Battle of Watling Street | Queen Boudica's Revolt | Instruments of Death (Part 1)

I'm standing on Bury Mount in Toaster, Northamptonshire, and this old earthwork is a hint to the town's historical and strategic importance. The busy A5 runs just behind me, beyond those buildings, and has been a major transport archery ever since the Romans built it nearly 2,000 years ago. Known as the Wattling Street, it runs from London in the south and makes its way all the way to the Welsh border. In Roman times, Toaster was a town that had its own fort, known as Lactodorum, and it's quite possible that outside these town's defences, one of the most decisive battles in the Roman invasion of Britain was fought. A small Roman army was completely outnumbered by a massive force of Britons, who had already decimated a Roman legion and had razed a number of Roman settlements, including London, to the ground. The Britain's leader was a woman, whose name would come to symbolise freedom and the struggle against tyranny. She was called Boudicca. The warrior queen and her allies were going to war against one of history's greatest military machines, the mighty legions of Rome. In this programme, we're going to find out a little more about the Roman army, and see some of the reasons why it became such an all-conquering force. We'll illustrate how effective weapons such as the pilum and the gladius could be in trained hands. We'll explore Roman fighting tactics and explain just how the legions achieved its famous levels of discipline. And we'll investigate exactly what it took to become a Roman legionary. I'm Carl Udo Martinez. From an early age, I was thrown into the exciting world of jousting and historical combat stunt displays. I've always been fascinated with what it was like for the common soldier throughout history. What did they experience? What horrors did they witness? And how devastating were their weapons? On the battlefield, how important were these instruments of death? Today, Toaster is a busy market town with the A5 running through its centre. In some respects, it has not changed much since the Romans kept a fort here in what they knew as Lactodorum. In the 17 years since they started their invasion of Britain in AD 43, the Romans had gradually increased the territory which they controlled. Forts, settlements and villas were now established and their experience with the local population was a mixture of happy coexistence and downright hatred and resentment. The Romans regarded the various kingdoms of what had been Iron Age Britain as either potential allies or enemies who had to be defeated in war. The situation with the Trinovantes, for instance, in Essex, they had been conquered, they had been defeated in battle and overthrown. There were other kingdoms like, for instance, the Atreides in Hampshire and Dorset who were only too glad to see the Romans arrive because they knew that the Roman state and the Roman army would protect them from more powerful enemies elsewhere in Britain. And so the job of the Romans was to kind of juggle all these competing interests. The Romans had conquered many of Britain's original tribal kingdoms. Others had kept some degree of independence by making deals with Rome. They were, in effect, Roman allies. One of these tribes was the Iceni. When the chief of the Norfolk-based Iceni, Presutagus, died in AD 60, the local Roman administrator confiscated Iceni lands. He ordered his soldiers to flog Presutagus's wife, Boudica, and rape her daughters. This outrage, coupled with repressive Roman taxes to recover previous loans to the Iceni and tributes levied on neighbouring Triovantes to help build a Roman temple here at Colchester, prompted a revolt of the two sides, led by Boudica. Boudica chose her moment very carefully. With the Roman governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, away campaigning in Wales with the Roman army, the rebels made their move. This was their first target, Camulodunum, modern-day Colchester, which was then a colony for veterans of the Roman army and was lightly defended. At one time it had been the capital of Roman Britain. It was the perfect prize for the rebels, and so Boudica and her rebel army sat to the town. Here in the 11th century Colchester castle, we are in the original vaults of the Roman temple of Claudius. This was the last refuge for the terrified survivors of the Iceni onslaught. For two days they barricaded themselves inside, hoping for some relief. Theirs was a hopeless cause. With Roman legions fighting in faraway Wales and Exeter, there was no prospect of rescue. After the second day, Boudica's force set fire to the temple, killing all those in sight. Eventually the whole city was set ablaze, and a layer of ash can still be found underneath the surface where Roman Colchester once stood. It is unusual to have contemporary reports of events of this antiquity, but in the case of the rebellion of AD 61, the account in the annals of Tacitus comes fairly close. His father-in-law, Agricola, was a tribune of the 20th and was in Britain at the time. While we don't know if he actually fought in this battle, his recollections could have supplied material for Tacitus' annals. Tacitus was one of the greatest Roman historians. We know he was reliable because we've got a lot of evidence which will corroborate what he said. He said, for instance, at Colchester, he says Colchester was undefended. And when you excavate Colchester, you find that what had been the ditch and the defences of the legionary fortress had been levelled and demolished, and they remained like that at the time of the Boudican revolt. And this is exactly what Tacitus says, and archaeology confirms the fact that he was spot on. In faraway Anglesey, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus had begun to rejoice in his success over the Druids when news came of the rebellion in what was thought to be the secure and peaceful East Anglia. It was vital to suppress it at once, both for fear of its spreading and to protect a source of wealth to be sent back to Rome. As a first step, he ordered the 9th Legion to engage the rebels, but their detachment was ambushed somewhere north-west of Colchester, only the cavalry escaping. He would have to take charge of the situation himself. Gaius Paulinus raced back from Anglesey to face this great threat. His men, forced marching along this route, must have wondered what they were about to confront. It's easy to forget that for these Roman soldiers, Britain was on the edge of their empire, the end of the world if you like, surrounded by a population that could be friendly, yet in turn could become their enemy. A modern day parallel could be the British soldier serving in Afghanistan. Knowing that there was a rebellion in the south would have turned this green land into a hostile hell. At the time of the Boudiccan Revolt, the Roman army was not based in one place, it was actually dispersed. Suetonius was up in North Wales, he had with him the best part of two legions, which was actually only half the army in Britain. There was a legion in Peterborough, the 9th legion. There was another legion, the 2nd legion, which was right down in the west country, either in Gloucester or more probably Exeter. So in other words, when the revolt broke out, Suetonius was in the situation where he only had half his army with him. The 9th legion had already tried to salvage the situation in Colchester, had been ambushed, dispersed, driven back to Peterborough, to its fortress at Longthall. So the situation was desperate. Suetonius knew he had to get down and meet Boudica sooner rather than later, because if he left it, Boudica would have had an opportunity to have gone round to other tribes, enlisted their support and increased the manpower at her disposal, and it would have made the job of Suetonius all that more difficult. He knew that if he was going to win, he had to win quickly. With Paulinus mounted and rushing ahead to find out more about the situation, the rest of his army followed on behind. One of the great things about the Roman army was that it was light on its feet and it was made up of physically fit men. Roman soldiers regularly used to march 20 miles a day. Now I think I'm in pretty good shape and walking 20 miles in a day would probably be no problem for me, but marching in step and in full armour, carrying weapons and a shield, well, let's give it a go. I'll march a fraction of that distance, but in the same kit, to see how it feels. Hi Matt. Hiya. Thanks for talking to us. No probs. What I want to find out is, Paulinus and the Romans, they would have been rushing back from Anglesey, they would have been on the road, they would have been marching, but I want to find out what it was like to be a soldier on the march, on the move, with all the kit. Well, the best way to do that is to wear it. I knew you were going to say that. Yep, and I have a spare set. Okay, so you're going to dress me up in it? Yep. You know what? I'm up for it. Let's do it. Go. I donned the full Roman fighting gear. To start with, I put on a belt which held the mighty gladius sword. Then came the lorica segmentata, the torso armour of metal bands which would have protected my shoulders and chest. Next came the helmet, with its large neck and cheek guards for added protection from sword blows, and then the scutum, the iconic rectangular shield, and finally a javelin, or pilum, as it was known. Well, Matt, we've been walking for some time. You're tired, aren't you? I'm not going to lie, yeah. And it would have been unbelievably tough, I guess, for these guys. This is nothing in comparison to what they actually did. I mean, how long would we have to be marching for, then, on a normal day? The Roman army as a raw recruit would expect you to cover 20 miles in five hours. 20 miles in five hours, that's quite a lot with all the kit, isn't it? It's a lot, considering you'd have a full pack as well. This is only half the equipment that you would be carrying. You're joking, there's more. There is more. You would be carrying, basically, a backpack on your back, full of the stuff you'd need to survive, and a shovel as well. Okay, and plus you're constantly under that threat of enemy coming towards you and being attacked. I mean, this is a complete culture shock to the soldiers who are used to Italy, it's warm. They know that there's friends around every corner, maybe a few bandits, but no real organised force going out to kill them. So how do they keep order, though, and discipline? You've got this huge force on the march. The Roman army had rather a strict penal code. I mean, deserters would be crucified, usually along a major public highway. They certainly crucified a load of deserters along the Appian Way, which was the major road through Italy. Basically, it's a public warning that if you desert for the Roman army, you're not exactly going to get off lightly. Stealing from other soldiers, etc., comes down very hard. If a legion routs in battle, it's decimated. One in every ten men is murdered by the other nine. Wow. Okay, so that's certainly going to stop them. It's basically to make you share in the guilt, because if you've murdered one of your friends, you're less likely to run away in future, because it could be you that's murdered by yours. Of course, yeah. So I guess it wasn't all about the honour and glory of just fighting them. Well, of course not. It's about keeping the empire together. You let one barbarian revolt spiral out of control, the entire empire will break apart. You've got to send a message that burning Roman towns isn't going to be tolerated by the Roman army. After travelling for eight or nine days, Suetonius Paulinus actually arrived in Londinium before the rebels, but he realised pretty quickly that he didn't have enough troops to hold off Boudicca's forces. After telling the local Roman population to flee, he abandoned the town and marched away to regroup his army. Boudicca and her followers swiftly followed and razed the city to the ground. Basically, the army that Boudicca had was part-time, amateurish. They were very good at short-term raids for cattle, slaves, or what we would nowadays call honour killings. Unfortunately, unlike the Roman army, they weren't professional. They weren't paid a salary, and they were not a permanent standing army. They did it very much on the basis of bluster and bravado. They weren't built for a long, sustained military campaign that would last months and months and months. They would come out, they would enjoy a scrap, and then when they'd had enough, they'd go back home. Although it might have been war-mad, it was unprofessional and under-equipped. After abandoning London to its fate, Paulinus rushed up the wattling street here to Verulanium, or its present-day name, St Albans, as we know it. The inhabitants here were also told to flee, but those that did not heed to this advice were killed in a massive attack, similar to the destruction echoed in Colchester and London before them. Like Colchester, the town behind these city walls was left in a blazing inferno. Paulinus hurried back from the south, determined to marshal the forces that he had at his disposal to face Boudicca's huge army. He headed up the A5 towards the Midlands, intending to rendezvous with Legio II Augusta, who he had summoned from Exeter to join him. For whatever reason, Legio II failed to leave their base in the southwest, and after rendezvousing with his army, Paulinus now had to face the huge British rebellion, with just the men who had fought with him at Anglesey and a few other Roman units. All in all, he probably had a force of about 10,000 men. Paulinus knew he had to find the right location to face Boudicca's huge army. Being heavily outnumbered, he needed to use the geography of the landscape to help even up the odds. Tacitus tells us, Suetonius placed his 10,000-odd men in a defile with woods to his rear and open country without cover in front. Historians have made educated guesses that this must have been at some point along the A5 from St Albans. The actual location that Paulinus chose? Well, that's anyone's guess. Tacitus is silent, but historians have generally pinpointed the battle to have taken place somewhere along the A5, between London and Roxeter. There are a number of places that have been given as the location of the battle, but I travelled to Toaster to meet up with historian Martin Marix Evans to see why he thinks this is the spot Paulinus chose to give battle. The geography of the land, the landscape was used to the advantage of the Romans, and does this site then fit all of the records that we have? Absolutely everything, just about perfectly. Okay, so tell me about the landscape then. So what we've got here is an excellent layout here for defence. On that side we have a ridge which has now got the Toaster racecourse stand on it, which makes it easy to identify from this the southern edge, which is the road out to Alderton village. So we've got high land here, and in the middle, wonderful open meadow with a river running through it. And the river is absolutely vital, it's a key part of the strategy. On the other side of the valley there, you can just see in the distance, you can see a lorry going down the modern A5, which is the old Watling Street. And that is the main road from London all the way up to North Wales where Suetonius had been fighting the Druids. So he's got excellent lines of communication to his rear. It means he can get his wounded out, he can get supplies in, and the British are on this side because they need the river. Crucial to them, they're ox-powered, all their wagons are drawn by oxen, and what you've got to be able to do is to give them drink. Right, okay, so run me through how the Romans would have lined up then. Well, on the hillsides they would have put the cavalry to contain the wings. On the top of these hills there would have been scrubby woodland, so you couldn't get through it quickly. So that would have been secure for them, and in the front this nice open field where the Roman infantry can manoeuvre and can use their superior fighting skills to overcome the enemy. So this is a wonderful playground for murdering people. Brilliant. And so the Romans are down at the bottom there in a line across this valley with their flanks supported by cavalry and by auxiliaries who probably would have had bows and arrows and they possibly would have had slings with lead shot. And then the Britons, where were they? Well they would have been along the river, which is beyond the trees at the bottom of the valley there. And the wagons and the wives and children in the background and the warriors themselves lined up facing this lot and vastly outnumbering them. So how many are we thinking Roman troops and how many Briton troops roughly? About 6,000 infantry. 6,000, yeah. And about 4,000 auxiliaries, cavalry and... So around circa 10,000. Yes. And on this side Tacitus says 100,000. 100,000 Britons. 100,000 people in those days means simply lots. Too many to count. But my guess, and it is purely a guess, is the British probably had between 25 and 30,000. Right. Paulinus arranged his men with their backs to the forest, which would have been just behind me. Their left flank just about where those trees are now. The Britons were spread right across the plain, their baggage train and families behind, eagerly anticipating what they thought would be a crushing victory. What the Romans were really frightened about was the fact that they couldn't get the Britons, they couldn't get Boudicca to fight a set-piece battle. What they were really worried about was being ambushed by small detachments of the enemy, hiding in woods, hiding in swamps and all the rest of it, and fighting a protracted guerrilla campaign. That was what the Romans did not want to come up against, so they couldn't believe their luck that they had this massed army of Britons in front of them, because that was actually playing straight into the Romans' hands. The charge of the British warriors must have been a terrifying sight. Their custom was to work themselves into a frenzy, shouting abuse at their enemies, banging on the shields before hurling themselves forwards. Witnessing this crazed mass advancing towards them must have been an intimidating sight for the Roman front line. Their only hope was that their military training and discipline would help carry the day. Witnessing this, Paulinus was worried enough to address his veteran army, to steal their resolve as reported by Tacitus. Ignore the rackets made by those savages. There are more women than men in their ranks. They're not proper soldiers, they're not even properly equipped. We have beaten them before and when they see our weapons and feel our spirit, they will crack. Stick together, throw your javelins and then push forwards. Knock them down with your shield walls and finish them with your swords. Forget about plunder, just win and you will have everything. With those encouraging words ringing in their ears, the Roman soldiers turned to face the British horde. Every man knowing the job that they had to do. As the Britons closed in, the Romans would have unleashed their pilums. These were spears designed to fly straight into the heart of the enemy by disrupting their momentum, either by striking their attacker or embedding themselves in their shield, thus rendering them useless. Well that is the theory, but do the pilums really work that well? We put the weapon to the test. Hi Tony. How are you doing? Yeah, really good. You look very impressive. Thank you very much. I have brought along a Roman pilum that we have not made, but I am really wanting to know a little bit more how it was used on the battlefield and how effective it was really. This is your basic Roman spear. Used basically either against cavalry or infantry. Thrown from a distance probably around about 10 metres maximum. Wow, that is quite close. Some may get to 15 metres, but they were really expert. Thrown similar to that. The good thing about this is that whether by accident or design, these bent. So if they hit the shield, they would stay in the shield, but this would tend to bend with the weight. Very difficult for the opposing army to get out. So once they have got one of these in their shield, the shield starts to drag down. You have got two or three in your shield, your shield is gone. Well we have set a target up, how would you like to go? I would love to have a go, yeah. Okay, let's have a go with it. Okay, you have got the pelum. Basically throw it like a javelin, like you taught in school. I guess if you have got a whole range of guys all lined up throwing these, they are going to do some serious damage, aren't they? Okay, ready? Go on. Yes, it definitely hit the middle, but you have hit the strongest part of the shield I am afraid. I don't care, it is in the middle. You are supposed to miss that and hit the rest of the shield. I have hit the boss, haven't I? You have hit the boss. Okay, so that was designed to protect the hand. Exactly, so you have hit there, it would have gone through had it hit any other part of the shield. So I would have got him probably if I had gone anywhere else. Anywhere else that would have gone through. But you can see how it is bent, it has gone actually through the boss a little bit, hasn't it? Absolutely, it probably has gone through the shield. It would have gone well through the shield if it had hit anywhere else. Let's take it off and have a look at it. Okay, brilliant. No, it has gone into the fence. It has gone straight through. No way. Right, ready? There we go. Okay. Look, it has bent it. It has bent it completely. So you can see what an effective weapon this is. That would have gone straight into his hand. Straight in. And if you hold the shield around the other side. Oh, right, okay. Take the shield. So hold it as if you were advancing on me. Whoa, that is one sharp peel and that has come right through. Okay. I can't actually. Whoa, okay. Okay, now advance on me with the peel in the shield. Okay. And have it come through. Once it hits the ground, it is going to come through more and more. I can't even get my hand in the boss. Yeah. I can't. Hang on. No, you can see. The power of it. That is actually. Look at that. It has actually just cut. There is no way. I mean, that is just from. That is, yeah, you would either. You know what, in the heat of battle, you would literally just want to drop that. Drop that. You would want to drop it and just go, wouldn't you? Yeah. So by the time you have done that, we have already advanced on you with the Gladius. You are completely without armour, without any protection. Yeah. Boom, straight with the Gladius. Yes. Yeah. So it was basically, it worked. It worked. It was designed to do that and that is what it has done. The British warriors may have been checked slightly by the Roman's volleys of pilums. But any losses in the front ranks would have been easily filled by the numbers of oncoming men behind. And soon the wave of Britons would have slammed into the Roman front line. And then the hand-to-hand fighting would have begun. You had the Roman army at the top of a slope. The Britons, foolishly, were overconfident. And they were, if you like, lured into a trap. Because they were foolish enough to charge up this hill towards Suetonius. You've got solid lines and the six cohorts would have filled the bottom of that area from side to side. But it ain't up against the hillside. So there they are and they are heavily armoured. And they've got a big heavy shield with a boss in the middle of it. And they've got a nasty little short sword. And the idea of the Brits is to rush up, bang you on the head with their big sword, poke you with it if they can get through your defence, and then step back and rest for a bit and then come at you again. So the Brits are coming wave after wave. The Romans are solid, a solid ward of steel and shield. Paulinus knew that victory would come through absorbing the energy of the British attacks. And then, when the Britons started to lose momentum, he'd get his men to adopt their well-drilled wedge formations and push forward. And on cue, the British attack started to weaken and the Romans turned defence into attack. And now the Romans' training and discipline came into their own. In their wedge-shaped formation and aggressively advancing, their sword, the gladius, would have started to decimate the British ranks, causing carnage with its flashing blade, thrusting and stabbing at their tightly packed numbers. This formation was a devastating mincing machine for the Romans. But how did this tactic actually work and why was it so successful? Weapons expert Kevin Hicks put me through my paces. What I want to know is more about the Roman wedge formation. Why was it so good? Why was it so effective? Well, you've got to look at the enemy, the Celts, the Gauls, the Germanic tribes. They charged en masse and they were individual warriors. Whereas the Roman army was a machine working together. So why was it so good? Now we've taken it on centuries on and riot police are still using this wedge formation, this as-one formation, so it must have worked. Why don't we show you? You can be the enemy first. A nice Celt shield. And the sword. It's a cleaver. Coming down from on the top. Charging sword. So if you were to attack the endman there, right, shield. First of all, the shields are up. You're coming in. Your shield probably wouldn't be in your hand now. No, because we've already thrown our pilums. You've thrown your pilum, have we? That would have been on the ground. So all I've got is this. So just move forward a step, boys. Sword's out. Spinning slightly threatened. If you go for that chap there, you're going to go straight on to his gladius. Gladius, aren't you? But if you come across one step and you're going to go for this chap, you're actually on two gladius now. As you come in, he's literally going to snake his sword out and you're a dead man. And if I'm on the edge, I might even stick one in you as well. But the other thing is, we're moving forward. As one, as together. And in the tactics of the modern shield work in riots, is to gain ground, is to move forward. As together. Tell me a little bit more about the gladius though, because that is the crucial part of this whole wedge formation. You needed to have the weapon that caused absolute devastation, didn't it? It's made for the job. If you look before the Romans, the Greeks, they had fairly short swords as well. So it's more of a thrusting then, is it? Very much a stabbing. Now, you as a target, have you had breakfast? I have had breakfast. Right, it's there. Feel it? Now that's all part of your central nervous system. That's what it's like if somebody punches you there. Wind's knocked out of you. You imagine that being thrust into there. Any angle. Only in a matter of centimetres. Slashed out, twisted. To get a feel of it, let's put you in the shield. Let's get you a sword. Right then, I'll give you a sword, shall we? I'll get my own gladius. Your own gladius. So when I call shield, bring it up. And close in a little bit. Just have it poking out the side. Shield. Get your sword up, Cole. Although, you see, you're letting us down already. And now, mouvete. Just to move you forward. And just see if you can keep in line with those two legionnaires. So, mouvete. And it is literally a moving barricade. Anybody trying to come in at an angle, you've got all of those things there. And bang, you're onto me. Alright? They are formidable, really. And what happens then if I get sort of wounded? Or I go down, or one of the guys breaks formation? The guy behind steps in. The guy behind fills my gap? Fills your gap straight away. So even with the huge numbers that Britain's had, they completely outnumbered the Roman army, would they still not have had a chance of overwhelming such a force? No. The discipline. They stand their ground, the Romans, with their discipline, their training. They'll beat them every time in open warfare. The Britons didn't stand a chance. The slaughter. Absolute, brutal slaughter. You've got a completely machine-like approach. You pushed against the enemy with the shield. You then took your little short sword, and when you got the chap off balance, the blade went up into the great vessels, the heart and the lungs, and you spilled the insides on the floor. Which is why you needed studded boots. Because give it ten minutes, and it was like a skating rink of blood and guts and mess. Absolutely hideous. Can you imagine opposing yourself to this machine? It would be heartbreaking. You'd try again and again. And of course, they all look the same. These steel things. It's like fighting robots. Awful. And that is the way the fighting went on. And so the Romans continued to advance, cutting down Boudicca's men in their thousands. Soon the efficient Roman machine was too much to bear, and the Britons started to run. As the British fell, the cavalry entered the fray, and the massive fighters were driven back to the embrace of their camp. The Romans made no distinction between warrior and follower. Men, women and children were all put to the sword.