First Roman encounter with Britain

Britain Environment and Landscape

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A bronze age Briton farmstead

Before Romans invaded Britain, the Britons were simple tribal people. The natural landscape  had been changing immensely for thousands of years. Britain’s original woodlands had been cleared during the Bronze Age in several areas mainly for agricultural purposes. Britain was divided into a series of different territories, each ruled by a different tribe. In the time immediately before the invasion they were ruled by royal dynasties, not by a single king and political power was not due to being a part of a single family. There were no towns in the way that we know towns of that age, as most of the land was taken up by large farmsteads. Pre-Roman-Britain was mainly these farmsteads spread out across the country. It isn’t known for sure how these fields were exactly set up or even what they were farming. However, the best evidence for the existence of these farmsteads that is known comes from pollen analysis, and charred plant remains. The settlements that did exist in Britain might have possibly been connected by a system of paths, but if this were to be the case it is currently not well understood. There is proof that roads did exist in Iron Age Britain but they were poorly created cobblestone roads that didn’t reach very far. A different type of setup used commonly throughout this area was the hill-fort. These forts were built on the top of hills and were usually defended well. They would be enclosed with ditches or banks on the outside of them and they used these natural hills to their advantage so they could see people coming from a large distance.

As for the environment of Pre-Roman-Britain, it is said to be not too different than what it is today. It was thought to be that of a milder climate with temperatures constantly on the rise. The rise in temperatures was partly due to the fact that there were several dry summers. There isn’t very much information about this because the only things that were generally recorded were significant events such as floods, storms, and droughts.

Caesars First Landing

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Caesar’s forces land at Britain

Upon reaching the shores of Britain, Caesar noticed a large army standing on the cliffs overlooking the beach that he had planned to land on, which would have made them a perfect target for their ranged troops. Clearly this would not be an option for his fleet, so he decided to rest at anchor and have a meeting with his generals on what to do next. The cliffs were held by a tribe known as the Cantii, who were in four different groups led by Cingetorix, Carnilius, Taximagulus, and Segonax. It was decided that the Romans would travel down the coast in the afternoon. The Britons had marched along the shore keeping in sight of the Romans. When the Roman fleet came across a flat part of the beach they decided to anchor and wade through the waters. It was very difficult as the Britons were throwing javelins at them while they were trying to get through the water. They were also driving their chariots into the water and then engaging Roman soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. Caesar then ordered the boats to be filled with soldiers to help the ones in the water who were struggling. After hours of fighting, the Romans were able to group together and drive the Britons off and made camp along the shore. After the initial victory, Roman troops went along the channel looting villages, and taking the villagers as hostages and slaves. The British leaders began peace talks with the Romans. The negotiations lasted four days, in which the Britons made false promises of submission as a delaying tactic to regroup to take on the legions. After the fourth day of negotiations Caesar had realized that his reinforcement cavalry ships were just offshore. Knowing this, he thought that he could now travel deeper into Britain and explore inland. By midday the boats were close to shore when a storm developed, sending the ships far down the channel. None of his ships were lost but it was a loss to Caesar because he just lost all of his reinforcements. As for the ships that were already anchored down, they were beached by the storm and the hulls had been breached with water. With this, the remaining soldiers were stranded on shore with no food or fresh water until the ships returned. The Britons took full advantage of this and attacked Caesar and his fortified camp. Caesar’s troops were able to barely hold off the Britons but could not help but to let up some prisoners. With confidence, the Britons attacked again a few days later but this time the experienced Roman troops were prepared and slaughtered them. While the Britons were recovering, Caesar and his troops silently boarded their ships and headed for Gaul. If it weren’t for the few storms that destroyed Caesar’s fleet he wouldn’t have had to leave. Caesar takes this first venture as a defeat since he only got as far a few skirmishes with the Britons and had no real large victory.

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