02-28-2015, 11:48 AM
Quote:Steve Kaye has a new paper out on the subject
Aha - that's more like it!
Some interesting ideas there, and good to see (again) a convincing rebuttal of the 'cavalry dash' ;-)
Of his top sites, I'd say both Dorking and Tring/Berkhamsted are pretty good. However, both appear to have a river running at right angles through the Roman front line (or perhaps on one flank, at Dorking)... I wonder if the area around Aldbury, north-east of Tring, might be a more fruitful consideration.
The western sites, Ogbourne and Shalbourne, are much too far west I think, and it would involve too many convolutions to get both sides to a battle there. Steve Kaye at least admits an unfair preference!
His appraisal of the Watling Street route suffers, I think, from the idea that a withdrawal in this direction would 'demoralise' the troops. I suspect they would be far more 'demoralised' by a withdrawal west or south into unknown country, with the prospect of the enemy cutting their route home and potentially threatening their bases and families around Wroxeter... The loss of a line of communication with the rest of the army in Wales would also be a significant con for the west or south, I'd say.
Also, as I've probably said before (!), the need for Paulinus to 'make sure' there was no enemy behind him suggests it was at least a possibility - and we therefore cannot rule out operations in potentially hostile area.
But all these arguments do feel very familiar now! :-)
Nathan Ross