Caesar - Second Invasion of Britain 54 BC

 

Caesar’s first expedition to Britain in 55 BCE did not accomplish a lot in military terms.

 Tactically he was able to defeat the Britons, but strategically he did not achieve any long-term goals.

 In a sense his first expedition could be considered a purely image-making stunt, but a year later he was determined to leave a permanent mark on the Island and make the natives feel the might of Rome.

 After many months of intense labor by his legionaries, who were assigned the duty of building a better and slightly modified design of transport ships for the expedition, Caesar first dealt with an insurrection of a Gallic chieftain, and in early summer of 54 BCE everything was ready for the second Roman invasion of Britain.

 This time though he was taking no chances.

 He informs us that he summoned the cavalry of “the whole of Gaul”, as well as most of the tribal chiefs, so as to avoid any kind of “commotion” in Gaul while he was absent.

 The large fleet of 800 ships with 5 legions and 2000 cavalry set sail for Britain.

 After many hours of rowing they finally reached the beach on which they landed the previous year.

 But now there was not a single warrior waiting to contest their landing.

 Subsequently Caesar learned from a group of captives that the enemy withdrew inland, alarmed by the size of the Roman fleet.

 After setting up camp, he left 10 cohorts and 300 cavalry on guard duty, and went after the retreating Britons.

 He chased them for a few kilometers and finally encountered them on a hill-fort near a river crossing.

 Caesar and his legions advanced decisively but they were attacked by numerous enemy chariots and cavalry.

 It seemed that in this confined and narrow wooded area the Romans could not entrain a decisive blow to the Britons, but neither could the Britons use their mobility with much effectiveness.

 The Romans though, managed to repulse the enemy attacks and the natives responded by adopting a guerilla style of warfare, concealing themselves in the surrounding woods, trying to harass the Romans and deter them from attacking their hill-fort.

 The 7th legion took the initiative by forming the testudo shield formation as they advanced towards the fortified hill.

 By covering their comrades with this elaborate formation, those behind them were able to construct a rampart from which they charged and occupied the fort while at the same time drove the rest of the enemy from the woods.

 After many hours of ceaseless activity Caesar forbade his men to chase after the enemy and ordered them to encamp.

 The next day he wasted no time and marched towards the fleeing Britons, but while he was just coming in sight of their rear guard, a horse messenger delivered a letter with urgent news from the coastal camp.

 The previous night a great storm dashed most of his ships together and a great number of them was heavily damaged.

 Caesar decided to march back to assess the situation in person.

 When the army reached the coast Caesar saw something eerie similar to what had happened to his previous expedition.

 Most of the ships were damaged but not beyond repair.

 And this time he wasn’t going to take any chances.

 With some help from the continent, he had assigned many from his legions to drag every ship ashore, fix them, and dig a continuous line of fortifications around them.

 Caesar himself admits that this solution was of much difficulty but was nonetheless considered necessary.

 After 10 days of unremitting labor, Caesar set off again with the same forces towards the area from which he came before.

 However, the Britons had already assembled in greater numbers under the command of a man named Cassivellaunus, a chieftain who’s kingdom was beyond the river Thames, to whom the local tribes trusted to lead them against the Romans.

 During a series of skirmishes between the charioteers and the Roman cavalry the latter prevailed and managed to drive them from the area.

 Caesar’s army stopped and began setting up a marching camp.

 But while the legionaries were preoccupied with building fortifications, the Britons caught them off-guard, rushing out of the woods and attacking the cohorts that were placed on duty in front of the camp.

 This time the natives were determined and their attack broke through between two of Caesar's cohorts.

 Caesar eventually stabilized the situation but probably with significant losses.

 This method of swift mounted warfare was ill-suited for the heavy Roman infantry and Caesar knew it.

 The next day while three of Caesar’s legions with all of his cavalry were foraging the Britons ambushed them.

 The legions held firm and after the Roman cavalrymen countercharged the natives broke and began to flee.

 Caesar’s cavalry, encouraged by the legionaries who were also chasing the retreating enemy, did not cease to pursue until they drove the enemy before them.

 When Caesar realized that Cassivellaunus was not willing to give him a decisive battle he changed his strategy on the spot and decided to march against the chieftain’s own territory.

 The Roman army reached the river Thames for the first time in its’ history but the fordable area was heavily guarded, with wooden sticks blocking the way both above and beneath the surface of the river.

 And with the enemy marshalled on the bank of the river, Caesar ordered his legionaries and his auxiliary cavalry to advance.

 The combined attack proved to be too much for the Britons and they could not withstand it.

 They soon abandoned their posts and fled.

 After that engagement Cassivellaunus realized that he could not defeat the Romans in a pitched battle and reverted back to guerrilla tactics.

 Caesar informs us that his enemy had less than 4000 chariots at that point and that many men from his army had already been dismissed.

 As the Romans marched through Cassivellaunus’ territories he would conceal his army in thickly wooded areas and attack isolated pockets of auxiliary foragers so Caesar ordered them to stay closer to the main body of the army and adopted a scorched earth policy, burning and ravaging Cassivellaunus’ lands.

 As the legions were penetrating deep into enemy territory, suddenly, Mandubracius, a prominent chieftain of a powerful local tribe, the Trinobantes, who had been wronged by Cassivellaunus, approached Caesar and offered his help in exchange for his protection from the leader of the Brittonic coalition.

 Caesar agreed and as news of this meeting became known to the locals, many more embassies approached him afterwards and surrendered to him.

 It seemed that the tide was turning against Cassivellaunus.

 From those embassies Caesar obtained valuable intelligence about his enemy’s situation.

 He learned that Cassivellaunus’ main base was hidden deep in the woods and was admirably fortified, and stocked with provisions to last a protracted siege.

 And sure enough, when Caesar approached the designated area he found Cassivellaunus’ stronghold, well defended and fortified behind deep woods and morasses.

 Caesar must have been confident about the ability of his legionaries to punch through any kind of resistance that the Britons were capable of posing, since he remained undaunted by the well defended position and ordered his legionaries to make a frontal assault from two sides.

 And as he had correctly predicted, the defenders could not withstand the charge of the Romans and retreated to the other side of their fortifications after suffering many casualties during their flight.

 Cassivellaunus’ situation was becoming hopeless.

 Cornered, he made his last stand and devised a new ploy against the Romans.

 He sent secret messages to his allies, the four kings who ruled over areas close to the coastal region of Kent, where the Roman coastal camp and all of their ships were stationed, urging them to gather all of their forces and attack the outnumbered Romans immediately.

 And just like that, a new army of Britons materialized out of nowhere and attacked Caesar’s seemingly soft underbelly.

 The fact that the Romans had already made extensive fortifications proved to be decisive and the natives were scattered by a surprise attack by the legionaries who were defending the walls and many of their men were either captured or slain.

 When the news of this defeat reached Cassivellaunus he was out of options and he pleaded for peace.

 Caesar had already made up his mind that he would not winter on the island, as there were rumours that a revolt was brewing back in Gaul, so he agreed to the terms.

 Cassivellaunus was to provide hostages and to not wage war against Mandubracius, and an annual tribute was to be paid to the “Roman people”.

 With the armed resistance of the natives having been crushed and with the campaigning season drawing to a close, Caesar gathered his legions and marched back to the coastal camp.

 When his army reached the shore he found most of the ships repaired, but due to the large number of hostages and a few irreparable vessels he could not fit everyone onto the ships at once, so he decided to transport one half of the army at a time.

 As the troops embarked, Caesar decided that he would stay with the remaining troops until the ships returned for the second trip back to the continent.

 But once more the English channel proved too unpredictable for the Romans and most of the vessels could not make the return trip to the Island in time, driven back by bad weather conditions.

 And with winter approaching, Caesar was in danger of being trapped on the island with very little supplies and only half of his troops.

 Left with little choice he gambled by overloading the remaining damaged ships with the remaining troops and hostages, and embarked on a journey back to Gaul, in late September.

 Military goals of Caesar’s two expedition are still unclear.

 Even though he reached an agreement with the Britons he left no soldiers on the island to enforce it.

 And he would never return.

 But Caesar did achieve one thing.

 He became the first Roman general to ever set foot on Britain.