There's no doubt, of course, that Wallace did count, that his brief but incredibly dramatic intervention in the wars between England and Scotland did change the course of British history, if only to show that the armies of Edward I were not invincible at all times and in all places. Beyond that, Wallace was one of the few Scots who never at any stage paid homage to Edward, remaining loyal to King John Balliol. More gentleman turned outlaw than peasant man of the glens, Wallace wasn't a one-man war either. By mid-1297, all Scotland was on the boil. North of the Forth, Andrew Murray matched or even surpassed him by leading a wild and brilliant guerrilla war. It was when Murray marched south and Wallace moved north to meet here, on the Forth at Stirling - the key to Scotland - that a chaotic wildfire uprising turned into a major military campaign.


毫无疑问，华莱士是那段历史中不可抹去的一笔。他在英格兰与苏格兰的交战中，短暂而又戏剧性的干预，改变了英国历史的进程。他让人们意识到，爱德华一世的军队，并非时刻都所向披靡。除此之外，华莱士还是为数不多的几个，从未向爱德华妥协的苏格兰人。他们对约翰·贝列尔君王一直忠心耿耿，不光那些乡野之士，更多绅士贵族揭竿而起，华莱士并非是在孤身奋战。到1297年中，苏格兰群情激奋。在弗斯河北部，安德鲁·默里指挥了一场辉煌的游击战，影响一度超过了华莱士。当默里向南进军时，华莱士引军北上，他们在弗斯河畔的斯特林会师，成为苏格兰战争的关键。它使得凌乱的星星之火汇成了燎原的烈焰。