Boudicca (60/61 C.E.) 

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

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

"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.

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.

What happened in that island was a fucking scary af

"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

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.

the durids were hard core as fuck

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

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.

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

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

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

Disturbing lack of red in the thumbnail.

"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."

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

Classic British, queuing in the middle of a battle

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

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.

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

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

When you forget to deal with rebels in Rome total war

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

4k quality, what a legend

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

That's 300 Spartans shit right there...

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.

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

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

If I was a soldier I would hail Paulinus imperator after that.

Dear god the lack of strategy

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

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

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!

Damn Paulinus kicked some real ass

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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

1:50 This is so metal.

I would've never ever found out about this epic story if it weren't for your videos, love them and keep up the good work!

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.

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

These are all so well done! I just discovered the channel, I'm sharing it with friends. Excellent work, sir.

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

This and Thermopylae prove the power of heavy infantry

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.

Yet another great video, keep up the good work. The quality of your research and presentation is always really a joy to watch.

Was hoping you would do a video on Boudicca. I didn't know it was such an amazing and tragic story. Very well told!

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

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.

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

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

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.

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!

I'm glad that your channel is growing so much Historia! This video was an eye opener to some of the brutality of people are capable of. Looking forward to the next video!

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

Morning Coffee, some analytics work, and a new Historia Civilis video - today is going to be productive

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 .

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!

As always you are incredibly good at this. Thanks!

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

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

Just finished all the Rome videos and they were amazing, best videos I could find about it! It'd be great if you could do the rest of Rome in Brittan.

I love this channel. Never stop

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

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

Best and most informing episode yet!!

I love your art style, simple yet so engaging :)

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.

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

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

Very clearly your best episode yet. Well done!

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

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

Been listening to the history of Britain podcast, this is a great accompaniment.

Thank you for your videos!

That human sacrifice story was like they let lovecraft organise the defence of the island

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

Thanks. Great job as always. Always wanted to know about Boudicca.

I really enjoy your channel. Thank you.

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

Good video, a good brief overview of Boudicca’s revolt.

Top notch work my friend, you deserve another subscription. 👌

This is such a fantastic channel, please keep it up!

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!

'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! :)

Hey I love the increased frequency of the channel and the videos are all great keep it up!

Thank you for this story

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.

wooooooo Paulinus what a man

Love your war related commentaries!

Your videos truly are some of the highest quality on youtube right now

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

"In Death Ground, fight." ~ Sun Tzu

Your videos are outstanding. Keep it up.

Excellent, excellent work, man. Well animated, clear narration, interesting historical selection, and your usage of moody music puts it over the top for me (where other channels just use some random classical music).