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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Quote:They know the Romans are coming down Watling Street... returning from a recce to London...

If you're really insisting on this 'cavalry dash/recce' then I'm afraid we must agree to differ! Because without such an expedient there is no reason for Paulinus's troops to be so far north.



Quote:I'd sugest they are off for a hunting expedition up Watling Street to finish off the Romans

I've never been too convinced by this idea of the Britons heading off en masse to travel many days and fight a battle with the Romans. From the small amount I've read about comparable popular uprisings against imperial powers from other eras (principally the Indian Mutiny and the Peasant's War in Germany - purely recreational research!) it seems that rebellious tribal/peasant hordes gather strength as they head towards known objectives (places to plunder, symbols of oppression to destroy) and lose it rapidly as soon as professional counter-insurgency forces take the field against them.

The prospect of a disciplined Roman force waiting for them in a position of their choosing is not, I suggest, likely to have the Britons eagerly marching across the countryside to find them, particularly not with their families in tow...



Quote:We "know" they went to Colchester, we "know" some of them went to London and St Albans...a little more discipline please.

Well, being entirely sceptical, we don't 'know' that the rebellion happened at all, or that Boudica existed. We can fairly safely assume she did, and it did, from the accounts in Tacitus and Dio. Beyond what we read in the texts, we must weight our speculations towards the most likely options.

London was probably an important target for the rebels, both strategically and psychologically. A tribal leader like Boudica - although we don't know what sort of command (if any) she really exercised over the rebel army - would probably have wanted to accompany the force that moved against such an objective. Not to do so would have given prestige to whoever led the force in her absence, and her position as leader/figurehead would have been threatened. Speculation, yes, but not lacking rigour, I'd say... Wink
Nathan Ross
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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 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
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Nathan Ross - 03-08-2015, 07:52 PM

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