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Boudicca A Fight For Freedom And
Boudicca was a widowed queen of a tribe called the Iceni. They lived in the area of Britain we now call Norfolk. Her husband "Prasutagus" was allowed to continue his rule over his people, provided he pay his taxes to Rome. Contary to popular belief, Boudicca did not fight the Romans as soon as they arrived in Britain. In fact, she would have been a Roman citizen, and lived a very a Roman life. So when her husband died in about 60ad, he left his kingdom to both the Romans and his wife. The Romans decided to ignore the will and put the Iceni under direct Roman rule and confiscated all of her property. She took her two young daughters to see the local governor, who ordered her striped and flogged, and then had her daughters raped in public. This act not only caused outrage in Britain, it also outraged the Roman people. This was because even though the Britain's were considered to be barbarians, Boudicca and her daughters were still royalty. At the same time as all this was happening in Norfolk, the Roman
So with the vast amount of the Roman army fighting over the other side of the country, the Iceni struck. First on the list was the Ninth Legion, which was beaten. Then of to the capitol of Roman Britain Camulodunum. (That's modern day Colchester.) The place was totally destroyed. Anything that was Roman was smashed or burned. Even a temple full of retired soldiers, was put to the torch. After Colchester, it was the turn of Londinium. (London) Suetonius hurried to London, which at the time was a twenty year old commercial settlement. But after seeing the place and the troops at his disposal he decided to abandon it. he left London and headed for the West Midlands, to regroup his forces. When Boudicca got to London, she gave that the same treatment as Colchester,
burning and pillaging the place. Then off to Verulanium. (St
All the time Boudicca's army was growing in strength, and by the time she met Suetonius's in the Battle of Watling Street, it was estimated to be 250,000 strong. This is where Boudicca made her biggest mistake. Her army had been waging a gorilla type of war, with hit and run tactics. Now she was facing a well trained, well disciplined professional army. Small, yes in comparison to hers. But she had let Suetonius pick his ground. On seeing the Roman shield wall, the tribesmen attacked. The Roman soldiers
stood there ground, and the shield wall held, but the Britain's kept on coming.
The people at the front were pushed against the Roman shield wall. And that's
where the slaughter started. With there short swords, the Romans began to
stab At the same time, the Roman cavalry rode around the battle and attacked the women and children at the rear of the British lines. This caused panic among the tribesmen as they ran to protect there family's. This started a rout. With the English trying to get away, and the Romans chasing and killing them. At the end of the battle approximately 80,000 tribesmen were dead and only about 400 Romans. Nobody knows what happened to Boudicca. Some say she took poison, to prevent her capture.
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Revenge
governor
Gailus Suetonius Paulinus, was heading a campaign against the Druids, on the
island of Anglesey, which is in what we now call North Wales.
Albans)
An estimated 70,000 people were killed in those three cities.
the
tribesmen between the gaps in the shields. the Britain's at the front were
sandwiched and couldn't move, and were killed.