-54 BC- Julius Caesar begins to eye Britannia again...
-This time around, however, he built up a massive fleet (600 transports and 200 warships) and five of his legions (out of the eight total under his control).
-News spread among the Britons that Caesar's invasion was imminent, so they quickly began planning for negotiations and building up their defenses.
-One important character during this time was a dude named Cassivallaunus, leader (most likely) of the Catuvellauni tribe (inhabited southeast Britannia) and the combined allied Britannic forces against Rome.
-In July, Caesar's war fleet set sail for Britannia, aiming to land at the same beach where he landed last time.
-Surprisingly, there was no resistance when they landed.
-It's most likely that this was because Cassivellaunus knew that it would be foolish to attack Caesar's massive army on the beach, and instead it made more sense to retreat inland to attack from a more advantageous position.
-After landing, they immediately set up camp, but without resting Caesar left behind a small force and immediately marched his forces out of camp in order to start kicking ass.
-Early in the morning, they finally came across the Briton army (most likely at a crossing of the River Stour (near modern-day Kent). The Romans were way too powerful, so much of the Briton army fled to a hill-fort nearby (most likely in modern-day Bigbury Wood, Kent).
-By using the testudo ("tortoise") formation, the Romans were able to breach the hill fort's defenses and take it over.
-At this point, shit was going pretty well for Caesar, but his luck was about to run out.
-He soon received word that a vicious storm was on the way- just like when he landed last time!
-The storm damaged his ships pretty badly, so Caesar was forced to recall his forces and regroup back at camp in order to figure out what to do.
-Caesar then spent the next 10 days reorganizing, repairing, and fortifying everything.
-Meanwhile, the Britons were busy regrouping as well, and ultimately Cassivellaunus was officially selected to lead the allied resistance against the Romans.
-This was bad news for the Romans because before the Britons were unorganized, but now they were amassing huge numbers and far outnumbered the Roman forces.
-Additionally, the Britons' method of using their chariots for charging and guerrilla warfare was still something that the Romans had trouble defending against.
-Unfortunately for the Britons, Cassivellaunus made a fatal error when he tried to engage the Romans in a proper battle, not realizing that this is where the Roman legions excelled (especially when they had their cavalry, which they didn't have during their previous invasion)!
-The Briton army was defeated badly in one huge battle, but luckily for the Britons Cassivellaunus escaped and was able to start raising another army.
-Guerrilla warfare quickly started up again. However, Cassivellaunus had difficulty sustaining the campaign this time around, as in actuality up to this point Britannia had always been plagued by inter-tribal warfare, and a lot of the other tribes hated the Catuvellauni and wanted to see their downfall.
-The Trinovantes (led by Mandubracius) especially hated the Catuvellauni because they had killed Mandubracius' father, Imanuentius).
-Mandubracius began to plot to ally with the Romans in order to get back at the Catuvellauni, so he eventually pledged his loyalty to the Romans in exchange for their support!
-Many others began to follow suit (including the Cenimagni, Segontiaci, Ancalites, Bibroci, and Cassi tribes).
-Caesar was now in a great position in Britannia.
-Unfortunately, there began to be numerous Celtic uprisings in Gaul during this time, and Caesar realized that he was on a major time crunch- he had to finish up whatever he was doing in Britannia because he had to go quell the rebellions in Gaul!
-He soon received intel on the location of Cassivellaunus' secret hideout (near modern-day Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire), so he immediately sent Roman forces there to crush Cassivellaunus once and for all.
-Desperate for relief, Cassivellaunus sent his troops to go attack Caesar's naval base in order to distract the Romans. Unfortunately, the Britons failed to do much damage and were quickly routed.
-Although the Romans were successful in taking out Cassivellaunus' oppidum (fortified settlement), Caesar didn't have enough time to sustain the campaign in Britannia, so instead he began to work on some sort of peace deal with the Britons which would hopefully cause a stall in hostilities (until he could return, of course haha).
-The Romans sent Commius (chieftain of the Atrebates tribe of Gaul) to negotiate peace, and this actually worked!
-Caesar then ordered a complete recall of the Roman forces in Britannia back to Gaul in September 54 BC.
-Caesar would never return, of course, as he would be murdered 44 BC.
-Britannia would be more or less safe from the Romans for another 100 years or so!
-The Romans didn't trust Commius, however, so they eventually tried to have him killed, but they were unsuccessful. Commius then fled to Britannia where he started a new tribe (also called the Atrebates)!
-Thus, the old Roman trade routes (with the exception of those of modern-day Essex) from Gaul were severed, and Britannia grew much more insulated.
-Oddly enough, although Commius hated the Romans with a passion, his descendants would ultimately sell out to the Romans the next time they invaded the island!
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