Thread Rating:
  • 4 Vote(s) - 5 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Quote:Renatus states:

.......leaving the Second and the Twentieth to complete mopping-up operations in North Wales and expecting that the Fourteenth and the (at that point undefeated) Ninth would be sufficient to suppress the revolt.

From this observation it appears that Seutonius Paulinus had no idea of the size of the revolt when he left North Wales if he left two Legions to “mop up”.

At what stage did he find out the true situation either of the size of the uprising or that the Ninth had been lost?
It may well be that the full extent of the revolt did not become apparent until some time after Paulinus left North Wales. Nor can we be sure when he learned of the defeat of the Ninth. If I am right in thinking that his original intent was to quash the rebellion at source with the Fourteenth and Ninth Legions, his probable route of march would be along Watling Street as far as Lutterworth and then along the Via Devana to join the Ninth at Godmanchester. If he learned of Cerialis' defeat before reaching Lutterworth, he could have continued on Watling Street to London. On the other hand, if he were already on the Via Devana, he could have continued to Godmanchester and then turned south on Ermine Street. This would have taken him close to the rebel forces and, possibly, through the fringes of the territories of the Iceni and the Trinovantes. This could explain Tacitus' description of him pressing forward through hostile territory, rather than that the tribes around Watling Street were hostile. Although he would have been considering and reconsidering the situation throughout the march, he may not have made his final appreciation before reaching London.


Quote:It seems strange that given the seriousness of the situation that SP then finds himself him, he then relies on the veterans of the Twentieth (perhaps at Usk) the Second (possibly at Exeter) and the Fourteenth (maybe at Wroxeter) to re-inforce his troops.

My question is: Why not send for the two Legions mopping up in North Wales if he "...had to raise as large an army as possible as quickly as possible"?

Surely they would be fitter, battle hardened and younger and there would have been around 8,000 legionaries plus cavalry which would have been more than Seutonius Paulinus could have expected from the veterans.
I do not doubt that Paulinus would have wanted to use the Second and Twentieth Legions, if he could. The fact remains that we know that he did not. We know from Tacitus that he abandoned his conquests in North Wales but cannot tell whether this was to deal with the immediate emergency or afterwards, when he consolidated his forces to extinguish the last glimmerings of the revolt. There seem to be two possibilities: that the two legions in Wales could not disengage without being attacked in the rear as they marched south by still active Welsh tribes or that he did, indeed, summon them but that they did not reach the battle site in time.
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)
Reply


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 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 Renatus - 11-10-2014, 10:11 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

Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Armchair Wall walking mcbishop 3 3,480 01-11-2012, 03:22 AM
Last Post: Vindex

Forum Jump: