Reconstruction of the Roman fortress of Portchester, near Portsmouth. Built around 290 BC, it was designed to defend the southern coast of Britain against Germanic pirates. [Painting by Peter Dunn/English Heritage]
In France and central Europe, the Celts had perfected a fast-moving form of warfare based on mastery of the horse.
Massive coastal walls of Portchester Castle defend what was known as the Saxon Shore in the 3rd century. [English Heritage]
They were superb riders and they took this one step further by inventing four-wheeled and then two-wheeled chariots. There is little evidence that the Bronze Age warriors of prehistoric Britain had experience of horses, which were native to the plains of central Europe and Asia. They probably panicked when the Celtic horsemen charged, and were cut down with long iron swords as they fled. The great white chalk horses reflect the triumph of mounted warfare. The theme is repeated in Celtic artifcacts, such as the beautifully decorated pieces of equestrian equipment that can be seen in museum collections. Even tiny Celtic coins celebrated it with galloping horses expressed as abstract dynamic lines with riders wearing cloaks flying backwards.
The other source of Celtic military power was their mastery of iron-making. Iron was developed after the use of bronze, but it produced stronger, lighter weapons with sharper blades. Iron could also be formed into rings which were then constructed into tunics of mail, a highly effective and flexible form of body armour. The Celts are usually credited with the invention of this armour in Europe, which was then adopted by the Romans. With iron swords and iron armour, the Celts possessed an enormous advantage over Bronze Age peoples. In addition, iron enabled the manufacture of stronger tools, such as picks and spades, and this in turn allowed the Celts to build bigger and stronger hillforts with which to defend their conquests in Britain. An example of this revolution in defensive construction is evident at Maiden Castle near Dorchester.
Aerial view of Portchester Castle demonstrating the impressive engineering of the fortress and its walls. Looking more medieval in style, it was occupied throughout the Middle Ages. The round bastions were platforms for rock and arrow-throwing artillery. [Skyscan Balloon Photography]
Maiden Castle is a massive hillfort enclosing some 47 acres of a saddle-backed hill, comprising several rings of giant earth ramparts and complex gateways. It was originally developed as a small settlement by Stone Age natives on one part of the hill. The Celts took it during the 6th century BC and then set to with their iron tools, doubling the size of the settlement. They added massive ramparts constructed out of earth dug from the hillside and redistributed over wooden braced structures to create a major fortification. Several such hillforts were constructed during the period of Celtic rule and reflect both their skills in warfare and their technical superiority.
The Celts did have one major military weakness, however. Gildas, a Celtic British chronicler of the 6th century AD, put it succinctly: ‘It has always been true of this people that we are weak in beating off the weapons of the outside enemy but strong in fighting amongst each other.’ Fierce tribal feuds sustained a rhythm of raid and counter-raid, creating tough soldiers but no sense of unity. When a major new force threatened from outside, the Celts were unable to work together in alliance. This crisis had already occurred in France in the 1st century BC when Julius Caesar led his Roman armies against the Gauls. Many Gallic tribes thought they could use the Romans against their Celtic rivals and happily fought alongside Caesar until it was too late. Caesar had divided and conquered the Celts of France and, by the 1st century AD, the Romans sought to do the same in Britain.
ROMAN ARMOUR
The sight of several thousand Roman soldiers all clad in armour, highly polished so that a myriad surfaces glinted in the sun, dazzling the viewer, must have sent a shiver down many a spine. Add to that the noise of several thousand pieces of armour and weapons clanging against each other as the Romans advanced, so loud that verbal commands could barely be heard, then one gets a little idea of how impressive the Roman army was in battle. And this at a time when barbarian enemies, such as the Celts or Germans, could boast only a handful of armoured warriors among them. Thus, the Romans possessed a superiority not only in the quantity and quality of arms and armour but also an unseen superiority of organisation and manufacture in which numerous armouries all over the empire could out-produce any barbarian force. It was to have a strategic effect similar to that of the Americans against the Germans in the Second World War, when the Germans might have possessed the better tanks, but the Americans could produce many more and thus overwhelmed them.
Re-enactors of the Roman Military Research Society recreate the ‘tortoise’, an attacking formation using shields to protect against arrows and stones as they approach an enemy fortification. Such formations were used to storm Celtic hillforts, such as Maiden Castle. [Roman Military Research Society]
Recreating the experience of fighting in Roman armour is almost impossible, according to Graham Sumner, a member of the award-winning Ermine Street Guard re-enactment group. ‘The noise is something we have recreated. Numerous legionaries marching in full armour create such a noise that we have concluded that visual and not verbal commands would have been used with musicians and standard bearers being used to convey these to ranks of soldiers virtually deafened by the sound of their own clashing arms and armour. The heat and exhaustion of moving in armour on a warm day is something we have also felt. But as for actual combat, there is so little we know. They appear to have been trained in gladiatorial forms of combat, but these seem inappropriate on the battlefield.’ It is also difficult to envisage how a front rank of legionaries would be replaced by their comrades behind them, once they became exhausted, without breaking formations and causing chaos. ‘Soldiers in other ranks would have thrown their spears over the swordsmen in front,’ says Sumner, ‘but beyond that it is difficult to guess.’ Perhaps fresher soldiers just pushed their way through the tightly packed ranks, as others fell back naturally, either wounded or tired. Certainly formations would have broken down in the scrum of hand to hand combat and become more fluid, allowing the stronger soldiers to continue the fighting as others faded.
Reconstructed Imperial helmet of the late 1st century AD showing the magnificent horsehair crest often fitted to the helmets of more senior soldiers. [Graham Sumner]
Back of Roman legionary wearing lorica segmentata armour. This view reveals the bronze hooks, hinges and leather ties used to secure the armour plates while maintaining their flexibility. Recreations such as this demonstrate how easy it was to wear this form of armour, its weight being evenly distributed over the body, although prolonged activity on a hot day produced problems with sweat which could rot the leather ties and loosen plates. [Graham Sumner]
The most famous Roman armour, seen in almost all reconstructions and visible on many remaining stone reliefs, is the lorica segmentata, strips of iron plates strapped around the arms and chest. It is a purely Roman invention and is thought, perhaps, to derive from the armour worn by gladiators in the arena, being particularly suited to protection against sword blows in close combat. Padding would have been worn under this armour to absorb the shock of a weapon’s impact on the armour.