The Romans conquered Britain using men from as far afield as Hungary and North Africa and even finished the job off with a herd of warrior elephants, so why isn’t their leader better known to us Brits? John Hillman thinks it’s about time he was.

How many of you have actually heard of Aulus Plautius? I say this because it comes as quite a surprise to learn that this man was the General in command of four legions, amounting to an estimated 50,000 men, who invaded Britain, and won, back in A.D. 43.

I’m sure that students of Roman history are thinking “big deal” but, considering the fact that this was a hugely important event in our national evolution, old Aulus is hardly a household name is he?

What’s truly amazing from my perspective is how he managed to get 50,000 men and supplies across a stretch of water that held up King Philip of Spain’s Armada, Napoleon’s naked ambition and even Adolf Hitler, 1500 years before any of them even tried.

If the stories are to be believed, he was soon followed by Emperor Claudius who brought Elephants to aid the conquest. The spectacular idea of Roman Legionaries and Elephants chasing naked blue-skinned Britons across the fields of Kent and Essex is a mental image denied to me for years by the curriculum organisers of my old school. Bastards.

Plautius’s conquest of Britain was followed by 400 years of roman rule, during which time the south of England became an urbanised centre. Excavations of Roman villas offer testament to the wealth and power that Southern Britain attained under occupation, a factor that has changed very little to this day.

Aulus Plautius may sound like the missing link between fish and mammal but he deserves better, it really is a name that should be recognised by people across the UK, belonging to a man who should be celebrated, along with William the Conqueror, as one of the most influential foreigners to cross the English Channel in our entire history.

—————————————————————–

Image Creedit: eralon

Tags: Britain, France, History // Add Comment »