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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Nathan wrote:

Not necessarily. Aside from a few habitual travellers (traders? / bards? / wandering druids?) most people probably had little knowledge of territories beyond a day or two's walk of their home. They might know roughly where a certain road or river went, but no more.

I have a horrible feeling that we are underestimating these people. Yes it is probably true that the majority of people did not have a great understanding of the overall geography but I have always been amazed that over 100 years before this when Caesar invaded not only were the Brythons read for him at Dover and followed him all the way up the coast but also he had received ambassadors from various Brythonic Tribes whilst he was still in Gaul.

Their intelligence was obviously excellent and they were able to reach the travelling General easily enough.

There were obvious alliances in place - when Commius lands he and his small cavalry force are captured (but not killed) and he is handed back to Caesar. This is not the actions as "painted savages" but of people in control and with good diplomatic reasoning.

Even with the four Legions he had with him in 54BC although he had some success by Caesar's own standards it wasn't the all conquering triumph he might of hoped for. Even the Romans themselves on reflection acknowledge this.

The Brythons managed to organise themselves under Catavaulleni with the Cantiaci and were in communications remotely over distances. Again this shows good skills and understanding of the need for communications at all times.

At Medway in AD43 there were 160,000 British troops under the Britsh Kings of a number of Tribes from as far away as Cirencester all gathered in Kent. The battle lasted for 2 days and allegedly the Romans nearly lost. The battle field had a large river running through it but this didn't stop either side.

So someone on the Brythonic side had the knowledge and skill sets to communicate, organise troop movements and logistics over distances as great as the Boudican Uprising and keep an army in the field for a period of time.

So probably they had a good idea about the need for supplies and how to handle them and in consequence must have had a good overall understanding of the geography.
Deryk
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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
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Deryk - 08-24-2012, 05:59 PM

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