Last year, Caesar became the first Roman general
to lead an army to the island of Britain. But the expedition flirted with catastrophe,
and didn't accomplish a whole lot. This year, Caesar was determined to return,
and this time, he was going to do it right. One big problem he faced was the Roman ships. They sucked. Caesar had a new ship designed, incorporating
elements used by the Veneti and other Gallic tribes. Over the winter, Caesar put his entire army
to work building as many of these ships as possible. He left them under Labienus's watchful eye,
as he returned to Cisalpine Gaul to put in some face-time as governor. The next spring, after dealing with a minor
uprising in Illyrucum, Caesar made his way back up to northern Gaul. He sent messages to every friendly tribe in
Gaul, asking each to contribute a small group of cavalry to the expedition, and insisting
that each group being lead by its tribal leadership. This served three purposes. First, the majority of the Roman army was
going to be gone for most of the campaigning season, and having most of Gaul's leadership
with them would be useful if there was any sort of uprising. Second, he now knew that the Britons fought
primarily with cavalry, and the Romans were pretty weak in that department. Third, rival tribes from all over Gaul coming
together and uniting under the Roman banner was some powerful symbolism. Caesar's request made some of the Gauls pretty
angry, but in the end delivered, and 4,000 Gallic cavalry showed up at the Roman camp. Caesar split his new Gallic cavalry into two
groups. Half would come with him to Britain, and the
other half would stay with Labienus in Gaul. Everything was ready. If all went according to plan, Caesar would
be invading with 27,000 men. Last year he'd been forced to make due with
only 8,000. This was a massive step up. The Romans set sail for Britain. Again. Caesar's plan was to land on the same beach
as last year. The fleet arrived by mid-day, but this time,
there was nobody there to greet them. The Romans disembarked, and the infantry got
busy building their fortified encampment, while scouts on horseback fanned out to do
some reconnaissance. Some time later, the scouts returned. From what they could tell, there had been
an army here only hours earlier, and there were tracks heading inland. There was still some daylight left, so Caesar
ordered 4 of his 5 legions and his mounted Gallic allies to prepare to march, while the
remaining legion and a small group of cavalry stayed behind with the ships. Caesar pushed his men hard, and they kept
on marching straight through the night. As the sun rose the next day, they caught
sight of their foe. The enemy army had crossed a river, and was
in the process of falling back into the woods. In the woods, there was a wooden fort atop
a hill. The Romans hadn't slept, and were dead on
their feet, but nevertheless they began to ford the river. As the Romans advanced toward the woods, the
Britons sent their chariots and cavalry forward to slow them down. In response, Caesar sent his own cavalry forward,
which included his 2,000 mounted Gallic allies. The Romans smashed into the chariots, which
sent them into total disarray. The beaten chariots and cavalry retreated
back into the woods. The Roman infantry were now free to advance
up the hill. But as they made their ascent, they realized
that there were Britons hiding in the woods beside them. The Britons attacked, but the Roman heavy
infantry were able to swat them away and continue up the hill. As they approached the fort, the Romans were
met with missile fire. The infantry got into their testudo, or tortoise
formation, where the soldiers got close together and raised their shields to form a protective
shell, and continued to slowly move forward. While protected like this, most missiles bounced
off harmlessly. Once they reached the walls of the fort, the
infantry quickly piled up some dirt to make a crude ramp. Then, the Romans ascended the ramp and jumped
down into the British fort, causing general mayhem. Once the Britons realized that their walls
were breached, they didn't put up much of a fight, and quickly fell back into the woods. The Romans were eager to pursue, but Caesar
thought better of it, fearing that this was all a prelude to a massive ambush. Besides, his men hadn't slept since leaving
Gaul. He had them quickly throw together their fortified
encampment, and let them rest until the next day. The next morning, Caesar ordered 3 of his
4 legions to fan out in search of enemy. They had instructions to burn and raze any
villages they came across. This, in theory, would draw the Britons out,
and pressure them to face Caesar in a set-piece battle. Caesar remained in camp with his remaining
legion, presumably ready to rush to the aid of his men if they happened to stumble across
an army. Later that day, one of the legions caught
sight of the enemy army, and sent word to Caesar. But around the same time, another messenger
arrived from the Roman camp near the beach. Apparently the previous night, almost all
of the ships anchored off shore were caught in a storm. According to the messenger, many of the ships
were damaged beyond repair. If this sounds familiar, it's because a similar
thing happened to Caesar last year. Caesar now had decision to make. On one hand, he had an enemy army within his
grasp. On the other, his men were now stranded on
the island, and decisions needed to be made back on the beach. After some consideration, he sent messengers
to each of his 3 legions in the field, telling them to come back to camp. He would play it safe, and march the entire
army back to the beach. When Caesar arrived, he had all of the ships
dragged up on shore so that he could have a look at them. The damage wasn't nearly as bad as initially
reported. His fleet had consisted of 600 ships, and
true, most were damaged, but only 40 were damaged beyond repair. This was still bad, but Caesar was in luck,
because his legions had been the ones who had actually built these ships. Pretty much every person in his army had some
shipbuilding experience. Caesar organized hundreds of repair crews,
and got them started patching up the ships. He then spent the next 10 days having the
rest of his army build a very long wall, running all the way from the fortified camp down to
the water. His repair crews had a lot of work ahead of
them, but this wall would keep them safe from attack. With his ships seen to and his repair crews
hard at work, Caesar was eager to continue his campaign. He left 1 legion and a small group of cavalry
behind, same as before, and marched off with the other 4 legions. The Britons had used this break in the action
to get their act together. The tribes had finally united behind a man
named Cassivellaunus, and had entrusted him with the command of a coalition army tasked
with defending the island from the Roman invaders. This time, when Caesar marched inland, the
Britons didn't mess around. Throughout the day, the legions were constantly
harassed by hit and run attacks from chariots and cavalry, who, when pursued, quickly fled
into the woods. At one point the Roman cavalry eagerly charged
after them, only to run straight into a nasty ambush. Late in the day, the frustrated Romans stopped
to build their fortified encampment. The Britons had been waiting for this moment,
charged out of the woods, descending on the vulnerable Romans. You can tell that the Britons were finally
under the command of somebody who knew what they were doing. It was standard practice for a portion of
the Roman army to stand guard while the camp was built, and it's a good thing, because
they were the only soldiers in a position to respond as the British attacked. Caesar gave instructions for half of his army
to hold the Britons off while the other half continued construction. They needed those walls finished, in case
the fighting turned bad and they needed to withdraw. As the two sides met, the fighting was pretty
brutal. The Romans were exhausted, and the Britons
knew it. As the fighting continued, the chariots were
starting to do some real damage. The Britons loved to do fake retreats, and
whenever they could bait the Roman infantry into breaking formation and running after
them, the chariots would stop, the riders would step down onto the ground, and within
seconds the out-of-formation Romans would find themselves charging toward a solid wall
of infantry. But on the other hand, if the Roman infantry
stood their ground and resisted the urge to charge, the Britons simply seized control
of the battlefield and were free to hit the Romans with their javelins from any direction. The chariots never fought as one cohesive
group, so it was very hard for the Romans to adopt one strategy to take them on. When one group retreated, another would charge. When one stepped down to fight the Romans
on foot, another would unexpectedly swoop in from the side. The Romans army was primarily heavy infantry
and was not built to fight like this. Eventually, the Britons were able to break
through the Roman centre. This was catastrophic. The Roman line was collapsing. Caesar responded by quickly sending two cohorts,
or 1,000 men, to reinforce the line. As the fresh infantry flooded in and re-established
control of the centre, the British chariots backed off, and the army withdrew. The Romans had successfully fended the Britons
off, but this was no victory. They had only narrowly avoided disaster, and
in the process, lost way too many men. The next morning, the Britons deployed for
battle opposite the Romans, and sent raiding parties to mess with the Roman cavalry, trying
to bait them into doing something stupid. They didn't fall for it. By mid-day, nothing was happening, so the
Britons withdrew. Caesar didn't pursue them. When they were gone, Caesar sent three of
his legions out with all of his cavalry to forage for food, while he held down the fort
with the remaining legion. The Britons must have been lying in wait for
something like this to happen, because once the three legions were away from the camp,
they were ambushed. Hard. So hard that Caesar specifically mentions
that the legions almost lost their eagle standards during the initial attack. But the Romans quickly got themselves organized,
and responded. As the Roman infantry pushed back, the British
cavalry and chariots fell into a fake retreat. But this time, the Roman cavalry surged forward,
and kept the pressure on the chariots. Under constant threat from the Roman cavalry,
the chariot drivers were unable to get down and fight on foot, as they had before. Eventually, the fake retreat turned into a
real one. This was a small victory, but at least it
was a victory. Caesar decided that this would be a good time
to reevaluate his entire strategy for the invasion. The British chariots were just too fast and
too slippery, and were able to easily disengage at the first sign of trouble. This would make it very difficult for Caesar
to win one decisive victory. So instead, Caesar decided to target Cassivellaunus's
homeland, just north of the Thames river. At worst, this would pressure Cassivellaunus
to face Caesar in a big set-piece battle, creating the opportunity for Caesar to win
one decisive victory. At best, it would erode Cassivellaunus's base
of support, eliminating the need for a decisive victory at all. With his mind made up, Caesar marched north. As he approached the Thames river, he could
see Cassivellaunus's army on the other side. The river was deep, but not too deep to ford. Caesar sent his cavalry across first. The infantry followed behind. The cavalry weathered the British missile
fire as they slowly made their way across the river. At this moment, the Romans were lucky to have
their 2,000 mounted Gallic allies with them, because they were really good at this sort
of thing. They were able to push in and establish a
beachhead for themselves, and as the Roman infantry began to reinforce them, the Britons
yielded and fell back. Caesar was now in Cassivellaunus's territory. He began to execute his strategy, systematically
razing villages and burning crops. Cassivellaunus trailed the Roman army, but
decided not to directly challenge them with a set-piece battle. Whenever the Romans went out to forage, he
relentlessly attacked them with his chariots. After a few incidents, Caesar was forced to
stop foraging, and instead began to rely on the small amount of food he brought with him. Cassivellaunus watched helplessly as the Romans
continued to ravage the countryside. And then, in an instant, the nature of the
campaign changed dramatically. The leader of one of the largest tribes serving
under Cassivellaunus's banner showed up unexpectedly at the Roman camp. He told Caesar that he was open to allying
his tribe with the Romans, if Caesar would in return protect his lands from Cassivellaunus. Clearly Caesar's campaign of destruction was
having an effect, and making some of Cassivellaunus's allies worried. Caesar said that yes, he would agree to those
terms, so long as the tribe agreed to surrender some hostages, and supply the Romans with
food. Without the ability to forage, the Caesar
was quickly burning through his supplies. The the tribal leader agreed, and just like
that, Rome had an ally. And then, as if they were waiting in the wings,
5 more tribes came forward, ready to defect on similar terms. Caesar happily agreed. The fact that Cassivellaunus was now losing
allies left and right was great, but what was even better was the amazing intelligence
that Caesar new allies turned over. They told him everything. They told him that Cassivellaunus had been
stockpiling grain and cattle, and had enough food hidden away to keep the war going indefinitely. They told him that Cassivellaunus was down
to around 4,000 chariots, which was a lot less than what he started with. And, they told him that Cassivellaunus was
operating out of a secret stronghold, hidden deep in the woods. They agreed to show Caesar where it was. Caesar arrived at the location of this supposed
hidden fortress, and then marched blindly into the woods. As he advanced, chariots hit the Roman column
with increasing intensity. Caesar knew better than to let his men get
distracted and chase them off into the woods, but nevertheless the constant attacks inflicted
significant losses. And then, finally, the Romans could see the
hidden stronghold. This, reportedly, was home to most of Cassivellaunus's
army, as well as all of the supplies that he would need if he wanted to continue the
war. Caesar divided his infantry in two, and had
them approach the stronghold from two different angles. He had no way of knowing how well these walls
would be defended. The Britons pelted them with missiles as they
approached, but by the time the Romans reached the walls, the Britons were already beginning
to lose faith and abandon the stronghold. When the Romans breached the walls, there
was a bit of fighting, but it was over pretty quickly. The Britons left their stockpiles behind as
the army slipped out of the fort and fled even deeper into the woods. As the British army was retreating, Cassivellaunus
sent a message to some of his allies in southern Britain, who had been waiting for a signal
from him. He gave them the signal they were waiting
for, and all of a sudden a new army materialized and began marching toward the Roman ships. The Romans had no idea. This new British army attacked the Roman camp,
but the defending Romans, luckily, had this defensive wall going all the way down to the
water. They easily repulsed the first wave, by throwing
their javelins over the walls and defending the entrance. After this initial contact, they probably
got the impression that this new British army was kinda green, because their next move was
to recklessly charge out of their camp directly into the British line, which immediately caused
a full route. That was Cassivellaunus's last move. It was a good idea on paper, but it failed,
and he had no more tricks up his sleeve. With his own territory in ruins, and with
all of his armies chased from the field, he sent a peace offer to Caesar. By this time it was September, and Caesar
needed to start thinking about getting off the island, so he let Cassivellaunus off easy. Caesar demanded some hostages, and forbade
Cassivellaunus from waging war against Rome's new British allies, but that was it. Cassivellaunus agreed, and Caesar returned
to the coast. It was time to leave, and Caesar was pleased
to find that most of his ships had been repaired. But remember, he had lost 40 ships earlier
in the year, and was now weighed down with extra hostages and slaves. There was no way he could squeeze his entire
army onto his remaining ships. He decided that he would make two trips, taking
half of his army across at a time. They picked the sturdiest transports, and
loaded half of the army into them. Caesar chose to stay behind, and come with
the second group. The ships departed, and the crossing went
well. But as they reached the Gallic coast and disembarked,
the winds picked up, temporarily preventing the ships from sailing back up to Britain. Caesar was now in serious trouble. If the ships didn't return soon, he would
be stranded on Britain for the winter, with only half of his army and virtually no food. He didn't have any good ideas, so he took
another look at the ships that had been declared damaged beyond repair. Anything was better than starving to death
on this God forsaken island, so he picked the best of the lot, and decided to roll the
dice. If they were lucky, maybe they would reach
the continent before the ships sank. They set off in the middle of the night, and
incredibly, they didn't lose a single ship or a single man in the crossing. They arrived off the Gallic coast the next
morning. It's hard to know if Caesar had started this
expedition with ambitions to occupy the island, but if he did, those ambitions were long gone. As we've seen, the logistics alone were a
nightmare. Over the next few years, Rome's new allies
on Britain quietly let their alliances lapse, and Rome pretended not to notice. The island reverted back to the status quo,
and the Romans would not return for 100 years. When Caesar arrived back on the mainland,
he split his army, and wintered his legions with a bunch of different tribes. A bunch with the Belgae, a bunch on the Rhine,
basically all the problem areas. This looks an awful lot like an occupation,
and I'm sure it was starting to feel like one too. Something was brewing in Gaul. Earlier in the year, when a rebellious Gallic
leader was facing execution by Roman soldiers, his last words had been a defiant rallying
cry: "I am a free man, living in a free state!" This sentiment was quietly taking hold across
the whole region. The tribes were still independent, but just
saying that out loud was becoming a political act. Caesar had no way of knowing this, but Gaul
was sitting on a knife's edge, and all it needed to descend into total chaos was a little
push.
Put on some Historia Civilis and take a shot each time the Romans construct a fortified encampment
Historia Civilis just blows all other history channels away with its crisp, professional narration and smooth, simple graphics. These other copycats are like some tepid, off-brand, generic cola but what this guy is making is Classic Coke.
Chariots OP, nerf pls
Part 1
I'm addicted to this channel.
What I find truly amazing about the history of the Roman empire has nothing to do with the events, people or battles etc. It's just how well documented it all is, It's incredible to think how much has survived and how we have pretty much the entire history of Roman year by year. We also have a huge amount of personal insight to the major players, what their thoughts where, why they did what they did etc. Really enjoyable to learn about this part of history.
This guy is the absolute best for ancient warfare videos. Ceasar in Britain is something I was aware of but it mostly consisted of 'He came, he saw, he decided it wasn't cool enough and it left'. Having these in video form makes you feel for those little coloured blocks as they try to forage for food, build walls, or rebuild ships.
This Caesar guy sounds like a dick. Someone should stab him.
History Civilis is a great channel to learn about the Roman *Republic and its many great battles. Very easy to follow along. Go through his chronological order play list to really get the most out of it.
https://youtu.be/Y4fF5l2xYh0?list=PLODnBH8kenOp7y_w1CWTtSLxGgAU6BR8M
And here's a quick and easy video to introduce the Roman army infrastructure: https://youtu.be/Rcbedan5R1s
Edit*