The Roman Invasion of Britain
In 58BC Julius Caesar became governor and military commander of the Roman province of Gaul, which at this time included modern france, Belgium, and areas of Switzerland, Holland and Germany west of the Rhine. For the next eight years Caesar led military campaigns in the area.
In the 1st century BC, Britain was populated by Iron Age tribes, many of whom had close links with the tribes of northern France. Britain was split into 24 different tribes of varying area, population and levels of technological advancement. At least seven of these Iron Age tribes had their own coinage. Many of the tribes in the south-east of England benefited from trade routes with France and Europe and commerce had begun to flourish. Tribes in the south-west of Britain and Wales controlled considerable mineral wealth in tin deposits and copper mines.
In 55 and 54BC Caesar led two expeditions into Britain from Boulogne, both of which landed at Deal on the Kent coast, a few miles northeast of Dover.
The First Roman Landing of 55BC
The seed for a Roman invasion of Britain had probably been sown when the Armorican tribes on the coast of Britanny rebelled against the Romans with the help of tribes from southern Britain. Caesar recognised that he needed to subdue the tribes of Britain before they could create more problems within the unstable western edge of the Roman province.
On the 26th August, 55BC, 2 Roman legions (about 10,000 soldiers) under the personal command of Julius Caesar crossed the English Channel in a group of transporter ships from the Portus Itius in Boulogne. By the next morning the Romans were not far from the cliffs of Dover, whose upper banks were lined with British warriors in horse drawn chariots (an antiquated fighting method no longer used by the Roman military). After an initial battle the British war leaders sought a truce and handed over hostages.
Four days later, when Roman backup (including 500 cavalry soldiers and horses) also tried to land in Britain, they were beaten back by bad weather. The storm also damaged many of the ships already beached at Deal. This lack of cavalry seriously restricted Caesar's operations as soldiers were forced to repair their boats and were therefore at risk from the British tribes who began to take advantage with new attacks. After repairing most of the ships Caesar ordered the troops to return to Gaul, bringing an abrupt end to this first invasion attempt, as it was now the end of the Roman campaigning season.
The Second Roman Landing of 54BC
The following year the Romans organised a much larger expedition to Britain, with a total of 800 ships transporting five legions and 2,000 cavalry troops, plus horses. They set sail from Boulogne on the 6th of July and landed unopposed the next day on a beach between Deal and Sandwich.
When the native Britons saw the size of the Roman army they quickly retreated inland. Caesar immediately marched 12 miles inland to the Stour River, and at daybreak on the 8th of July the Romans and the Britons met in battle. The Britons used chariot warfare, with two horses pulling a driver and warrior, the latter hurling javelins and dismounting to fight a t close quarters. However, the discipline, organisation and technique of the Roman army soon had the natives beaten and they were forced to retreat once more to a nearby hill-fort (probably Bigbury) a mile and a half from the river crossing. The Seventh Roman legion attacked the hillfort but were kept out by trees that had been piled up at the entrance. To gain access to the fort the Romans filled the ditches with earth and branches, making a ramp, and then captured the fort.
However, bad weather was once again to bring misfortune for the Romans. An overnight storm had driven most of the Roman ships onto the shore, and the main body of the troops returned to the beach to find at least 40 boats completely destroyed. Caesar's army then set about building a land fort within which the remaining 760 boats had to be transported, which took 10 days.
During this ten day delay a large British force was briefly united under a single commander Cassivellaunus, who ruled the Catuvellauni tribe on the north side of the River Thames. It was Cassivelluanus' army that had met Caesar's troops at the Stour crossing. After being driven back by the Romans towards the Thames Cassivellaunus then set about destroying local food sources and using his chariots to attack the Roman legions. Unfortunately for Cassivelluanus other British tribes (including the Trinovantes and their allies) resented his control and defected to the Roman side. Through these tribes Caesar gained much useful information including the whereabouts of Cassivellaunus' stronghold.
Even as the Romans were preparing to attack his fortress Cassivellaunus was ordering his allies in kent to attack the Roman camp at Deal. The attack failed and Cassivellaunus surrendered, but he appears to have been fairly treated by the Romans who had learnt of problems in Gaul and made plans to return there. The Roman legions of Caesar left Britain in early September, 54BC, and it was to be another 97 years when the Romans would attempt the Conquest of Britain.
The Roman Invasion of 43 AD
Following the death of Cunobelinus who had been one of the most powerful tribal leaders in Britain, and more or less the British 'king', his throne passed to his two sons Togodumnus and Caratacus By this time Rome and Britain were trading with each other, with Rome taking a special interest in the metals that Britain had to offer. However, most of Britain at this time was still distinctly anti-Roman, and was especially opposed to the taxes that were paid to Rome.
By this time Claudius was Emperor of Rome and he had a lot to prove to the Roman Senate, especially the fact that he was a competent and worthy successor. The reasons for Claudius' invasion of Britain were thus:
The Invasion
To ensure success Claudius spent a great deal of time planning the invasion. Four years previously the Emperor Gaius had planned to invade Britain but his mission had been abandoned. The cause of the reluctance was an obstacle that had greeted both of Caesar's invasions and defeated them both times: The sea. The Roman troops were terrified of the sea and what it could do to their ships and perhaps even more terrified of being stranded on British shores with the Barbarian natives all around. With this fear laying heavy on their minds the Roman troops of Claudius' invasion refused to board the ships and the commander Aulus Plautius was unable to persuade them otherwise. To help him Rome sent Narcissus, the Secretary for State, to talk to the troops. Narcissus was an ex-slave and perhaps because of his lowly origins he was bale to persuade the Roman troops to set sail.
This time the Romans landed at Richborough in Kent and were unopposed by the Britons. When Caratacus heard of the Roman landing he knew that it would take some time to gather a force large enough to tackle the Romans head on so he gathered as many troops as he could and prepared to meet the Romans at the River Medway.
The battle scene was set: The Romans and Britons faced each other from the opposite sides of the riverbank. The Britons watched the Roman troops moving about on the other side, little knowing that while they watched eight cohorts of Batavian troops were slipping into the water unseen. The Batavians came out a little way from the British warriors and made their way to the back of their lines to where their chariots stood, they then began to disable the horses and the chariots thus taking away the backup of the British army. This put the Britons into total disarray and whilst they panicked two Roman legions successfully crossed the Medway and set up base on the British side. The Britons rushed at the legions and the battle carried on throughout the day, the Roman legions knowing that they had to stand firm until reinforcements arrived. At night more Romans crossed the river and the next day the fighting resumed with the Romans employing their tight group fighting tactics.
With superior armour, discipline and sheer numbers of men the Roman army were victorious and now had a large area of south-east Britain subdued, which they could now use as a base from which to launch further expeditions into Britain to prevent the possibility of the remaining tribes forming a larger fighting force and launching counter attacks.
The battle at Medway was one of the most significant battles in British history for it enabled the Romans to finally get the stronghold on Britain that they so desired. It gave them a base from which to plan and carry out the Romanisation of Britain and the expansion of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately the exact site of the battle at Medway has not been definitely identified. After the battle the troops returned to collect their dead and see that they were buried accordingly.
MG