Caesar and Britain No 2.

Caesar gave a detailed description of the chariot fighting by the Britons:

"In chariot-fighting the Britons begin by driving all over the field hurling javelins, and generally the terror inspired by the horses and the noise of the wheels are sufficient to throw their opponents' ranks into disorder.

Then, after making their way between the squadrons of their own cavalry, they jump down from thier chariots and engage on foot. In the meantime their charioteers retire a short distance from the battle and place the chariots in such a position that their masters, if hard pressed by numbers, have an easy means of retreat to their own lines. Thus they combine the mobility of cavalry with the staying power of infantry; and by daily training and practice they attain such proficiency that even on a steep incline they are able to control the horse at full gallop, and to check them and turn them in a moment. They can run along the chariot pole, stand on the yoke, and get back into the chariot as quick as lightning".

Cassevallanus used these mobile forces and avoiding a pitched battle with the Roman legions, escorted them on their inroad and cut off their foraging party. Caesar took his first stronghold and tribes began to make terms themselves.

Subjugation

Britain enjoyed a hundred years of peace following Julius Caesar's invasion. The Belgic cities of the south developed a life of their own and worrior tribes had the comforting illusion that no one was likely to attack them again. The contacts with the civilisation of the Roman Empire grew with time and trade flourished in a wide range of commodities. Roman traders saw the value of this new 'alliance' and established themselves in many parts, and carried back to Rome tales of wealth and possibilities of Brittania, if only a stable government was established.The arrival of A.D.41 saw the assasination of Gaius (Caligular) A.D.37 - 41, and the chapter of accidents brought clownish Claudius to the throne. No one supposed that any will to conquest lived in the thoughts of the new ruler, but the officials of highly competent officials shaped policy in Rome. Eminent senators air their views; important commercial and financial interests were discussed at great length in this new era. Thus, in this immediate period there was always a available for a new emporer a number of desirable projects, in harmony with the generally understood Roman system, any one of which may catch the eye of the latest wielder of supreme power.

The advantage of conquering Britannia was paraded before Claudius until his interest became more and more excited. He was attracted by the idea of gaining a military reputation and Brittania was possibly a good beginning, so he gave orders for the lucrative enterprise to begin. In A.D. 43, nearly one hundred years after Julius Caesar's evacuation of Britain a powerful and well organised Roman army of some twenty thousand men was prepared for the invasion. The soldiers were indignant at the thought of carrying out a campaign outside the limits of the known world.

Their departure had been made late in the year, and was sent over in three divisions so that they would not be hindered in landing as might happen to a single force. They put into the island without any opposition; the Britons had not expected them and therefore had not assembled beforehand. The internal situation favoured the invaders for Cunobelinus was an overlord of the southeast of the island, his capital being Colchester. In his old age dissentions had begun to to impair his authority, and on his death the kingdom was ruled by his sons, Caractacus and Togodumnus. Cunobilinus's sons were his successors and were not everywhere recognized and they had no time to form any sort of a tribal kingdom before the arrival of the Roman commander Plautius and his legions. The people of Kent used the tactics of Cassivellaunus who gave Plautinus much trouble to find them but when he eventually caught up with them he first defeated Caractacus and then his brother in East Kent. Advancing along Caesar's old line he came across a river he had not heard of before, the river Medway.

"The barbarians thought that the Romans would not be able to cross without a bridge and consequently bivouacked in rather a careless fashion on the opposite bank" but the Roman general sent across "a detachment of Germans, who were accustomed to swim in full armour across the most turbulent streams. These fell unexpectantly upon the enemy, but instead of shooting at the men they disabled the horses that drew the chariots, and in the ensuing confusion not even the enemy's mounted men could save themselves"

The Britons, never to back away from a fight faced them on the second day and were broken with a flank attack, Vespasian, who eventually became Emporer himself, discovered a ford higher up. This victory marred the stage-management of the campaign. Plautius had won his battle too soon, and in the wrong place, and something had to be done to show that the Emporer's presence was necessary for victory. So Claudius, who had been waiting for events in France, crossed the English channel and brought with him substantial reinforcements, including a number of elephants. A battle was eventually procured and the Romans won.

Claudius returned to Rome to receive from the Senate the title "Britannicus" and permission to celebrate a triumph. But the war continued. The Britons having learned to respect the Roman legions would not come to close quarters but took refuge in the swamps and the forests with the hope that the invaders would be worn out in the search for them, and as the in the days of Julius Caesar would then return whence they came with nothing accomplished. Meanwhile Caractacus escaped to the Welsh border, and, arousing its tribes, maintained a fair resistance for six years and it was not until A.D. 50 that Caractacus was finally defeated by a new general, Ostorius, the successor of Plautius, who reduced to submission the whole of the more settled regions from the Wash to the Severn.

Caracticus sought help from the Brigantes in the North but their Queen eventually handed him over to the Romans. Suetonius wrote --  "The fame of the British prince had by this time spread over the provinces of Gaul and Italy; and, upon his arrival in the Roman capital the people flocked from all quarters to behold him. The ceremonial of his entrance was conducted with great solemnity. On a plain adjoining the Roman camp the Pretorian troops up in martial array.

The Emporer and his court took their stations in front of the lines, and behind them was ranged the whole body of the legions. The procession commenced with the different trophies that had been taken from the Britons during the progress of the war. Next followed the brothers of the vanquished prince, with his wife and daughter, in chains, expressing by their supplicating looks and gestures the fears with which they were actuated. But not so Caractacus himself".

On the next page I will copy out the speech in which Caractacus made to the Senate and the Emporer that I have taken from C. Suetonius Tranquilillius, "The lives of the twelve Caesars."