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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
The following scenario seems to fit the writings of Tacitus based on everyone's observations:

If the Brythons were expecting to take the Roman wheat we have to assume that the Roman warehouses would have been full at the end of August and low in June / July, so an earlier campaign does not seem to fit.

We also have to assume that the Brythons would have harvested their own crops in August as well.

It would seem logical therefore that the attack on Colchester and the invasion of Mona could have been during September AD61.

Therefore the fact that Paulinus was so far away may well have been coincidence purely governed by food.

That may be the key to why the residents of Colchester were not worried about being attacked as the “fighting season” was drawing to a close.

Of course Mona could have been the final part of the campaign of the subjugation of North Wales which has some merit.

Unlike some I cannot see why the Brythons would march on London directly after Colchester because they would be vulnerable if the Roman Armies attacked them.

They were proved right when the Ninth attacked them but Cerialis totally misjudged the situation and attacked with too few men or the Iceni really were aware and ambushed him en route.

Not only, this but if they were after the wheat to last them for the following year for a military siege or home based war they would have needed to add to their already harvested stores.

Roman strategy would have been to attack the rebels towns if there was not a standing army in the field.

On top of this is the find of the bronze head found near Rendham in the Iceni homelands indicating that the warriors came home after sacking Colchester.  

So if the plan was to stay at home to defend their lands why would the Iceni and Trinovantes leave and go on attack in greater numbers than before?

Perhaps it was because Paulinus did not bring his whole army down south but possibly only the Fourteenth Legion and some auxiliaries.

Instead of defending London, advancing to Colchester or perhaps Thetford, Paulinus decides to retreat.

This would have been a strategy that the Brythons had not seen before and possibly after recent events took as weakness by Paulinus and the chance of an easy victory because of his reduced force.

At the end of September they decided to follow Paulinus to engage him but because of the recent successes more people than before went off to war.

This led to the winter wheat not being planted in the quantity needed for AD62.

Of course if the tribes left en masse they would have had to take all their provisions with them and relied totally on this.

In this scenario Boudica’s last battle possibly would have been possibly in early October with a great loss of life for the Brythons 

The bringing together of the whole Roman Army of Britannia to be kept under canvass possibly would have been late October.

The question here is when would have the reinforcements from the continent arrived?

Possibly by early November – the Roman fleet must have been used to travelling across the Channel in the last 17 years safely.

The new Procurator probably would have arrived with them

The Ninth would have been bolstered by the new legionaries.
         
Tacitus implies that the new auxiliaries and cavalry were placed in new Winter Quarters which may have been in the Trinovantes and Iceni territories.

Perhaps these new forts were built by December garrisoning the area of the rebels.

It would appear however that Paulinus kept up the attacks on the Brythons, even those who surrendered, much to the consternation of the Procurator who asked for him to be replaced.

Instead, possibly in March AD62, Claudius sent his agent to investigate but Paulinus was allowed to continue his campaign to eradicate the rebels who by this time were living in the margins of the Fens.

The next phase of the campaign appears to have been a sea invasion which cost “a few ships and their crews”.

Now Tacitus plays this down but there must have been considerable loss as it appears that this was what finally caused him to be replaced before the rebels were killed.

Perhaps this was May and he was replaced half way through the year by Petronius Turpilianus.

When he returned to Rome, perhaps in July, Paulinus was feted as a hero.

This seems to fit with the writings... but it is only one interpretation..... and I am sure there are some counter arguments.  Smile

Deryk   
Deryk
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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 Theoderic - 12-06-2015, 12:00 AM

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