen of England. She realized the union of England-Scotland. Born February 6, 1665, in London, died August 1, 1714. Her father, James I, Duke of York, was Catholic, and her mother, Anne Hyde, was Protestant. She received a Protestant education under the influence of her uncle, Charles II. She married Prince George of Denmark in 1683. During these years, she became closely associated with her childhood friend Sarah and her husband, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. Sarah influenced Anne in many ways. In 1685, her father, James II, came to the throne. The queens of Anne and her sister Mary were threatened when her Catholic stepmother gave birth to a son. But the British were reacting to a Catholic king. In 1688, James I was deposed. Anne's older sister Mary II became queen and her husband William III (of Orange) became king. Mary II died in 1694. Upon the death of William III in 1702, Anne became Queen of England.

James I (1603) was the first to ascend to the throne of England from the Stuarts, a Scottish dynasty. Upon the death of Elizabeth I without children, the Tudor dynasty bid farewell to the throne of England, and thus the Stuart dynasty began. Beginning in 1603, England and Scotland were two separate kingdoms ruled by the same king. Both countries maintained their own parliaments and maintained the existence of other state institutions separately. There were important factors hindering the union. Both countries were Protestant, but the Scots were Presbyterian and the English were Anglicans. There were significant differences in the perception of religious teaching by these two sects.

In the economic sphere, they were also very far from each other. Britain was in the process of transitioning to capitalism. Feudal institutions continued to exist in Scotland. The population of England reached 5,000,000 at the beginning of the 18th century, while the interior of Scotland was only around 1,000,000. Scotland was a poor country. The farming system was primitive and manufacturing was very underdeveloped. Therefore, the union of the two countries would mean the swallowing of Scotland by England. There was opposition to the union in England as well as in Scotland. English merchants feared that their profits would decline if, after the union, Scottish merchants were granted free trade in English markets. By contrast, the Scottish markets would not yield the same profit to the English merchant. On the other hand, with the merger of the two parliaments, Scots would have had to be represented at a much lower rate than the English. It was also envisaged that the new parliament would be located in London. This situation would also create inconveniences for British parliamentarians. Although the Scottish Party constituted a small group in Parliament, British party arithmetic, which was already in a delicate balance, would be mixed with this participation. The Scots could turn the two main parties, the Whigs and the Tories, against each other completely, and they could be active with tactical alliances.

Anne Stuart attempted to realize the British-Scotland union under these difficult conditions. She addressed this issue in her first speech to parliament on March 8, 1702, and stated that talks with the Scots would be initiated. Despite the mutual suspicions of the representatives of Scotland and England, important steps were taken toward unity. Faced with the possibility of a rupture, both sides realized that it would not be in their best interests. If the rupture occurred, the Scottish economy would not be able to withstand the competition of England, and for the British, a dubious neighbor would appear on the northern border. This should have been avoided, especially at a time when Europe was involved in the Spanish dynastic war. After five years of negotiations, the Law of Union was passed by both parliaments on January 6, 1707. It was approved by the queen on May 1, 1707.

During Anne Stuart's time, there were two major parties in the parliament. Of these, the Whigs represented trade and finance capital, while the Tories were mostly supported by agricultural capital and the Anglican Church. The duke of Marlborough, who had a great influence on Anne's early reign, was Tory, while his wife, Sarah, was Whig. But her deep Anglican beliefs brought Anne closer to the Tories. In this case, there was no longer any talk of an autocratic kingdom in England. There was a balance between the monarch and the parties. Even if Anne was a Tory, she might have had trouble implementing the policy she wanted if the Whigs were in the majority in parliament.

Except for the failed attempts of Henry VIII in the 16th century, England could not have an effective military presence in Continental Europe during the Middle Ages. King Philip IV of Spain, who died on November 1, 1700, left his crown to the duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV. Thus Spain and France would be ruled by the Bourbon dynasty. Britain, the Netherlands, and Austria declared war on France and Spain to prevent this. Portugal joined them in May 1703. The Duke of Marlborough was appointed commander-in-chief of the allied armies. On August 2, 1703, the armies of England and Austria defeated Louis XVI's army near the city of Blenheim in central Germany. Thus Vienna was liberated and French supremacy in Europe was ended. On July 21, 1704, the British navy succeeded in separating Gibraltar from Spain. The importance of Gibraltar as a British base would be revealed at later dates, and the British holding the entrance to the Mediterranean would be a development that has remained important until today. The cracks that appeared between the allies during the Spanish dynastic wars were resolved thanks to Marlborough's masterful diplomacy. Marlborough, who defeated the French armies once again on May 12, 1706, thus consolidated his success. Anne Stuart's commander-in-chief had blocked the domination of Louis XIV France in Europe. Although the wars continued until the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht on March 31, 1713, the pace of France slowed down. For the first time since the 16th century, England waged a successful war with land armies in Continental Europe and laid the foundations of its later policy. Europe should not come under the yoke of a single powerful state at all costs. Such a development could deprive Britain of European markets and damage vital sea transport routes.

Anne Stuart

When James I. came to England in 1603, England's only colony was Ireland. But during the Stuarts period, important colonies were formed in North America around Hudson Bay. The same was true for the Caribbean and India. With the Treaty of Utrecht signed during Anne's reign, the British also separated Newfoundland Island from the French. This place was crucial in gaining a strategic advantage over French competition in Canada and North America.

Anne Stuart died on August 1, 1714. Thus, the throne of England passed to the Hanoverian dynasty of German origin. With Anne's death, an era was ending in England and Europe, and the Stuart dynasty, which had been going on since 1603, came to an end.