Caesar's Invasions of Britain

In The Conquest of Gaul near the end of Caesar's career and life altogether we find him invading Britain. He does this not once, but twice. This paper will only focus on the first invasion, however, which leads up to the second.

Caesar's first invasion of Britain in 55 B.C was for the purpose of scouting out the province and gathering information about the island. Caesar was interested in such things as the size of Britain, the inhabitants of the region, their fighting styles, weaponry, the trade that went on there, and also information about the harbors there.[1] All of this information would lead up to the more in depth invasion of Britain the following year.

Caesar's first invasion consisted of several battles between his forces and the native's forces. The native's disliked the idea of Caesar's rule there and this prompted several battles in Britain's region, of which Caesar managed to win. There was a short break between Caesar's first and second invasion, however, because of winter. During the winter he allowed his troops to stay in the Belgic territory, nearby Britain.[2]

Even though Caesar has told us in The Conquest of Gaul what his motivations were for invading Britain, as mentioned above, he may have been motivated by something other than purely seeking information about the country. Caesar was probably motivated more for political and personal gains for himself during his invasion of Britain than he was anything else. Politically, during this time, Rome's political structure was a Republic, and everything was supposed to be controlled through the Senate and different assemblies associated with it. Everything he does during this period of his invasion of Britain can be viewed as a rejection of Rome's Republic. Instead of working with the Senate to fix Rome's own social and economic problems, including the scarcity of a police force, riots in the city, as well as the scarcity of work, he continues on his own path and creates the "First Triumvirate."[3]

Caesar and the First Triumvirate (including Pompey and Crassus) seemed to have very different motives. Instead of listening to the Senate and the assemblies, they essentially formed an alliance and did things their own way. For example, even though the Senate in Rome was against Caesar in the Sixth Century B.C., Caesar used forceful tactics to oppose the Senate; furthermore, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey held private meetings that extended Caesar's governance for another five years.[4]

Perhaps this was another reason that Caesar was reluctant to return to Rome during the mid 6^th Century B.C. His popularity with the Romans was down from the previous years, and he did not want to face possible prosecutions if he were to go back, nevertheless all the chaos in Rome at the time. Seeing as how his motivations were purely personal during his invasions of Britain, this contributed to the destruction of Rome's Republic, and essentially, the destruction of Caesar himself.

[1] Julius Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul (London: The Penguin Group, 1982), 97.

[2] Julius Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul (London: The Penguin Group, 1982), 104.

[3] Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West (Bedford/ St. Martin's), 189-190.

[4] Julius Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul (London: The Penguin Group, 1982), 9-10.