Boudicca Victorious TL

In 61 AD, Boudicca of the Iceni leads an enormous revolt against the Romans. Having defeated the Romans under General Paulinus in a cataclysmic final battle, Boudicca is victorious--the Roman Emperor gives up Britain as being to wild and dangerous to colonise.:)

What is the subsequent history of Celtic Britain?
 
I dunno. Possibly Celtic resistance of Germanic invasions during the dark ages, as they would not be dependent on the Roman army for defense.
 
The problem is that a Victory for Boudicca will almost certainly require Vengeance from Rome. Even after Teutoburg, Augustus Unleashed Germanicus on Arminius and the Legions destroyed a German Army that was better organised than Boudicca's and demolished Arminius' Confederation to boot.

With Britannia you had the problem that it was already a Roman Province and had been for some time by the time Boudicca comes along. Rome will not let a Rebellion stand, let alone one that has killed so many Roman Citizens.

Rome has also historically been very willing to absorb enormous casualties in the face of determined resistance for the purposes of Vengeance. The Second Punic War turned out that way, whereby the time of Cannae it was no longer about territory in Iberia or Africa, but about making the damned Carthagenians pay for the armies and consuls they killed.

There's also the fact that Boudicca was not a particularly inspiring strategist. She only got as far as she did OTL because of Roman Incompetence and her Army was crushed once the Legion got it's shit together.

Now ITTL I'm assuming the Legions of Britannia didn't wise up and start acting like an actual Roman legion in the field, vis-a-vis fortified encampments, orderly deployments, battlefield preparation etc. OTL they managed to eventually smarten up and picked a battlefield whereby Boudicca's warriors could only attack them on one front, thus limiting her armies effectiveness vis a vis numerical advantage. This had the effect of breaking Boudicca's army like a wave on the rocks.

It is something a normally operating Roman Legion would do, and as soon as proper legions from the continent get sent along to Britannia I suspect Boudicca's days are numbered. OTL most of the Tribal Chieftains stayed loyal to Rome for fear of backlash, and the Iceni were not a particularly powerful or numerous tribe to begin with. I suspect in the short term, Boudicca will have her hands full with the Brigantes and Trinovantes vis-a-vis getting them to recongnize her claim of dominance over them. Any Roman invasion force that gets sent along may very well land unnoposed as either the tribes are squabbling or the Brigantes decide to let the Romans back in to crush this upstart queen. (After all they can claim they were acting in good faith as clients of Rome by opposing her claims of tribal dominance.)

Once the Romans Land it's game over for Boudicca. She may have won against incompetents and broken men, but a properly led and supplied legion from one of Rome's Closer Provinces will end her.

Final Judgement, Boudicca goes down eventually anyway and Rome re-establishes it's presence on Britannia.
 
It is also important to note that one of the main reasons for Augustus stopping his expansion into Germania after Teutoburg, was the fear that the Germans would pour over the border into Gaul. There is no fear of invasion from Britain.

I really don't see the Romans abandoning Britannia.
 
Never believe for a second that Rome won't launch a re-invasion out of a desire for Veangeance. Even OTL with barbarians attacking from north and east, it took a civil war and the city of Rome Being Sacked by the Visigoths for rome to pull out of Britannia, and by that point the quality of the Imperial decision making had been severely impaired. No way does the Principate let Britannia go it's own way in 63 AD, the amount of roman citizens killed and the province's profitability precludes that notion.

Rome might, after crushing Boudicca, even destroy the villages and towns of the Lands of the Iceni, burn their crops, kill the livestock, and salt the fields, just out of pure spite. They did at least that much to Carthage and they destroyed Arminius' confederation and burned his capitol to the ground after Teutoburg, and that was when they had no intention of occupying Germania afterwards.

Generally speaking, if Rome loses Britainnia to Boudicca, the defeat will be on par with those inflicted upon them by Hannibal and Arminius in the eyes of Rome. Generally speaking, that's not a good club to be a part of in terms of disproportianate retribution. OTL the Iceni were declared a slave tribe, and Boudicca's sisters were raped by the Roman governor. That was why she rebelled in the first place, ITTL when Rome drops the hammer that will seem like light punishment compared what Rome will do to the Iceni.
 
With Britannia you had the problem that it was already a Roman Province and had been for some time by the time Boudicca comes along. Rome will not let a Rebellion stand, let alone one that has killed so many Roman Citizens.

I don't get this part. Britannia was invaded in 43 AD and there was almost continious fighting up to the Boudica campaign. For the matter of fact I would include the Boudica war into the general pacification of south Britan rather than a rebellion of a pacified area.

If we compare it with Germania that was invaded in 12 BC and "pacified" by 6 AD and then finally abandoned in 16 AD, 7 years after the Teutoburg forest we are looking at a roughy eqaul timeline with Britan with the difference that British failed where Germanics won.
 
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