War in Britain: English Heritage

War in Britain: English Heritage
Tim Newark

Due to the number of colour illustrations, this ebook is best viewed on a tablet.Warfare in Britain builds on the success of British Battles, published in association with English Heritage in 1996 (over 18,000 copies sold to date).British Battles dealt with just that: each battle in Britain from the 10th century to 1745. Warfare in Britain uses re-enactors to reveal what it was like to be a soldier, soldier’s wife, servant or even child on campaign in Britain. From Roman times to World War II, this is ‘living history’ as pioneered by English Heritage. What Romans wore under their skirts, how they rode without stirrups, how medieval knights could play leapfrog in full armour and how to fire a musket…this book investigates the practicalities of soldiering.English Heritage had re-enactor events every weekend in summer 1998. The largest, in August at Kirby Hall attracted 25,000 spectators and involved over 2,000 re-enactors.

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_96fde490-91b8-5341-b63d-df3079edffca)

Published by William Collins

an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2000

Copyright © Tim Newark 2000

Tim Newark has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780004722849

Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2014 ISBN: 9780008131579

Version: 2015-01-06

CONTENTS

COVER (#u0676c6c7-056c-519f-8d79-11ef5a1b8850)

TITLE PAGE (#ub74f1511-a05b-54fd-8d6f-06e2561f34cb)

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_0f3d92d3-6c1e-5c88-8ba0-b129e78d938f)

INTRODUCTION (#u4825665a-7126-5dc9-b4e9-4ab6530bcce9)

1 CELTS AND ROMANS (#u99a9321b-8c99-5229-bc7e-07374065a91e)

2 SAXONS AND VIKINGS (#u37e2bc32-67fd-5afe-b0c9-262d85b9756a)

3 KNIGHTS AND ARCHERS (#u85913fb0-423a-51a1-8ad3-3ad219ecd2ef)

4 TUDORS AND GUNS (#litres_trial_promo)

5 ROYALISTS AND ROUNDHEADS (#litres_trial_promo)

6 GEORGIANS AND JACOBITES (#litres_trial_promo)

7 REDCOATS AND NAPOLEON (#litres_trial_promo)

8 VICTORIANS AND EMPIRE (#litres_trial_promo)

9 TOMMIES AND POPPIES (#litres_trial_promo)

10 DAD’S ARMY AND THE BLITZ (#litres_trial_promo)

FURTHER READING (#litres_trial_promo)

RE-ENACTMENT SOCIETIES (#litres_trial_promo)

ENGLISH HERITAGE MEMBERSHIP - JOIN US TODAY! (#litres_trial_promo)

INDEX (#litres_trial_promo)

CREDITS (#litres_trial_promo)

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER (#litres_trial_promo)

INTRODUCTION (#ulink_c8f29ec1-3505-55f8-8be8-7db5963d8073)

Britons love freedom and the one theme that unites all the periods of warfare in this book is their pursuit of independence. At first, it is a battle between different peoples - Celts, Saxons, Vikings - to survive within the British Isles. Then, as England takes shape as a sovereign realm, it is a struggle for political freedom between barons and kings, royalists and roundheads. Finally, with Britain as a united nation, it is the defence of its very way of life that has united its people against threats from abroad. It has been a hard and bitterly fought quest with enormous personal sacrifice by soldiers and civilians. If our island’s military history has anything to tell us, it is that the freedom we have inherited must not be lightly given away.

Tim Newark

Recreated Roman legionary of the 1st century AD stands next to a recreated late Roman soldier of the 4th century AD, showing the transformation in arms and armour. Germanic influences predominated and mail took over from segmented plate armour. They stand before a Roman wall at Richborough Castle in Kent. [Dan Shadrake/English Heritage]

CELTS & ROMANS (#ulink_71f4b88d-8f1f-5e6d-bdc5-e11da64b947b)

From Maiden Castle in Dorset to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, the Celts and Romans have left their mark on Britain. Bitter battles for control of the island were followed by a long period of peace in which the two warrior peoples learned to live together.

Warfare has moulded the political and social history of Britain, and has shaped the very landscape itself, creating lines of defence, establishing historic towns astride communications routes, excavating vast amounts of earth to create hillforts and castles, leaving emblems of dominance that can be seen from the air. Some of the most enduring of these military marks on the landscape are also the most ancient.

The earliest recorded invaders of this country were the Celts, who arrived from France during the 7th century BC. Armed with iron weapons, some mounted on horseback, others using horses to pull light chariots, by the 1st century BC, Celtic invaders had secured their dominance over most of the land. Julius Caesar records one of the very first written accounts of life in Britain, describing a complex jigsaw of Celtic tribes in southern England, frequently fighting amongst themselves. One of the greatest untold stories is how the Celts dealt with the native Bronze Age people in Britain, and how they defeated them in battle. The clues to this very first battle for Britain are in the landscape.

Across southern England some of the most potent signs of Celtic dominion can still be seen today. In the Vale of the White Horse in Berkshire, there is a giant white horse carved out of the chalk hillside beneath Uffington Castle, one of several such images credited to the Iron Age Celts. What did it signify? Power. As when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico equipped with horses and gunpowder, the appearence of the Celts in southern England was equally dramatic; they too possessed a technological advantage over the native population.

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.