The establishment of an absolute Catholic monarchy was portended by his arbitrary actions and fostering of a powerful standing army.
Mary and Anne, James’s Protestant daughters from his first marriage, reigned after him. But, in in 1714, because there was no heir after Anne's death, Parliament replaced the Stuart dynasty with their German cousins, the Hanoverians while the claims of James II’s Catholic son, James Francis Edward, the so-called ‘Old Pretender’, were ignored.

Independent Companies of Highlanders were raised from clans loyal to the government to police the region. The most famous of these was 'The Black Watch'.

On 19 August, he raised his standard at Glenfinnan. and about 2,000 Highland clansmen rallied to his cause. 
On 17 September, he entered Edinburgh and proclaimed James III King with himself as Regent.

At the time, most of the British Army was fighting on the Continent in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48), therefore the government initially had to rely on inexperienced troops.

On 21 September 1745, the Jacobites at Prestonpans defeated General John Cope’s soldiers being the first battle of the last Jacobite Rising.

The Duke of Cumberland was recalled from the Continent with many of his battle-hardened regiments to deal with the crisis. The Militia was also called out and new volunteer regiments were raised. Nevertheless, on 4 December 1745 Charles (pic. above) entered Derby.

He was now only 200 km (125 miles) from London but his army was tired and weakened by desertion and since Bonnie Prince Charlie’s advisors were concerned about a lack of support in England they proposed a retreat back to Scotland to wait for French assistance. So, Charles reluctantly agreed to retreat.  But only few Englishman had joined him and the French invasion he had hoped for had not materialised.
But by late December his army was back in Scotland where it received reinforcements, including some French troops.

On 17 January the Jacobites defeated General Henry Hawley at Falkirk (pic. above). But were eventually forced to retreat towards Inverness, pursued all the way by Cumberland.

Charles’s army was routed and the 'Bonnie Prince' was forced to make a dramatic escape to France. Many Englishmen and Lowland Scots regarded the Highlanders as savages, to whom the rules of civilised warfare did not apply. After Culloden, wounded Highlanders were bayoneted where they lay and Charles’s fleeing soldiers were ruthlessly hunted down.

The Hanoverian victory ended Jacobitism as a serious political force. It also brought long-lasting stability to British politics and, by depriving the French of the opportunity of causing trouble for the Government in its own back yard, paved the way for global expansion.

Many Lowland Scots celebrated the defeat of the Highland Jacobites for religious or economic reasons. The Union and the Presbyterian system of church government were safe. Economic progress came to the Lowlands through the Union and access to the trade routes of its empire.

Ironically, Charles' defeat also led to an influx of Highlanders into the British Army. Many saw service against the British Empire's enemies in North America and elsewhere as a way of reviving their fortunes.

(pic. above = Two women implore government troops to cease firing at wounded highlanders, 1746)