revolution of 1688

revolution of 1688, the replacement of James II as king of England, Ireland and Scotland by William III, prince of Orange and husband of James's Protestant daughter Mary (1662–94). Acting on the invitation of leading subjects hostile to James's religious policies, William landed at Torbay, Devon, with 15,000 men on 5 November. He and Mary were declared joint sovereigns on 13 February 1689. In England the revolution was largely bloodless—though troops under Sarsfield fought a small engagement at Wincanton, Somerset, on 20 November—but in Ireland it was the prelude to the three‐year long Williamite War.

William was succeeded by Mary's sister Anne (1665–1714), but since she too had no living children the security of what was now thought of as the Protestant succession remained a central concern until James II's nearest Protestant heir George Ludwig, elector of Hanover (1660–1727), succeeded her as George I.

In later Whig ideology 1688 was the Glorious Revolution, establishing constitutional and parliamentary monarchy. Modern accounts see the settlement as a compromise, deliberately unclear as to whether James had abdicated or been deposed, and on the nature—hereditary or parliamentary—of William and Mary's title. These ambiguities were central to the subsequent party conflict, in both Britain and Ireland, between Whig and Tory.