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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Deryk,

I don't think that there is a major difference between us.  I have pointed out that the Latin does not require two defiles but the fact that your site has a possible entry point that might be loosely described as a defile does not disqualify it.  The major difficulty, apparently, as you have noted, is that the topography of the site would require the Romans to attack uphill.  This is another of the factors that the general principles of Roman warfare would require a commander to avoid.  However, provided that the incline was not too steep, this might have been a problem that Suetonius was prepared to overlook, if the other advantages of the site demanded it.

 
(03-09-2021, 09:37 AM)Nathan Ross Wrote: As I've suggested before, the presence of wagons, wives, etc would have impeded the flight of the defeated Britons wherever they were placed, as the fugitives would not want to abandon them. And most of the sites we've been discussing have quite a constricted 'plain' anyway, with high ground on either side that would effectively impede any wide spectrum of retreat for wheeled vehicles. Having a single mass of wagons and carts and families acting as a sort of 'plug' sealing the main route of access to the site would form just as effective a barrier as the sort of enveloping screen that both Tacitus and Webster imply.


As I have suggested above, the boundaries of the plain need not constitute major barriers.  A mere change of vegetation or elevation would be sufficient.  We need not suppose that the wagons would be retreating from the scene.  If they were ox-drawn, as they probably were, they would have been far too slow. so we need not see them as blocking a route of access to the site.  All retreat from the battle would have been on foot or, in some cases, on horseback for which the terrain need not have been an obstacle.  The wagons would have made retreat more difficult, as the Britons would have had to thread their way between them, but did not constitute an impenetrable barrier.  We know that a good number managed to escape and would have continued the fight had not the death of Boudica left then leaderless.  Incidentally, Tacitus does not 'imply' that the wagons were a 'sort of enveloping screen', he says as much and we can't ignore him.
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 - 03-09-2021, 11:53 AM

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