Battlefields Trust London & South East

Julius Caesar Invades Britain
The battle was fought between Caesar's Roman Legions and the Ancient Britons, on the beach between Deal and Walmer, in late August of the year 55BC. This is the first battle recorded in British history. Indeed, it is the first major historical event in British history for which we have a definite date and a detailed, eyewitness description.

The Battle
In 55BC the famous Roman general, Julius Caesar, was campaigning in Gaul, (modern France and Belgium). He became convinced that the tribes of Gaul were receiving aid from their fellow Celts in Southern Britain. To the Romans, Britain was a mysterious, misty island on the very edge of the known world. In the Summer of 55BC Caesar assembled a fleet of some 80 transport ships, and an army of approximately 10,000 men, for an expedition to land in Britain. This force included two of Caesar's best legions, the VIIth and the Xth. Each of these Legions consisted of some 5,000 well armed, highly trained and well disciplined heavy infantry. There was also a small detachment of some 250 cavalry. The expedition had been hastily assembled and appears to have been more of a reconnaissance in strength than a serious attempt at conquest.

The main body of the fleet sailed from Boulogne at midnight on the night of the 24th / 25th August 55BC. The cavalry detachment was due to sail from Ambleteuse, some 8 miles away, in 18 separate transports. Unfortunately for Caesar, delays in embarking the cavalry meant that they missed the tide, and never managed to catch up with the main body of the fleet. Early on the morning of the 25th the Roman fleet anchored off Dover and Caesar held a conference with his senior commanders whilst waiting for any stragglers to catch up. It quickly became obvious that this was no place to attempt a landing. The coastline consisted of steep cliffs, and on top of the cliffs there were massed thousands of hostile tribesmen. It was clear that the Britons had received warning of the Romans' coming and they had gathered an army to meet the invaders. At three o'clock in the afternoon the Roman fleet slowly sailed Northwards looking for a more suitable place to land, with the Britons following them along the shore. When the fleet came level with a gently sloping beach the transports turned and headed towards the shore, but their deep draught meant that they were still some distance from the beach when they ran aground. At first the Roman soldiers were reluctant to disembark. They could not be sure about the depth of the water, and, weighed down with weapons and armour, feared that they might drown. There were also thousands of hostile tribesmen on the beach ready to cut down any Roman the moment he reached the shore.

Caesar ordered that the escorting warships, which had a shallower draught than the transports, be rowed hard ashore on the flanks of the transports. From the bows of the warships archers and catapaults were able to shoot at the Britons and managed to throw them into confusion. Meanwhile, the standard bearer of the Xth Legion called on the soldiers to either follow him or endure the shame and humiliation of seeing their revered eagle standard fall into enemy hands. He then leapt into the water and, holding the standard aloft, began wading ashore. Inspired by his example more and more of the Roman soldiers jumped into the water and waded towards the beach. Soon there was fierce fighting taking place along the edge of the water with small groups of Romans, in no regular formation, and with soldiers from different units thoroughly mixed-up, fighting desperately to prevent themselves being driven back into the waves.

Caesar again intervened, ordering the ships' small boats to be launched, and the fleet's small scouting vessels to be brought up. Caesar then filled these small boats with soldiers to create a floating reserve. Caesar was then able to direct the boats to wherever the Romans on the beach were most hard pressed. Eventually, enough Romans were ashore on the beach to get into some sort of formation and form a line. Once firmly ashore the superior Roman discipline, weapons, and training soon began to tell. The Britons were steadily pushed back up the beach, and as evening came on they broke and fled.

Lacking cavalry, Caesar was unable to pursue the defeated Britons and complete his victory. However, this did not appear to matter, the victory was sufficient to impress the Britons and during the next few days Caesar received messages from several tribal chieftains, offering to send hostages and promising not to fight the Romans any more. Some four days after the initial landing the cavalry transports made a belated appearance, but then, to Caesar's frustration, a storm arose and blew the transports back to Gaul before the cavalry could be disembarked. The storm also badly damaged many of the transport ships of Caesar's original landing force. Seeing that the invaders were in difficulties, the Britons decided to renew the fighting and launched a surprise attack on part of the VIIth legion whilst it was foraging for grain. For a while the Romans were hard pressed. Defeat was only avoided by Caesar hurrying to the spot with some hastily assembled reinforcements and personally taking charge of the battle.

Shortly afterwards Caesar decided to re-embark the entire force and withdraw to Gaul for the winter. He had been in Britain for only three weeks and little had been achieved. The expedition had been poorly planned and hastily assembled with little idea what sort of opposition they were likely to encounter. It was one of the few failures in Caesar's military career.

The Aftermath
The following year, 54BC, Caesar led a second and much larger expedition to Britain. Many lessons had been learnt from the failure of the first expedition and Caesar had assembled a much larger force, which included 800 transports, five legions and 2,000 cavalry. According to one Roman writer, though not mentioned by Caesar himself, the force even included a large elephant, which terrified the Britons who had never seen such a creature before. This large force made an unopposed landing near Sandwich. Faced with this threat to their independence, many of the British tribes united under the leadership of a tribal chieftain named Cassivelaunus. As Caesar's army marched inland Cassivelaunus quickly realised that the Britons were no match for the Roman Legions in open battle. Therefore, he skilfully restricted his tactics to guerrilla warfare and hit and run attacks by his cavalry and chariots. Despite these attacks Caesar continued to push inland, crossing the Thames and capturing Cassivelaunus' main camp, at Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire. Shortly after this the two leaders negotiated a truce with Cassivelaunus promising to pay an annual tribute to Rome, and also giving hostages to Caesar as a promise for his future behaviour.

Caesar portrays the expedition of 54BC as a great triumph, but of course we only have his version of events and this should be treated with caution. The expedition did not achieve any permanent conquest and it is clear that the Britons had not been decisively defeated. As soon as the peace agreement had been settled Caesar again withdrew his legions back to Gaul. They would not return to Britain for almost ninety years.

It is likely that Caesar intended to follow up the expeditions of 55 and 54BC with a more permanent conquest. However, from 53BC to 51BC he was involved in defeating a major revolt in Gaul. With victory in Gaul achieved, Caesar next became involved in a Civil War with his great political rival, Pompey. The Civil War lasted from 50BC to 44BC. Caesar's eventual victory over Pompey's supporters made him master of the Roman world. However, in 44BC, at the very height of his power, Julius Caesar was assassinated in Rome, by political enemies, who feared that he was about to abolish the Roman Republic and make himself Emperor. Caesar's murder led to further civil wars. It would not be until 43AD, under the Emperor Claudius, that the Legions returned and began the Roman conquest of Britain.

Location
Deal and Walmer are located in Eastern Kent and are easily found via the A258. Caesar's original landing is believed to have taken place on the beach between the two towns, and a plaque has been erected at Walmer Green to commemorate this historic event. Visitors to the area should take the opportunity to explore Walmer and Deal Castles. They were built by Henry VIII to repel possible French or Spanish invaders, and clearly demonstrate that sixteen centuries after Caesar's initial landing this stretch of coast was still recognised as a possible landing site.