Английская Википедия:Battle of Hieton

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The Battle of Hieton was fought on the 1 December 1650 between a force of Scottish Remonstrants under Colonel Gilbert Ker and 1,000 English commanded by Major-general John Lambert. The site of the battle was by the Cadzow Burn, near the present day town centre of Hamilton, Scotland. The Scots attacked, surprising the English, but were beaten back and destroyed as a fighting force. The battle was part of the Anglo-Scottish war of 1650–1652.

Background

After the bloodshed of the First and Second English Civil Wars the New Model Army of the victorious Parliamentarians was exasperated by the intransigence of King Charles I. They purged the English Parliament and established the Rump Parliament, which had Charles tried for treason against the English people. Charles was executed on 30 January 1649, and the republican Commonwealth was created.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn As well as having been king of England Charles had also been, separately, king of Scotland. The Scottish Parliament was not consulted prior to the King's execution. It declared his son, also Charles, King of Britain (not Scotland)Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn and set about rapidly recruiting an army to support the new king, under the command of the experienced general, David Leslie.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The leaders of the English Commonwealth felt threatenedШаблон:Sfn and despatched the New Model Army, commanded by Oliver Cromwell, on an invasion of Scotland in July 1650, starting the Anglo-Scottish war of 1650–1652.Шаблон:Sfn

Prelude

Cromwell manoeuvred around Edinburgh, attempting to bring the Scots to battle, but he was not able to draw Leslie out.Шаблон:Sfn On 31 August Cromwell withdrew to Dunbar.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Believing the English army was in a hopeless situation and under pressure to finish it off rapidly,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Leslie moved his troops into a position to attack Dunbar.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn On the night of 2/3 September Cromwell manoeuvred his army so as to be able to launch a concentrated pre-dawn attack against the Scottish right wing.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The Scots were decisively defeated.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Leslie executed a fighting withdrawal, but some 6,000 Scots, from his army of 12,000, were taken prisoner, and approximately 1,500 killed or wounded.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Following this defeat the Scots, accompanied by King Charles II, established a new defensive line at the strategic choke point of Stirling.Шаблон:Sfn Dunbar caused great damage to Leslie's reputation and authority. He attempted to resign as head of the army, but the Scottish government would not permit it, largely because of a lack of any plausible replacement.Шаблон:Sfn Several of his officers refused to take orders from him, and left to join a new army being raised by the Western Association.Шаблон:Sfn Divisions already present in the Scottish government were widened by the new situation. The more practical blamed the purges for Leslie's defeat, and looked to bring disenchanted Scots back into the army; the more dogmatic thought God had deserted them because the army had not been sufficiently purged of godlessness, and argued that too much faith had been put in a worldly prince who was not sufficiently committed to the cause of the Covenant.Шаблон:Sfn These more radical elements issued the divisive Western Remonstrance, which castigated the government for its failure to properly purge the army, and further widened the rifts between the Scots.Шаблон:Sfn The Remonstrants, as this group became known, took command of the Western Association army, and attempted to negotiate with the English commander, Cromwell. They urged him to depart Scotland and leave them in control.Шаблон:Sfn

Battle

Файл:Battle of Hieton plaque.JPG

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Cromwell rejected their advances and sent 1,000 men under Major-general John Lambert to confront them. The Remonstrants, led by Colonel Gilbert Ker, attacked the English at the Hieton (Scots for 'high town') area of modern Hamilton on 1 December 1650. Their surprise attack gained initial success, but the English regrouped and drove back the Scots with heavy losses, destroying their army as a fighting force.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Ker was wounded and captured.Шаблон:Sfn

Today the battle site is occupied by Hamilton's Common Green, with the 19th-century Cadzow Bridge overhead. A plaque on the bridge commemorates the battle, and was installed by Hamilton Civic Society.Шаблон:Sfn

Aftermath

In July 1651 the English forced a crossing of the Firth of Forth and defeated the Scots at the Battle of Inverkeithing.Шаблон:Sfn Cromwell ignored the Scottish army at Stirling and marched on the seat of the Scottish government at Perth, which he besieged. Perth surrendered after two days, cutting off the Scottish army from reinforcements, provisions and materiel.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In desperation Charles and Leslie decided that their only chance was to invade England in the hope that the populace would rise to support the King and so took their army south. Cromwell and Lambert followed, leaving General George Monck with 6,000 of the least experienced men to mop up what Scottish resistance remained.Шаблон:Sfn Monck did this in short orderШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn while the Scots under Charles and Leslie penetrated into England as far as Worcester. There the stronger English army, which was better trained, better equipped and better supplied, cut the Scots' line of retreatШаблон:Sfn and on 3 September attacked and crushed them at the Battle of Worcester.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Charles was one of the few to escape death or capture.Шаблон:Sfn

Citations and sources

Sources

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• Шаблон:Cite web
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