March 30, 1296 · Anglo-Scottish border Theater

Edward I opened his conquest of Scotland by storming its richest town. When Berwick refused to surrender, English troops broke in and massacred the inhabitants for two days; chroniclers claimed the dead numbered in the thousands, the town's prosperity extinguished in an orgy of slaughter meant to terrify Scotland into submission.

April 27, 1296 · East Lothian Theater

The main Scottish army, mustered under King John Balliol, was routed at Dunbar when it mistook an English redeployment for flight and broke ranks to pursue, only to be cut down. The defeat collapsed organized resistance within weeks.

September 11, 1297 · River Forth, Stirling Theater

William Wallace and Andrew Moray let the English army begin crossing the narrow wooden bridge over the Forth, then attacked when only part of it had reached the north bank, trapping the vanguard against the river. The bridge collapsed or was cut; the divided English army was slaughtered, the hated treasurer Cressingham killed and flayed.

July 22, 1298 · Falkirk, central Scotland Theater

Edward I himself returned and caught Wallace's army near Falkirk. Wallace formed his spearmen into 'schiltrons' — hedgehog rings of pikes — which broke the English cavalry charges, but Edward's Welsh and English longbowmen shot the packed circles to pieces from a distance, and when gaps opened the horsemen rode in.

February 24, 1303 · Midlothian Theater

A Scottish force under the Guardian John Comyn and Simon Fraser surprised and defeated an English reconnaissance army near Roslin, reportedly catching its divisions strung out and beating them in succession. It was a rare bright spot in a grim decade of English dominance.

June 19, 1306 · Perthshire Theater

Weeks after seizing the Scottish throne — and after murdering his rival John Comyn in a church — Robert the Bruce was surprised in his camp at Methven by an English force and scattered. The new king became a hunted fugitive, driven into the Highlands and the islands.

May 10, 1307 · Ayrshire Theater

Returned from hiding, Bruce chose his ground at Loudoun Hill with care, digging ditches to funnel the English cavalry into a narrow front where his spearmen could hold them. Pembroke's horsemen were repulsed with loss — Bruce's first real victory over the English in the field.

June 23–24, 1314 · Near Stirling Castle Theater

Marching to relieve besieged Stirling Castle, Edward II's great army — perhaps 20,000 strong — met Bruce on boggy ground between the Bannock Burn and the Forth. On the first day Bruce split an English knight's skull with an axe in single combat; on the second his schiltrons advanced onto the constricted field, pinned the English against the streams, and, as a Scottish 'small folk' contingent appeared over a hill, broke them into a rout in which thousands drowned and died.

October 14, 1322 · Yorkshire, England Theater

Carrying the war deep into England, Bruce's fast-moving army caught Edward II's forces on the Sutton Bank escarpment in Yorkshire. Highland caterans scaled the cliffs to turn the position while Douglas attacked the front; the English broke, and Edward II barely escaped capture, abandoning his baggage and treasure.

August 11, 1332 · Perthshire Theater

Opening the Second War of Independence, Edward Balliol and a small army of 'Disinherited' English-backed nobles landed in Fife and were attacked by a far larger Scottish host. Beaumont packed his dismounted men-at-arms between wings of longbowmen; the massed Scottish spearmen crushed together in the narrow valley until men suffocated in the press and were shot down in heaps taller than a spear.

July 19, 1333 · Near Berwick Theater

To relieve besieged Berwick, the Scots had to attack Edward III's army drawn up on Halidon Hill. Struggling uphill through boggy ground into a storm of arrows, the schiltrons were shattered before they reached the English line, and the survivors were ridden down. Scottish losses were catastrophic, including the Guardian and many nobles.

November 30, 1335 · Aberdeenshire Theater

The patriot Guardian Andrew Murray surprised the pro-Balliol force of David of Strathbogie besieging Kildrummy Castle, attacking across a burn at dawn and killing Strathbogie in the fighting. It was the turning point that broke the Balliol cause in the north.

October 17, 1346 · Durham, England Theater

Honouring the Auld Alliance after France's defeat at Crécy, David II invaded England and met an English northern army at Neville's Cross outside Durham. Once again longbows broke the Scottish schiltrons on unfavourable ground; David II, wounded twice in the face by arrows, was captured and held prisoner in England for eleven years.