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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Owein Walker wrote:
 
To say this was not exactly 'waging war as the Roman army would do normally' stumped me to be honest, I didnt realise  there was another way. SP had fought the same way for nearly 20 years and at this critical moment decided to just try something different!? 
 
We have always thought of SP as being very staid, cautious and careful and although I think that he was all of these things I also have come to realise that that I may have under estimated him in his problem solving and risk analysis. If he had fought in the "Roman Way" as you put it, his easiest option would have been to take his force and the civilians from London and St Albans to the safety of Cirencester or Gloucester. 
 
We all recognise he could move swiftly and could have been in Gloucester in 4 / 5 days from St Albans if he chose and reformed his army and attacked in the next season with 3 full Legions but he didn't, he chose to fight.  

So perhaps not so cautious as we assume.
 
I would agree that he reacted in a very Roman manner when he first marched down to London heading straight for the enemy and possibly requesting the Legions to join him at a pre-arranged rendezvous (possibly St Albans).
 
He had to change his plans because the available legionary troops from the 9th had been destroyed and the remaining cavalry from the 9th were bottled up (which implies they were put under siege in the fort they escaped to, which also implies the enemy were expecting this) and did not join with SP.
 
SP then had to change his plans again when the reinforcements from the 2nd didn’t arrive either, although the 20th veterans may have joined him with a couple of cavalry wings from Kingsholme and Cirencester respectively.
 
He decided to retire from London and then from St Albans taking civilians with him from both places, again not very Roman.
 
It is my conjecture that at this point he realised that the enemy had learnt from watching the Roman Army fight over the previous 18 years that they had a standard play book and were playing it back at him. (It was a bit like breaking the Enigma Code, they knew that given certain circumstances how the typical Roman General would react).
 
When Colchester was burnt to the ground, they knew that Cerialis (being the nearest Legionary Commander) would come to attack them so they ambushed the 9th on the way to Colchester. It is almost inconceivable that Cerialis would have abandoned his forces in a structured battle and left the field unscathed.
 
So using the Roman playbook wasn’t going to work.
 
 
Owein Walker wrote:
Different being put your troops in a ditch with no water and just wait for your enemy to come running down the hill,then block themselves in,hopefully?
 
I think that you have answered your own question here.
 
Firstly it isn’t a ditch which you keep trying to infer it is. The battlefield is  a slope that runs down at the rate of 60 feet over about a half mile stretch, which then flattens out into a defile that is around 1,000 yards wide and 300 yards deep with a wide escape route at the rear.
 
Regarding the water issue, SP had taken an army over the Atlas Mountains (the first Roman General to do so) and into the deserts of North Africa so would know about the importance of carrying water with him, which as he chose this position, it would be logical to assume that he was prepared for this.
 
The wagons are really irrelevant. It is the topography that slows the retreating enemy (something that this enemy did all the time in a pitched battle against a set Roman battle) by restricting the room for thousands to escape in a panic.
 
As I said before the wagons and non combatants that were caught up in the slaughter couldn’t escape because they could not just turn their wagons around here because of the steepness of the slopes to the Aylesbury Plain. In all the other battle sites, you would be correct, but not here.
 
Owein Walker wrote:
This is not a military plan fit for any commander, sorry. Just think for one minute, does it really make sense?  Is this how you would CHOOSE to fight?
 
Yes I would, otherwise I would not have suggested it. If you could visit the site as I have, you might think differently.
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 - 03-19-2021, 05:44 PM

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