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The English Parliament decided that their next ruler would have to be a Protestant member of the British Royal Family. That was why they chose Anne's second cousin, Sophia, who was married to a German prince, the Elector of Hanover. The Scottish Parliament decided that it did not want to have the same ruler as England any more. It tried to find another Protestant member of the Stuart Royal Family. The English Parliament was very upset about this because in the past there had been many wars between England and Scotland. The French and Scots often helped each other to fight the English. It was worried about more wars like this happening in the future. So the English Parliament decided it wanted the Scottish Parliament to join it, to make a new country called the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
The St Andrew's Cross of Scotland and the St George's Cross of England were put together to produce a new flag. The modern Union flag was created when the Irish St Patrick's Cross was added when Ireland joined the Union in 1800. There were riots in Scotland when its Parliament agreed to the Act of Union of 1707. Jacobites stirred up trouble about the Act of Union. They hoped to win extra support in Scotland, especially after the Scots were made to pay new taxes!
King James VII and II had died in 1701. After that his son called himself King James VIII and III. (In Scotland and England he was usually called 'The Pretender'). He wanted to claim back the kingdoms he had left as a baby in 1688. In 1708 James got his chance. Just a year after the unpopular Act of Union the King of France gave him ships and 5,000 soldiers to help him to win back his kingdom. Unfortunately, the French plan did not work. James became very ill with measles and could not join the attack. The British Royal Navy spotted the French ships while they were still at sea and the French commander decided the attack was too dangerous. So he took everyone back to France! Seven years later Queen Anne died. Sophia had also died, so the next British ruler was her son, George, Elector of Hanover. Hardly anyone was happy about being ruled by 'a wee bit German Lairdie', who did not even speak English! The Jacobites caused as much trouble as they could. They hoped that the people would prefer King James VIII and III. They planned another uprising...
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When the King of France saw what was happening in Scotland, he decided to help a Jacobite rising there. Great Britain and France were at war and he saw a chance to spread this war to Scotland.
