Was Caesar's invasion of Britain a disaster?

Summary

Dan Snow’s History Hit
Episode: Was Caesar’s invasion of Britain a disaster?
Date: July 30, 2026
Host: Dan Snow
Guest: Dr. Simon Elliott

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, historian and broadcaster Dan Snow is joined by Dr. Simon Elliott, historian, archaeologist, and expert on Roman history, to examine Julius Caesar’s two invasions of Britain in 55 and 54 BC. They explore the motivations, logistics, and outcomes of these bold but problematic expeditions, as well as their impact on Roman and British history. The discussion probes whether these famous campaigns were military fiascos, propaganda stunts, or stepping stones to later conquest.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Did the Romans Know About Britain Before Caesar?

[05:12]

• Dr. Simon Elliott sets the scene by describing pre-Roman Britain as a “place of difference and fantasy” to the Greeks and Romans—a mysterious and little-understood land, thought of in mythical terms.
• Romans were aware of valuable resources: metals, wool, agricultural produce, hunting dogs, and slaves. Trade had been long established, but no detailed knowledge of the island’s interior or its peoples.

Quote:
"It’s akin to Mordor or something similar in Lord of the Rings... a place of difference, of which they knew little."
—Simon Elliott [05:21]

2. Context: Caesar’s Lust for Glory and Broader Ambitions

[06:49 – 09:14]

• Caesar’s British expeditions were firmly linked to his Gallic campaigns. By the time of the invasions, he had already conquered vast swathes of what is now France and Belgium, amassing glory and wealth.
• His motivations:
  • Wealth: Britain seen as a source of riches.
  • Glory: The prestige of being the first Roman to strike beyond the “civilized” world.
  • Politics: Establishing his supremacy at Rome during the Triumvirate with Crassus and Pompey.
• The presence of Gallic refugees in Britain, who may have stirred up resistance in Gaul, created a pretext for punitive action across the Channel.

Quote:
"Caesar is driven by two things all the time... the lust for glory... but also he’s very avaricious. He’s after wealth."
—Simon Elliott [08:42]

3. The First Invasion: Catastrophe Averted?

[13:29 – 22:08]

• Caesar’s 55 BC invasion was plagued by poor reconnaissance and miscalculations:
  • Used unsuitable ships from the Mediterranean.
  • Chose the worst possible landing site beneath the cliffs of Dover, easily defended by Britons.
  • Attempted to broker peace via tribal king Commius, which backfired (Commius imprisoned).
• Ultimately switched landing site to the flatter coast near Richborough, with Britons shadowing the Romans all the way.
• Faced a rare “opposed beach landing”—likened to Saving Private Ryan:
  • Roman soldiers had to be rallied by the standard-bearer (aquilifer) plunging into the shallows:
    Quote:
    "Follow me, I’m willing to fight for my emperor and the glory of Rome!" [17:00] (paraphrased by Elliott).
• The Romans secured a bridgehead after fierce fighting but could not advance far inland.
• Disaster struck when a storm wrecked much of the Roman fleet, and the cavalry failed to arrive, limiting Caesar’s mobility and logistical support.

[26:25 – 29:00]

• Britons ambushed foraging Romans, but Caesar’s personal leadership saved his troops.
• A shaky peace was arranged, and Caesar hastily withdrew, his mission incomplete and his forces nearly stranded due to damaged ships.
• Elliott contends that despite Caesar’s own spin, the campaign was little short of a disaster. The Romans barely escaped an ignominious fate, managing only to secure superficial diplomatic submissions.

Quote:
"You can make the case that Caesar just fled back to Gaul with his tail between his legs... this is Caesar’s worst campaign."
—Simon Elliott [28:23]

4. Caesar Learns and Strikes Again

[30:27 – 33:15]

• True to his reputation, Caesar returned the following year, having learned from his mistakes:
  • Brought a much larger force (30,000 men vs. 12,000).
  • Built specially-designed landing craft for the Channel, copying the Veneti’s shipbuilding methods.
  • Chose a better time of year and ensured logistical support.
• The Britons, recognizing the size and professionalism of the Roman army, did not contest the landing directly.

Quote:
"This time he really does it well."
—Simon Elliott [30:38]

• The campaign saw several set-piece battles and sieges, notably at Bigbury Hill fort and across the Thames, with Britons led by Cassivellaunus.
• Roman engineering, discipline, and military technology again proved overwhelming, especially when pitted against less organized, more heroic-style British tactics.

5. The Limits of Conquest and Political Spin

[35:43 – 37:04]

• Caesar forced the Britons to sue for peace, extracted tribute, and took hostages but left no garrison and did not attempt lasting occupation.
• Dr. Elliott notes that mercantile settlements likely persisted, and southeast Britain paid tribute for years—but this was not imperial annexation.
• For Rome, the symbolic impact was what mattered most. These campaigns “put Britain on the map,” demonstrating Roman reach while serving Caesar’s personal political agenda.

Quote:
"Spin, spin, spin... but this time I’ve really done the job and I’ve got the hostages and I’ve got the tribute to prove it."
—Simon Elliott [35:49]

6. Caesar’s Legacy and Impact

[37:52 – 40:39]

• Elliott reflects on how the invasion’s primary outcome was political: it allowed Caesar to trumpet his achievements to Rome and left a precedent for later invasions.
• Rome would not successfully conquer Britain until the Claudian campaign of 43 AD, nearly a century later.
• Caesar’s Gallic campaigns, by contrast, were far more brutal and led to rapid Romanization of Gaul.

Quote:
"The Gallic world becomes part of the Roman world very, very quickly... The campaign is a big win. It’s such a big win... all the political classes in Rome... start turning against [Caesar]."
—Simon Elliott [39:35]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It’s akin to Mordor or something similar in Lord of the Rings... a place of difference, of which they knew little." —Simon Elliott [05:21]
• "Caesar is driven by two things... lust for glory... and very avaricious, after wealth." —Simon Elliott [08:42]
• "You can make the case that Caesar just fled back to Gaul with his tail between his legs..." —Simon Elliott [28:23]
• "This time he really does it well." —Simon Elliott [30:38]
• "Spin, spin, spin... but this time I’ve really done the job and I’ve got the hostages and I’ve got the tribute to prove it." —Simon Elliott [35:49]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [05:12] Setting the scene: what Romans knew about Britain
• [08:42] Caesar’s motivations—glory, wealth, and politics
• [13:29–15:38] Preparations and blunders in the first invasion
• [16:02] Unique features: the only “opposed invasion” of Britain
• [17:00] The episode of the aquilifer and Roman landing
• [26:25] Aftermath: storms, shipwrecks, and Roman vulnerability
• [28:23] First invasion as disaster/spin
• [30:27–33:15] Second invasion: bigger, better-prepared, and methodical
• [35:43] Direct outcomes: tribute, hostages, withdrawal
• [37:52–39:35] Legacy, later conquest, and impact on Rome

---

Tone and Style

The episode features Dan Snow’s characteristic enthusiasm and quest for historical context, paired with Simon Elliott’s academic rigor and colorful metaphors—both informative and engaging, with moments of humor and candor.

---

Conclusion

Dan Snow and Simon Elliott vividly deconstruct the myth and reality of Caesar’s British invasions. Far from simple triumph or disaster, these campaigns are revealed as risky ventures, ultimately serving Caesar’s hunger for fame and cementing his legend far more in Rome than in Britain. The episode offers new appreciation for the logistical and psychological challenges of crossing the Channel, while recognizing how political narrative can reshape military failure into the story of a conquering hero.

---

Transcript

[Dan Snow]

Have you been enjoying my podcast and now want even more history? Sign up to History and watch the world's best history documentaries on subjects like how William conquered England, what it was like to live in the Georgian era, and you can even hear the voice of Richard iii. We've got hundreds of hours of original documentaries, plus new releases every week, and there's always something more to discover. Sign up to join us in historic locations around the world and explore the past. Just visit historyit.com subscribe Foreign.

[Simon Elliott]

Powers the World's Best Podcasts here's the show that we recommend

[Dan Snow]

if you've ever dreamed of quitting your job to take your side Hustle full time, listen up. This is Nikayla Matthews Akome, host of side Hustle Pro, a podcast that helps you build and grow from passion project to profitable business. Every week you'll hear from guests just like you who wanted to start a business on the side. If you can't run a side Hustle,

[Simon Elliott]

you can't run a business.

[Dan Snow]

They share real tips and so I

[Simon Elliott]

started connecting with all these people on

[Dan Snow]

LinkedIn and I saw Target supplier diversity was having office hours.

[Acast/Advertisement Voice]

Real advice Procrastination is the easiest form

[Dan Snow]

of resistance and the actual strategies they use to turn their side Hustle into their main hustle. Getting back in touch with your tangible cash and sitting down and learning to give your money a job like it changes something. Check out side Hustle Pro every week on your favorite podcast app and YouTube.

[Simon Elliott]

Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere.

[Acast/Advertisement Voice]

Acast.com Healthcare can feel complicated. That's why Optum uses technology to connect the people and processes that make healthcare easier, more affordable, and more effective. We're making it clearer for you to know exactly what your benefits cover and to help you better manage your health. We're coordinating care between your doctors and your technology. We believe better, simpler healthcare is always possible. That's healthy optimism. That's optim. Visit optum.com to learn more. Most people don't realize how much of their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere. That's where Aura comes in. Aura actively removes your data from broker sites and keeps it off. They also instantly alert you if your information shows up in a breach or on the dark web. But Aura goes beyond data protection. With one app, you get a vpn, antivirus, password manager, spam call protection, dark web monitoring, and even up to $5 million in identity theft insurance, all backed by 24, 7 US based fraud support. Other companies might sell just credit monitoring or even just a vpn. Aura gives you all of it together at the same price. Competitors charge for just one service. Start your free trial [e-mail] safety. Protect yourself [e-mail] safety.

[Dan Snow]

When Julius Caesar, arguably the greatest warlord in history, set his sights on a misty island at the very edge of the known world, he had no way of knowing what waited for him beyond those towering white cliffs of Dover. It was a mysterious island that his contemporaries called Britannia. In this episode, we're going to follow Caesar on those two military expeditions across the English Channel. We'll see how rough seas and shifting tides and very determined British opposition nearly destroyed the first invasion and how determination and clever logistics and cavalry skirmishes and a bold strike across the Thames helped to make the second. For Caesar, Britannia was less a new province to conquer than it was a political performance. It was a that even this territory beyond the edge of the known world should tremble, should bend the knee before the might of Rome. And in fact, it showed that the people of Rome should bend the knee to him. Joining us is Simon Elliot. Dr. Simon Elliot, best selling historian, archaeologist, author, broadcaster, great friend of history, hit an expert on all things Rome. We're going to talk Caesar across the seas. Enjoy.

[Acast/Advertisement Voice]

T minus 10.

[Simon Elliott]

Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

[Dan Snow]

God save the king.

[Simon Elliott]

No black white unity till there is first and black unity never to go to war with one another again. And liftoff. And the shuttle has cleared the tower.

[Dan Snow]

Simon, thanks for coming back on the podcast.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolute pleasure.

[Dan Snow]

What are these mysterious islands? Britain and Ireland? They're beyond the ocean. What do the Greek and Romans before Caesar ever sets foot in it? What do they know about this place?

[Simon Elliott]

The reality is, Dan, I think the Romans knew very little about Britain. So from their perspective, it's a fantastical place. You're looking at something that's akin to Mordor or something similar to that in Lord of the Rings or anywhere in Game of Thrones. It's basically a place of difference of which they knew little.

[Dan Snow]

But they do know there's valuable stuff there.

[Simon Elliott]

They do. But it's important to contextualize why Caesar's invasions are so important, which we'll come to. Caesar's invasions are so important because they put Britain properly onto the The Roman map before that. The Romans knew that their exports onto the continent are various metals, agricultural produce. So arable wool, hunting dogs. Interestingly, and also very interestingly, Britain in the pre Roman period is a great place to go and get slaves. So that means that most of the major tribal groupings and confederations, Britain, are fighting each other all the time.

[Dan Snow]

Okay. And then merchants from their own world, from the dream, can arrive at the beach and trade, pick up these slaves, pick up this tin copper hunting dogs, and then they take them back to the Roman. So merchants were doing trade before the Roman legions ever set foot.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. And I actually think you probably find that actually merchants were embedded within sort of late Iron Age Britain. Okay. I think actually the trade side of thing was something the Romans had got covered. But what they didn't really know is any detail about the place. So it didn't really, really was a place of difference and a place of fantasy.

[Dan Snow]

Julius Caesar, people have heard of him. People can go back and check out that excellent YouTube we made about Julius Caesar being the greatest Roman commander. Question mark. You think he was. Julius Caesar conquers what is now France and Belgium. An astonishing campaign of conquest. Incredibly bloody, incredibly brutal, but incredibly effective. And is that what then? Well, he stands at Calais and he looks across, think, what's that place? I mean, is that basically what happens?

[Simon Elliott]

So firstly, Dan, that's a really, really important point. Caesar's two incursions to Britain in 55 and 54 are not isolated events. They're both part of his wider Gallic conquest. So let's contextualize what's going off here. Caesar's been Consul 59 BC. He gets given the governorship of the province of Cisalpine Gaul, which is northern Italy, north of the River Po, where Gallic people are living. But by that point, not the enemies of Rome. He also gets conquered. It's been conquered. He also gets given of Transalpine Gaul, which are the Roman territories north and west of the Alps. That includes no, Benenensis, which is the Roman province which runs along the Mediterranean coast. So, for example, Marseilles. Right.

[Dan Snow]

So southern. It's what we call southern France. So Caesar's in charge of this important sort of chunk of territory from northern Italy, right the way across southern France.

[Simon Elliott]

Yes, but randomly. He also gets given the governorship of Illyricum, which is Dalmatia, which is a bit random, but think about what's happening at the times. It's 59 BC. So this is the beginning of the first Triumvirate with Crassus and Pompey.

[Dan Snow]

So they divided up their own world between these three super rich warlords.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely, yeah. And the key thing there is they agreed that they want to oppose each other's legislation in the Senate. So you have a degree of political peace descending between the optimates. In this case Pompey and Crassus. These are the pro senatorial reactionaries.

[Dan Snow]

Sort of aristocratic.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely, yeah. And then Caesar, who is popular, so he's more of a radical, man of the people.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah, Self serve.

[Simon Elliott]

But Caesar, Caesar is driven by two things all the time throughout his entire life. The lust for glory. He's got a sense of destiny, which drives him, I think very relatable, but also he's very avaricious. So he's after wealth. His family are senatorial, but they're not that rich. His father died young, so he's always after wealth. And so he gets given the governorship of Southern G, basically, and the north of Italy. And what could go wrong?

[Dan Snow]

This is a man driven by a lust for wealth and power. Yeah, it's a unique story.

[Simon Elliott]

And straight away he doesn't muck about.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah, never heard this one before. Okay, go.

[Simon Elliott]

This is one of the most brutal examples of it. So he doesn't muck about. In 58 BC, he invades Gaul. And he doesn't just invade Gaul, is looking for an opportunity just by himself.

[Dan Snow]

The Senate doesn't go, you must invade Gaul. He just.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. So he's been given four legions. He wants to keep them busy. So he fights in 58 B.C. the Helveti, who are a transalpine Gallic confederation. And then he travels over the Rhine north and east, and he fights the Germanic Suebi. And he's not just fighting small tribal groupings, he's fighting hundreds of thousands of people. But he's winning. Okay, so now he's got a taste for this. And all the time, by the way, he's writing back to Rome, his narrative, saying, look what I've done, I've done this, I've done that. Julius Caesar, I've said it before. Dan, the greatest PR man in the ancient world, Everything we know about him, he wrote genius. And then you go into 57 BC and then he targets the most dangerous of the Gauls, who are in Gallia Belgica to the north. So this is in the Rhine delta and in Belgium and in Northern France. And he fights some really difficult campaigns there. He almost loses the Battle of the Sabis, but he's ultimately successful. 56 BC is then on the Channel coast, so he's fighting the Veneti. And the Veneti are the main maritime nation in Gaul.

[Dan Snow]

He's just on a massive tear across

[Simon Elliott]

Western Europe and he keeps going and going and going. Basically this is a man, he's got a taste for it, right? He's getting glory back in Rome because he's winning. And also he's actually accruing wealth as he's doing it. And you can get a sense of the character of Julius sees when he's fighting the Veneti because he fights a maritime battle against them and he wins. Then he invites the Veneti's main elders from their council to come and meet him and have a peace agreement. And he murders them all, right? Very Roman, very gritty. Very gritty. And that brings us to 55 BC. So he's defeated the Veneti. There are a couple of confederations still on the coast which haven't submitted yet. But you know, he wants a bit more glory. And he just looks across the channel and there's Britain and he thinks, right,

[Dan Snow]

I can take Roman arms to places which to most Romans would be a sort of fantasy land.

[Simon Elliott]

I think there are three real reasons why Caesar decides. The risk involved here is high level. Okay. This is a land of which the Romans know little, apart from the trade. They certainly don't know the people, as we're about to find out. You're crossing not mere nostrum in the Mediterranean. You're crossing the English Channel. So the Romans call it Oceanus. So it's not their sea. It's very dangerous ocean to cross.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah. Tides, currents, shocking weather, which the Romans

[Simon Elliott]

didn't understand at all, as we'll see. And it's also quite late in the campaigning season that he chooses to do it as well. So there's a huge amount of risk. I have to say. Julius Caesar is very, very canny. For most of his career as a political and military leader. This is his worst campaign in 55 B.C. and it's one that he could easily have lost. It could have cost him his life, as we'll see.

[Dan Snow]

Because he could have been, apart from anything else, he could have just been cut off in what is now Kent for months on end.

[Simon Elliott]

Well, he almost was right.

[Dan Snow]

Okay, we'll come on to that.

[Simon Elliott]

Okay, almost was. But the reasons why Dan, he chooses to come across odd, number one, wealth. So he knows that there's all these various goods there that he can make money from. Number two, glory. So he knows that this will be so astonishing that no one will believe it in Rome. If he manages to do this. And number three is because where have all the refugees been going from the conquered Gallic nations? Been going to Britain. So it's become a thorn in his side, where all these people are egging on. The Britons go and go and get seas.

[Dan Snow]

Because the people of northern, what is now northern France and Belgium have got kinship with the people, same language, religion, all that sort of stuff.

[Simon Elliott]

There are tribes of the same name. So they've got the Paris, say, in Yorkshire, they've got the Paris in Gaul, got the Atrabarties in the Thames Valley. You've got the Atrabarties in Gaul, you've got the Belgae along the south coast, you've got the Belgae in Gaul. These are people who've got kinships between each other. So they're the three reasons why Caesar makes this astonishing decision to do what I call an armed incursion to Britain.

[Dan Snow]

Okay, so he's done an armed incursion. He's gone across the Rhine, fought some campaigns and then withdrawn. So it's not unusual for him to sort of go in, smash some people up, check out the line of the land and then come back. That's his plan.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. He's also built a big bridge when he crossed the line as well, so showing his expertise as an engineer as well. But now he's looking across the Channel.

[Dan Snow]

Does he have to build a fleet?

[Simon Elliott]

In actual fact, he orders ships to be sent to him from the Mediterranean.

[Dan Snow]

They go all the way around.

[Simon Elliott]

So these ships aren't particularly suitable for operating in Channel waters, which has an impact later on.

[Dan Snow]

Okay, so he succeeds where Philip of Spain fails in 1588, and gets a fleet round from Iberia, right the way round to the coast of northern France. Where are we talking, roughly speaking?

[Simon Elliott]

What about Boulogne?

[Dan Snow]

Boulogne, okay. And he embarks.

[Simon Elliott]

He does. So he's got 80 ships for his legions, who are the legions? He's only taking two this time. He's probably got, by this point in the middle of his Gallic campaigns, he's probably got about eight legions, but he only takes two, that's seven. And his own pet legion, the 10th Legion. And then he's also got some cavalry who are Gallic mercenary cavalry to come with him as well. So he's got 80 ships for the foot troops, and he's got 18 ships for the cavalry. And they set sail around midnight on the given day, late in the campaigning season. But before that, there's an issue. Even before the sail, there's an issue because he's not done his reconnaissance properly. Very unlike Caesar. Very unlike Caesar. So firstly, he talks to the local Veneti nobles, the ones who he didn't murder, to say, can you tell us anything about Britain? And guess what they say? Not really. Can we go home now, please? And then he sends one of his leading legates, who's a very good land general, who's got no expertise at all at sea with one galley to scout the coast of the southeast of Britain. He spends four days looking at all the various landing places, and he alights on the worst landing place you could think of, landing an army. The beaches below the white cliffs of Dover, which is like the easiest defendable place in northwestern Europe, probably. Yeah. So that's where Caesar's going to. And then thirdly, he sends an Atrobartian king from Gaul called Commius, who's got people in the Thames Valley who are also atrobates, so he thinks that the Britons will know them, to try and broker a peaceful landing. And of course, as soon as he lands, he gets arrested, doesn't appear again for the rest of the campaign. So it's all gone wrong. But Caesar still does it anyway. He throws his Hail Mary. So the ships sail across.

[Dan Snow]

He does sail into the unknown, doesn't he?

[Simon Elliott]

Totally. This is proper, proper Tolkien on Game of Thrones. They arrive off the coast or the white coast of Dover, and guess what? The native Britons all know what's happening because they've captured communists. They're all lined up. You can imagine the sort of air fix, sort of ancient Britons in the chariots and with all the foot troops and everything all lined up, going up and down, going up and down. All right, it's a horror show. That's not gonna work, is it?

[Dan Snow]

And can I interrupt? Yes, because I find this so interesting. This is the first time that someone has written down their experiences of being in Britain that we have preserved. It's the first invasion that we know about of Britain, and it is the only invasion in British history, and there have been dozens that is opposed on the beach. So Saving Private Ryan style, where guys are on the beach waiting for that invasion force, usually people just land, march in, land. Henry VII or William the Conqueror. So this is an opposed invasion. It's very rare.

[Simon Elliott]

It's one of the most difficult military battles to fight an opposed invasion because there are so many variables involved that you can't control. So Caesar does wisely now determine that I'm not going to land in Dover So basically it's like the Wacky Races. He hot foots it along the coast going north and he gets to that wide expanse of beaches from the wants of Channel where Richborough is today, down through Sandwich and Walmer and Deal. They're the beaches where he starts landing his troops. But the Britons have arrived as well. So that's why you have this really, really risky battle taking place where the Romans.

[Dan Snow]

On the beach basically on the beach.

[Simon Elliott]

And the Romans don't have invasion barges, etc. They're just people jumping out of galleys, et cetera. So if you look at the strategy that Caesar used for the battle, it was an effective one in that he got got galleys with ballista either end of the invasion, beaches firing in, etc, but it still wasn't working. And a lot of the Roman troops didn't want to come. Roman troops historically didn't want to come to Britain. You go later, Caligula had to give up an invasion of Britain because his legions refused. You go to Claudius with the successor invasion in AD 43. One of his freed men, Narcissus, had to shame the legioners into boarding the ships. So the Romans didn't really want to do it. But here there's an even more extreme example because a lot of the Roman legionaries refuse to leave the ships. And allegedly Caesar tells us it takes the aquilifer carrying the legionary Aquila standard, the eagle of the 10th Legion to jump into the shallows and say, follow me, I willing to fight for my emperor and the glory of Rome, quote, unquote. And they'll pile in and there's a battle and it goes one way and the other, one way and the other. Eventually the Romans win.

[Dan Snow]

Fighting in the shallows.

[Simon Elliott]

In the shallows, wearing lorica hamata chain mail, with coolest helmets on, with this huge scute and body shield etc. If you go under, you're going under, right? You're not coming back. So this is a really risky battle. But the Romans eventually win.

[Dan Snow]

What does Caesar have to work? What do these legions look like?

[Simon Elliott]

Dan? I think the Roman legionary of this period, the Caesarean period, is the elite warrior of the ancient world. His legions are 6,000 men, okay? And they are legions which have been founded in this form by the great general and popularis leader Marius.

[Dan Snow]

So about a few decades before.

[Simon Elliott]

About a few decades before, yeah. But when Marius reformed the legions, he reformed all the legions. So instead of having various troops, some with spears, some with pillims, doing this, that and the other Every single legionary now in those 6,000 is exactly, exactly the same. Okay. They're armed with two pilums and a

[Dan Snow]

gladys pillims jab for throwing.

[Simon Elliott]

It's a lead weighted javelin. Yeah, Armor piercing javelin.

[Dan Snow]

Armor piercing army short stabbing sword.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely, yeah. Brutally efficient. Remember the Roman fencing technique is all about stabbing, as you rightly say. So you've got your scutum shield, those

[Dan Snow]

big famous shields that we're familiar with.

[Simon Elliott]

And then your legionary is carrying his gladius on his right hand side. So when he draws it, he takes the blow from the opponent and then he can kill him straight away because his thorax is exposed.

[Dan Snow]

And so you're not doing all the fancy sword fighting, it's just, it's butchery.

[Simon Elliott]

It's an industrial scale killing machine. Right. 6,000 men. And those 6,000 men as well. And they've got their helmets and the chain mail etc as well. These 6,000 men are all engineers, trained engineers. And within the 6,1200 have a specialty as well. So there could be stone masons, there could be tar makers, they could be fletchers making arrows and everything. So this 6,000 men in the legion can do everything itself. It doesn't need a supply train.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, all the sort of cross people that went along with it. So they've actually internalized that in the legion.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. And remember, well, remember the Roman legion of this period all the way through into the empire. Towards the end of the empire, at the end of every day's march in enemy territory, they build a marching camp which is a single or double, six meter wide, six meter deep ditch. You've been marching dan for six hours. Yes. And then you spend three hours building your marching camp. And then you make.

[Dan Snow]

Every night.

[Simon Elliott]

Every night, Every night. So you're building huge ditches, you're building a bank with the earth from the ditch, you're building a palisade on top of it. And then you're laying out a fort, temporary fort, in exactly the same form as you have in Roman stonebuilt fort every single night. And you can do that because every legionary is an engineer. Every legionary is carrying two.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah, they carry stakes with them. Yeah. So you just go, there you go. Right, let's go.

[Simon Elliott]

In addition to carrying all their kit. So I mean I often talk of Roman legions as being like sort of a middleweight Olympic weightlifter, all square and all muscle because they're carrying everything and they're doing all the building themselves.

[Dan Snow]

Then it's up sticks and then off to the next One.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely, yeah. Day's march, three hours, building a marching camp. It's great for archaeologists though, because we can do a dot to dot tracing where all these campaigns took place. Especially if you go to Montesquieu.

[Dan Snow]

Isn't that amazing that you can still see in the landscape and some of them might have only beast for one night?

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely.

[Dan Snow]

Extraordinary.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. And that's why if you look at, say, the native Britons fighting against CAESAR in certainly 55, they find it so difficult to to engage with the Romans in set piece battle. Because if you've got 30,000 legionaries with your five legions, that's going to be devastating. If you try and attack them at night, they're in a marching camp, you're not going to get into it because you've got no siege equipment. So that's devastating as well. Providing Caesar gets his logistics right and gets a little bit of luck on his side, which he does, then is almost unstoppable. Once he mounts the 54 campaign, which

[Dan Snow]

he does properly, we're going to come on to those in a second. But quickly on the British, would I be right in thinking if they're fighting in a less disciplined fashion, they are relying on so longer edge weapons, a little bit more heroic way of fighting. Looks fancy, but it means you need more space between you. So these legionaries packed in, they're always going to be an advantage. You can get more men per meter on that front line.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. And also the Romans themselves can form various formations as well, so they can form a coenis, so a wedge formation. And if you have a multiple coenis, it's almost like sort of a buzzsaw, isn't it? It's going straight through your opponents. Bang, stab, bang, stab, bang. Industrial scale killing machine. You can't stop me. Everyone's dead. Sorry, Dan.

[Dan Snow]

You listen to Dan Snow's history hit. The best is yet to come. Stick with us.

[Simon Elliott]

ACAST powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.

[Acast/Advertisement Voice]

What if you laughed all through your commute? Or if you heard the funniest story while at the gym? Well, now you can. I'm Jameela Jamil and guests on my new podcast Wrong Turns share their most mortifying and hilarious disaster stories. I'm talking people like May Martin, Bob the Drag Queen, Katherine Ryan, Jake Johnson, Margaret Cho, Simon Pegg, Penn Badgley and so many more. So listen, wherever you get your podcast, Wrong Terms, where dignity goes to die.

[Simon Elliott]

ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere.

[Acast/Advertisement Voice]

Acast.com Healthcare can feel complicated. That's why Optum uses technology to connect the people and processes that make healthcare easier, more affordable, and more effective. We're making it clearer for you to know exactly what your benefits cover and to help you better manage your health. We're coordinating care between your doctors and your technology. We believe better, simpler healthcare is always possible. That's healthy optimism. That's Optum. Visit optum.com to learn more. Most people don't realize how much of their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere. That's where Aura comes in. Aura actively removes your data from broker sites and keeps it off. They also instantly alert you if your information shows up in a breach or on the dark web. But Aura goes beyond data protection. With one app you get a vpn, antivirus, password manager, spam calls, protection, dark web monitoring, and even up to $5 million in identity theft insurance, all backed by 24. 7 US based fraud support. Other companies might sell just credit monitoring or even just a vpn. Aura gives you all of it together at the same price competitors charge for just one service. Start your free trial today at aura.com safety. Protect yourself now at aura.com safety.

[Dan Snow]

As the saying goes, if these walls could talk. And on the Betwixt the Sheets podcast, we make it our business to discover what happened behind closed doors and even more importantly, in the bedrooms of people all throughout history. Kings, queens, mistresses, servants and everyone in between. We also get up close and personal with medieval aphrodisiacs, lethal Victorian makeup routines, and look at the scandalous lives of beloved children's author. Nothing is off limits. In other words, it's the best bits of history with me, Dr. Kate Lister. Listen to Betwixt the Sheets the history of sex scandal in society. Twice a week, every week, wherever it is that you get your podcasts brought to you by the award winning network history hit. So the Romans establish themselves. They get a bridgehead, at which point, because you're in the channel and because it's late summer, which can be quite hard to differentiate from winter, a storm smashes the fleet.

[Simon Elliott]

The first thing Caesar does is the thing that every Roman military leader does when they're in enemy territory. He builds a marching Camp.

[Dan Snow]

I bet he does.

[Simon Elliott]

And that's for the two legions. Right, so that's 12,000 men. That's a big marching camp.

[Dan Snow]

Ditches, stockade, a safe base.

[Simon Elliott]

Dan, I reckon you're talking about a double ditch. I think you've got a double ditch. I think you've got a double.

[Dan Snow]

What a treat.

[Simon Elliott]

I think we're double ditching. We're double ditching. I think we've got cow traps in there as well. I think we've got steaks, cow traps,

[Dan Snow]

these little spiky things that can get into horses hooves.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely, yeah. And then I think you've got the bank with a palisade on top for 12, 000 men. So it's big.

[Dan Snow]

And do you think that might be where Roman Richborough is today if people have been down there?

[Simon Elliott]

More or less? More or less, yeah, I think so. But then, as you absolutely rightly say, a storm comes in and he's not actually put his ships into a protected anchorage, which is nearby in the Wansom channel by the way, and they're on the beach and a lot of his ships get badly damaged. So he knows from that point that he's going to be restricted in what he can do. But also something else has happened as well. His cavalry haven't arrived.

[Dan Snow]

Ah.

[Simon Elliott]

Because they missed the tide and they continue to miss the tide. So I don't know who's actually in charge of those ships and I bet they didn't last long when Caesar got back. So Caesar is left with far too few boats and also he's got no ability to scout ahead or to pursue a broken enemy. So he's very limited in what he can do. So he sends the 7th Legion out to go and forage and then he sends the 10th Legion to the beach to repair the ships. But of course the Britons are watching and as soon as the seventh legion go out and start foraging, they get ambushed. And Caesar has to, physically showing great personal bravery, lead the 10th out his own pet legion. And then they save the day and the day is saved and they go back to the marching camp. The Britons say, we'll sign a peace deal. A bit later they turn up with a bigger army. Caesar puts both legions outside the marching camp. Another set piece battle takes takes place. The Romans win peace deals, agreed hostages. Caesar goes home.

[Dan Snow]

So the Romans win, but realize that they ain't going any further inland.

[Simon Elliott]

No, because they can't because they've got their cavalry. And also a lot of the ships have been destroyed as well. Remember the way that the Romans campaign with the fleets. They often campaign along the coast and always downriver systems, because they can use the fleet to keep supplying them. So without the cavalry and the fleet, they just can't go very far at all. And you can make the case this certainly isn't the way it's portrayed in the Ladybird book of Julius Caesar and Roman Britain. But you can make the case that Caesar just fled back to Gaul with his tail between his legs. Because his option would have been to overwinter in a marching camp in enemy territory. It's not gonna work.

[Dan Snow]

No winter in England.

[Simon Elliott]

So my point earlier, that is Caesar's worst campaign.

[Dan Snow]

And we take his word for it that he won that battle outside the walls of the camp. I mean, I guess they fought themselves to draw in a way. Cause they can defeat the enemy in the field, but they're still surrounded by bandit country. They still can't break out of this camp.

[Simon Elliott]

We're almost certainly missing 90% of the narrat narrative of the whole campaign. Caesar's certainly spinning every single thing that comes his way. And there's a desperate amount of spinning taking place here, by the way. Cause effectively he lost.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah, There must have been some dark nights there. He's alone in this hostile foreign land, further from Rome than ever before, with uncertain route back to Europe and surrounded by enemies.

[Simon Elliott]

And you can imagine the legion who's in the camp saying, you know, what's wrong with the old man?

[Dan Snow]

Yeah.

[Simon Elliott]

Has he lost his touch? Has he lost his touch? And by the way, the interesting thing to remember here as well is in terms of the Gallic conquest, we're in the middle of it, right? So Gaul hasn't been conquered. He's still got a lot of his legions back in Gaul, keeping the place locked down where he conquered it with other places to conquer. So if it begins unraveling in Britain, it could go all the way through into Gaul and the whole thing could unravel. And remember the last two years of the Gallic campaigns in 53 and 52 that he's fighting revolts, Right. So it could all really badly unravel.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah. For all he knows, it's all going completely tits up on the continent. If the Brits do sign a deal and let Caesar go disembark his troops and leave, that was a catastrophic mistake. Because getting on ships, on a beach, with a determined enemy all around you is very, very difficult indeed.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely right. And they paid the price.

[Dan Snow]

Because the following year, to be fair to Caesar, so he has this shocker but to fair to Caesar, he comes back the following year. I mean, that, as you say, that's Caesar, isn't it? To have that experience. Think I'm going back.

[Simon Elliott]

Dan, that's Roman. Yeah, right. True grit, this trait that you will never give up. You'll always come back and win. You'll only agree to a piece on your own terms. That's very Roman. And if Caesar hadn't done that, that would have broken the back of his reputation, I think, in Rome. So I think actually he's made a rod for his own back. He's got to go back to Britain. But this time, the other trait the Romans have, of course, is learning from your mistakes, nicking other people's ideas. So this time he really does it well.

[Dan Snow]

Well, so 54 BC.

[Simon Elliott]

Yeah.

[Dan Snow]

What's he do differently?

[Simon Elliott]

Firstly, takes 30,000 men. Holy Moses, not 12,000 men.

[Dan Snow]

Okay.

[Simon Elliott]

So if you look at the various narratives of the big Roman campaigning forces in Britain, where this fits Caesar, two. 30,000 men. Agricola in Scotland, 30,000 men. A Claudian invasion in AD 43, 40,000 men. Severus in Scotland, 50,000 men. So that's in the top four. And that's a huge force for a start.

[Dan Snow]

Okay.

[Simon Elliott]

Secondly, he realizes one of his weaknesses. He's got his invasion beaches, but one of his weaknesses was the ships. So he copies ship designs from the Veneti and actually builds proper landing ships which can get the troops ashore properly

[Dan Snow]

and build ships that are suitable for

[Simon Elliott]

the English Channel and makes sure that he uses the right time of year as well. So he's actually in the campaigning season now, not towards the end of it. And then they come over the land of the same invasion beaches, but this time the Britons don't oppose it because they realize the Roman forces are too big. Big.

[Dan Snow]

Okay, interesting. So they let him get ashore.

[Simon Elliott]

Yeah.

[Dan Snow]

And you've got the whole summer ahead of you now.

[Simon Elliott]

And then Caesar decides he's going to head inland immediately and he keeps his whole force together, Remember building a marching camp at the end of the day and then moving on, moves 20km. He fights his first battle near the river Style, which is near Canterbury. And here the Britons have actually only deployed chariots and light cavalry, the idea being to sort of slow the Romans down. But Caesar's own cavalry, who are Germans and Gauls, actually smash straight through them. It's worth remembering, people get actually with these Germans and Gallic ally cavalry, that they're ferocious, they're headhunters. So if you look at a lot of the tombstones of later Roman auxiliary cavalrymen in Britain. They're carrying a head or there's a headless corpse near them. They're all German or Gallic, but later in the Roman Empire, so it's a native thing being headhunters. So they smash through and Caesar carries on building marching camps. And then he comes to very near to modern Canterbury, Bigbury Hill fort, which he has to besiege, and he only uses the Seventh Legion. And they build a ramp up to the ramparts, and they eventually get in there, butcher everybody. First phase of the invasion, job done.

[Dan Snow]

So he's being very methodical. He's got the tools, he's got the men, he needs things going.

[Simon Elliott]

Well, if you've got 30,000 men and you keep them together, it doesn't matter how many troops the Britons can put in the field. These are the elite warriors of the ancient world. And they're going to eviscerate anything that comes in front of them. And I think the British know this as well at this point, incidentally, it's worth reflecting who the British Britons were. So the various confederations in the battle space we're talking about, the strategic battle space, are the Kantiaki in modern Kent, the Trinovantes in eastern Essex, the largest of the confederations, the Catavaloni, who are across sort of the north of London, through to the region of St. Albans, the Atrabartis in the Thames Valley, they're the main people. Then you might get people from the IC9 North, Norfolk coming in, or the Coriol Tower from the Midlands, or from the Belgae from the south coast. But broadly, we're talking about, I think, the Kantiaki, the Trinovantes, the Cataloni and the Atrobates. And by this point, they have one leader, and I think it's the leader of the Catavaloni. Now, Caesar doesn't tell us who this individual is the leader of, but he does give us his name, which is Cassivelaunas. And Cassivelaunas is the leader of opposition. And so he tries to oppose the Romans in a set piece battle and it fails.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah.

[Simon Elliott]

He then flees across the Thames and

[Dan Snow]

the set piece battle is on the Medway. Where is it?

[Simon Elliott]

I think this set piece battle is near the Thames, actually.

[Dan Snow]

Okay.

[Simon Elliott]

You do have the famous river crossing battle from the Claudian invasion. But this, I think, is near the Thames.

[Dan Snow]

So it's on the south. They're marching up the south bank of the Thames.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely.

[Dan Snow]

They've got the ships supporting them. Bringing supplies, ballistas and everything.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely.

[Dan Snow]

As well, providing fire support. Right.

[Simon Elliott]

And then they need to do another amphibious assault. So the question is, where does Caesar choose to pursue the native Britons? Back across the Thames, and I think it's probably near New Tilbury. So I don't think it's anywhere near modern London. I think it's actually much further downriver. I think it's near modern Tilbury. Gets them into Essex and then that gets you pursuing the native Britons that eventually go all the way through to the capital, which is thought to be what later became Rome, of very lamium, which is St Albans. And there's another siege. The Romans win and this time Caesar has a proper victory and eventually the native Britons then sue for peace. And this is a much better piece for the Romans because it involves tribute being paid and also a lot of hostages. And that tribute may well have continued to have been paid to the Romans all the way through to the reign of Claudius. So it's actually probably quite a big victory for Caesar.

[Dan Snow]

So he's got his. He's captured enemy bases, he has defeated them, he has got cash, he can

[Simon Elliott]

go home and he can tell everybody that he's done the job. I did a good job the first time. Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin. But this time I've really done the job and I've got the hostages and I've got the tribute to prove it.

[Dan Snow]

And you can send the hostage, what, he sends them back to Rome, so everyone have a look at them and.

[Simon Elliott]

But then he goes back to Gaul and the Gallic wars continue. So that's the point I was making earlier about this is just an integral part of the Gallic Wars. Britain might be a fantastical place of difference, but nevertheless, the campaign is not. Not a separate campaign, it's all part of his Gallic wars campaigns.

[Dan Snow]

This is the first ancient text we have describing Britain. What are some of the details it gives us about life, the Brits? Don't tell me he says they're always drunk all the time or something.

[Simon Elliott]

No, he's got some change. There are some salacious comments about the mating habits where a British woman would mate with 12 British men. There are some mentions of the British diet where he says they don't eat meat, they drink a lot of milk, that kind of thing. But in actual fact, I think Caesar's totally, utterly focused on the military campaign here. And I think in actual fact, all the details that he gives you are actually the kind of details that you would get in a political History of a military campaign. So we moved on now from the hearsay, because now Britain is on the Roman map.

[Dan Snow]

He doesn't stay. They didn't leave a garrison.

[Simon Elliott]

No. But I do think that the Romans leave behind small mercantile settlements here and there. So I think actually Roman London as an example, Londinium, as it later became, I think that was founded as mercantile settlement sometime after Caesar, too, probably around Cornhill.

[Dan Snow]

And they've got a deal with the locals saying, look, let these Romans trade here, otherwise we'll be back.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely. And they're paying tribute, you know, the native British tribal leader is paying tribute to the Romans.

[Dan Snow]

And was this. Because this is something I find really interesting about the Roman world and the British imperial world as well. Sometimes it's not about the red on the map, it's actually about what's going on beyond those borders. You might march into what is now parts of Ukraine or the Caucasus, knock a few heads together, not establish our own province, but. But they become part of your kind of wider Roman world. Right. And that's what's happening in Britain.

[Simon Elliott]

It's a really interesting point there, actually, Dan, because the territory we've been talking about is in the southeast. So it'd be really intriguing to know what the impact of Caesar's incursions, especially if he's getting to St Albans, has on the confederations and the tribes further away, like the Brigantes in the north, for example, or even further north into the region of modern Scotland. And we literally don't know. And it's intriguing that when Claudius comes back for the invasion, which works in AD 43, he targets the southeast. He uses the same invasion beaches, and he basically recreates Caesar II with his own invasion, but stays.

[Dan Snow]

Why didn't the big garrison start another Roman province like he'd done in Gaul? Was it just a bridge too far, just too difficult?

[Simon Elliott]

I think he may have been planning to come back later. So there's evidence of a very large marching camp on the Isle of Thanet,

[Dan Snow]

which is on the Thamesstreet north Kent, as you're heading in towards London.

[Simon Elliott]

It's a very odd place to put a marching camp because it's on the Isle of Thanet, which then was an island separated from mainland Britain, written by the Wantsum Channel. The theory there is that that might have been a. A major logistics space which the Romans were planning to use to support a longer stay. And it's just that Caesar chose to go home, but he may have been planning to come back, but he didn't get the chance.

[Dan Snow]

And he extracted what he needed. He was getting cash. He had a sort of general promises of obedience. He had what he needed for his, his Roman audience, Dan. Fame and money, fortune and glory, kid. And then, well, France as we now call it, Gaul was harder to conquer. As you said, there were rebellions. And then he gets invol battle for the whole future of the Roman world. He gets involved in a civil war in Italy itself and beyond if you think about it.

[Simon Elliott]

So he's dead in 44 BC so we're gonna take it through to 52 BC when he's finally defeated Versing Geterix and won the battle of Alesia or the siege of Alesia.

[Dan Snow]

So he's finally defeated any Gallic uprisings.

[Simon Elliott]

And by the way, that campaign, the overall Gallic campaign was so brutal that the Romans found it much easier to incorporate Gaul into the Roman world than they did with Britain. So it took Caesar 6 years, it took the Romans 40 years in Britain to establish a northern frontier on the the way for a timeline. So that's how brutal Caesar's campaign was. I mean we're told by the primary sources he killed a million and he enslaved a million. That's probably in a population of about 8 million. Right. So that's a quarter of the population disappearing. So the Gallic world becomes part of the Roman world very, very, very quickly. So that campaign is a big win. It's such a big win that of course all the political classes in Rome from the optimality side start turning against them. Ultimately is faced with crossing the Rubicon river which is near a venture on the north eastern Adriatic coast and taking military troops in to the Roman peninsula which is what begins the civil war round of battles which ultimately sees him the victor, the last man standing before he's assassinated.

[Dan Snow]

Dictator and then assassinated.

[Simon Elliott]

Absolutely.

[Dan Snow]

So he's busy, he's busy. He can't get back to Britain.

[Simon Elliott]

Fame and money.

[Dan Snow]

That's what it's all about.

[Simon Elliott]

Fame and money.

[Dan Snow]

Well, thank you very much Simon for coming on the podcast and telling me

[Simon Elliott]

all about that Julius Caesar, Dan, one of my heroes.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah, I can tell you. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dan Snow's History hit. You know, you could have watched this episode and others on YouTube. That's right. You can peek behind the curtain of how we record this podcast on our YouTube channel. Very exciting new development here. Just click the link in the show notes and head over to subscribe. New YouTube releases every Friday. Friends, don't miss out.

[Acast/Advertisement Voice]

Healthcare can feel complicated. That's why Optum uses technology to connect the people and processes that make healthcare easier, more affordable and more effective. We're making it clearer for you to know exactly what your benefits cover and to help you better manage your health. We're coordinating care between your doctors and your technique technology we believe better, simpler healthcare is always possible. That's healthy optimism. That's optim. Visit optum.com to learn more.

[Dan Snow]

Have you been enjoying my podcast and now want even more history? Sign up to History and watch the world's best history documentaries on subjects like how William conquered England, what it was like to live in the Georgian era, and you can even hear the voice of Richard iii. Third, we've got hundreds of hours of original documentaries plus new releases every week and there's always something more to discover. Sign up to join us in historic locations around the world and explore the past. Just visit historyit.com subscribe.

[Acast/Advertisement Voice]

Sa.