Ray Mears Retraces the Roman Invasion of Britain in 43AD
How did Claudius' Roman army successfully invade and conquer Britain in 43AD? In this video, bushcraft and survival expert Ray Mears recounts the Claudian invasion of Britain and explores how the Roman army gained a foothold after their initial beach landings.
This clip is an extended trailer for the History Hit TV documentary 'The Roman Invasions With Ray Mears: Claudius' Conquest' 👉 access.historyhit.com/the-rom...
Featuring historian Dr Simon Elliot and Roman reenactor David Richardson, this video focusses on the early stages of the invasion, once the Roman commander Aulus Plautius had made a successful landing in Kent. Ray gets up close with the armour and weapons carried by a Claudian legionary, before heading to the Roman fort at Richborough, believed to be the site of the Roman marching camp from the first day of the invasion.
Sign up to History Hit TV now and get 14 days free: access.historyhit.com/checkout
And remember, as KZread subscribers, you can sign up to History Hit TV today with code KZread and enjoy 50% off your first 3 months!
For more history content, subscribe to our History Hit newsletters: www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to...
#historyhit #romans #ancienthistory
Пікірлер: 264
Ray Mears is a national treasure
@boffingeorge
Жыл бұрын
Bury him!
@richardfife8192
Жыл бұрын
I grew up watching him and reading his books. Class
@Tugela60
Жыл бұрын
Are you saying he belongs in a museum?
@richardfife8192
Жыл бұрын
@@Tugela60 if he can be preserved forever yes 😁
@benmacdui9328
Жыл бұрын
My mate met him at a book signing , says he's an absolute bellend.
Really good to see Ray Mears back. Good presentation, clear English and explanations. Thank you.
I can’t get enough of Ray Mears’s videos! Keep up the good work, Ray!
We need more Ray Mears!!!
His equipment is top notch i must say! A serious reenactor
Nice to see Ray Mears narrating this.
After reading 21 of Simon Scarrow's novels set in this time period (a few during this invasion), it's very interesting to see these places in real life.
Come on ray we need you back on tv.
Just love your videos on Roman Britain ! Big thank you to all involved !! Your hard work really shows !!
I love reenactment these people who love history so much they bring it back to life literally awsome just awsome
as always, well organized, informative and with the latest info on new discoverys by archelogy
More like this please!
Enjoyed. Thanks!
Thank you Mr Mears. I enjoyed this very much. From my research it appears that the Belgae tribes re-inforced their occupation in the South and East of England (Sir Barry Conliffe’s 1973 "Iron age communities in Britain”) in the 93 years between the Caesar raids in 55 and 54 BCE and the Claudian invasion in 43 CE. Some of these insular Belgae tribes had made an alliance with Claudius before his invasion to become client kingdom so he didn’t fight them, although he didn’t use their troops to help the invasion. And hou forgot the ware elephant(s).
@MarkAbRobert-jv6it
3 ай бұрын
Claudius brought those Elephants due to the memory of the mayhem the British chariots had brought on Julius Caesars legions nearly a century before. Historians tend to completly overlook the struggle that had been raging between the old Brythonic tribes and the newer Belgic's. Before Caesar had even landed in 55BC and still being waged in 43AD. I believe this struggle was also relocated to Ireland with the withdrawal there of numerous tribes during the 1st and 2nd centuries. The Mysterious Fir Bolg people of Iron age Ireland where actually Belgic invaders.
Fascinating. Didn't know about the ear thing!
Awesome stuff! 💪💪💪
Old Clavdivs. Looked like Derek Jacobi. Love your work 👍
very interesting!!
@History Hit could you please make a video about the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britannia.
I really like this host (presenter) different than the others
With Colchester being the first Roman capital, the temple that stood here was called the temple of Claudius
@angeloargentieri5605
11 ай бұрын
CAMULODUNUM (Colchester) fondata dai Romani, il più grandioso e glorioso Impero della storia; Roma ha conquistato ,dominato, costruito e CIVILIZZATO; la grandezza, la potenza, la magnificenza e la GLORIA DI ROMA EST AETERNA, ROMA INVICTA ET LUX MUNDI 💪💯
I once read that the combined revenue from the state run mines, taxes and tribute wasn’t enough to cover what it cost to maintain the province, i don’t know why they didn’t pull out way sooner
@Historyfan476AD
Жыл бұрын
Roman Ego? Don't forget they did think it was their Jupiter given destiny to one day rule the world and Rome's borders to keep always expanding in the end. Or maybe it is better for them to have it under their thumb and so stop the Island being used as a base for raiders and as a flee point for enemies of Rome and criminals. Or very likely the expenditures of keeping Britain where easily offset by the overall income coming in from the other more profitable Provinces of the Empire: Like Egypt or even the gold of Hispania.
Yay, Ray Mears!
I can't get over that sunburn
Who is “Cloudyass” ffs?
Ah.... Norman conquest 1066? That's a pretty consequential and enormous invasion.
History is tragic, but thank the Romans for bringing all their knowledge across Europe. We wouldn't be the same today without this.
@amh9494
Жыл бұрын
All the Greeks' knowledge you mean. 😏
@katienicole6215
Жыл бұрын
@@amh9494 Which came from the Egyptians ;-)
@amh9494
Жыл бұрын
@@katienicole6215 yeah yeah all by black people yeah. Some stuff from Egypt I'm sure but the Greek advanced many many fields independently.
@colinglen4505
Жыл бұрын
Every time i wait till the very end of a tv show to see when it was made they always flash up those dreadful, uninttelligeble Roman Numerals. Surely it's easier to write 1979 instead of MCMLXXIX. 😖
@sosteve9113
Жыл бұрын
Been in the UK and France,you still can see how much history they left,fascinating
800 ships invading Kent...things haven't changed!
For a really enjoyable read you can't really do better than follow the "Eagles of the Empire" series of books written by Simon Scarrow.
What did they do with the 800 ships after they had landed?
Stop! Too many wonderful documentaries, I can't keep up watching them all!
The frost, sometimes it makes the blade stick.
The beginning of 'the heart of darkness' has the Romans pondering at the mouth of the Thames: the sheer savagery who dares go in
who paid for the armor and how much was one suit?
800 ships? Unlikely, rather like D-day, ships would have gone back to Gaul to bring the next wave of troops and supplies. There seems to be an assumption that the Romans had to fight their way from the landing sites, maybe true for Ceaser but Southern tribes were more likely to cooperate with the Romans by the time of the Claudian invasion.
@mickharrison9004
Жыл бұрын
Why's that freind Britons would still have been savages .
Wow Ray, we share the same surname 😮
Ray needs SPF 45. Beware the rays, Ray.
5 questions Just curious Why did the late western Roman Empires economy decline Why was the west Roman Empire weak but the east part strong What were the standards of morality in the late western Roman Empire and eastern Roman Empire What were the impacts of the Germanic invasions in the late Roman Empire What was the military like in the late Roman Empire
@user-dx6bv2pe1s
Жыл бұрын
The economy weakened because it was bullion based and by the 3rd and 4th century gold and silver reserves were running out in the empire. Most people coming into the empire in what is now mainland Europe were Romanised to various degrees and maintained some aspects of Roman culture. For example the Frank's military and social structures were based on the late Roman model. The late Roman army won more battles than it lost. The problem was a lack of funds to pay troops and the constant civil and external wars ground the army down. The late Roman army was still better equipped and had better logistics than the European and Balkan people's. It is hard to say what Germanic incursions into the late Roman empire looked like for everyday people. In most of France, Spain and Italy people lived like they had under the late empire but now paid taxes to Germanic kings. As mentioned in my earlier post the Roman church, military and civil administration carried on under the Germanic Kingdoms. The eastern empire was naturally easier to defend due to geography. The eastern empire contained the richest provinces by the 3rd and 4th centuries.
@Caligulashorse1453
Жыл бұрын
@@user-dx6bv2pe1s Thanks although my question about morality was more of the citizens of Rome and less of the Germanic people.
A disliplined trained Army, always wins.
Of course the invasion worked. They landed at Thanet, after that it couldn’t fail.
Small boats crossing the chanell ! They were at it even then !😂
What about angles, saxons,jutes who invaded britain and changed it from a part of roman empire to a group of germanic kingdoms attempting to conquer the romano british/gallic kingdoms and the celtic welsh, scots, cornish and irish? What about the military invasion of normans in 1066 which crushed anglo saxon england and created a new kingdom of norman french society?
Anyone else think that thumbnail looked like Sting dressed as a Roman Soldier? :D
The Romans never left, they colony in Britain developed in to a nation.
@domenicozagari2443
5 ай бұрын
Its like saying the Brits vacated America.@@fredfreddy2338
@domenicozagari2443
5 ай бұрын
Hypocrite.@@fredfreddy2338
@GhostOfCorkey
5 ай бұрын
@domenicozagari2443 not sure our DNA backs that up. Mostly Celtic/Viking/Norman
@domenicozagari2443
5 ай бұрын
1000 years of civilization could not dessaper in nothing, i am sure the dna is not correct, people twist things for they wishful thinking.@@GhostOfCorkey
@MarkAbRobert-jv6it
3 ай бұрын
You could argue that Romano culture never left but from 43AD to 410AD the Romans lost Britannia and had to regain it a number of times. We should also put the Roman advance through Britain into context. From the initial successes of the Claudian invasion, it then took years and according to Dio Cassius 32 pitched battles to secure southern England. It then took a further 30 years for the Romans to reach as far north as the rivers Humber and Mersey. That's no lightning conquest. Thst was a war of attrition the likes of which the Romans had experienced nowhere else. And at no point did they ever, except for arguably Agricola's campaign control the whole island.
My father was From England n mother from Scotland
If you built your fort bigger you need less defensive earthworks per person saving time and effort.
Ive often wondered why latin didn't become the national language of Britannia, if they were under roman rule for hundreds of years, like it happened to gaul, hispania, lusitania
@gregmillions77
Жыл бұрын
Latin did become the language of government and commerce throughout Roman Britain, largely pushing the pre-Roman Celtic languages up into Scotland and over to Wales. But then the Romans left... and in came the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, etc. and their Germanic languages which developed into English. And then came the Normans, with their unique flavor of French... with its own Latin influences. I'm simplifying and generalizing for brevity's sake but that's, in broad strokes, about how it happened.
@_00_36
Жыл бұрын
idk, the anglo saxons used the runic alphabet for hundreds of years after rome left. If romes influence was as grand as scholars claim it is idk why that would be the case.
@gregmillions77
Жыл бұрын
@@_00_36 By the time people like the Saxons get to England in any numbers, it's the Dark Ages; the Romans were long gone, though plenty of Britons tried to keep Roman systems in place. The mytho-historic account holds that a Romano-British chieftain hired Saxons as muscle, to help rein in rising chaos. The story goes the Saxons got stiffed on their payment, went rampaging, and found lots of loot. The true story is probably somewhere in between, in that the Saxons were economic migrants who found a place of great natural wealth but with not much of a government.
@firingallcylinders2949
Жыл бұрын
Once Londinium fell so did Roman influence there. The Germanic tribes dominated for centuries afterwards.
Only written record of 43 AD, Dio, says that the Romans sailed WEST from jumping off point. Speculation says the Romans left Boulogne. Due west is Roughly Eastbourne. So imo the Romans landed in the vicinity of Hailsham. Dio writes that 4 legions were involved. And 3 waves of incomers. At least one legion were ceremonial troops. Strange that the Romans fortified Pevensey levels against Saxon attacks and that Will the conk also used the area to invade England. As for first battle against the Brits, imo that happened close to Penshurst near the River Medway 51*10’52”N 0*11’39”E. Happy to discuss.
Why are people complaining about his pronunciation of "Claudius"? It's not far from the classical pronunciation (that would sorta sound like "Cloud-ee-oos")
I want to wear a Lion on my head
Greed had a lot to do with it. Convince the people at the top of the pile that they could get even more 'stuff'. Rome was good at greed
@chrissofpv3017
Жыл бұрын
Bit like the Tory party OGB?🤣🤣
My unpopular opinion and two cents worth. I think the fall of celtic Britain has a lot to do with the insistence of tradition holding them back and boudica sacrificing way too many villagers to the gods.
It was the Fish Sauce!
oh dear, in one ear and out the other
Go to Masada, on the Dead Sea and you will see why the romans won. Engineering, organization and, most important of all, perseverance.
Artillery.
Trade already existed between the Britons and mainland Europe at the time of the Roman invasions. The Celtic culture had high art and in Britain expertise in refined metals which suggests the cooperation of civilization with division and mastery of skills. Denoting the people as barbarians was used to justify conquest no different than when the Polynesians were labelled as 'noble savages'.
Discipline and body armor.
Tried to watch but to many dam commercials
What’s 60 pounds of weight in modern terms?
@lukew7343
6 ай бұрын
60 pounds
Do you ever feel like you were supposed to be born 2000 years ago somewhere on the frindges of the Roman empire even though you would never make it.
Isn't it pronounced claw Dee ess
@omicroneridani7456
Жыл бұрын
I'm afraid not. Clow dee oos, to put it bluntly 😀
Lorica Hamata was the main armour not Lorica Segmentata it would have been impracticable for Roman soldiers on campaign to use Lorica Segmentata due to the time it takes to equip and the maintenance of said armour not to mention the repairing of the armour which was very skilled the armour also cost three times more to produce. kzread.info/dash/bejne/o5-HrI9rgbbOe84.html Nearly all Roman soldiers carried their equipment with them everything they owned when marching most would take off the armour and sling it over their Sudis or stake that was used to build the camp at night , If they had to dress quickly for combat then the Lorica Segmentata would take two men for ease or one man with a struggle unlike Lorica Hamata that could be thrown on by one man very quickly. Lorica Segmentata is mainly seen on reliefs as parade armour and we know by the time of Constantine in the 4th AD that Lorica Hamata was still in wide use even into the Byzantine era.
The Romans would have sailed right up to richborough probably with a readymade fort.
What religion(s) did they have in Britain before the Romans?
@jimplummer4879
Жыл бұрын
Paganism
@Seanpikelocke1
Жыл бұрын
Gresham College have produced a lecture on KZread that tackles this topic, as well as how it adapted to roman influences. It's well worth a watch!
@JackieWelles
Жыл бұрын
Important thing to note is that Romans didnt really cared what religion you believe, as long as you cause no trouble to the empire.
@jimplummer4879
Жыл бұрын
@@JackieWelles yes.
@dnstone1127
Жыл бұрын
The druids.
It was hilarious watching Ray call him out on his BS. "It was also important to hear orders." So dry. Haha
@amh9494
Жыл бұрын
He's a kind of Englishman that's become rarer and rarer as we've lost our culture to Americanisation.
The Romans tried - but they only conquered part of Britain. Caledonia (now Scotland) remained free from Roman domination.
@Simon-jr9km
Жыл бұрын
One of my favourite quotes about Hadrian building the wall. "Hadrian built the wall to leave the scots to fight their mortal enemy, other scots"
@user-dx6bv2pe1s
Жыл бұрын
It fell under the cultural influences of Rome and it could not pay for its conquest. Ie Rome could not get enough money out of Scotland to pay for the garrisons.
@oldgreybeard2507
Жыл бұрын
The far north of England was not exactly keen on Rome either.
@JackieWelles
Жыл бұрын
You should look at the influence of British culture rather how much land they conquered ans then you realise that Romans have actually succeeded ( from 43 until 410 AD)
@davidbarr9343
Жыл бұрын
@@user-dx6bv2pe1s Rubbish!😂
What made Rome was its organisation.
I've always wonder "if" the Romans hadn't arrived, would the Celts have stayed battle hardened and not have succumbed to the Anglo-Saxon invasion, if so, the World would be a different place without the British empire.
I miss Ray on our terestrial tv. I see way too much of that bear gryls fellow
@boffingeorge
Жыл бұрын
One has done it the other is an actor
Way too short. Thumbnail overpromises and underdelivers.
Also the north of this island was never conquered by Rome-they did not '"win". I am from Lancashire, I consider myself British not English. I dont suck Roman...
@johnfisk811
Жыл бұрын
So you are probably descended from the Irish colonists of the Lancashire Plains. Blackpool and Dublin are the same name for a reason.
@mickharrison9004
Жыл бұрын
Me to Lancastrian and proud .
@mickharrison9004
Жыл бұрын
@@johnfisk811 I was led to believe the Irish colonized further south ,Liverpool.and north Wales what I will say is blackpool wasn't even named ,by then it didn't have much population either back then .
They almost lost it in ad61
That beach didn't exist in roman times.
It took years to suppress the tribes of what is now South Wales.
The Romans never conquered Scotland (Caledonia) or Northumberland. Why they built Hadrian’s Wall to contain the Picts/Scots barbarians. The Romans lost their 9th Legion trying, the heaviest defeat ever experienced by the Roman Legions.
@Historyfan476AD
Жыл бұрын
Heaviest? Not by a long shot.
Why! they did not. You mixed up tenses: perhaps they WERE WINNING. But now…
Boudicca.
Not enough pictures and graphics. Got bored a quarter of the way through. Plus I know the story so was expecting a bit more to be fair.
First comment…..
CLOUD-IUS ??? Just say Claudius.
The Romans won because the legions were disciplined soldiers fighting undisciplined warriors who saw war as an individual sport.
Don’t think they conquered Scotland? 🤓🏴
Claudius not cloudius get it right m8 for goodness sake.
Because they didn't lose.
CLOUDius ???? It is CLAUDius
Stupid comparing it to the Normandy landings
@granitesevan6243
5 ай бұрын
@@fredfreddy2338 25:67 "Julius Cesar was a bit like that Eisenhower bloke - he wanted everyone to go and run up them beaches and bash everyone..."
Britain was and still is influenced by Rome so much, First the Romans called us British (before that we we called Albion's) and they called Britain. Britain (before that. It was Albion ) plus the symbol of Britain Britannia even wears a Roman helmet, Plus the very first currency in Britain had Roman emperor's on,
@macman975
Жыл бұрын
The very first coinage in Britain was Celtic and it certainly didn't have Roman Emperors on it.
@cymro6537
Жыл бұрын
No , 'Britannia' was the Latin take on what the Romans heard the locals call their island. One can glean what the original Brythonic - speaking Britons called these isles by looking at the direct linguistic descendant of the Brythonic language once spoken over the vast majority of Britain - that language is Welsh.The Welsh language word for Britain is 'Prydain' _Prydain_ pronounced _Prud_ ( rhyming with 'thud' ) and _ine_ ( rhyming with wine).
Southerners invited them over and when they left they paid germans to protect them
WTF is Cloudeeass. Ray Merrs lolol...
Technically they didnt conquer Britain. They only conquered England
@dnstone1127
Жыл бұрын
They really conquered the Welsh, England didn't exist as a country then.
@Frank-mm2yp
Жыл бұрын
At the time of Claudius' invasion there was no "England". That name came later. interesting that the Romans' Latin word "Britannia" survived and evolved into the English word "Britain"..
@gou948
Жыл бұрын
Correct. The Romans named Britain. They also named Scotland Caledonia although before the Romans Albion was made up of Celtic tribes. I used the words Britain and Scotland for context tbh. Nevertheless the Romans did find northern Albion somewhat troublesome.
im scotti ! na romani takin ma haggis an tablet!!!..🤡
I was a Roman soldier in a past life. It was shit. Ask me anything!
They traded. Then realized it was a way to make money. They got a bunch of money and left when trouble from social issues in their empire failed.
Isn't it true that the Kentish tribes invited the Romans to invade?
Why did Romans invade Britain? Answer: Empires need to keep conquering to survive. Britain was the easiest territory to subdue. Hence the choice.
Because they weren't Woke!
They didn't. They only conquered the soft southerners, then had to build Hadrian's Wall to stop getting kickings from the Scots.
@roosterbooster6238
Жыл бұрын
why did they build hadrians wall in the middle of northumbria to stop people that lived in Ireland?
@sosteve9113
Жыл бұрын
Visited a while ago
@europa8292
Жыл бұрын
With enough effort the Romans could have conquered modern Scotland but the Picts proves better fighters than the southern Celts and the trouble wasn’t really worth the land gain
Briton warriors, not British.
@hachwarwickshire292
Жыл бұрын
No British. There was a High King.
Your constant reference to a Roman conquest of 'Britain' is re-imagined history from the perspective of the English. You don't say the Romans conquered Europe, why is that? You don't say the Romans conquered Africa, why not? Answer: because they didn't conquer all of Europe, nor did they conquer all of Africa. The Romans failed to conquer ALL the Celtic tribes of Albion. They only defeated the tribes of Southern Britain and of the lands that eventually became England, and to a lesser extent, the lands that eventually became Wales and, for a short time, the Lowlands of Scotland. These re-imagined and selective histories give a grossly inaccurate picture of Roman Britain, and your 'history' is therefore unhelpful to those who are looking for a reasonably accurate account of what happened in those times.