She gathered with her tribe and the nearby tribe, The Trinovantes, and planned the attack. They all believed in her and knew she was going to lead them. The Roman writer Cassius Dio described Boudicca as:
“very tall. Her eyes seemed to stab you. Her voice was harsh and loud. Her thick, reddish-brown hair flung down below her waist. She always wore a great golden torc around her neck and a flowing tartan cloak fastened with a brooch.”
Within a short time Queen Boudicca had amassed an army of over 100,000 women, men and children who were desperate for revenge.
Their plan was to attack the Roman capital in Britain called Camulodunum (modern Colchester), this was the place where retired soldiers would live but being the capital it was very minimally protected, this was also because Paulinus believed that an attack would be unlikely. Though Boudicca’s army wasn’t as well organized as the Romans’ they had something the Romans didn’t have. They had chariots; this made them fast, furious and flexible. They attacked Camulodunum, sparing nobody. The people ran for their lives and hid in the one place they thought would be safe, the temple of Claudius in the heart of the city. But she ordered the Temple set alight and everyone inside was burnt alive. 100,000’s were killed. But this wasn’t all. She then set her eyes on the financial capital Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St Albans) and surrounding Roman settlements, which were all systematically sacked and burned. An estimated 70,000–80,000 people were killed in the three cities.
While Boudicca continued her revenge against the Romans, the current Governor, Paulinus, galvanized an army of 10,000 legionnaires and marched them to an area where he was fairly certain his highly trained soldiers would have a tactical advantage over the Queen’s rebels. With a dense forest at their backs his forces would meet the enemy from only one direction.
Meanwhile, Boudicca and her warriors, certain they would once again prevail over such a small Roman force not only quickly but completely, brought their families along to witness this latest conquest. The battle raged all day, Boudicca sending wave after wave of her Britons against Paulinus’s much more disciplined legionnaires.
The Romans successfully repelled the rebels; eventually surrounding the Queen’s remaining forces trapped between their terrified families. At the end of the Battle, only 400 Romans had fallen, but up to 200,000 Britons had been slaughtered.
The Romans began their own systematic slaughter of warriors, women, children and the elderly, devastation from which few escaped. Boudicca and her two daughters did manage to get away, but rather than be taken back to Rome, they chose to commit suicide.
So this ended the short-lived Boudican rebellion.
Today Boudicca, warrior Queen of the Iceni tribe, is regarded as a heroine, a woman and a leader who stood her ground against foreign invasion. A life-sized bronze statue of Boudicca and her daughters was erected at Westminster Bridge, across from the British House of Parliament during the reign of Queen Victoria.
A short biography on the fearsome General; Paulinus
His full name was Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. Nothing is known about his childhood and not very much is known about his adulthood either. He had a reputation for being a fearsome military fighter, with short hair, in his 50’s with the face of a soldier who had been at war for the last 20 years. Paulinus also had a huge ego and was very greedy.
Paulinus was sent to Britain by Emperor Nero and his job was to crush any last resistance to Roman ruler. But he wanted to do more, he wanted to wipe out any last descendent to any tribe in Britain. He decided he was going to do this by striking at the very heart of British culture, he decided to attack the Droid’s. They were the religious leaders to Britain and were fiercely Anti-Roman. He left no Droid alive.
He thought he had Britain on it’s knees but he was mistaken. This is when he learnt that the capital of Camulodunum was in flames and that the rebels were going to attack Londinium next. He couldn’t have been in a worse situation as he released that his army was 12 days march away. So he raced off with his chivalry on their horses telling the army to begin their march towards Londinium.
When he reached Londinium he released it couldn’t be saved as the city had no protection and Boudicca’s massive force was only a few miles away. He made a devastating decision to leave it unarmed and rode off with the chivalry. He knew that Boudicca would come for him next so he decided to find a place where their numbers wouldn’t be an advantage.
He chose a narrow valley with a dense forest on their side. That’s where Boudicca met him and he realised how heavily outnumbered they were 1-20. He knew their only hope to win was to rely on their superior weaponary and organized manner.
Meanwhile, Boudicca and her warriors, certain they would once again prevail over such a small Roman force not only quickly but completely, brought their families along to witness this latest conquest.
However, the lack of manoeuvrability of the British forces, combined with lack of open-field tactics to command these numbers, put them at a disadvantage to the Romans, who were skilled at open combat due to their superior equipment and discipline, and the narrowness of the field meant that Boudicca could put forth only as many troops as the Romans could at a given time.
First, the Romans stood their ground and used volleys of pila (heavy javelins) to kill thousands of Britons who were rushing toward the Roman lines. The Roman soldiers, who had now used up their pila, were then able to engage Boudica's second wave in the open. As the Romans advanced in a wedge formation, the Britons attempted to flee, but were impeded by the presence of their own families, whom they had stationed in a ring of wagons at the edge of the battlefield, and were slaughtered.
The Romans began their own systematic slaughter of warriors, women, children and the elderly, carnage from which few escaped. News of Paulinus' brutality reached Rome and an excuse was found to remove him from his post. His career was not harmed too much.
His eventual fate remains unknown.
