![]() This time he took with him five legions (25,000 men) and 2,000 cavalry. Convinced now that a new 'province' would soon be added to the Roman Empire, a motley group of opportunists, treasure-seekers, and adventurers joined Caesar's second invasion force. ![]() As a result, the Senate voted a 20-day period of thanksgiving for Caesar's 'exploit.' To explain its lack of success, Caesar intimated that his expedition had been a mere dress rehearsal for a full-scale assault, planned for the following year. Sign up to British Heritage Travel's daily newsletter here! Caesar's second assaultĬaesar did not record his feelings about the failure of his 55 BC invasion, but he was careful to send a report to the Senate in Rome painting a favourable picture of what had, in reality, been a near disaster. At their approach, the Britons fled back into the forest. Immediately Caesar himself and a handful of troops stormed out of the camp and ran towards the fields. Some distance away in the Roman camp, sentries saw a huge rising cloud of dust. From their dense oak forests, the Britons watched the Romans begin to reap their barley fields, waited till the task absorbed them and then rushed out of the trees, yelling war cries and brandishing spears. While the men of the X Legion began this repair work, their colleagues of the VII went foraging for food. They were even able to forge the nails that held the timbers together. Roman legionaries were not only superb fighters, but they were also skillful engineers as well, and this would not be the first time they had repaired ships by using the wreckage of those more badly damaged. The Romans, however, were far from helpless. Now that the Romans seemed marooned on their unfriendly island, the Britons were once more preparing to fight them. Peasants were rounded up, war chariots made ready, arms burnished and sharpened. The British chieftains began to slip away from the camp. ![]() All that remained at anchor was a pitiful row of storm-battered hulks.Īs the Romans surveyed the appalling scene, the morale of the Celts rose once more. The bleak dawn that followed revealed a beach littered with the wreckage of Caesar's transports. As the fury of the gale mounted, the ships were driven back towards France, and by the time darkness came, all had disappeared from sight. About a week after Caesar's arrival, the ships carrying his cavalry appeared on the horizon, almost at once, a fierce storm blew up, tossing the ships about on the water, snapping their masts and tearing their sails to shreds. ![]() The Celts' goodwill, however, was soon seen to vanish when an unexpected but powerful ally came to their aid, the British weather. It was fortunate for them that Caesar, lacking his cavalry, could order no pursuit. Enough reached the beach, however, to form up in line and charge their assailants, and with the menacing line of Roman javelins now advancing on them, the Celts turned and fled. Bombarded from above and slipping on the shingle, some of the Romans fell into the water. Behind the horsemen, on the beach, stood more Britons armed with stones and javelins. The men were still wading towards the shore, weighed down by their arms and the heavy mailed leather jerkins they wore when the British horsemen came riding out into the surf, swinging their swords and shouting battle cries. ![]() Quite uncharacteristically, these legionaries hesitated for several minutes before obeying the order to jump into the waist-high water. It was an unnerving sight for the would-be invaders, and by the time the galleys were as close to the beach as their size would allow, even the courageous X Legion, Caesar's favourite, was apprehensive. The Roman galleys sailed northeast towards Deal, and the Celts walked and rode along the clifftops, pacing the ships. ![]()
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