Boudicca, Warrior Queen Part III — The Empire Strikes BackIn case you missed — Part I, P

Boudicca, Warrior Queen Part III — The Empire Strikes BackIn case you missed — Part I, Part IIAs revenge for the humiliation brought upon her, her kingdom, and the violation of her daughters, Queen Boudicca of the Iceni formed a massive army and destroyed the Roman cities of Camulodinum and Londinium.  Tens of thousands of Romans and and Romanized Britons were massacred as a result of Boudicca’s revenge.  For the Romans, the military situation seemed bleak, as there were few soldiers in the area to stop the rebellion.  In addition, the Roman Governor, Seutonius, was away on campaign against the druids in Wales.  The situation was so bad, that the Roman Emperor Nero considering evacuating the island and abandoning Britain altogether.When word of the Iceni Rebellion reached Seutonius, he left Wales immediately and traveled back to England as fast as possible, mustering as many soldiers as he could along the way.  By the time he met with Boudicca’s army, Seutonius’ forces numbered a mere 10,000.  Estimates from the time number Boudicca’s army at around 230,000 warriors, although historians today accept 100,000 as a more realistic number.Regardless of numbers, it was clear that the Romans were greatly outnumbered in the upcoming battle.  Today the precise location of the battle is unknown, though historians place it near a Roman road now known as Watling Street, near Wroexeter in Shropshire.  Seutonius chose his ground wisely, positioning his army in a narrow gorge at the end of a wide open field.  The rear of his army was protected by a dense forest while the flanks of his army was protected by the gorge itself.  Thus the Britons were unable to use their superiority of numbers, allowing them to merely surround and annihilate the Romans.  Rather,  Boudicca and her warriors were forced to attack the Romans head on; the way Romans liked to fight.In terms of weapons and tactics the Romans and Britons couldn’t be more different from each other.  The Britons favored longer and larger weapons such as broadswords, axes, and spears.  Such weapons required sufficient space to swing or thrust.  The Romans, however, preferred close quarter tactics using small wieldy weapons.  A typical Roman Legionary was armed with two javelins (pila), a short sword (gladius), and a dagger (pugio). In addition the Roman Legionary wore heavy army such as chainmail or segmented plate armor, and a helmet.  They key to a Roman soldier’s equipment was a large square shield called a scutum.  The Roman scutum was so large that it covered almost the entirety of the body.  The Romans would do battle in tight formations, with their shields at the front for protection.  When attacked, the Romans would slam into their enemies with their shields, pinning them in a tightly packed battle space where larger weapons such as broadswords, axes, and spears were useless. Then, using their handy and compact short swords, the Romans thrust against their enemies from the sides of their shields with quick stabbing attacks to the abdomen and chest. It was a very aggressive form of warfare, but unlike the combat of their Celtic enemies, it was a highly disciplined and organized form of warfare, with each Roman depending on each other for success and victory.Boudicca, believing she had trapped the Romans, ordered her warriors to charge in a direct frontal assault.  Tens of thousands of warriors charged across the plain, both men and women, filling the air with furious war cries.  As the Britons closed in on the Romans, the Romans, with cool discipline threw their two javelins.  Under a hail of 20,000 javelins, the Iceni charge was halted in its tracks. Taking advantage of this pause, Seutonius then ordered his men to advance.  Despite being badly outnumbered, it would be Roman discipline that would win the day as the Romans cut through the Britons like a gladius through jello.  At the front was Seutonius himself, urging his soldiers on shouting, “Ignore the racket made by these savages. There are more women than men in their ranks. They are not soldiers - they’re not even properly equipped. We’ve beaten them before and when they see our weapons and feel our spirit, they’ll crack. Stick together. Throw the javelins, then push forward: knock them down with your shields and finish them off with your swords. Forget about plunder. Just win and you’ll have everything.”Eventually, Celtic ranks broke and the Iceni army attempted to retreat from the Roman onslaught.  However, before the battle, the families of the Iceni warriors parked their wagons behind the army to watch the fight.  Now this line of wagons provided an obstacle that prevented the Iceni from retreating.  As the Romans continued to advance the battlefield grew so crowded that Iceni trampled each other to death trying to escape.  By the end of the battle, over 80,000 Iceni and other Britons lay dead, wounded, or dying on the battlefield. The Romans suffered only 400 casualties.After her defeat at the Battle of Watling Street, Queen Boudicca committed suicide.  Being captured by the Romans meant a whole slew of humiliations, including torture, being paraded through the City of Rome in a triumph, and eventually executed by strangulation at the steps of the Roman Forum.  Boudicca was determined she would not be humiliated by the Romans again.  As for the remaining Iceni and Britons, most were scattered across the empire and sold as slaves.After the Iceni Rebellion, Seutonius would serve as a general under Emperor Otho throughout the Roman civil war known as the “Year of the Five Emperors”.  Otho was defeated and killed, but the fate of Seutonius is unknown.After the failure of the Iceni Rebellion, the Romans managed to conquer all of what is modern day England and Wales, eventually setting up a frontier at the English/Scottish border.  Under Roman occupation, Most Britons ceased to be Celts in culture and become “Romanized”.  After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, England was conquered and settled by two Germanic tribes called the Angles and the Saxons.  The mixture of Romanized Britons, Angles, and Saxons formed a new people called the Anglo Saxons.Today, Boudicca is hailed as a national hero in Britain.  In the middle ages she was mostly forgotten, however the rise of another female British ruler in the 19th century, Queen Victoria, would revive her legend among British nationalists and romantic writers.  Constructed in 1905, a statue built in her honor can be found next to Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. -- source link

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