Thread: Warrior Queen Boudica - Needless Senseless Slaughter at Final Battle?

I recall that Boudica was good, actually. She planned her strike on the first Roman force that was sent against her, caught it in an ambush and wiped it out. She also marched pretty quickly, giving the Romans no time to put up a prepared defense and burned quite a few towns.

The Romans were not expecting armed and organized resistance at the beginning but however once the shock wore off, they quickly reassessed the situation and adjusted accordingly. The campaign did not last more than several months.

Well let me just put in what little i know...
I believe that she got lucky with the 9th legion she caught them strung out on the march unprepared and overconfident. However she was leading a large bunch of tribesmen not an organised military force. There would have been several chieftains and leaders with groups of warriors loyal to them. Therefore all she could do would be things like mass charges. The organisation and discipline for more elaborate maneuvering did not exist. Also after she defeated the 9th, lots of others who had been fence sitting joined her further straining command and control.
Gaius Suetonius Paulinus i believe chose a bit of ground best suited to roman tactics and let her come on at him. Imagine you are a bunch of fierce celtic tribesmen all painted with woad. Yo have already annihilated an entire roman legion. After a pursuit you catch sight of your craven foes at last. What do you do? Why charge them of course bellowing war cries.
And that was that.

The lack of military organization might have been Boudicca's ruin. I just do not know this proves her to be an ineffectual leader. Her haste in orchestrating a powreful military insurgency with independent chieftans and went as far as she did with an army inferior in weapons and drill suggests a commander of some substance, if anything.

I was casting no aspersions on her leadership abilities, just pointing out the factors that would have crippled them.
As to orchestrating an insurgency it seems that the whole place was just waiting for an excuse and she gave them one.

She should not have fought at Watling Street. Burning the whole evidence of Roman Civilisation, Colechester had already caused Nero to seriously consider abandoning Britain, a few more months of gurellia warfare and Empire might well have sailed home.

Originally Posted by Blademaster

The Roman Army was operating far ahead out of its supporting base and LOCs and in deep enemy territory.

That with respect is dead wrong. The invasion came in 46 AD IIRC. And the revolt was almost a generation later. Plenty of time to build up a logistics base and infrastructure, in an era when logistics were a lot less complicated.

Originally Posted by sparten

She should not have fought at Watling Street. Burning the whole evidence of Roman Civilisation, Colechester had already caused Nero to seriously consider abandoning Britain, a few more months of gurellia warfare and Empire might well have sailed home.

I disagree. Nero was becoming weaker and Legion generals were vying for positions of powers and one of the best ways to vie for power is to establish strength and victory and you need enemies to crush. So I daresay that the Roman general wouldn't pass up the opportunity to crush some enemies for propaganda value, the very same way that Julius Caesar needed victories (which is why he went to war with the Gauls although there was no good reason for it) and estalblish himself as the "savior" of Rome and build strong rapport with his troops to the point where troops will back him to anything he does.

That with respect is dead wrong. The invasion came in 46 AD IIRC. And the revolt was almost a generation later. Plenty of time to build up a logistics base and infrastructure, in an era when logistics were a lot less complicated.

The Romans built very few bases in England at that time. They haven't really established a sturdy LOC back to mainland Europe and could not receive too much reinforcements so they had to be selective where they went and where they set up base. Doesn't matter how simple things were back at that time, setting up logistics for 50,000 to 60,000 Romans soldiers and civilians and families is still a very complicated business since back at that time, 99 percent of people lived on subistence farming and the game in the wild wasn't enough to feed 60,000 people on a daily basis, there were rampant disease going on, and lack of infrastructure. It does take a while, at least a lot more than 10 to 15 years.

The Roman infrastructure in a province was always based on roads. That Britain (it would not be England for like 800 years) had a lot of, indeed even Watling Street was a road. Logistics was something that at the time they were the masters of in Britain.

You can expect that Boudicca was a little miffed.

Her husband, Prasutagus, king of the Iceni tribe (occupying an area roughly were Essex and Suffolk are today) was killed by the Romans and her two daughters were raped. Boudicca (the Queen) and her two daughters were tied to a post and beaten in front of her own people.

Co-incidentally, "Boudicca" meant "victory" in the Celtic language of the Iceni.

Just a tad of information for those interested

BBC - h2g2 - Boudicca