Boudicca (60/61 C.E.) 

"We're surrounded? Excellent, now we can attack in any direction." -Paulinus probably

When you try to imagine this beach sacrifice... It should have a huge impact on Roman mentality, I would get back to the boat with a "that's enough for me" face.

That story about the giant human sacrifice was creepy as fuck.

"A disorderly mob is no more an army, than a heap of building materials is a house." - Socrates

For some reason I find the rumor about the ruins of a lost civilization appearing beneath the Thames to be the creepiest detail. From what I've learned about Roman Britain it sounds like a horror movie. I would love to see a movie made about Caesar's first expedition to Britain, thrown by storms and met by white cliffs with blue men staring at them, following them silently as they moved down the coast, stalking them in the night. It would have been like unknowingly crossing the river Styx into the underworld.

What happened in that island was a fucking scary af

This particular part of history would make a pretty great movie.

"Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve." - Sun Tzu

"When you surround the enemy Always allow them an escape route. They must see that there is An alternative to death." -Sun Tzu When men see nothing but a death awaiting them they tend to go out fighting like banshees.

the durids were hard core as fuck

Agricola: Paulinus, we only have 15,000 men! They have thousands more! Paulinus: then it’s a fair fight.

Let's take a moment to understand the shit Paulinus went through. He witnessed a horror movie in the making. A mass sacrifice. Then he went and faced around 100,000 people with only 15,000 himself.

Disturbing lack of red in the thumbnail.

Also,Boudicca receives faith whenever a Pictish warrior kills an enemy unit

It's amazing how many times Rome managed to bounce back on the brink of defeat.

Classic British, queuing in the middle of a battle

When you forget to deal with rebels in Rome total war

Reminds me of on of the chapter's of The Art of War, Sun Tsu talked of how cornering an army and making them realise that the only way to survive is the fight makes men fight like tigers. The lack of quarter granted to the Romans and promise of atrocious fate didn't weaken them... it strengthened them to fight better than they could have ever otherwise fought.

"He sent out messengers to every little town along the way, calling up every retired soldier still able to hold a sword and shield" and form that came the motto "There is no such thing as an ex-legionary."

I live in Colchester, modern day Camulodonum, it's an odd thing knowing your home town was savagely sacked over 2000 years ago

4k quality, what a legend

That druid ritual is the most metal thing I've ever heard.

It's pretty ironic that boudica put up the carts to stop the romans from escaping so she could slaughter them, but in the end, it was HER army that the carts prevented from escaping, and SHE was slaughtered

That human sacrifice battle, my god that looks like something out of Dungeons and Dragons

I just loved the part where paulinus just turned around and said, "fuck it, we'll fight and die with honor" and then won. Such a fucking bet

So is it likely that the Druids weren't 'dressed in black' but rather they wore clothes soaked in pitch/tar?

Honestly this was pretty enlightening. As a kid growing up I always heard of Boudicca as this fierce 'warrior queen" and the uprising of the Britons as this tremendously heroic event. Unless, I am missing something, it looks in reality it was basically a giant mob that went around torturing and murdering people (including many fellow Britons) And sacking undefended cities, and pretty much getting wiped out by the first real Roman army they came across, even though it was only a fraction of their size. Being a real-time visual representation of things with narration really helps to paint a picture in a way that the text books from school just couldn't quite capture.

Dear god the lack of strategy

why wasn't this in Ryse Son of Rome. All we got was Boudicca rampaging through Rome on elephants.

The part with the druids, human sacrifice and mysterious events that followed is some of the spookiest, most eerie moments in history. Imagine the horror the romans would have felt

You've become my favourite channel. Your work is stunning and i sincerely hope you keep it up.

That's 300 Spartans shit right there...

I actually felt my stomach churn when I saw how big Boudicca's army was compared to Paulinus and then...wow! :D I love these tiny shapes to death!

Interesting fact about Paulinus: He once led an expedition through Morocco into Sub-Saharan Africa before his post in Britain. What a well traveled guy!

8:06 “The healthy human mind doesn’t wake up in the morning thinking this is it’s last day on earth. But I think that’s a luxury, not a curse. To know you’re close to the end is a kind of freedom...”

Despite tactical blunders and strategic failures due to arrogance/ignorance, Rome doesn't f*ck around when things get serious.

There is a perfectly good explanation that could allow the Romans to only have 800 casualties in the Battle of Watling Street but Paulinus needing to ask for three legions from the Rhine (and only getting 6K in an emergency transfer). 2/3 of his army were retired soldiers he coddled together to face the Iceni. Now that the emergency is over, they are going back to their farms. Unless you pay them something like 30X the normal pay, they aren't sticking around.

The problem wasn't that "Boudicca was a woman". The problem was that there was no one in the Iceni leadership that was familiar with Roman tactics. Throughout Roman history, the most successful native revolts have barbarian leaders who usually served in the Roman Army at some high level and knew how to use their tactics against them.

All right, this is getting to the point where I'm gonna like your videos before I watch them. I don't do that very often.

You can’t defend what the Britains did, but Rome had no right to be surprised.

I also believe that the general that did not go and help, committed suicide because of shame

Ok, now for the next video: His Year; Scipio (Africanus) Please.

It's interesting that. being from the area the Iceni were from, I was always taught that Boudicca was brave and strong, fighting the tyranny of the Romans and that she heroically killed herself rather than be captured. The Romans were definitely always the bad guys... Looks like the Iceni weren't so valiant!

No matter how many times I hear it, it baffles me how incredible the roman warriors were. Feels like their soldiers were tanks fighting children throwing rocks.

I had just passed a test on ancient Greece and ancient Rome and now I discovered this channel. Awesome work.

What Paulinus did was genius and it started with his speech to his men he put them on dead mans ground he knew exactly what he was doing he maximised his men's potential .

This and Thermopylae prove the power of heavy infantry

Historia Civilis you're the hero we need but don't deserve.

Another example of why it's a bad idea to corner a fleeing armor... Doubly so when it's a Roman heavy infantry army.

1:50 This is so metal.

I watched this in 2160p60 and I must admit, the definition on the square things attacking the rectangular blocks was amazing! Seriously though, that was informative as usual.

I think one reason the Romans are so incredibly fascinating to read about and have been since I was a child is that they're history's ultimate "bad guys"... As terrible as they were and, if they existed today, as much as we'd all hate them and be horrified by their actions, they're just fun to read about. I can't really think of another group that I subconsciously so routinely cheer against but, at the same time, hope they'll recover when they're down (which is, to me, the ultimate antagonist or anti-hero). Thinking of the Samnites, Hamilcar, Hannibal, the Macedonians and Antiochus III, Boudica, Zenobia... I so routinely find myself hoping they'll succeed despite knowing that they won't, and yet I still love the Romans. A lot of it is probably due to the Roman historians and culture/mindset, which is to say that unlike many historical "victors", they really didn't care nearly as much about being the "good" guys as is evident in their genesis mythos, where Rome was founded on fratricide by a group of pirates and other undesirables that needed a new start and who literally had to kidnap wives just to get started. It's about the least glorious start to a grand empire one could imagine and yet the Romans, who invented and told the story themselves, only really cared about one thing: they won the battles and so imposed their will. This mindset seems to carry on throughout time as, while in the moment they'll often try to claim the moral high ground, within a generation the historians are usually rather blunt about the pragmatic and selfish reasons for their previous actions. All that matters, in the end, is that they were the victors on the battlefield, and so some truly capable and threatening opponents are preserved in their histories as it further glorifies their eventual victories (which also opens the door to embellishment, though I don't believe that was the case with Boudica or Hannibal), whereas in most other cultures that I read about the opponents are often described as hapless cowards or, sometimes, even erased from the historical record. The Romans didn't really seem to care if you perceived them as the "bad guys" and often even reveled in it, so long as you acknowledged their martial superiority. It makes for fascinating reading.

A real lesson in formation discipline. Like the Spartans at Thermopylae. Discipline overcomes.

Why does history in school always leave out the bad parts of some 'good' people like ffs, they always make Boudicca seem good.

i was on boudicca's side, then the maiming started and i was reminded that every civilization is fucked up. rome for life.

do we know why the primus pilus of the other legion denied the reinforcements to Paulinus?

I went from rooting for the British to rooting for the Romans

Damn, this episode literally gave me goosebumps. Well done Civilis!

"They didn't even plant crops" That's how you know they're serious... Also, no Romans noticed that awfully strange behavior?

Great video! Loved that extra detail with the druids. Can't wait for the next, but very good work and I wish to extend a form of encouragement as this channel has formed a very good fan base, and you are one of the only like able Historians on youtube, as myself an amateur historian, I am very satisfied with your tone of voice and genuine interest in the subject. So please I hope you continue this excellent work and do not get down trodden by the inevitable complaints.

80k for 80k, "an eye for an eye"

'I don't distrust you because you're a woman. I distrust you because you're not as smart as you think you are' He was right! :)

Nice video but a few errors. First 80,000 Iceni were not killed, because the Iceni tribe according to the tribal museum in East Anglia only had 40,000 members, men, women, children, old people and babies, the allied Trinovantes only around 30,000 population. Contemporary estimates based on population of the tribes involved would make the British army 20-25,000 strong maximum. Which is consistent with other British armies of the period, such as those of Caractacus, Cassivellaunus and at Mons Grapius which were all around 20-25,000 strong according to Roman chroniclers while Venutius's considerably smaller. Also the tribes/confederations that made these armies were larger in population than Boudicca's. The fact these numbers are so consistent has been noted by military historian as demonstrating the maximum possible army size logistics for Britain at that time. A second error is saying that it was Romans killed by Boudicca. While the Romans in the three cities that were sacked were killed they were a small minority of the population, most of the inhabitants were British. Primarily members of the Catuvellinani tribe, the cities being on their territory, who were the hated foes of the Iceni and Trinovantes. The Catuvellinani tribe had been the most powerful tribe in southern England before the conquest and dominated the smaller tribes such as the Iceni. When the Romans came it was the Catuvellinani tribe that fought the conquest while the Iceni backed the Romans. During Boudicca's revolt she was taking the opportunity to settle some internal British politics. And her revolt killed many times the number of British than it did Romans. Hardly the great patriotic rising............. When you say largest conflict ever to occur on British soil if you mean battle, that would be Towton 1461. If you mean war, it would be the War of Three kingdoms which killed 12% of people in the country and had over a million participants. If by single army, that would either be Severus's invasion of Scotland or Claudius's invasion force.

6,000 replacements would be a full legion and 1,000 leftover. Adding a third legion to the island after such a massive uprising only makes sense. So the 400/400 sounds fairly accurate.

When you put quantity against quality... all that huge mass of warriors simply dissolved under the fury of the roman legionaries, just like snow under the sun.

0:45 Rape 1:05 REVOLT AGAINST ROME 1:24 Paulinus Campaign 1:50 Druids, Flaming Sticks, Chanting, Shouting 2:30 Rome Cuts them down. 2:55 This was a massive Human Sacrifice!!! 3:30 Dark Omens 3:59 Boudicca Campaign 4:30 OMG 5:30 The Chase Is ON 9:00 Wedge Charge! 10:00 Battle Became Slaughter

OH HOW THE GOD'S HAVE BLESSED US THIS DAY! MAY A THOUSAND CHEERS BE HEARD THROUGHOUT MOTHER ROME FOR CIVILIS HAS RELEASED A NEW VIDEO! MAY GODDESS MINERVA HERSELF BLESS THIS DEAR MAN!

Your videos are fantastic, I'm addicted. Thank you

Pretty much any barbarian revolt in Roman history: Oh this has potential to go somewhere annnnnnd stoped by the local governor

"In Death Ground, fight." ~ Sun Tzu

This would make an interesting, historical movie.

Boudica is one of the most overrated historical figures of all time. So she killed a considerably outnumbered Roman detachment of soldiers, burned down three settlements with inhuman cruelty, and was then absolutely annihilated by an army ten times as smaller than hers. Wow, truly amazing stuff...

You deserve way moar than 100k subs, I think you deserve millions of subs, ur vids are so good.

Well done with the chanting sound during the sacrifice at Anglesey! It created a great eerie feel. Keep up the good work!

10:53 "Including children and non-combatants" When woman are in the army, there *are* no non-combatants, since you can't tell the difference between the two. (Same with guerrillas in Vietnam.)

Sopranos style ending? "The Romans would occupy Britain for the next three hun..."

The zombie survival guide turns this event into a massive outbreak that the romans quell, it’s a really cool story

Holy shit! That flaming Druid sacrifice thing sounds metal as fuck! If I were a Norwegian Death metal band, I'd definitely put a picture of that on my album cover.

And the quality yet again rose! This channel has come far!

wooooooo Paulinus what a man

Re: Casualties. The Ninth, which was destroyed (but for its cavalry) was reinforced. Of those 6,000 men you say were sent to Britain, ~5,000 would have gone into reforming the ten infantry cohorts of the 9th legion, which would remain in Britain. The remaining 1,000 would presumably have partially reinforced Paulinus 14th legion (400 for those killed and maybe another 200 to replace those who were injured an unfit for further military service), leaving 400 men to reinforce the 20th legion. Or perhaps to replace town militias/ guard for settlements? Considering the large number of men who went into reforming Legio IX Hispania, I don't think the reports of Roman casualties (Battle vs Boudicca) were exaggerated very much at all. In fact, they seem almost precisely accurate.

WHEN ROMAN LEGIONS PAIRED UP WITH COMPETENT LEADERS...THEY KICKED ASS LIKE NO ONE ELSE!!!!

2:56 That's actually creepy as hell. It's one thing to be trained and experienced in fighting enemy soldiers, but to be subjected to THIS kind of fanatical insanity, basically a suicide charge... it completely changes the scenario. It's dark and primal and strike to the core of your soul (if you have one). A sign of things to come, proved by how following events unfolded.

Bro, this is your best video yet. Well fucking done.

So there was only one real battle, with advantage in numbers and good equipment, but still all went to hell for her in that one real battle. Not really as epic as the "warrior queen" i was taught she was as a queen.

Have you got a source on the druids setting themselves on fire? The closest thing I could find was a BBC article saying the Romans burnt them after they died on a make shift funeral pier.

Ahhh Boudicca, imortilized for slaughtering villages and civilians and immediately losing to two legions.

That was a truly fantastic video, great work! I was enthralled the entire way through, so horrible, yet so interesting.

My personal favorite of your videos and it doesn’t even have Caesar in it

Holy fuck never heard of this. Why dont they make movies about this instead of these braindead marvel movies.. wow..

Very well done as always! These are very informative and fun to watch! Thanks and keep up the great work :)

Roman: We can't escape sir. Paulinus: bad for them.

why am i so happy the romans won?

So she only slaugtered civilians and got rekt in the one fight when she should have won.

10:45 Kill 'em all and let Jupiter sort 'em out. EDIT: I like to imagine the Romans fighting like the Spartans in 300. "No Prisoners!" "AROO" "No Mercy!" "AROO"

I have a Test on Boudicca and was just searching for some videos to watch when yours popped up. Perfect, I can learn and be entertained at the same time!

I love this channel. Never stop

Camulodunum = "Camelot"?

So Iceni tactic was same as Soviet in WWII - "throw some men into fight, if they die, throw some other men and hope enemies will die faster than we"

Incredibly noble of Paulinus to advice thousands of citizens from several city to follow him for their own safety, he could have just left them but then again he risked it with a minimum if troops.