Robert Burns - Complete Poetical Works

The idea that the Scots came from the Middle East has some strong evidence behind it. They have found tartan in tombs in China. The DNA markers from people on the Hebrides linked up to Iraq. I remember having a conversation with my grandmother and she was telling me all her family had fair hair and blue eyes. Blue eyes dominate my Scottish family, and one only has to see the description of the physical appearance of the ancient Scythians to know that they had fair hair and blue eyes. Blue eyes are a genetic mutation from the Black Sea, basically ancient Scythia. There are small peculiarities like how similar the Kurdish flag is to the Gaelic flag, they both consist of a yellow sun.

Annabel Carothers - Kilcaraig

The Picts do not get much of a mention so I'm going to go into detail of the known history of them. There are no written records, what is known is that they inhabited the north-east and north of Scotland during the Dark Ages and Early Medieval periods. Everything apart from their list of kings is solid speculation. Venerable Bede a monk knew more than anyone on the subject, he writes that they came from Scythia to Ireland, great seafarers, and when they got to Ireland they asked the Irish for land, the Irish gave them access to Scotland, only bargaining with them they should take Irish wives in payment, and forever onwards their kingship shall trace through the female line. It is called matrilineal succession, and the list of kings of the Picts that survives clearly details that the king is traced from the female lineage.

H.May Poynter - A Fair Jacobite

How could one not reflect on the most sensational enigma in the highlands, the Loch Ness monster. The Picts first knew of it, it is not a new ordeal. The Picts believed in magical beings and had druids that used power (most likely sheer intelligence). Columba the Irish monk was the first non-Pict to see the monster and scared it away when it accosted him. Columba then fought the head druids of The Picts with magic to convert the Picts to Christianity. The Picts were set into the seven kingdoms, all named after the children of the king Cruithne. The seven kingdoms were Cait, Ce, Circinn, Fib, Fidach, Fotla and Fortriu.

M.C. Beaton - Death Of An Outsider

Consider it lucky that any information on the highlanders still exists. Longshanks the king of England made sure he destroyed key texts in a cleansing of the people. There was no recorded history of the Picts for a start. The people of the highlands faced oppression with the outlawing of carrying weapons called the disarmament act (even though weaponry is a key part of their cultural dress). They were massacred and the chiefs were replaced with landlords who drove the highlanders off their land for farming sheep. Spread to the far corners where they lived away from their homelands, denied the right to speak their own language and learn about their rich history. Systematic oppression actually tried to destroy their history and turn it into pseudo-history. It is outrageous that a country that was once split in two between the highlands and the lowlands population-wise has been reduced to a barren wasteland.

Queen Victoria - More Leaves From The Journal Of A Life In The Highlands

Robert Bruce, known as the "Outlaw King'' was loved and loathed in his day. He murdered one of his rivals John Comyn in a church and lived his life on the run. His army gathered clans and fought a guerilla war in the highlands, culminating in the victory at Bannockburn. The English thought they could just waltz into Scotland and take it and treat the citizens like they treated the Britons and the Angles. For Bruce, the law went out the window, when you are dealing with the fact that you are fighting for an oppressed people who are being treated like second class citizens. Bruce could back up his bravado with tremendous ability in battle, decapitating knights that would duel with him. A hitherto hero for Scotland, with statues aplenty throughout the country, immortalised in song and prose.

Alison Plowden - Danger To Elizabeth

I visited Edinburgh and went on a Mercat tour of the Royal Mile. It was fabulous and I learned many things like how the streets of Edinburgh were soaked in effluent thrown out by the citizens, and the rich people would charge others to carry them through the streets on little chairs called a sedan chair. Scotland should also be known for its inventions including the steam engine, steam train, television, the telephone and things like penicillin. Scotland also produced one of the richest men to ever live with inflation, Mr Andrew Carnegie who was a railroad tycoon who owned Skibo Castle in the far north of Scotland. Carnegie although possessing massive wealth was known for his philanthropy and donated millions upon millions to charities.

Ian Rankin - Let It Bleed

One thing that is certain is that Lord George Murray had a tremendous ability in warfare that pitted the Jacobites to be a tremendous force to be reckoned with. He was a Protestant and his father actually fought for William of Orange alarmingly. The Duke of Atholl is the title given to the head of Clan Murray, and this was George's father John. He single-handedly won the battle of Prestonpans because he found a guide who knew of a secret path to flank the government forces. George would lead the flank of the Jacobite army personally and with resurgence post-Culloden, where an army gathered to fight, an army bigger than the force at Culloden, but they had no general and the organisation was not there to lead the army, something Lord George Murray would be suited to, it is amazing to think how history would differ given if Murray could have led the second force.

Moray McLaren - Bonnie Prince Charlie

It is incredible to imagine that once the mighty backdrop of the Scottish Highlands was home to the same amount of people in the Highlands than there was in the Lowlands. Of course, now it is quite the barren and isolated environment. Bonnie Prince Charlie gave his most loyal chiefs special Medusa head targe shields and these are quite rare as there is only a small number in existence. Another peculiarity of the Highlanders is that they charged into battle and shed their plaid to become naked. They were really like the wild barbarians of the highlands, depicted in many drawings of the Picts. Of course, a plaid and kilt are big enough to wrap around a person and keep them warm in the desolate conditions of the Scottish Highlands.

Ian Rankin - Resurrection Men

The remarkable case of Scotland, ghost armies sending a rightful king back home after invading England; cannon fire shooting down the messenger to give the highland charge; an ethnic cleansing followed by outlawing of a culture and way of life. Then there was a tricky task of controlling the highlands, a place, not even the Roman Empire could control. The Darien Scheme was an attempt at securing trade in the Americas and it was an absolute failure. But with no money, the best option was to cede with Great Britain. But Scotland being colonised by the English still kept some things that other colonies did not have including their own bank, the Bank of Scotland. They still pressed their own money, and if you visit Scotland you will find people using Scottish notes, that cannot be used anywhere else in the world.

John McKendrick - Darien: A Journey In Search Of Empire

One peculiarity about Scotland is that the sailor who brought football to Brazil was in fact Scottish. The game as we know it now would be much different without a Scottish influence. The Scotland team of the fifties was right at the cutting-edge, and they developed a type of game that would later dominate European teams with the Italian style of ''pass and move football''. The revolution of Celtic winning the nineteen-sixty-seven European Cup ushered in a whole new era of British teams dominating the European Cup, where it had up until that time dominated by Italian clubs. Celtic and Rangers both of Glasgow are the two most successful domestic clubs in world football (well Rangers were up until their capitulation). There was a whole generation of Scottish players playing in England during the seventies and Alex Ferguson would later go onto to become the greatest ever coach with Manchester United. Scotland in the modern era has not qualified for a major tournament for more than twenty years, but when the new generation emerges it will be in interesting with the likes of Karamoko Dembele.

Ian Rankin - Exit Music

If the Jacobite rebellion was not about religion, then why did the Catholic Church basically abandon the plight of the Stuarts? With all their muscle and wealth they could not even muster barely a handfull of ships with basic weaponry in aid to the Stuart cause. And then, of course, the reparations of the highland massacres. Where was the Catholic Church then? There is absolutely no justice. To think that people so beautiful, with their songs and dancing and culture, were massacred and taken out of their homes and murdered, really puts it in perspective of the great evil that was lurking in the people of the day. The great evil being British colonialism, responsible for millions and millions of atrocities worldwide for hundreds of years, spreading torture, disease, and slavery. One wonders if there will be ever any justice when it comes to the plight of the highlanders.

Stephen M. Walt - American Primacy: Its Prospects And Pitfalls

In a Hobbsian lens which is a massive influence on neorealism as we now know it, which attributes that the state of nature of mankind is essentially violent and warlike. It is in the state that mediates violence and it is the state which brings about peace, not man. Without a mediation of violence, there would be no peace. Of course, many states will band together in a natural sort of means where they follow the bigger states. There cannot possibly be one global state because of mankind sees differences rather than similarities because there is the aspect of racism in International Relations. There will be prejudice and hate committed towards people who have committed no crime but the only thing they have ever done is being born different, hence why the world above the state in world order is anarchical.

Edmund Burt - Burt's Letters From The North Of Scotland

The Picts are depicted in various Victorian paintings as ''noble savages'' but this is a mistake. What is known is not very much but the main points to learn are the facts given to us by a premier historian known as Venerable Bede. The Picts were seafarers who painted themselves in blue woad as a battle tactic to intimidate their opponents. They wore clothes because on the Aberlemno stone they are depicted as fighting against the Angle-Saxons, and they are fully clothed. They used advanced weaponry. They painted their giant standing stones that litter the countryside of Scotland. Highland dancing is previously Pictish. The Picts had many mythical animals and a rich history of storytelling. They used Ogham on many of their stones and were a form of animism for many years before finally converting to Christianity, where their stones started to change to symbols from the Bible and crosses.

Stephen M. Walt - The Origins Of Alliances

The War on Terror invites some great interest from a Hobbesian lens of sorts. First of all, it has nothing to do with Islam, terrorists have hijacked the religion for their own means. Because there is no Muslim pope, there is no higher respected figure who can condemn such actions of terrorism, like what the Catholic pope did to the I.R.A. In a Hobbesian lens, there is a state of nature, which is the violent state, the state of the terrorist. The terrorist commits atrocities towards innocent people, indiscriminate violence, and violence towards the people in a Hobbes lens is violence towards the state, because of his famous quote ''the state of nature is the state of nations.'' There are states waging war on the greatest enemy to the state, which is stateless people. Because a terrorist has no diplomats they cannot reason also. Wherever there's a state and indiscriminate violence towards people there will likely be a war.

Iain Zaczek And Charles Phillips - The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Tartan

Wearing highland dress was banned after Culloden, but it was the visit of George IV to Scotland that sparked massive interest in the romanticised image of tartan and highland dress as we now know it. George IV was the king of Britain and related to the Stuarts, and decided to visit the north of the kingdom. Sir Walter Scott organised a kilt to be made for the king and who came forth but two people claiming to be relatives of the Stuarts, and they called themselves the Sobieski Stuarts (they were just two brothers by the name of John and Charles Allen) but they claimed to have a book written by Charles Edward Stuart detailing all the specific tartans to each clan. They were lying because they were not relatives of the Stuarts. Sir Walter Scott organised this trip to Scotland and could be seen as not only reinforcing highland romanticism which he borrowed a lot from Robert Burns but Scott single handedly brought back highland dress from the ashes and tartan as we know it is all thanks to Sir Walter Scott.

Barry R. Posen - Inadvertent Escalation

The War on Terror is thwarted with ineptitude. First of all, the United States of America fought non-state actors. Machiavelli would be rolling around in a fit of laughter, as the question arises if they are not a state how in fact are they a real and serious threat? Because only states can pose threats, so why would one bother engaging something that was not a state. War is seen as a last resort and nothing more. If a state's leader disagrees with another state's leader, they settle it like men and come to a decision. War is only an absolute last resort. The wars in the Middle East were mainly consisting of a lot of irregular like warfare, and fighting conventional warfare is never going to work because of defensive guerilla armies being able to choose when and where they want to fight, tiring down an opponent who is pouring literally massive amount of time and effort into the conflict. The common terrorist does not dress in the attire seen on the battlefields in von Clausewitz's time, which would have been bright and colourful outfits. The common terrorist wears normal attire akin to the common citizen, so it is easy to accidentally kill innocent people, which should never in fact happen.

Sir Walter Scott - Quentin Durward

Of course, the Scotti have not ruled Scotland for nearly a thousand years. The rulers predominately have been Norman ethnically over the last thousand or so years. Scotland is a mix of the original inhabitants called the Picts; the Scotti who were on the western coast; the Britons in Strathclyde which is modern-day Glasgow; Bernicia ruled by the Angle-Saxons which is modern-day Edinburgh; then later there were the Norse and then the Normans. Sassenach is the Scots Gaelic word for Englishman and the word is derived from the original word Saxon, which itself is derived from Saxony. The Angle-Saxons were only mercenaries for the Roman Empire from Germany who inherited the Roman lands when the Roman Empire started to decline.

Stephen M. Walt - The Hell Of Good Intentions

The United States of America could arguably be a failed state. For a nation that cannot look after its own people with public healthcare and support for the disadvantaged, then what purpose do they serve? A state must look after its most vulnerable, and no welfare and a solid condoning of capital punishment is not looking after the citizen's best interest. The greatest concept to teach others is the fact that they have rights, and these rights should be protected by the state. If a citizen was to fall unwell or to perhaps be wrongfully imprisoned, then the state must protect them. The United States of America is not a state but an absolute ''free for all''. The purpose of a state is to protect its most vulnerable, and that is the citizens who pay the taxes in order to keep the state strong, without its people basically keeping the state running, a state becomes failed.

Edward Goodwillie - The World's Memorials Of Robert Burns

Robert Burns was voted the greatest ever Scot in a poll and will remain a strong influence on the English language, as well as the Scots language. Basically, with the Scottish Enlightenment, there were massive advances in economics, philosophy and sociology among other things. The peculiar thing about Edinburgh the city is that it sits on an ancient glacier, the castle sits upon the stone that was in the middle of this glacier, and the city sits around this area. You only have to immerse yourself in the city streets to really grasp the raw power that was the inspiration for the minds of the day. There are plenty of pubs in Edinburgh where there must have been many stories told and ideas exchanged, it is not as Gothic as Glasgow I think, but you can see where the inspiration for the minds that were at work in the city.

Hans J. Morgenthau - The Purpose Of American Polities

The United States of America may be an encompassing and world superpower, but they are certainly not respected like they wish they were throughout the world and their presence and image within many countries have been shattered basically since events like the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan. Take a relatively Muslim country like Indonesia, now the popular opinion of the U.S.A. has plummeted in the years 2003 and 2004. These findings are displayed in the book Taming American Power by Stephen M. Walt. There has also been a plummeting of favourable opinion throughout many Arab and Muslim nations since the War on Terror, including Turkey, Morroco and Palestine. In order to fight the War on Terror, there should be greater interest in creating a healthy image, not one that should be despised by many would-be terrorists. Having a bad image internationally has not been very kind to the U.S.A.

Edwin Moore - Scotland: 1001 Things You Need To Know

William Wallace will forever be known throughout history as either a criminal or a hero and he embodies the saying that ''One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.'' He was made Guardian of Scotland and there is a monolithic tower to his memory in Stirling called Wallace Monument, but when he graced this world he was seen as a criminal by the English. One only has to see his death at the hands of the English, where he was hung, drawn and quartered. He actually had his guts burnt on hot coals whilst he was still alive, but even Wallace himself could match such atrocities, as it was he who decapitated Hugh de Cressingham from his horse and made his skin into a baldric (which is a sword belt) and sword handle. There is no conflict on Earth which garners so much ferocity from both sides, fierce competitiveness known far and wide throughout the world. The bizarre thing is both the English Normans and Wallace were of the same ethnicity (Norman) it really showcases what war can bring out of citizens of rival states.

Stephen M. Walt - Revolution And War

Neorealism is structured into two spheres. One is the concept that states act defensively, and the other is that states run offensively. Kenneth Waltz theorises that states operate defensively basically because, at his time in the mid-twentieth century, the world was in the Cold War, so states were precariously creating armies in this standoff against each other, with both sides, the Soviets and the United States of America, were both in this arm wrestle to outdo each other, so there was a defensive stalemate. John Mearsheimer theorised that states act offensively, and his writings are much more current day and he writes critiques on neo-liberalism particularly critiques of the U.S.A. because of them acting very aggressively in the last seventy or so years, seeking to exert their influence in many conflicts and gain alliances in every sphere of the world in an attempt at world domination.

James MacPherson - The Poems Of Ossian

The Highlands is a very hard place to control militarily, and the Highlanders used this to their advantage. The would situate the battle to take place on hills, so they would charge down the hill and engage with the enemy. It was called the ''highland charge'' and proved to be very effective. Culloden actually took place on flat marshy land, so the Jacobites could not use this, coupled with the fact that the order to charge came late because of the messenger being shot by a cannon. In order to control a mountainous people and a mountainous area, the inhabitants would seek to use local men, like the Black Watch, and their know-how of controlling the people and the land was basically all that the government could do. The Roman Empire could not conquer such a mountainous region, so no one could. This is perhaps why generals like Napoleon were so successful throughout Europe, as were the Highlanders fighting later for the British, as Napoleon was from Corsica, a very rugged and mountainous island. He knew how to fight in the mountains. Without such expertise and knowledge of the hilly countryside, a general does not know how to fight in the mountains.

Stephen M. Walt - Taming American Power: The Global Response To U.S. Primacy

Classical realism and neorealism can be identified as first of all being a reaction against fascism (Machiavelli suffering greatly at the hands of violent politics, himself being tortured and driven into exile) and a reaction against greed in Hobbe's writing who distinctly wrote on self-preservation and selfishness, which aligns greatly with capitalism. The realists believe in the communal aspect of a state, and neorealists believe that politicians are basically at fault, not the people who are led by these tyrants (John Mearsheimer's work Why Leaders Lie being a terrific example) and von Clausewitz really cemented this belief as he was never a politician but was ordered by politicians, therefore carrying out orders of war and learning the hard way politics can be thwarted with violence. Many neorealists have published scathing works on American primacy, which you can see on a daily basis results in suffering and carnage. The U.S.A also is the sole leading contributor to climate change.

Nigel Tranter - The Queen's Grace

Of course, the Roman Empire never conquered Ireland nor did they conquer Scotland. They fought a battle at Mons Graupius (Which no one to this day knows where exactly it took place.) After being raided en mass, with thousands of casualties due to guerilla raids by the Caledonians they retreated and made Hadrians' Wall and there were still terrifying night raids that took place. Look at any nation in the world and you will not find one where the original inhabitants of the state remain unconquered. The Jacobites formed an army the same size used at Culloden just weeks after the battle. There were reports of mutiny in the Highland ranks of the British military, explored in the book Mutiny by John Prebble. The very things that were nearly eradicated from this planet, including Highland Dress and Scottish Gaelic, still exist. The British Empire had to construct Fort George near Inverness to control the Highlands and create their supreme military unit The Black Watch to control the area. Scotland still has its own bank and government, and who knows maybe in the future will one day be its own fully-fledged state.

A Celtic Miscellany

There is a sacred text in the history of the Gaels that no-one knows who actually wrote, it is called the Lebor Gabala Erenn. The stories that are told in this book are magical, not only is there the story of Goidel Glas the creator of the Goidelic languages but the story takes the wonderful journey of the Gaels up through the Mediterranean, where they stop in Malta and Sicily. This is not completely farcical, as the ancient Phoenicians travelled throughout the Mediterranean. There is linguistic similarities with Gaelic and Maltese explored in the book Scots: A Genetic Journey by Alistair Moffat and James F. Wilson. After Malta, they sail to Spain and spend time there. Mil was one of the Gaels and there is a second Scota who is also a daughter of a Pharoah, along with the other Scota who marries Nel, son of Fenius Farsaid. After settling in Spain, they become the sons of Mil, the Milesians and they view Ireland from a telescope and sail to it. There were some Greek historians like Strabo who was based in Spain who can back up that there was movement between Spain and Ireland of Celts.

Nigel Tranter - The Wallace

The movie Braveheart had many untrue moments. First of all the kilts, they were wearing in the film did not come to much later, about the 1500s. Then, of course, Scotland had much better equipment that is portrayed. Some remarkable facts about Wallace and Bruce were that Wallace stayed in the Vatican to train as a knight. Bruce also fought in the crusades before his military campaigns really started. There was a man who aided Wallace early on in his campaign against the English was Andrew Moray. He was directly responsible with Wallace for leading the uprising. Moray is not featured in the famous film, and the really remarkable thing is that Moray was going to become Guardian of Scotland, but was killed at Stirling Bridge, so Wallace was given this title after the miraculous outcome of a battle strategy that was the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

Essential Gaelic Dictionary

Surprisingly this dictionary has the word for an Egyptian. The Gaelic word is Eipheiteach for males and ban-Eipheiteach for females. This is no bizarre anomaly, Egyptians play a very vital role in the history of the Gaels because the ancestor of the Gaels, Goidel Glas, was half Egyptian and half Scythian. His mother was Scota, daughter of a Pharaoh, and his father was Nel, son of Fenius Farsaid, a Scythian king who was related to Noah. This was a claim by the Scots for a Scottish pope, as they claimed they were ancestors of Noah, therefore directly related to God himself. If you don't believe this, the Irish Gaels traded a lot of with this part of the world because Lapis Lazuli is found as paint on many of their books. You cannot create blue without Lapis Lazuli stone, it is all throughout the Book of Kells a famous book from Ireland.

Robert Burns - Selected By Don Paterson

It will come as a shock to many that Robert Burns accepted a job in the Carribean, but he never went. Scotland although having one-tenth of the population, probably made up one-third of the British attempts to abolish slavery, but although this is true it is under much speculation of how much Scotland did have an impact. Of course, Scotland, or Scots, not the nation but the people were responsible for many conservative movements, you only have to see the amount of Scots fighting for the Confederacy or in Australia where Lachlan Macquarie was the governor of New South Wales and responsible for many atrocities against the indigenous people of Australia. Lachlan Macquarie was from a tiny island of Ulva. James Scobie the man whose death kicked off the Eureka Stockade was in fact Scottish.

T. M. Devine - Recovering Scotland's Slavery Past: The Caribbean Connection

Scotland like Ireland in some wars was not determined to be a legitimate fighting force, so their wounded soldiers were shot at or killed. It was a type of political oppression that both nations felt in the Easter Rising and Culloden. With political acknowledgment, they may have been treated better, arguably of course, but it was the rejection by the British of their political acknowledgment that led to horrifying suffering. As well as well known religious oppression, there was, of course, the ethnic oppression, erasing of their culture and language. Scottish nationalism is not a conservative concept that wants to kick every nationality out of the country, in fact, Scotland is a world leader in community development and resettling refugees. Scottish nationalism is an independence movement, similar to that of the Catalans. This is where Robert Burns has been adopted as a Scottish revolutionary, with his Jacobite sympathies, as Scottish nationalism is freedom fighting and an independence movement.

Barry R. Posen - The Sources Of Military Doctrine: France, Britain And Germany Between The World Wars

Machiavelli's writings should be used as a warning of how power manifests itself. Is it case of people being drawn into power by their nature, or does it say something about the position of power in a physical sense and how it impacts on the normal everyday people? Warning signs of the beginnings of fascism should understand that it starts from nationalism, not in a state sense because the state can be interpreted as an authoritarian dominant force on freedom, or it can be the lifeblood of a society, because many casualties of the Nazi party were German citizens. But when there is a fierce nationalism of a people, and a clearly defined enemy, and this enemy is in fact internal and part of the society, then there will be violence. If mankind wants to survive then he should make the state and take it global to accommodate all people.

T. M. Devine - Independence Or Union: Scotland's Past And Scotland's Present

Taking a journalistic view of Scotland's past is acknowledging that there was a shared plight of freedom from the ultimate oppressor, the English, a sense of misery and hopelessness from the suffering and sheer carnage that took place throughout the highlands very similar to the great Russian literature. It was bleak but beautiful. It all culminated in a great expression of philosophy in the enlightenment era, one last push before capitulation. From an IR perspective there was definitely state building from the likes of Wallace and Bruce, and when it came to Charles Edward Stuart the cause had nearly gone, where the Highlanders became powerless and pawns to the greater powers. The greatest triumph to the Scots was having Mary Stuart's son become king of not only Scotland, but England, Ireland and Wales. James VI and I was Scotland's greatest triumph.

John Lewis Gaddis - We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History

Thomas Hobbes is one of the founding fathers of the realist branch of IR, he could also be interpreted as also a neo-classical realist because as detailed in his major and famous work Leviathan, the explanation of humanity in it's rugged detailed analysis, because of Hobbes wrote other works explaining the very details of things, Leviathan is a work capturing man's ugly side. Man is greedy and warlike, and it is only the state that can save his wretched existence, but for Hobbes, the state is personified as it takes human aspects to its appearance and personality. For Hobbes, the Leviathan is just like mankind, greedy and warlike, so Hobbes could be identified as a forerunner of neorealism as his invention of Leviathan, the personification of the state is in fact, and he, or she, is just like mankind, selfish and greedy. The importance of the fact that states or the leaders of states being selfish is very important now as ever because the politicians throughout the world are further out of touch with the everyday people, as detailed in the climate change activism of the modern era.

Charlotte Randall And William Edward Morris - Starting With Hume

David Hume is identified on the blurb of this book as the greatest philosopher to ever write in the English language. His theories on free will and the existence of a god were ground-breaking for his time, and they predate existentialism of Kierkegaard and Satre by a considerable timespan. Prominent Scots were not afraid to delve into the controversial, as Lord Darnley was homosexual who actually slept with the person he supposedly murdered or had murdered, Rizzio. James I and IV happened to be openly gay. As it appears it to be so Charles Edward Stuart was typecast as a literal antichrist to the English, the bringer of great doom that would lead to the death and destruction to the English way of life.

John J. Mearsheimer - Conventional Deterrence

Waltz did coin the term "neo-realist'' in the 70s, with states being identified as selfish, rather than the self-preservation theory of Hobbes with people, individuals, being self-orientated. Where Waltz and Mearsheimer differ is the fact that the latter believes states act offensively, whereas Waltz believes states act defensively. Fascism can be identified as first being a solution to greed, where a state blames its problems and failings on an opponent. The state will claim that this enemy is denying them economic growth, so the problem is the 'other', so therefore violence needs to happen. Fascism is the use of violence, both from the state and the individual, (In the case of WWII Hitler targeting the Jews and others and then using the German state to invade Poland). Mankind will seek to use himself and his state in acts of violence. Many people interpret the realist branch as warmongering, but Sun Tzu wrote about war damage limitation in his book The Art of War.

T. M. Devine - Clanship To Crofter's War: The Social Transformation Of The Scottish Highlands

What is interesting in the English media channels is the framing taking place around Charles Edward Stuart. When the Jacobites invaded England, images were circulated throughout the country of the king and they can only be described as feminine. This spoilt, rich and Catholic Italian wearing a kilt leading the savages from the north. Post risings also many people believed the king to be homosexual, as he fled for his life dressed as a woman to escape the redcoats. In reality, Charles was not effeminate but trained as a young child in military strategy. His father would personally take him to battles and they would observe on a faraway hill. There was a lot of planning around the risings from the exiled Stuarts. There was a shared trust that the Highlanders would not abandon their claim. Charles after returning to Rome a failed man took up drinking and would eventually fall into domestic abuse with his spouse, beating her, ultra-masculine behaviour far from the image portrayed to the English. He would even travel to London incognito later in life to observe what could have been.

Stephen Van Evera - Causes Of War

World peace - the great unattainable goal by humanity, rests on the premise of two paths. The first path is the path of the USA and its allies. To basically forge and keep alliances creating a western liberal hegemony, but alas it is not peaceful, because what is created is, in fact, a war machine that has siphoned trillions of dollars into over the last hundred or so years. The second method is by China. Have little or no alliances and create your military in a way that frightens other states so that the nation's military basically becomes a deterrent to others and there can be more resources to face existential threats that pose greater risks to humanity (like climate change.) It should also be noted that China has not spent a single cent on a war for the last 50 or so years. A military can do many things, like plant trees and care and rescue people if a natural disaster took place. It is not solely used for fighting wars.

Stefan Zweig - Mary Queen Of Scots

Throughout Scottish history, the chiefs had an air of superiority. A Clansmen gave his life to the chief, rather than the king, but there was also the case where a chief would coerce his men with the threat of violence. Disbanding the clan system was disbanding the Scottish Highland way of life, and the final straw was the Disarmament Act. Many men hoarded swords in the rooves of their croft, waiting for the day the Stuarts would return. To successfully conquer the Scots was to disarm them and take away their powerful chiefs, and then barbarically colonise them and treat them as subhuman. The highland cause was a lost cause because the highlanders were coming up against what would be the greatest empire the world has ever seen, The British Empire. But one thing is certain, My late grandfather told me, the further north you got, the stronger the alliance with the government was, so it is not the case that all the highlanders fought for the Stuarts, the Clan Gunn and Clan Sutherland were from the north and fought for the government with honour.

John J. Mearsheimer - The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams And International Realities

In the age of now, the Anthropocene, society in the global world is in a post-Global Financial Crisis world, where the failings of capitalism were shown. The capitalism economy is still impacting the world in severe global emissions and one the greatest emitters in the world is actually the great sacrificial death machine, the US army. Realism and Marxism have never been more important than now, and when it comes to the international actors, being states in the neo-realist lens, to be in a state is to have power and a state offers security and protection. You can only see how non-state peoples struggle, like the Rohingya and other stateless peoples. States are selfish, they are the bullies. To live in a state is to have power. Classical realism still has a purpose as seen in Syria where there is still an evil dictator overwhelmed by the power and will use it to make others suffer at their hands. The way to understand the world's problems is a shift towards a neo-classical realist lens.

Nigel Tranter - The Flockmasters

Scotland not only fused the Picts with the Gaels to become the Scots, but the Norse also had a considerable influence on power within the Highlands. Notable Norse-Gael names are McLeod and McDonald, which can all trace their clan origins to Vikings. There were parts of Scotland conquered by the Norse, the isles and even mainland territory like Caithness and Sutherland, these remained in the Norwegian crown's possession for a few hundred years right up to the 15th century. There is even some speculation of whether the Norse who discovered America actually hailed from Scotland. They were known as great seafarers taking slaves to as far Constantinople, with records showing Pictish slaves taken to modern day Turkey. The Norse had a considerable impact on modern-day Scotland, even today the title of Lord of the Isles, once held by Angus Og MacDonald, is now held by the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles.

Jenny Wormald - Mary Queen Of Scots

Many people do not realise that when Kenneth MacAlpin inherited the throne of the Picts, the kingdom of Dal Riata was on the decline. They had been ravaged and pillaged by the Vikings for some years and the dominant force in Scotland were the Picts. This is why the early kings of Alba, Scotland, are listed as kings of the Picts. It is even under speculation whether Kenneth was even part of the Scotti. It is not written anywhere of who his father was, and it is not written anywhere in solid proof of whether the Picts really did practice matrilineality. There was a Gaelicisation of the Picts, one can see that in the list of the kings, the only surviving document of the Picts, and Bede the master and sources that there is on this matter of the early history of the Picts is all that is known. Bede states that the Picts took Gaels for wives, so they must have been half Gael half Pict for longer than just the succession of MacAlpin.

J.H. Elliott - Scots & Catalans: Union & Disunion

One of the most overlooked and often unremembered aspects of Scottish history is the people of the highlands were refugees and migrants en masse. We are talking millions of migrants traveling to the far corners of the world. They had an immense impact on places like New Zealand, with Dunedin actually being a Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, and the whole city of Dunedin is actually based on the street layout of Edinburgh. There were 2.6 million migrants leaving in only a number of years, 600,000 of these went to England. Remarkably Scotland has probably learned a thing or two about immigration after seeing her sons and daughters flung to the far corners because Scotland has taken in a third of the UK's Syrian refugees in the last couple of years.

T. M. Devine - To The Ends Of The Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora, 1750-2010

Scotland has many stories, some which invoke the brave to the macabre. Sawney Bean was a real-life cannibal who lived in Scotland in the 16th century, the head of a forty-five member clan that preyed on over a thousand people as they set up traps to intercept messengers who were passing by and took the bodies back to their lair to consume. Also, whisky is seen as quite the lavish drink for most, but it was originally the drink for the underclasses. Claret was the drink of choice for the upper classes. Somerled who was the progenitor of Clan Donald also has five hundred thousand descendants, second only in the volume of living descendants to the 'big daddy' of living descendants, the famous Mongol ruler Genghis Khan.

John & Noreen Hamilton - Scottish History: Strange But True

When Charles Edward Stuart went south in England after Prestonpans and the victory, he mustered troops in Manchester called the Manchester Regiment. They disbanded by the time the army got back after the retreat. The retreat happened because there were reports by a spy of a ''ghost army'', which frightened the clan chiefs. The spy alerted the chiefs about an incoming army, so they fled back to Scotland after reaching Derby. Charles was adamant that they should progress to London, but the chiefs had been spooked. Also, John O'Sullivan, the third in command was a terrible tactician and so Charles had many clowns in his ranks. He was essentially let down by his own men, such is the nature of leaving a council of arrogant fiends fiercely object to the main goal. Charles was a military man and had grown up watching battles as a child.

Nigel Tranter - The Story Of Scotland

One of the very great myths of Culloden and the Scottish plight was the fact they were outgunned. This is not the case, as they had more cannon than the government forces. There is a myth, a great romanticised notion that the Highlanders were equipped with a targe shield and a Scottish broadsword, otherwise known as a basket-hilt broadsword. The Clan chiefs were equipped like this, whereas the clansmen were equipped with a musket, because they were found on the battlefield of Culloden after the carnage ensued. There were also French troops fighting, well, Irish and Scottish in the French Service including Irish Piquets and the Fitzjames Horse, who wore breastplate armour. The Irish Piquets wore red coats but apart from this were exactly like French Soldiers.

Jacqueline Riding - Jacobites: A New History Of The '45 Rebellion

So Bonnie Prince Charlie led the rebellion to claim the throne for the Catholic Stuarts exiled in Rome, where Charles was born, he was also half Polish. What is not known is, in fact, they actually triumphed considerably at Prestonpans where they took over the country of Scotland, after lighting the fiery cross which was a message to the chiefs that there was going to be a war. Actually the general of the Jacobites, Lord George Murray was in fact Protestant. They recruited a Manchester regiment, but they left before they traversed back to Inverness. One of the great feats of Culloden, despite having thousands of men slaughtered and losing, was the triumph of Ghillies MacBean, who was six feet four inches, the tallest Jacobite in the ranks, smote down 13 government soldiers single-handedly at Culloden with his basket-hilt broadsword before being bayoneted to death.  

John Lewis Gaddis - On Grand Strategy

One thing that permeates from the writings of Machiavelli is a severe distrust in authority. Machiavelli would know this being a former torture victim and incarcerated prisoner of war by the Medici and the Catholic Church. Machiavelli wrote in his works that an invading army should seek the favour of the inhabitants and not subject the people to oppression, but seek to gain the favour of the people. He was for the working class, and his works were read by the great military generals like Napoleon Bonaparte. Machiavelli was sort of like a socialist before socialism, this fact was noted by Antonio Gramsci who held Machiavelli, the father of modern political science in high esteem. Machiavelli is quite often cited by many political scientists. 

Nigel Tranter - Tales And Traditions Of Scottish Castles

Scotland could always punch above its weight, no matter how many foes they were challenged to. There was a rich tradition of raising armies. To think that they beat the English on more than one occasion, where England had upwards from five times the Scottish population at the time. The English after feuding with the Scots for hundreds of years, they soon came to the realisation that these people were tough and hardy, so they employed them with a measly sum to fight on their own front lines. The old guard of clansmen had died with their culture and the new young men would not know what being in a clan meant. Scotland was mainly a regional area, so you can imagine the people would be poor, and if tempted with reward, would lay down their life for a cause.

John J. Mearsheimer - The Tragedy Of Great Power Politics

Political realism has its roots in E.H. Carr's analysis of Thucydides, Hobbes, and Machiavelli, who all they can approve that they did not call themselves realists at the time of their writings. It holds the value of the state and classical realists believe that man is innately selfish, whereas neorealists believe states are selfish due to the anarchical state system. The classical branch of realism has its roots in Hobbes' Preservation Theory, which he states people are selfish. It can also include Machiavelli's revolutionary undertakings of an armed rebellion against the greedy banking family of Florence, the Medici. Thucydides and Machiavelli were both military men and wrote a lot about military strategy, including the Thucydides Trap. Kenneth Waltz was the first writer to pen the term neorealist. Realism is essentially an amalgamation of a few different theories.

Nancy Goldstone - Daughters Of The Winter Queen

What is evident in Scottish history is, which not many people know about, is the culture of challenging religion. For example, the famous occultist Aleister Crowley had a property on Loch Ness, which he apparently summoned the devil in. There is a culture of witchcraft and the last known person to be burned alive in the British Isles for witchcraft; a Mrs. Janet Horne came from the Highlands, Dornoch specifically. The last person to be executed for blasphemy, in 1697, in the entire British Isles, a Mr. Thomas Aikenhead was a student from Edinburgh. The Aikenhead trial was pioneering because it led to leniency in religion, the Scottish enlightenment would not have happened, because the whole endeavour was to veer people away from the Bible. David Hume's contribution to atheism, in his published work Dialogues and Natural History of Religion, was the biggest contribution to atheism prior to Darwinism.