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Rome's conquest of Britain started in 77CE with Emperor Claudius and departed in 410 CE . Thus 333 years.
410CE under ineffective Emperor Honorius of Western Roman Empire was sacked by the Visigoths under Alaric1
The Anglo-Saxon language seems to have been introduced onto the island after the fall from the Roman Empire. Romans conquered territories for glory, not for economic reasons and never really pacified it.
Julius 49 to 44 BCE Vespacius 69 CE
Augustus 27BCE Titus 79 CE
Tiberius 14CE Domician 81 CE
Caligula 37CE
Claudius 41 CE 410 CE Rome sacked
Nero 54 CE by Aleric King of the Visigoths.
Galba 68 CE
Otho 69 CE
Aurilus Vitalus 69 CE
Britain is the largest island in Europe. Seas can be both a barrier and a highway. In warmer periods the sea is higher and the last land bridge between the continent and Britain was 8000 years ago. Migration by boat was limited to carrying one family with essential property children and farmstock. Single raiding vessels could reach the right areas and flee back with the loot. This is different from organizing a fleet. Manufacture of ships requires infrastructure location, materials and technology. The best known invasion is of Julius Caesar in 55BCE. He had 80 invasion ships. Ships were made entirely of oak. Fleets were scattered in storms. They ran out of food and the ships were damaged.
43ACE Claudian invasion with 40 thousand men and 3,000 tons of grain, but this only was be navigable the right season of the year.
We have evidence that women moved more than me as the "married out." Farming population stayed put. The Mediterranean migrants were fitter as they had better farming technology and could support bigger farming population.
Cicero quote-To understand Latin is a mark of Roman Citizen but in England by 700 Latin was a dead language. Christian liturgy would reinforce Latin. The use of Vulgar Latin had been widespread in some regions like Bath. The presents of 50thousand militia added to the province importance.
The Old English (Anglo Saxon)spoken in post Roman England is a west Germanic language with grammar more like modern German. Anglo Saxon must have been introduced after the Romans left. Vulgar Latin was only spoken by an elite who disappeared. The Roman army constructed 9,000km of roads in Britain. The embarked on a ambitious building program of a military nature , like forts at key river crossings, legion bases, ports, lighthouses. Towns grew around the bases. no great officer of state, or high ranking bureaucrat can be traced back to British origin. There was an indifference of the Roman authorities to the welfare of their British subjects as Romans still regarded the Britains as semi-barbarians. Later Norman French did not replace English although did influence it. The Roman elite did not accept British born Romans as equals. The indigenous people reciprocated with hostility.
In Rome successful politician were usually also generals. Newly elected consuls were awarded a province and a army. Conquests led to loot and personal glory and hence political power and influence. Slave traders notoriously followed the Roman armies. A Triumph with a Roman street parade was the ultimate acknowledgment of military prowess. The modern word emperor comes from the roman world conqueror. In conquest the importance of glory outweighed economic and strategic advantages.
It took 37 years and 9 commanders to thoroughly conquer Britain compared of Caesar's conquest of Gaul in 8 years.
It needed a garrison of 55,000men or 12% of the Imperial army all for a province that had 4% of the Empires land. Britain resisted incorporation into the Empire and the sense of Romanization failed.
60/61 BCE Boudiccan Revolt at the time of burning Londonium it had a population of 10,000 and was a booming mercantile centre. 125 to 130 ACE Londonium was burned down again during Hadrian's reign. Valuables seem to have been stripped before the fire spread but also looters would steal.
Insurrection came primary from the Roman system itself, there were examples that Legions had mutinied before. Records were not left of the fate of the 9th Legion damnacio memoriae - officialdom erasing problematic people or events. In Rome this practice usually applied to traitors , criminals, religious or political offences. The 9th Legion had been in Britain for almost a century and many men probably had roots in the province and unofficial wives and dependents and they expected to retire in Britain on grants of land. Marching them south may have caused rumours that they were being taken off the island and caused the mutiny between108CE and 120CE The rebelled attacked London and were put down by loyal forces. Mutineers and runaway slaves attend to attack symbols of authority.
Military engineers may build a wall for a military function but also to demonstrate status like monumental gateways. Greater London was full of high status buildings. London walls were more than 3 km long and the largest Roman constructions were in London. There were multiple coastal defenses but they have been eroded by the sea. These provided protected anchorages and defense against pirates. They also had strongpoints to tax unofficial ship -borne trade. The army had to be fed and soldiers paid irrespectively. The army in Britain proved to be ill-disciplined and were kept expending their surplus energy building walls.
209 The tried invading Scotland but the scattered tribes offered no strategic target so they had a grinding guerilla war.
The Empire never solved the problem of succession and in the 3rd Century was under short reigning warlords. It now had to evolve into something new or cease to exist. It had no constitutional way of removing incompetent leaders.
Technically the Senate paid soldiers salaries in the name of the Roman people but over time the soldiers relied more on loot. Buying land is an end in itself to enhance dignitas not an investment. The Empire had the habit of press ganging barbarians into the Roman army. With the general collapse of the Empire trade with Britain and the continent declines.
With the disappearance of Classis Britannica . This was a fleet that protected both sides of the channel. Rome lost control of the channel and pirates and Saxon sea raiders started.
Climate change at this time also put the Empire into stress. Warm climate was favorable and cold was unfavorable. High precipitation was good, however low precipitation that resulted in decreasing agricultural output caused migration from badly hit regions, bringing , spreading war and disease. Pre-industrial Empires grew in agricultural rich regions. Migration resulted in " barbarians from the fringes moving into the civilized "imperial centres. They lacked the capacity to store food, and moving food to places needed was difficult.
When at the end of the 3rd Century the rainfall and temperature recovered we see the Roman Republic had a period of expansion
London went up in flames twice in the First Century. The first by tribal worriers the second by mutineers. The Romans shut the British elites out of important imperial or provincial positions. Postings to Britain received less enthusiasm as chasing bands gangs of bandits and insurrectionist around Britain would never bring fame glory loot and advancement. Britain became a territory of exploitation of metals and agricultural produce.
350CE After this disintegration is shown from archeology. By the 4th Century most soldiers were recruited locally married locally and had children and aged parents .Desertion was common amongst unpaid soldiers and were a source of bandits.
Lenin quote - every society is 3 meals away from collapse. People buried valuables but never returned to reclaim them. Long distance trade collapses and with depopulation and mass migration. The whole monetary and economic cycle existed to serve the army. With the taxation system collapsing the Romans would settle mercenaries on land with local wives. 406 the Barbarian invasion of Gaul created a crises in Britain.
541CE Justinian plague, was bubonic plague that started when he was Emperor.
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Agrippa by Robert Harris 2026 369pgs 27/9/26
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa 63BC to 12 BC His name comes from aegre partus which means difficult birth because he was a breech birth that killed his mother. Our names shape our character and one's character determines one's destiny. Agrippa and Octavian were at the academy on the Palatine and studied Greek , Astronomy and mathematics together. Agrippa saved Octavious from bullies who were beating him up. Octabious introduced Agrippa to Julius Caesar his uncle. Julius only had a daughter Julia who was married to Pompey but died giving birth.
It is believed that Agrippa was an illegitimate Son of Julius Caesar and that is why Caesar took such an interest in him. He became a bosum pal of Octavian and the only person Octavian could trust. He fought in 8 wars that he won but Octavian got the credit for this. Augustus Caesar in Latin Octavian 63 BC to 14 AD Caesar's nephew, as Julius Caesar had no son.
Octavian's mother Atia was the daughter of Julius Caesar's sister. Augustus sister Octavia was married to Claudius Marcellus and he was apposed to Caesar thus the family had been split by the civil war.. Augustus was a sick person who suffered from headaches , fevers vomiting swelling of stomach and joints. In battle when a army takes fright and flees they are then weak and defenseless. Caesar’s veteran army crushed Pompey's larger forces at Pharsalus in September 48 BCE. He fled to Egypt where he had been friendly with King Ptolemy but they killed him and handed Caesar his severed head and ring. Caesar was shocked by the betrayal.
In Egypt Caesar had been openly living with Cleopatra. In Rome Caesar was unpopular at this time , Mark Antony was his right hand man, but Pompey's sons had a grudge. The legionnaires worshipped Caesar. Julius Caesar died on March 15, 44 BC, a date known as the Ides of March. The civil war started after his death. Augustus his heir received a 3 quarters. of Caesars wealth.
Augustus with Mark Antony and Lepidus were a triumvirate.
Cicero wrote books that Augustus had read and Augustus listened to many of his speeches. Antony ignored messages sent by Augustus. All power depends on force and force depends on money to pay the troops.. Augustus first had to make peace with Mark Antony before he could go on an expedition against Brutus nd Crassus. It took 17 legions to crush Brutus and Cassias in Greece.at Philippi. Antony attacked Cassius while Brutus launched and assault on Augustus with Agrippa leading as Augustus was ill. Brutus's men had broken off the attack to pillage Augustus's camp but this enabled Salvidienus to retake it. They thought that Augustus had been killed but he had fled.
Cassius though the battle had been lost and ordered his attendant to kill him, Brutus's army panicked and fled back to the camp where his tent was found full of books of poetry and philosophy. Brutus escaped and committed suicide and this was 2 and a half years after Caesar's assasination. Antony and Ceasar now controlled 32 legions Antony took the Gallic provinces awhile Ceasar took Spain
Agrippa decided to get married and asked Titus Pomponius Atticus for the had of his daughter Caecilia. They had a daughter Agrippina and she later married Tiberius. This would also bring them into a good relationship with Cicero.
Sextus pirates by effectively cutting off the grain fleets sailing from Egypt, North Africa, and the East, he triggered severe food shortages, hyperinflation, and violent civilian riots in the streets of Rome. build a new fleet and decisively crush the pirate threat at the Battle of Naulochus in 36 BC. Where Agrippa lost 5 ships to Sextus's 30. Ceasar now controlled more than 40 legions and 500 Ships. War always breeds more war. The endless civil wars left Rome with far too many soldiers and 1 in 4 adult males were legionary.
Some of Antony's lieutenants deserted him and returned to Rome. The coming war would not be a civil war but one against the Queen of Egypt.
Mark Antony went off with Cleopatra he had had a son by her and she was pregnant with twins. and was defeated at the Battle of Actium. Then hey sieged Alexandria and when th stormed it found Antony lying dead in Cleopatra's arms. She was to to be taken prisoner so took poison and died. They now had enough treasure to pay their veterans. Power makes monsters of us all.
We see how the top leaders in Rome all married into each other's families for political reasons and divorced and married others as the change of political power took place. Caesar had left in his will that both Tiberius and Marcellus. However Marcellus died and leaving his wife a widow Julia only 16 years old. For the stability of the state Caesar asked Agrippa to marry Julia
At a lustration purification ceremony Octavian named Agrippa's son Gaius and his grandson, by Julia as his successor. In Spain there was an uprising that Agrippa put down. There were 8 legions that but he reduced that to 2 legions as he considered Spain primitive. and they had no trouble after that. Agrippa visited King Herod of Judea also named Agrippa in Jerusalem; he was a client ruler of Rome. Augustus in 28BC built a mausoleum at the Campus Martius where he, his family and Agrippa were later buried.. Later in 128AD this was rebuilt by Hadrian.
Augustus' adult stepson Tiberius (Livia's son) who eventually succeeded him as emperor. 42 BC to 37 ACE.
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