Page 69 - All About History - Issue 28-15

Caesar’s

invasion of

Britain

He was Rome’s greatest ever military commander, but there was
one remote corner of Europe that he’d never manage to conquer

WrittenbyNickSoldinger

n the 1st century BCE, Britain was an island The official argument Caesar gave for the
on the edge of the so-called civilised world. A mission he then began to plot was preventing any
dark, uncharted place whose inhabitants were potential resupply from Britannia to his recently
said to be half-beast, blue-painted savages who defeated opponents in Gaul. But the real reason
I practised human sacrifice and wore the heads was much simpler: it was because he was greedy.
of their slaughtered enemies upon their belts. To Eager not just for plunder, but for adventure,
most Romans, Britannia – as they called it – was a knowledge, fame and, ultimately, power.
nightmarish netherworld best left in the shadows. On the morning of 23 August he loaded 12,000
But Julius Caesar wasn’t like most Romans. troops onto 98 galleys and set sail for the smudge
In August 55 BCE, having fought his way across on the horizon. As he and his army drew closer,
present-day France conquering much of what was that smudge became ever brighter, rising out of the
then called Gaul, Rome’s rising superstar stood sea until the men from the Mediterranean were
on the shore at Boulogne and stared across the staring at an impenetrable barrier – brilliant white
Channel. On a clear day, it’s just possible to see cliffs, 100 metres high.
the coast of Kent from there. For Caesar, the great Caesar ordered his armada to drop anchor in
gambler, the unknown land on the horizon was a the Dover Straits and await the ships carrying his
tantalising prospect. Yes, landing there would be waylaid cavalry. His troops lounged on deck for
risky, dangerous even. And with his intelligence hours until somebody shouted – movement had
officers struggling to locate a single person who been spotted on land. His men then all stood and
could reveal what monsters might be found there, watched aghast as the cliff tops hovering above
he’d be going in blind. But he was Julius Caesar, them began to fill with thousands of blue-painted
and he was destined for greatness. The gods warriors, their sharp spear points gleaming in the
themselves had toldhimasmuch. brilliant sunshine.

Caesar’s rise to power

69