1745
Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) returns to Scotland; Second Jacobite rebellion begins; Scottish victory at the Battle of Prestonpans; Jacobite Scottish army advance as far south as Derby but then retreat.

1746
Battle of Culloden (Jacobite Scots routed by the Government troops); Charles escapes to France; the wearing of the kilt was prohibited.

1768
      The first edition of the "Encylopaedia Britannica" was published in Edinburgh by William Smellie

1770
The Clyde Trust was created to convert the River Clyde, which was at that time an insignficant river, into a major thoroughfare for maritime communications. This required a major programme of excavation and dredging.

1826
Scotland's first commercial railway was opened between Edinburgh and Dalkeith.

1843
Disruption of the Church of Scotland. 474 ministers signed the Deed of Demission and formed the Free Church of Scotland (the "Wee Free").

1860
Scotland hosted the first Open Golf Championship.

1870
The first Rugby International was played between Scotland and England.

1872
The Scottish Football Assocation and Rangers Football Club were founded.

1879
Tay Bridge Disaster (bridge collapsed in storm taking train with it - enquiry revealed corners had been cut during construction to reduce costs).

1888
Celtic Football Club was founded.

1890
Forth Rail Bridge opened, it took six years to build.

1896
Opening of the Underground Railway (the "shooglie") in Glasgow. It remains the only underground in Scotland.

1915
Britain's worst train disaster took place near Gretna Green, south of Dumfries, killing 227 people.

1937
     The largest ocean liner ever built, the Queen Elisabeth, was launched in Clydebank.

1941
Hitler's Deputy Rudolf Hess parachuted from a plane just south of Glasgow. His purpose remains one of the great enigmas of the war.

1943
More than 1000 people were killed over two days in Clydebank and Southern Glasgow during the only sustained German Luftwaffe attack on Scotland during the Second World War.

1950
Scottish Nationalists steal the "Stone of Destiny" from Westminster Abbey. This was Scotland's Coronation Stone, taken by the English in 1296. By tradition all British Monarchs have to be crowned while sitting on it. It was eventually recovered from Arbroath Abbey, although some claim this was a copy, and the original remains in Scotland.

1964
Forth Road Bridge opened by Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II. It was the longest suspension bridge in Europe.

1965
Tay Road Bridge opened - for a short time the longest bridge in the world, at just over one mile.

1967
The Queen Elisabeth II (QE2) was launched in Clydebank. It was the last of the great clyde-built passenger liners.

1975
The first oil was piped ashore from the North Sea at Peterhead.

1988
Scotland's worst terrorist incident occurred when a bomb exploded on board a Boeing 747 air liner on course from Frankfurt to New York. It crashed on the village of Lockerbie in Dumfriesshire, killing a total of 275 people, which represented all on board and a number on the ground.


1996
A gunman kills 16 five-year-old chidren, their teacher and himself in the Primary School at Dunblane in Perthshire. This is the worst tragedy of its type in the U.K.
The "Stone of Destiny", Scotland's Coronation Stone, is returned from London to Edinburgh Castle, 700 years after being stolen by Edward I.

1999
     A Scottish Parliament is re-instated after 292 years, following the devolution of powers from London through the Scotland Act, 1997.