Perfidious Albion (I) – Archives of History | Your disclosure page

Around the year 325 BC, a great man decided to take on the Atlantic Ocean and its dangers, a man known as Pytheas of Marseilles. What ambition or idea moved a Greek to travel beyond present-day France and dare to sail one of the great oceans? Well, as always happens with all great civilizations, power, in this case, economic power.

It is known that the Phoenicians, back in the fourth century, dominated the trade of the entire Mediterranean Sea, such was the case that they even prohibited passage through the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar). This put the Greeks in a bad position, so the rulers of Marseilles commissioned an experienced astronomer to search for the origin of the northern routes of copper and tin. It was an incredible expedition that took this ancient scientist to Scandinavian lands, but this fact is not what interests me. I am not going to talk about its history except to take some notes from it and talk about the place they called Albion.

Pytheas crossed Gaul following the course of the Rhône, then changing it to the Loire, thus reaching Corbilo, a port on the Atlantic located in northwestern France, approximately where present-day Sant Nazaire is located. With a simple rowing sailboat he began his journey across the Atlantic. He marched beyond the English Channel and circumnavigated Britain. This island was unknown to any European inhabitant, let alone the Greeks. Therefore it was an amazing fact that more than two thousand years ago, a man visited it and it is even said that he came to map it. After this trip, Pytheas wrote a book called “Of the ocean”. Unfortunately this work did not reach our days and what we know about his journey is thanks to later Greek historians.


Knowing all this, it would have been obvious that the Greeks began a colonial expansion towards Albion to obtain those trade routes so dear and in this way hit the Phoenician civilization. But it was not like that, the Greeks forgot her and the natives of Brittany continued to live quietly until a magnificent general laid eyes on her.

Three hundred years later, a Roman general known as Julius Caesar, who was engaged in a great campaign throughout Gaul, which was giving him great victories that thanks to them, his influence over the Roman people had grown like foam and he was wanted and loved by all the commoners, but the Roman senators did not like the power that a single man was acquiring, so they repeatedly denied giving him his triumph (Although five years later they would regret not giving him the merits he deserved ) . Julius Caesar carried out some actions, apart from the incredible feat of conquering Gaul, to increase his popularity and give himself publicity, some like crossing the Rhine and standing up to the Germans or another like going to conquer Albion.

Albion, that was what the Greeks and Romans called it, since they thought that name was given because of the white color of its cliffs that could be seen from the coast of Calaïs. What better way to advertise than conquering land that a Roman had never stepped on. To do this, he argued that the Britons were helping the Gauls in their campaign in Gaul, since the Gallic warriors, when fleeing from the invading Roman force, marched in search of other Celtic tribes that could welcome them, one of the places was beyond the English Channel, Britain.

As the late summer of 55 BC dawned, despite the fact that starting a campaign at this point was risky and winter would soon overtake them, Caesar made an expedition into Britain.
Obviously, before beginning a landing in unknown land, Caesar summoned before him the Gallic merchants and asked them for information about the British tribes and peoples. The Gauls did not want to give any information, not out of sympathy for the Britons, but for fear of losing the precious trade with the island. Even so, lacking information, the Roman general sent a small detachment with the mission of exploring the territory. For this mission he chose his military tribune, Gaius Volusenus. The Roman expeditionaries did not dare to enter much into British territory for fear of the barbarians and the soldiers, superstitious like any warrior, began to fear those lands and spread the rumor among their relatives that Britannia was an enchanted and cursed land. where strange and ancient gods live, unknown to them. So sadly, they explored the territory of what would now be Kent and quickly returned later that year to the embrace and protection of the newly conquered province of Gaul.

After the information given by Voluseno, Caesar decided to carry out the campaign. So he organized a fleet of ships believed to have been made up of more than eighty transport ships and as many warships, all of which was enough to transport two entire legions (Legion VII Claudia and Legion X Equestris). They left the port of Icio, present-day Boulogne, and marched to conquer Britannia.

Caesar landed near Dubris, present-day Dover, following the information given by his tribune, claiming that it was a good place to land. But his plan was cut short, or at least postponed. Since the previous expedition had warned the Britons, who prepared and equipped themselves for the Roman conquest. Faced with this British subjugation, the Romans withdrew and waited on a nearby beach waiting for a propitious moment to disembark, but the moment never seemed to come. Thus, after hours of waiting, Caesar gave the order to disembark, but because of the proximity of the barbarian forces and the difficulty of navigating so close to the coast, the Romans had to land in deep waters, causing them to be sunk up to the height of the chest But, frightened soldiers did not dare to jump, the situation was understandable, since they were loaded to the brim with their armor, helmet, scutum, gladius and pilum. But something made them change their minds, perhaps an action somewhat mythologized by the Romans, but it is obvious that this action emboldened the Romans. The eagle bearer of the X Legion disembarked, jumped to the ground screaming and thus increased the morale of the soldiers.

The Romans stormed the beach with the support of catapults mounted on board the ships and began their fight against the Britons. They faced hundreds of cars and a large number of Britons but finally managed to expel them and take the beach. But it was a hard victory and what came after made it even worse and made the conquest even more difficult. Caesar ordered before leaving port, that a fleet of eighteen ships, with all the cavalry on board, be sent to Britain when the beach was taken and secured. But unfortunately, great storms raged and caused great damage to the Roman fleet and to make matters worse, one of the expeditions sent in search of villages to obtain wheat, was ambushed, although they managed to resist, morale plummeted and supplies were increasingly minors. So unfortunately, Caesar, still wanting to continue the campaign, had to withdraw.
The first expedition from Rome was a resounding failure, but this did not discourage the great Roman general.

The following year, 54 BC, Caesar prepared a second expedition to English lands during the winter. He ordered to repair all the ships and build as many as they could. In order not to have management problems near the coast, he ordered the draft of the vessels to be reduced.

In order not to make the same mistakes as the previous expedition, Caesar commanded to gather a force superior to the previous one. By the time the army was ready, the construction and repair of the ships had already been completed, in this way he managed to gather the staggering number of eight hundred ships and embarked 5 legions, about 35,000 men, and about 2,000 horsemen.
In order not to suffer again the great problem of supplies that he had in the previous expedition, he left a large detachment of soldiers in the port of Icio under the command of Titus Labienus.

At nightfall, he set sail taking advantage of the ábrego wind. But at dawn, after a quiet night, they realized that they had traveled beyond Britannia, leaving her to the left. They then had to turn using the force of the oar to land on more suitable beaches.
They landed without too much difficulty, since the Britons, seeing such an army, decided to withdraw towards the interior of the island out of fear, word of the Roman general himself. Quickly, the Romans prepared the camp and Caesar left ten cohorts and approximately three hundred horsemen to guard the beach, thus beginning his campaign through present-day Kent.

Shortly after beginning the march, just twenty kilometers later, the Romans met resistance, the Britons were awaiting their arrival at a river crossing, supposedly the river known as the Stour. The natives made a rapid charge with their characteristic chariots, which the Romans repulsed with the use of cavalry without any difficulty. Faced with the imminent Roman counterattack, the Britons fortified themselves somewhere inside the forests, but the legionnaires managed to storm the barbarian fortification (using siege techniques, such as raising small embankments) thus managing to make the fortified host flee . Caesar, being cautious, prevented the persecution of the frightened barbarians and had the place fortified so that he could rest that night.

The next day Caesar continued his march into barbarian England. But before leaving, he received news of the landing site. Once again the bad weather of the Atlantic was getting worse and caused serious damage to the Roman fleet. Caesar withdrew to the coast and ordered the repair of the ships and asked Labienus, the tribune left in charge of the legions in Icio, to send more ships to make up for those who lost.

Wasting no time, Caesar charged back and pushed deeper, until again he met resistance. Cassivelonius, the leader of the Cautevelauni tribe, one of the great tribes north of the River Thames, was chosen as commander of the tribes to stop the Roman advance. The Cautuvelauno were the most powerful tribe in the place and that fact was confirmed by the fact that they had recently expanded their domains.

The Britons, then, attacked without carrying out any type of military strategy, which perhaps against another type of army would have worked, but in the case of the fight against the Romans it was suicide, they wanted to defeat them based on their numerical superiority.

The battle continued as follows; the Roman cavalry easily charged and stopped the chariots and forced their retreat near the start of the battle, while the legions simply held position and held the…