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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
(11-30-2015, 06:39 PM)Theoderic Wrote: It seems more likely that... winter wheat was not planted in September, because so many had gone to war

Hmm, a very plausible suggestion!

Butser suggests that two crops were planted, so if one failed the other could support the population; I believe winter crops were planted in September/October (after the harvest of the summer crop) and harvested in July, and summer crops were planted in April and harvested in late July/August.

We know that the rebellion began shortly after Paulinus had marched against Anglesey. Therefore Spring or early summer. So they may have had time to do their spring planting, but not returned in time (or at all!) to harvest it or plant the winter crops - which would imply that the fighting was still ongoing in July/September. That opens out the timescale for the latter stage of the uprising, although we still need time for both Classicianus and Polyclitus to turn up from Rome and make their reports, apparently before Paulinus lost his ships (in late autumn/winter?)



(11-30-2015, 06:39 PM)Theoderic Wrote: why go as far as Staines?

Only because there's mid-1st-C burnt debris along that route (as mentioned in the Nic Fuentes article proposing Virginia Water). It seems unlikely that the rebels, having found London unprovisioned, would not have ravaged quite widely, and this was settled agricultural land.



(11-30-2015, 06:39 PM)Theoderic Wrote: Why do you think that they are facing away from the advance Brythons?

That's the way it looks to me! On your diagram you have 'From St Albans' to the left (east, as your map is inverted). Whereas Akeman street heads away into the top left corner, and the Iceni would be approaching from the south-east. Since your proposed position faces onto the plain to the north-east, this looks like a different direction.

We've discussed this before. Any force coming up Akeman Street, unless it was advancing blindly, would surely have been aware of a large number of Romans across or on top of the hill to their left. Your plan has the Iceni continuing up Akeman Street and following it around to the west to face the Romans directly from the north-east, when they could easily have flanked Paulinus or even got behind him by moving up the relatively gentle slopes west of the Bulbourne valley to occupy the high ground that lay between them.

   

(11-30-2015, 06:39 PM)Theoderic Wrote: As far as Dunstable is concerned if any Brythons from North of the Icknield Way arrived... then Paulinus would have been caught between two forces.

There's always that possibility - I believe that was why he checked that he only had the enemy in front of him!

He knew that if he defeated the very big army heading towards him, the much smaller and more scattered rebellions in the Midlands could be dealt with piecemeal. It's unlikely, I think, that the rebels had another army of any considerable size operating in the area, as Boudica had so many with her.


(11-30-2015, 06:39 PM)Theoderic Wrote: they would have gone via Braughing to the East along the established route.

Could have done. In which case Paulinus could have shadowed them along the Iknield Way and attacked their flank... I've looked for sites all along that route and found nothing suitable to match our battle description.



(11-30-2015, 06:39 PM)Theoderic Wrote: it is unlikely they would not scout ahead for ambuscades.

This is a problem, yes. But Paulinus could have sent some of his cavalry forward to patrol the 'pass' and the hills to either side, and drive back the enemy scouts. Until he moved his main force forward, the 'ambuscade' may not have been evident to anyone approaching from the south. The speed of Roman deployment would have counted for a lot.



(11-30-2015, 06:39 PM)Theoderic Wrote: Defensive measures were a must to stop themselves being overwhelmed.


I think the 'defensive measures' were the terrain he chose for the battle. Nothing in Tacitus or Dio's description suggest any kind of fortification being used the Romans (except in that poetic translation that mentions 'ramparts'!)
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
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - by Nathan Ross - 11-30-2015, 08:20 PM

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