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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Hi,
I've been reading some of the messages on this subject and was recenly reading an old Lain schoolbook which was about just this subject. At first sight, it does look as Paulinus went North from London, however, there are a couple of events that made me wonder.
The Second 'did not march'. Why? Because Postumous (the Camp Prefect) was in charge, which begs the question - Where was the Legate and the senior Military Tribune? Most likely answer - they were already with Paulinus and Postumous was left to defend Exeter with only the rump of the Second.
Also, the Second would have the Icini between themselves and Paulinus. It would be a good idea to flank the Icini, but with only a minimum of soldiers, it might also be a receipe for disaster.
And finally, I'm wondering if the 'Paulinus headed South' is such a bad theory. Kent is to general perception, flat, but in fact, we have the North Downs running west to east and although by no means 'mountains' they are certainly high enough to make seasoned Legionaries curse and their baggage train struggle. In the past, too, there was much greater tree cover and certainly the description of 'forest' would have fitted the slopes of the Downs pretty well.
If he went south east, he could have headed for Canterbury (excavations have shown that there was at least a lightly fortified post there in the 1st century) and then down to Richborough, with the sea at his back - and the Classis Britannica on-site to either re-inforce his soldiers, or worst case, to evacuate them.
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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
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Dana Adler - 07-21-2015, 04:43 PM

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