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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
(12-06-2015, 05:48 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote: It does, just about - the kind of large-scale cross-channel transportation required to bring thousands of reinforcements from the continent may not have been attempted outside of the 'safe navigation' period, but this was an emergency, so... perhaps. And at a push it could have been completed before the middle of September.

It would take some time to muster some 7000 troops and to transport them to Britain but, with the seas open until the beginning of November, I see no need for the process to be rushed to completion by mid-September. Some could undoubtedly have arrived by then but the rest could have been brought over in stages between then and, say, the end of October. The auxiliaries were, apparently, in Britain in time to be installed in newly-constructed winter quarters. This militates against a late campaign, which would allow little or no time for the reinforcements to be brought over before the seas closed.

(12-06-2015, 05:48 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote: Tacitus's comment about the missed spring planting was an attempt to shift blame onto them and so exonerate Paulinus for his severity in the counter-insurgency phase of his campaign.

I am not sure that Tacitus would have felt the need for any such exoneration. He clearly thought that Paulinus was right and had no sympathy with those who favoured a more conciliatory approach.

(12-06-2015, 06:37 PM)Theoderic Wrote: I would have thought that Polyclitus arrived in mid-March 62 and Paulinus had the go ahead to continue the campaign in the new campaign season but unfortunately the disaster with the ships called for a new Governor.

Although it is possible that Polyclitus did not arrive until 62, it is not necessary or even likely for this to be so. This was a crisis in which the governor, having quite properly accomplished the defeat of the rebels, was now mishandling the aftermath and urgent action was required. If Classicianus arrived in the province shortly after the final battle, say sometime during July, he could have made his assessment and sent off his report by mid-August. Polyclitus could, possibly, have arrived by the end of September and had a month in which to reach his own conclusions before hurrying back to the Continent before the seas closed in November.  

(12-06-2015, 06:37 PM)Theoderic Wrote: I understood that the consuls resigned half way through the year in imperial times which would allow for Turpilianus to arrive in August AD62 if that is correct.

Unless I misunderstand the point you are making, this seems to be a non-sequitur. Turpilianus was ordinary consul in 61, so could have arrived in Britain by August 62, even if he had served the full year.

(12-06-2015, 06:37 PM)Theoderic Wrote: You have now convinced me that for the warehouses to be full of wheat, unless the Roman Towns were supplied from abroad, the uprising started after the harvest was gathered in by both the Iceni and the Romans.

This does not follow. After the fall of Colchester, the rebels proceeded to London. London was a major trading centre and its warehouses would have been full of supplies. Tacitus tells us that it was 'copia negotiatorum et commeatuum maxime celebre ', literally translated, 'filled to the highest degree with an abundance of merchants and provisions'. It was, therefore, the natural target of the rebels after Colchester and where, no doubt, they expected to seize the bulk of the supplies that they relied upon to sustain them until they were able to resume normal husbandry.
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)
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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 Renatus - 12-07-2015, 12:21 AM

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