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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
(09-14-2016, 06:44 PM)Theoderic Wrote: a lot of the Brythonic Tribes had been conquered and assimulated into the Roman Empire

Yes. It's interesting that all the fighting in Britain we know about (Boudica excepted), following the immediate invasion campaign, seems to have happened in the far west, Wales and the north.

It could be that the peoples of the south-east and Midlands, perhaps due to a closer affinity or cultural connection with the Gauls of the continent, perhaps a more developed social system or economy, found it easier to assimilate to Roman control and live under Roman laws and taxation.

(09-14-2016, 06:44 PM)Theoderic Wrote: It does no justice to the various Roman generals to dismiss the Brythons as a rabble

True - although it does seem that the Romans themselves underestimated their enemy quite badly - the citizens of Colchester by not defending their town, Cerialis by trying to relieve it with too small a force, Paulinus by advancing with only part of his army from Wales. And who knows what Postumus thought he was doing!

But I don't think we can draw from this that the Britons were collectively a 'disciplined, organised' military force. What they had was an overwhelming numerical superiority, and a mass grievance against Rome to motivate them. Imperialist occupation forces have habitually understimated such things...

The more I think about it, the less inclined I am to see Cerialis's defeat as the result of an ambush. While it would have been possible to ambush a small Roman column by surprise, or cut off a foraging party, Cerialis was advancing into a hostile country and would have been on his guard. Unless he was incompetent (which seems not to have been the case) he would have had scouts all around him keeping him informed of enemy movements. We know from Arrian that the Romans could deploy from line of march to line of battle very quickly - unless the Britons managed to rush upon Cerialis in vast numbers and at great speed, he would have had time to prepare himself for a pitched battle.

(09-14-2016, 06:44 PM)Theoderic Wrote: Still do not buy this argument.

Well, it seem we cannot agree then! But I still don't see that we can read this any other way, unless we assume that Tacitus was covering up for Roman trepidation. London was comprehensively sacked and almost completely destroyed, and Paulinus would not have evacuated the place were he not faced with an enemy that he could hope to defeat in open battle.
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 - 09-15-2016, 10:09 AM

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