Following is a list of the main events and battles that played a decisive role in Scottish history, from the arrival of the Romans to the present day:
- 84 AD: Battle of Mons Graupius.
The earliest detailed account of a battle in northern Britain, in which the Romans, under Agricola, claimed victory over the Caledonians. The exact location of the battle remains uncertain. - 122: Construction of Hadrian’s Wall.
The Romans begin construction of the great frontier fortification across northern England, marking the northern boundary of the Roman Empire in Britain. - 142: Construction of the Antonine Wall.
The Romans construct a new frontier across central Scotland under Emperor Antoninus Pius, although it is abandoned after only a relatively short period. - 410: The Romans leave Britain.
Roman authority in Britain collapses, beginning a new period in the development of the peoples and kingdoms of what would become Scotland. - 563: St Columba arrives from Ireland in Argyll.
Columba establishes a monastery on the island of Iona, which becomes one of the most important centers of Christianity in Scotland. - 685: Battle of Nechtansmere.
The Picts under King Bridei III defeat the Northumbrians, checking Northumbrian expansion northward and strengthening the position of the Pictish kingdom. - 795: The first recorded Viking raids.
Viking attacks begin along the Scottish coast and islands, eventually leading to extensive Norse settlement throughout northern and western Scotland. - 843: Kenneth MacAlpin becomes King of Scots.
Kenneth MacAlpin traditionally is credited with bringing the Picts and Scots together under his rule, laying an important foundation for the Kingdom of Alba. - 1018: Battle of Carham.
The Scots defeat the Northumbrians, extending Scottish influence southward toward the River Tweed and strengthening Scotland's control of the region. - 1040: Macbeth becomes King of Scots.
Macbeth defeats and kills King Duncan in battle and rules until his own death in 1057. He later becomes famous throughout the world through Shakespeare's tragedy. - 1070: Marriage of Malcolm III to Margaret.
Malcolm Canmore marries Margaret of Wessex, beginning a period of significant religious and cultural change. Margaret is later canonized in 1250 as Saint Margaret of Scotland. - 1124: David I ascends the throne.
David I strengthens royal government and introduces major Anglo-Norman and feudal institutions, transforming Scottish society, government, trade, and the church. - 1263: Battle of Largs.
Scottish forces resist the Norwegian invasion of western Scotland. The battle contributes to the eventual withdrawal of Norwegian power from the Scottish mainland and islands. - 1266: Treaty of Perth.
Norway formally cedes the Hebrides and Isle of Man to Scotland, establishing Scottish sovereignty over the Western Isles. - 1286: Alexander III dies.
Alexander III dies after falling from his horse, creating a succession crisis. His granddaughter Margaret, Maid of Norway, becomes the recognized heir, but her death plunges Scotland into a struggle over the succession. - 1292: John Balliol is chosen King of Scots.
Edward I of England adjudicates the Great Cause and selects John Balliol for the Scottish throne. Relations between Balliol and Edward quickly deteriorate. - 1297: Battle of Stirling Bridge.
William Wallace and Andrew Murray lead the Scots to a major victory over the English army, establishing Wallace as one of Scotland's most famous national leaders. - 1305: William Wallace is captured and executed.
The leader of the Scottish resistance to English rule is captured, taken to London, and executed. - 1306: Robert the Bruce is crowned King of Scots.
Robert Bruce claims the Scottish throne and begins a renewed struggle to establish Scottish independence. - 1314: Battle of Bannockburn.
Scots under Robert the Bruce defeat the much larger English army commanded by Edward II. The victory becomes the decisive military turning point in the Wars of Scottish Independence. - 1320: Declaration of Arbroath.
Scottish nobles send a letter to Pope John XXII asserting Scotland's independence and defending Robert the Bruce as its rightful king. - 1332: Second War of Scottish Independence begins.
Edward Balliol and his supporters invade Scotland, beginning a renewed period of conflict between competing Scottish and English interests. - 1371: Robert II becomes King of Scots.
Robert II, grandson of Robert the Bruce, becomes the first Stewart king of Scotland, beginning a royal dynasty that will eventually inherit the English throne. - 1413: University of St Andrews is founded.
St Andrews becomes Scotland's first university. Glasgow follows in 1451, Aberdeen in 1495, and Edinburgh in 1582. - 1468–1472: Orkney and Shetland become Scottish.
Christian I of Denmark pledges Orkney in 1468 and Shetland in 1469 as security for his daughter's dowry. Norway's claim to the islands is formally extinguished in 1472. - 1512: Renewal of the Auld Alliance.
The ancient alliance between Scotland and France, first established in 1295, is renewed as Scotland and France continue their traditional partnership against England. - 1513: Battle of Flodden.
James IV is killed along with much of the Scottish aristocracy and thousands of Scottish soldiers in one of the most devastating defeats in Scottish history. - 1559: John Knox preaches at Perth.
Knox's preaching and the subsequent political crisis help launch the Scottish Reformation. - 1560: The Scottish Reformation.
The Scottish Parliament rejects papal authority and establishes a Protestant settlement, fundamentally changing Scotland's religious and political life. - 1561: Mary, Queen of Scots returns to Scotland.
Mary returns from France to begin her personal rule in Scotland. She is forced to abdicate in 1567 and executed in England in 1587. - 1603: Union of the Crowns.
James VI of Scotland inherits the English throne and becomes James I of England and Ireland. Scotland and England remain separate kingdoms with separate Parliaments. - 1638: The National Covenant is signed.
Scottish opposition to Charles I's attempts to impose religious changes produces the National Covenant and contributes to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. - 1649: Charles I is executed.
The execution of Charles I transforms the political struggle throughout Britain and leads to the establishment of the Commonwealth. - 1653: Scotland is incorporated into the Cromwellian Commonwealth.
Scotland loses its separate parliamentary government and is incorporated into the Commonwealth established under Oliver Cromwell. - 1660: Restoration of the monarchy.
Charles II returns to the throne. The Scottish government re-establishes episcopacy, while persecution of Covenanters intensifies. - 1689: Glorious Revolution and Battle of Killiecrankie.
James VII is deposed and William and Mary take the throne. John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, leads the Jacobite cause to victory at Killiecrankie but is killed during the battle. - 1690: Presbyterianism established in Scotland.
The Scottish Parliament confirms Presbyterianism as the established form of church government in Scotland. - 1692: Massacre of Glencoe.
Thirty-eight members of the MacDonald clan are killed by government soldiers after being accused of failing to meet the required oath of allegiance. Others die while attempting to escape. - 1698: The first Darien expedition.
Scotland establishes a colony at Darien in Panama. The disastrous venture causes enormous financial losses and contributes to support for union with England. - 1707: Union of Parliaments.
The Acts of Union unite the Kingdoms of Scotland and England under a single Parliament, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain while Scotland retains its separate legal, educational, and religious institutions. - 1715: Jacobite Rising of 1715.
The Jacobites, led by the Earl of Mar, rise in support of James Francis Edward Stuart. The rising ends after the Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Sheriffmuir and the collapse of the campaign. - 1719: Jacobite Rising of 1719.
A Jacobite force supported by Spain lands in Scotland but is defeated at the Battle of Glenshiel. - 1745: Final Jacobite Rising begins.
Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie, lands in Scotland and raises the Jacobite standard in an attempt to recover the British throne for the Stuart dynasty. - 1746: Battle of Culloden.
Government forces defeat the Jacobites at Culloden Moor, ending the final major Jacobite military campaign and beginning a period of severe repression and political transformation in the Highlands. - 1776: Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations.
Smith's work becomes one of the foundational texts of modern economics and symbolizes Scotland's major contribution to the intellectual movement known as the Scottish Enlightenment. - 1793: Thomas Muir and the Scottish radicals.
Thomas Muir and other reformers are arrested and transported to Australia after campaigning for parliamentary reform and wider political representation. - c. 1750–1850: The Highland Clearances.
Highland landowners increasingly remove tenants from estates, often replacing traditional communities with large-scale sheep farming. Major clearances continue into the nineteenth century, particularly in Sutherland and other Highland regions. - 1832: The First Reform Act.
Parliamentary reform expands the electorate and reduces some of the political inequalities of the old system. Further Reform Acts follow in 1867 and 1884. - 1843: The Disruption.
A major dispute over patronage causes a large portion of the Church of Scotland's ministers and members to leave and establish the Free Church of Scotland. - 1860: The first Open Championship.
The first Open golf championship is held at Prestwick, Ayrshire, establishing one of the world's oldest and most prestigious sporting championships. - 1873: The Scottish Football Association is formed.
The SFA becomes the governing body for football in Scotland and helps establish the national game as a major part of Scottish culture. - 1884: The Crofters' War.
Highland and island crofters resist evictions and demand land reform. The conflict contributes to the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act of 1886, which provides important new protections for crofters. - 1888: The Scottish Labour Party is founded.
Keir Hardie helps establish the Scottish Labour Party, an important predecessor of the modern Labour movement in Britain. - 1912: The 'Outrages'.
Scottish suffragettes intensify their campaign for votes for women through acts of civil disobedience, including attacks on property. - 1912: The Scottish Unionist movement is reorganized.
Tories and Liberal Unionists combine politically in Scotland, creating the organization that becomes known as the Unionist Party. - 1914–1918: The First World War and Red Clydeside.
Scotland makes a major contribution to the First World War while industrial unrest, particularly in Glasgow and the Clyde shipyards, creates the political phenomenon known as 'Red Clydeside'. - 1918: Representation of the People Act.
Women over 30 who meet property qualifications receive the vote, while the franchise for men is substantially expanded. Equal voting rights for men and women are achieved in 1928. - 1922: The General Election.
Ten Labour candidates are elected in Glasgow, creating a political sensation as Labour establishes itself as a major force in Scottish politics. The election also coincides with the beginning of a prolonged period of severe economic hardship. - 1924: Ramsay MacDonald becomes Britain's first Labour Prime Minister.
The Scottish-born politician leads the first Labour government, which lasts only nine months. He returns as Prime Minister in 1929. - 1931: The fall of the second Labour government.
The economic crisis produces a dramatic collapse in Labour support in Scotland, although the party begins recovering its position by 1935. - 1934: The Scottish National Party is founded.
The SNP is created through the merger of several Scottish nationalist organizations and eventually becomes a major force in Scottish politics. - 1939–1945: The Second World War.
Scotland becomes an important center of shipbuilding, engineering, military production, and naval activity. Clydeside and other industrial areas are targeted by German bombing. - 1947: The first Edinburgh International Festival.
The Edinburgh International Festival is established, helping transform Edinburgh into one of the world's leading cultural and performing-arts centers. - 1967: Winnie Ewing wins Hamilton.
Scottish Nationalist Winnie Ewing wins the Hamilton by-election, producing a major political shock and helping launch a new period of growth for Scottish nationalism. - 1975: North Sea oil reaches Scotland.
The first North Sea oil is piped ashore, beginning a major transformation of Scotland's economy and energy industry. - 1979: First Scottish devolution referendum. Although 51.6 per cent of those voting supported a Scottish Assembly, the legislation required at least 40 per cent of the entire registered electorate to vote Yes. The threshold was not met and devolution was not implemented.
- 1989: The Claim of Right for Scotland.
Scottish political and civic leaders sign a declaration asserting the right of the Scottish people to determine their own form of government. - 1995: The Scottish Constitutional Convention publishes Scotland's Parliament, Scotland's Right.
The document provides a detailed blueprint for a devolved Scottish Parliament and becomes an important foundation for the later devolution settlement. - 1997: Referendum on Scottish devolution.
More than 74 per cent of those voting support the creation of a Scottish Parliament, while more than 63 per cent support giving it tax-varying powers. - 1998: The Scotland Act.
The Scotland Act establishes the legal framework for the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive, later renamed the Scottish Government. - 1999: The Scottish Parliament is re-established.
The first post-devolution Scottish Parliament convenes on 12 May, with the new Scottish Executive formed shortly afterward. The Parliament receives its devolved legislative powers under the Scotland Act. - 2002: Major transport powers are devolved.
Responsibility for significant aspects of Scotland's rail network is transferred to the Scottish Executive, marking an important expansion of devolved responsibilities. - 2004: The Scottish Parliament moves to Holyrood.
The new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood in Edinburgh is opened, providing a permanent home for the re-established Parliament. - 2007: The SNP forms the first Scottish Government led by the party.
The Scottish National Party becomes the largest party in the Scottish Parliament and forms a minority administration, marking the first change in governing party since devolution. - 2011: The SNP wins a majority.
The Scottish National Party wins an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament, an unusual result under Scotland's proportional electoral system, and commits to holding a referendum on independence. - 2012: The Edinburgh Agreement.
The Scottish and United Kingdom governments agree on the legal and political framework for a referendum on Scottish independence. - 2014: Scottish Independence Referendum.
Scotland votes on whether to become an independent country. Turnout reaches approximately 85 per cent, with 55 per cent voting No and 45 per cent voting Yes. - 2015: The SNP wins 56 of Scotland's 59 Westminster seats.
The result produces an unprecedented concentration of Scottish representation by a single party at Westminster. - 2016: Scotland votes to remain in the European Union.
The United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union, but 62 per cent of Scottish voters vote Remain. Further powers are also devolved to the Scottish Parliament under the Scotland Act 2016. - 2017: Scotland gains separate income tax rates and bands.
For the first time, Scotland sets its own income tax rates and bands, marking a significant expansion of its fiscal powers. - 2018: The United Kingdom leaves the European Union process begins to affect devolved government.
The UK Parliament passes legislation concerning devolved areas without the consent of the Scottish Parliament, producing a significant constitutional dispute over the limits of devolution. - 2019: The Scottish Government seeks another independence referendum.
The continuing constitutional dispute over Scotland's relationship with the United Kingdom leads the Scottish Government to seek agreement on the process and legal basis for another independence referendum. - 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic reaches Scotland.
The pandemic produces unprecedented restrictions on everyday life, travel, education, health care, and the Scottish economy. - 2021: COP26 is held in Glasgow.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference brings representatives from around the world to Scotland for major international negotiations concerning climate change. - 2022: Queen Elizabeth II dies at Balmoral Castle.
Scotland becomes the focus of major national events following the death of the Queen at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire. - 2023: The UCI Cycling World Championships are held in Scotland.
Scotland hosts the first UCI Cycling World Championships, bringing together 13 existing world championship events in one major international sporting event. More than 7,000 athletes from 131 countries participate. - 2024: Scotland hosts major international sporting events.
Scotland hosts The Open Championship, the AIG Women's Open, the World Athletics Indoor Championships, the World Orienteering Championships, and other major international events, reinforcing its position as a major international sporting destination. - 2025: Major international events continue across Scotland.
Scotland hosts the Tall Ships Race, the Orkney Island Games, and major international golf events as part of its continuing role as a global destination for sporting and cultural events. - 2026: Scottish Parliament election.
The Scottish National Party remains the largest party in the Scottish Parliament, winning 58 seats. Labour and Reform UK each win 17 seats, the Scottish Greens 15, the Conservatives 12, and the Liberal Democrats 10. - 2026: The Commonwealth Games return to Scotland.
Glasgow hosts the Commonwealth Games, bringing another major international sporting event to Scotland.