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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Quote:Both you and Nathan state that the horde were actually coming very slowly towards London but Paulinus needs to race away from a horde that is moving at about 5 miles every two days where as the refugees would have been travelling at ten miles per day plenty of time to escape.

I don't think anyone's suggested Paulinus 'racing' anywhere! ;-)

His 'strategic withdrawal' from London could have been accomplished in normal legionary marching stages of 15-20 miles a day, or less. But even ten miles a day is hard for anyone untrained or unfit to keep up with for long. So 'those capable of accompanying the march' would exclude the old, the very young, the unfit, the sick and the unwilling. These were left for the Britons.


Quote:What I have said is that the Ninth were ambushed on the borders of the Iceni on their way to Colchester. I have not said that the Ninth were marching on the Iceni but that they were going past their territory.

We should remember there's no actual evidence for Cerialis being 'ambushed'. An ambush sounds dramatic (like this, maybe!) but T merely tells us the Romans were defeated by 'victorious' rebels. Quite possibly Cerialis had reached the outskirts of Colchester itself but realised that the city had fallen and he didn't have the numbers to retake it, so attempted a fighting retreat. Superior enemy numbers overwhelmed his infantry force, and he escaped with the cavalry. Equally plausible, I'd say.


Quote:Why would the officers of the Second be with Paulinus and if they were why wouldn't Paulinus have sent them to get the Legion?

A mounted relay messenger could move much faster than a Roman officer travelling with his slaves and bodyguard (they wouldn't just ride about by themselves!). Paulinus clearly trusted Postumus to follow orders, and was let down. As I've said before, we don't know what Postumus didn't do - I suspect he failed to move his legion fast enough, or paused somewhere en route waiting for confirmation of what could have been confusing orders from the chief... not treason then, just ineptitude.
Nathan Ross
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Calling all armchair generals! - by Ensifer - 03-11-2010, 03:13 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-18-2012, 06:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 12:02 AM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 02:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 05:40 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 11:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 05:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 10:10 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:25 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 08:36 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-26-2012, 02:57 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-27-2012, 01:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 08-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-07-2014, 02:18 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-08-2014, 01:50 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-11-2014, 02:03 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-18-2014, 07:54 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-20-2014, 02:37 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Nathan Ross - 10-29-2012, 02:15 AM

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