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parts of Gaul. Britain was exporting corn, iron and cattle to the Roman Empire across the busy sea
routes to the ports of Gaul, while Roman luxury goods flowed in the opposite direction. Even if
Britain was not part of the Empire, it certainly benefited from the proximity and the requirements of
its armies.
The full integration of Britannia into the Empire was only a matter of time. Under Caesar’s
successor Augustus, and even under Tiberius who came after him, there was no appetite for
invasion, even though it would have been comparatively easy. But the taxes were flowing in and
Britain posed no military threat. A few troublesome Gauls might have crossed the Channel to
escape the wrath of Rome, but that was all. One British tribe, the Catuvellauni, centred on
Hertfordshire, began to expand their territories into the lands of neighbours who had thought they
enjoyed Rome’s protection. But the Romans, now under Augustus, turned a blind eye to these
infringements, enabling Cunobelinus, King of the Catuvellauni, to move his headquarters to
Colchester, the former base of the Trinovantes, from where he could control the trade routes across
the North Sea to the Rhine.
In a re-run of the age-old story, a disgruntled prince – in this case it was Amminius, one of the
sons of Cunobelinus – fled to the emperor for assistance. By now the emperor was the notoriously
unstable Caligula, who claimed that by accepting the formal submission of Amminius he had
actually negotiated the surrender of the whole of Britain, and he issued orders for an invasion to
consolidate the surrender. That was abandoned at the last minute, but only after Caligula had
reached the Channel coast with his armies. He collected some sea shells and ordered a withdrawal
back to Rome.
Although this was a farce, all the ground work had been done. The military build-up, the
logistics of invasion, the public relations with the citizens of Rome: everything was in place, so it
was an easy matter for Caligula’s successor – after his welcome murder – to give the signal to
invade. The new emperor was Claudius, Caligula’s uncle. Widely thought of at the time as mentally
retarded, he was nothing of the sort. Claudius needed a military triumph to cement his authority and
Britain was the obvious target. The excuse was an invitation from Verica, King of the Atrebates,
who had been expelled following an internal palace coup. The invasion force that assembled on the
Channel shore comprised four legions: the II Augusta and XIV Gemina from the upper Rhine, the
XX Valeria from the lower Rhine and the IX Hispania from Pannonia in modern Hungary, each
with about 5,000 men and an equal number of auxiliaries. The legionnaires were all Roman
citizens, mainly drawn from Italy at this period, while the auxiliaries were recruited from native
fighters from previously conquered regions of the Empire and organized into regular regiments
with Roman commanders. Forty thousand men in 600 ships, under the command of Aulus Plautius,
who had seen service in the Balkans, crossed the Channel from Boulogne in Gaul to land on the
shingle at Richborough, near Sandwich on the east coast of Kent.
The landings were unopposed and, after digging defensive ditches at Richborough, the troops
advanced rapidly to the River Medway, 20 miles to the west, where the British defence under
Caratacus and Togodumnus, joint leaders of the Catuvellauni after their father Cunobelinus’s death,
lay in wait. The British assumed that a major river crossing would deter the advancing army. But
Paulinus sent across a contingent of Batavian auxiliaries who were trained in swimming across
rivers in full armour. The Britons wore little or no body protection and their long, slashing swords
were no match for the short, stabbing gladius of the Romans in close combat. Unable to halt the