Britain, AD 60–61. In the aftermath of the destruction of Camulodunum, Boudica’s army moves towards Londinium while Roman forces remain scattered. Cato attempts to organise resistance and evacuation as Macro’s fate is uncertain. Tribal anger, Roman reprisals and collapsing communications make every movement dangerous, and the officers’ separate struggles converge on the need to preserve enough disciplined troops for the decisive battle still to come.
The uprising demonstrates how quickly a province can collapse once Roman settlers, tax systems and garrisons lose the protection of concentrated military force. Cato’s decisions around Londinium place strategy against civilian survival, while Macro’s separate ordeal shows the cost of Rome’s earlier treatment of subject communities. The road toward Watling Street is therefore shaped by the failures that made rebellion possible.
Bernard Cornwell
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Robert Fabbri
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M.C. Scott
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K. M. Ashman
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Griff Hosker
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