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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Quote:
Renatus post=321518 Wrote:If their ultimate goal was to drive the Romans from the country, they would have needed the assistance of the majority of the other British tribes. To gain this, they would need to have demonstrated that they were carrying the battle to the Romans and that they were doing so successfully. If they had merely freed their own territories from Roman control and then remained within their homelands, it would have indicated to the other tribes that this was simply a local dispute and they would not have been encouraged to join in. Moreover, Boudica might have been quite keen to get into the territory of the Atrebates to demonstrate to the other tribes what happened to those who backed the wrong side.
I'm not sure if the Iceni thought about it that way - of course the ejection of the Romans was the main goal, but the unification of the british tribes behind that cause may not have been. Do we even know they attempted this, and if so, why it did not come about, even after the fall of Londinium?
I think that Tacitus gives something of an answer. After describing the Romans' treatment of Boudica, her daughters and the Icenian nobles, he goes on (in the Loeb translation): "Impelled by this outrage and the dread of worse to come - for they had now been reduced to the status of a province - they flew to arms, and incited to rebellion the Trinobantes and others, who, not yet broken by servitude, had entered into a secret and treasonable compact to resume their independence."

So, Boudica seems to have persuaded at least some tribes to join her. As I suggested before, others were probably sitting on the fence, waiting to join the side that seemed to be winning. There was probably insufficient time between the fall of London and the final confrontation, possibly only a matter of days, for many (or any) others to join in. It would have been very different, I suggest, if Paulinus had been defeated.
Michael King Macdona

And do as adversaries do in law, -
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
(The Taming of the Shrew: Act 1, Scene 2)
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Calling all armchair generals! - by Ensifer - 03-11-2010, 03:13 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-18-2012, 06:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 12:02 AM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 02:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 05:40 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 11:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 05:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 10:10 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:25 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 08:36 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-26-2012, 02:57 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-27-2012, 01:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 08-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Renatus - 10-02-2012, 09:28 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-07-2014, 02:18 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-08-2014, 01:50 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-11-2014, 02:03 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-18-2014, 07:54 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-20-2014, 02:37 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM

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