| [00:01.609] |
Not once but twice, Julius Caesar's plans were sabotaged |
| [00:07.022] |
by that perennial secret weapon of the British, the weather. |
| [00:10.775] |
On the first go-round in 55 BC, a cavalry transport which had already missed the high tide and got itself four days late, |
| [00:19.148] |
Finally got going only to run directly into a storm and be blown right back to Gaul. |
| [00:29.137] |
A century later, Claudius, the club-foot stammerer, |
| [00:32.756] |
On the face of it, the most unlikely conqueror of all, was determined to get it right. |
| [00:39.277] |
If it was going to be done at all Claudius reckoned, it had to be done in such massive force that |
| [00:44.585] |
there was no chance of repeating the embarrassments of Julius. |
| [00:49.026] |
So Claudius's invasion force was immense, some 40,000 troops. |
| [00:54.668] |
The kind of army which could barely be conceived of, much less，encountered in Iron Age Britain. |
| [01:02.536] |
Claudius did succeed where Julius Caesar had failed, through a brilliant strategy of carrot and stick. |
| [01:13.953] |
Yes, he would seize the largely undefended oppida or towns and strike at the heart of the British aristocracy |
| [01:20.997] |
its places of status, prestige and worship. |
| [01:26.232] |
But for those chieftains, sensible enough to reach for the olive branch rather than the battle javelin |
| [01:32.210] |
Claudius had another plan. |
| [01:34.415] |
Give them, or rather their sons |
| [01:36.149] |
a trip to Rome, and a taste of the dolce vita, and just watch their resistance melt. |
| [01:46.296] |
While they were in Rome, many of them must have begun to notice that life for your average patrician was well, exceptionally sweet. |
