The Battle of Inverkeithing – 20th July 1651

 
The Battle of Inverkeithing was the last major battle on Scottish soil in the ‘War of the Three Kingdoms,’ or the ‘British Civil War’ an intertwined series of conflicts that took place between 1639 and 1653 in the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland – three separate kingdoms which had the same king.

Map of the battlefield

Historical background

How Scotland and England arose as two separate Countries and Kingdoms

Tribes and Clans
The Roman Occupation 43 to 410 AD
The Kingdom of the Picts
Anglo-Saxon and Viking Invaders 400 AD to 900 AD
The emergence of a Scottish Nation
The Norman Invasion 1066 and all that
The Normans and Scotland
Scottish Wars of Independence
English Monarchy 1327 to 1509
Scottish Monarchy 1371 to 1513
The Rough Wooing 1543 to 1551
End of the Line
1603 the Union of the Crowns

Causes of conflict

The problems of Union

Deep Seated Flaws in the Union
Charles I and the National Covenant

Abolition of the Monarchy

Abolition of the Monarchy
Oliver Cromwell

Cromwell invades Scotland

Cromwell invades Scotland
Stalemate in Scotland
Breaking the Stalemate

The Opposing Armies

The Opposing Armies

Build-up to the battle

Build-up to the Battle of Inverkeithing
Crossing the Forth

The Battle of Inverkeithing

The Sea-borne Invasion
The Scots respond to the landing
Head to head confrontation
Battle Begins
Rout and Pillage
Immediate Aftermath

Aftermath of the Battle

Divide and Conquer
Charles heads south to defeat at Worcester
End of the War
Fate of the Scots Colours
Caveats
The Restoration and Beyond

Appendices

Inverkeithing Images
References