The Roman conquest of Britain by Claudius

The Roman conquest of Britain by Claudius' legions in A.D. 43 illustrates several aspects of the process of expansion of the Roman empire. The Roman attitude toward the barbarian world, the ever-increasing political importance of expansion, the dependence of the emperors on the armies, and manner in which conquest was a self-generating process can all be seen in a brief examination of the circumstances surrounding the conquest of Britain.

The poets and historians of the Augustan age reinforced the growing belief that there was no part of the known world that Rome was not intended to rule. As the historian Livy noted, Jupiter himself had said, "it is the gods' will that my Rome shall be capital of the world [and] no human forces can resist Roman arms" (quoted by Wells 76). Livy knew, of course, that Augustus' adoptive father Julius Caesar had tried twice (55-54 B.C.) to conquer Britain. He had some success but had given up in the face of bad weather, bad luck, and pressing business on the mainland. Britain was clearly a special case and its conquest would take a special kind of leader. Augustus himself had understood this when, after defeating Pompey and further securing the northeastern frontier of Italy, he made sure that the grateful Romans knew that he planned to embark on "far reaching plans of conquest, inherited from Caesar" (Wells 23). He even wanted the Romans to believe that he was about to begin a campaign to conquer mysterious Britain. Of course Augustus

Related Essays

Ceasar's Conquest of Gaul .... the Veneti and the invasion of Britain, he procured .... in combat, Julius Caesar was a Romans' Roman. .... there was nothing inevitable about Caesar's conquest of Gaul .... (3382 14 )

KING ARTHUR .... By the middle of the fifth century the Roman superstructure had disappeared and .... the Dark Ages is Gildas' The Loss and Conquest of Britain, written about 540 .... (2022 8 )

Early European History .... of events that lead to the full conquest of Gaul .... allies provided a justification for yet further Roman expansion. .... was set only when, as in Britain, he suffered .... (3235 13 )

The Roman Empire .... through the continent, and as far away as Britain. .... or variable competence of lower-rank ing Roman officers (Gaul .... Caesar's summary of the conquest of the near .... (4943 20 )

Several Political Science Essays .... Dutch, and German territories were subdued, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire and .... of British trade, a device meant to facilitate the conquest of Britain. .... (5320 21 )

ncials would come to Rome and would gain some power there. This, however, only increased the dislike of foreigners. Caesar himself had appointed senators from Gaul. Under Caligula (A.D. 37-41) two consuls came from Narbonese Gaul. And Claudius, in his role as censor in A.D. 48 added still more men from northern and central Gaul to the senate and he offered a justification of this increasingly necessary policy to the other senators. Tacitus' version of this speech survives. Claudius cited the policy of his great-uncle Augustus and his uncle Tiberius who, he said, "wished all the cream of the colonies and municipalities everywhere, that is good worthy men, to be members of this house [and] I believe that not even provincials can be rejected, if only they can adorn the senate house" (quoted by Grant 130). By Claudius' reign the importance of retaining Gaul was well understood and the expansion into Britain was one means of doing so. Yet Britain was, in many ways, an anomaly. The geographers of Greece and Rome stated with certainty that the world's land was surrounded by the ocean on all sides and that no lands, not even islands, lay beyond it. The exception was the British isles which, counter to reason, contained the larg

Category: History - T