Testing the Weapons of Julius Caesar's British Invasion Army | With Ray Mears
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Watch the full documentary on History Hit TV: access.history...
In 55 BC, Rome had its sights set on Britain. Across two attempts, a huge invasion force led by one of the greatest miltary leaders in history, Julius Caesar, landed in Kent. Eventually he would break through and conquer the southern heart of the island.
It had not been an easy task. In his first attempt to conquer Britain, Caesar took with him only two legions, and achieved little beyond a landing on the coast of Kent. His force was heavily contested as soon as it landed on the beaches near Dover and had only managed to break inland through a combination of grit, determination and advanced military weapons and tactics.
In this video, bushcraft and survival expert Ray Mears met up with Roman reenactor David Richardson to test some of the weapons of Julius Caesar's Army that invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC.
Subscribe to History Hit TV and get 14 days free: access.historyh...
#JuliusCaesar #RayMears #RomanInvasion
We know how effective Roman armies were as a unit, but who would you back one on one, a Celtic warrior or a Roman legionary?
Roman Legionary of course.
In a one on one fight - assuming the two were equally fit and experienced - I guess it would depend on whether the Celt was armed with a spear or a longsword. I think a warrior trained to use a spear to lunge, cut and slice may well have had an advantage. That advantage would, of course, have been much greater if he/she had drunk some of his/her Gaulish cousins' magic potion.
Is it one of the bulk of Celtic warriors, who were not professional soldiers but armed 'peasants'? If so, I'll go with the trained, professional, Roman. If it's one of the 'proper' Celtic warriors? Might be a different outcome. But I'll still go with the Roman.
the veteran, professional soldier. every time
Cheruskan.
lovely to see Ray Mears on these, I love the way he looks at history as a living thing and not just something from the past that has no value. You can see his brain whirling away as it relates to life in the outdoor world that some of us still live in.
🦅SPQR
Yea Ray is a legend!
I grew up with Ray and loved his tv shows during my childhood, it's fantastic to see his cheery bubbly face again, love you ray:D
Yes same here, good to see him again, the original bushcrafter in my book
Ray Mears is one of the few people I truly respect. His bushcraft series were amazing.
True
@@petras8385 And let's not forget the one, the only, Major Les Hiddins.
His mate talking about magic mushrooms was my favourite.
I'm glad that you filmed the opening standing in ankle-deep water rather than someplace either sane or sensible
Hahahaha well played
When the water hits his rolled up trouser it makes me very uncomfortable
Well, Caesar's amphibious assualt against the Britons was along that shoreline. They aren't just randomly standing in the water.
he is probably trying to reimagine the time or nature or something
When you go to the beach you dip your feet and if you don’t you’re a neet
Ray is a national treasure.
You aren't wrong - a lot more of a national treasure than some of the other so called candidates.
One thing is for sure. They marched 20 miles a day with full pack, sword, shield, pilum, shovel. And at the end of the day built a 'marching fort'
which was taken down again in the morning. Their diet must have been high calorie and protein otherwise they would not have lasted.
I'm not a historian, but in his books, Caesar explains in great detail how his army was fed. They didn't use supply lines like modern armies do, as they would have been too vulnerable to raids. Instead, they mostly resorted to foraging in the surrounding area, and he gives many examples on how his enemies tried to deny them food by attacking foraging parties. They were often running low on food - even coming close to starvation at one particular example (siege of Uxellodunum).
Therefore, I'd guess that their meals weren't standardized at all. They probably ate whatever they could find.
@@arthipex8512 "Foraging."
No, Mr. Villager, you haven't been robbed. You've just been foraged, good and proper.
@@carlericvonkleistiii2188 skyrim for the nords!
@@stephenlyon1358 GRRM The Brotherhood Without Banners to Sandor Clegane. 😂😀
Carbs are more important here, not protein. Legumes are great as they contain both carbs and protein, i'd rather a handful of lentils than chicken to perform a physical task.
also i'm pretty sure it was 30 miles not 20... so maybe an extra piece of bread for me please Centurion.
Fucking love seeing ray back on my tv, as a young boy he inspired me and still does.
Ray Mears is one of my heroes. Very cool to see him hosting!
I think those volleys of pilums in the last moments of a charge must be one of the most underrated horrifying moments of those melee engagements.
Especially as the opposing army would be pelting down the field towards the Roman ranks, so any pilum thrown would have hit home with twice the force, men would literally have thrown themselves on the point, unable to stop before it crashed through their chest and burst out the back. There are stories of men becoming standing corpses, because the pilum had gone through them (either the body, a leg, etc.) and down into the ground, fixing them to the spot.
The effect would be absolutely terrifying as the first few ranks disintegrated before such a volley. Those behind stumbling over the dead and dying becoming a disorganised rabble, only for the Roman shield wall in-front to take 10 swift paces forward and begin the butchers work, meticulously stabbing and hacking with machine-like rhythm.
The British disease, sticking an s at the end of any foreign word (in this case a Latin word) out of sheer laziness, to turn it into a plural. Latin UM plural A. So PILA not pilums, REFERENDA not referendums, STADIA not stadiums etc.
@@greypilgrim228 We get the point - as they did really 🤔
@@johndaarteest 😂
That's where Roman Discipline shone the brightest.
I like the fact that when the reenactor didn't know the answer, he said so and then gave an educated guess. And as a retired combat veteran for anyone to promulgate the idea that a legion didn't eat everything available to it, beggar's belief. Either they have never been hungry or simply lack common sense. Your legion is moving through hostile territory you come to a village with sheep/goats/cattle etc, A. You leave the animals so the enemy can eat them after you pass. B. You kill the animals and leave them to be eaten by the enemy after you pass. C. You kill the animals and have a big frkn barbeque!
It looks like you are a better expert than the guy on the video.
@@kraigthorne3549 I learned a long time ago never to call myself expert at anything. I'm pretty fluent in German, but then a buddy of mine speaks it with a Bavarian accent. I'm on the chairlift feeling pretty good about my skiing ability when in front of me two young teenagers spring from the chairlift land next to one of the towers and proceed to absolutely kill a run downhill. Yup when somebody asks me if I know about something, I say just a little. Merry Christmas
Not to mention that you can then dry out whatever meat you don't eat for later, or grind and mix it with the animal fats and whatever local vegetation you can find, dry it, and have your own ancient version of an IMP, which I'd gander is probably what they did.
That's true, but you also have to be willing to pay for the loss of the animals to whatever village/town you take them from, provided you know the village is conducive to your side or remains neutral, because otherwise you can incite them to hatred and stir up more anti Roman sentiment in the region as your Legion/s march across open country. Napoleon found that out at great cost in Spain, which the Duke of Wellington exploited by paying for everything taken, not living off the land raiding villages for firewood/food/women etc. and encouraging people to rise up, or to support the existing guerrillas in the area.
Grill, not BBQ. BBQ cooks with indirect heat via the smoke which takes much longer.
How wonderful to see Ray Mears - he brings such passion to everything he does.
Ray deffo knows all the answers to the questions he's asking rays a legend here in the UK used to love his shows way back when
Looking forward to seeing much more great content on this channel. Now I have to find out why Dan is up a ship's mast!
Very much appreciated!
I'd LOVE a collaboration between your channels. Two great ones of youtube.
Let's hope it's for the Raid on Medway!
Good to see Ray. He always makes a great video.
I love Ray Mears!
I love that they went for an accurate 1st Century BC depiction of a legionary rather than the early imperial lorica segmentata look that everyone defaults to.
The pilum was genius, unable to be used by the enemy after being thrown at them, weighs down the shield it hits and makes it basicly unusable, and if it hits a person it still does "normal" damage.
Plus it could still pierce you even if you took cover behind your shield.
But yeah, as a way of deshielding an opponent before fisticuffs start, it's clever.
Not only that. They had a some sort of darts weighted with led. they call it Plumbata. Those darts had a range more than 30 meters, far more than Pilum.
Also a light and cqb excelling spear, spear is best weapon so having it once you were past the often longer enemy spears was nice to have
I was there the day Caesar's legion lobbed us with onions. We all cried that day.
They’re firing onions at us. I don’t relish the experience 🧅 They had thought about firing cabbages instead, but the cabbages got leafed out of the supply requisition 😆
😂😂👍👍
Wicked spiral on the pilum throw
Interesting to have Ray Mears doing this. Excellent
It's nice to see Ray, a true legend. And the re enactor was a class act as well!
Props to these Roman reenactors. I've met a few in the reenactment community while doing reenactment (16th century English pike soldiers), and they are even shorter-staffed then our group. Imagine trying to demonstrate a testudo when you only have a few guys! Props to them for keeping up the good fight!
Surely you can't describe someone carrying a C16th pike as "short-staffed".... 😂
From reading Asterix, all Caesar needed to do was wait til 3pm when all the Brits would be drinking hot water(No tea back then!) & he could've landed unmolested.
The best 16 mins of TH-cam I have watched in a long time.
Thank you.
Great to see Ray Mears again. Would welcome more contributions from him!
This is one of my favourite channels now. I'm loving the very informative videos and the people on it, like Ray and David.
@@vigunfighter What don't you like and what channel's would you recommend?
That reenactor has got some years on him but by the way he handles those weapons he'd sure as heck do me over.
Ray mears- Legend
I found ray mears one of my favourite people ever, somehow doing something I love especially Roman history, why did I not find this before xD
Smirking Roman Soldier Happy At His Job.
Pleased Ray is still around. Had no idea, as I’ve not come across him for aeons.
Was just about to comment this
Good to see Ray back on the screen
Always happy to see Ray Mears.
It's so good to see Ray Mears still doing TV I had no idea?
Okay. I am so happy that the legionary is running montefortino helmet, delos gladius, oval scutum and hamata. THANK YOU
The pilum was an amazing weapon. Amazing. I love it.
Great to see ray again I have always watched anything he is involved in
This is based on a single account. To quote from the video "...Caesar telling us how jeopardous this whole invasion was and yet, the bravery of the Roman soldiers, led by Caesar ... having effectively to deploy their A game to win a very, very difficult fight ... We know this was a full-on fight to get ashore." I've read the translations of Julius Caesar's campaigns as written by him. It's amazing to have that connection to events so far in the past, but it doesn't make me an expert precisely because they are the only account available. The possibility that these are warts and all true accounts of his campaigns is zero. However we cannot know what was exaggerated and what was omitted.
Precisely, Caesar is not exactly an unbiased source. He was a good general. If it were going to be as hard as he claims it was, then he would not have made the attempt at that time in that spot.
True and every historian knows this. That's why they usually cross reference as much as they can with whatever evidence they find. Then they make a rough estimate of what could have happened until more evidence is found. I think that's why everyone needs an open mind when studying history too, because new evidence does change the previous established narrative sometimes.
Some people still don't believe that the Apollo 11 landed on the moon 50+ years ago so some today are skeptical and even accused Caesar of making up some kind of fiction or half-fiction fairy tales to fool the readers
I find a contested landing difficult to believe. Hundreds of miles of coastline and you land where all the guys are to fight a costly battle? Doesn't add up. How did the Britons even know where to defend? How did they know they were being invaded and when it would come? Defenders along the coastline as far as the eye could see, really? I don't believe this happened the way Caesar claims it does. I think it's especially obvious that the contested landing story is a lie because it goes against human nature and any military doctrine I'm familiar with. No one wants to die, and commanders don't want to lose valuable troops. Caesar wouldn't have landed right in front of the enemy so they could take potshots at him while his armored troops in full kit awkwardly jump into WATER. To me it's clear he was sprinkling in a little Hollywood magic to make everything sound more badass. It sounds a lot cooler to have to fight for every inch of land than it does to say "We landed someplace quiet up the coast from the enemy so we could move into position unmolested."
This was a brilliant video, guys. Love your work!
Roman armies were so resolutive, self sufficient and disciplined it's not a surprise they conquered almost all the known world in that era. So advanced in tactics and fighting aswell.
The word ‘onions’ always makes Ray laugh 14:33
I love the paper-thin shield at the start, but it looks like a fun watch and it's always good to see Mr. Mears.
Thrown often no more than 2 metres further than spear range with greatly trained men
Not often hitting the man themself but even on thicker shields it could often still stick
I'd imagine they took game and knew how to forage.With accumulated knowledge the superiors must have allowed some cooperation for the good of the regiments.
Huge fan of history hit, you guys do an amazing job, and I really enjoy the topics you choose. Keep up the great content.
I just invented time travel and this video has encouraged me to go back in time and give the Romans modern guns (in fair exchange for gold of course). Wish me luck!
This channel is cooking my geese the proper way. Had no idea Roman soldiers were taught to stab and twist and all. Gnarly yet effective.
No Roman source mentions anything about "twisting".
@@HO-bndk They do mention stabbing however, rather than slashing or cutting? Perhaps the twisting is speculation, brought on by visual sources?
Good video, it's always interesting to see these things in real life. *The pilum,* it could be added that the iron would probably bend upon impact and the wooden rivets break where the wood and iron is connected, rendering the pilum useless so the enemy couldn't throw it back. *The landing on the beach:* Not a nice situation being opposed by a beach full of angry warriors throwing all sorts of pointy things at you: Javelins, curses and foul words, arrows etc.
Great video. Well done.
👌👍
Ray Mears is the best :3
The guy cosplaying the Roman was really into it
What others have said, scouts along the coast; plus they had good cross channel relations, spied & traded so they'd have noticed a large fleet & invasion army being prepared. One reason Caeser invaded was because Britons fought alongside some Gallic tribes, so we had people there at the time who could hop on a boat with the latest intel & traders/emissaries from Gaul would bring news too.
@@2bingtim Was that due to Brexit ?
One thing about the pilum that's not mentioned is that the metal was hard enough to pierce shields, but soft enough to bend once it was lodged into something. That way is was more or less useless for the enemies to throw back.
They left out the entire reason the Pilum was designed the way it was. Absolutely unforgivable. Subpar effort by them.
@@projecttwentytwentyfiveisgreat To be fair it didn't bend during their demonstration, that's probably why it wasn't mentioned
We lost our great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather at Pevensey
He was eventually found in a tavern on the floor, but his relatives were worried for a while
I think I met him
That was really cool. That fellow who was taking us through the armaments and suchlike really knows his stuff. That big thingy at the end where they used onions as a stand in must have been a terror - it reminds me of the cannons going off in The Patriot and taking out whole bits of men - I'd imagine you'd be standing next to someone who suddenly didn't have a head. Nasty stuff!
This is so interesting. Thank you for this video!
I think the qualifications to be an Aquilifer are 1) can you hold a pole 2) And you shall know no fear
Posca, very sour wine, also Caesar's slave assistant in the excellent series 'Rome'. :)
4:30 I like the way he draws his sword
Great to see Ray Mears on here! Would love to see more of him on History Hit!
Agreed! He is literally my favourite human.
Love ray Mears. More plz
The dramatic footage of the old man throwing a stick has inspired me.
LEGIO 10 ✋ coming ashore !
It what amazes me most about the romans is just how long ago this all was
Coming from a land thats only been 1250 at the earliest its just astonishing
Ray Mears. Subscribed!
The strength of a legion was in every man doing the same thing at the same time.
WOW, I was reading Caesar commentaries and he mentioned the throwing of the PEELUN?, super spear
Very cool I wish Canada had history like this 🇨🇦
One has to remember that man was much closer to nature then. To keep in mind too that many legionaries were picked from sturdy farming folk, not city folk (who would have been soft and prone to instigate revolts against a hard driving commander, simply because they were not used to a physically hard life). Do not be surprised if the Romans had their own means of checking out water quality, considering that they could aqueduct waters from huge distances away and therefore needed to know that they were bringing to their towns and cities perfectly potable water or else they could be inviting very serious water borne diseases. Farming folk lived a bloody grim life. In fact one gets the very distinct sensation that being a legionary was easier for them than continuing in their grim farming life completely uncompetitive with the latifundia. They would know loads about food supplementing. Lest one forgets, Roman armies were full of different specialisations and food foraging and preparation would have been one of them. We do know that the Roman army used food as a weapon when they attacked barbarian lands or timing their campaigns as per crop cycles. The pilum, as far as I know, had a pin, that upon a throw would dislodge so that it wasn't as easy as disencumbering it from a shield as these guys tried to do. One part of the pilum would be through whatever it had been aimed at and as the pin dislodged, the other part would be left dangling, so that it was impossible to dislodge it and throw it back at the Romans. It would also have rendered one's shield useless as it tugged down on the shield arm with its sturdy weight, from which it got most of its penetrative power. What I found interesting was the succession in which the frontlines discharged their pila and how many times they were likely to have done that. Considering how wide a Roman army's front could be spread, several discharges along the front would stymie an enemy big time. The tired spearmen could also move back down their columns to be refreshed by mint killing machines chomping at the bit to cut down whatever remained of a horde. Not to forget their ranged weapons (archers, stone throwers, machines that would have supplemented the pila as per necessities) and their cavalry. And the various fighting solutions that could be adopted to solve different predicaments by experienced commanders and an army with a lore that would have gone back hundreds of years. Also, an ancient Roman army fought against a range of foes, always therefore being exposed to not just one form of attack and defence. So, they see these British by the water's edge and probably turned upon them a barrage of ranged weaponry and under that assault they disembarked and charged at them. Easy? no. Effective? yes. Caesar, knowing that back home his missives were propaganda for himself, probably dramatised the matter by having a signifer jump into the sea exhorting others to follow him. The man was more than versed in the art of rhetoric. He knew how to pin his audience to a seat back in Rome and make them root for his success on the edge of beyond.
That ballista is a lovely piece of engineering but I'm sure they'd be much more powerful 🙂
Great stuff, thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
That, is a very flimsy shield used for the Pilum test.
The Britons were a resilient people. The Romans underestimated them a little.
Opening is the reason why 99% of beach landings were uncontested, if contested you would want to go somewhere easier but when there isnt anywhere easier then you are forced into it
The spartha was chop heavy, almost no sword was much longer than the sword used by them at the time
The idea of the pilum was not to be used in a very nieche situation of a suicidal enemy army but as a missile heavy spear, a very good spear and pretty light and short so good for the aggressive heavy infantry tactics of the romans, alongside it able to hit hard on armour and almost always take you out the fight on unarmored men, if hitting a shield it can often stick itself onto it and disable the shield due to how awkward it would be to fight with a spear sticking out of it or to remove it
I hope that it will also be mentioned that Julius Caesar invaded England so as to "make a name" for himself with Rome. The 55 - 54BC invasion didn't "stick", although trade between Romanised Gaul and the various South Coast tribes continued, as it had for centuries before, until the more successful invasion by Emperor Claudius took place in 43AD under Aulus Plautius.
Need a video explaining why or when the Roman's stopped using the curved rectangular shields and started using the oval shields
Romans mostly used oval shaped shields throughout their history so it is ironic that modernly peoply tyipicaly imagine them with type that was shortest ever used one.Nobody can give you secure answer on this but change on wide oval came hand in hand with other simultaneous alternations in equipment which were probably connected with each other.Since 3rd century Roman warfare turned more defensive and oval shape of shield is better for creating actual shield wall.
Those shields(Squared or tall oval Scutums) were expensive to make from strip-wood ply construction. During later civil wars they went with the common Gemanic butted plank shields which were quicker & cheapier to make. They still fought pretty much the same way though, even with longer swords.
Could they have found someone a little more impressive to display the armor and weapons. It looks like my great uncle Marvin playing dress up when he's had one too many!
Clever man in dodging the shame of breaking the shield with bare hands
They raided from Richborough. I've been to the exact point and there is memorials there
7:40 the enemy with their cardboard shields must have been terrified
Great stuff
lol 13:58 what sources mention hemp being used for torsion springs?
the whole presentation around the pilum made me sick in the stomach.
just imagine being one of kelts warriors and slowly realizing how, bit by bit, your charge falls apart.
Love hove all the History is just guessing 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Roman army was and is one of the most effective killing machine in history really powerful army they had
is??
Ray was great at breaking down survival movies on some channel on TH-cam anyone seen that yet??
15:20 Fire! *Santas' Sleigh comes crashing down*
Pretty sure the archaeologists have pinned the landing site to Pegwell Bay, some way north of Deal in Kent. Remains of 1st century BC Roman camp, weapons, etc.
7:42 he has the wrong grip for a javelin. Ray does it right at 8:23.
i've got cold feet just watching this
Wait.
Ray.
Romans.
Really awesome weapons.
*IT'S ON*
The pilum is designed to not come out. The idea was that it made the enemy’s shield unusable. And the iron head of the pilum will bend so the enemy cannot effectively throw it back once sweked.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video but it was really funny watching the guy throw a javelin. I get he's not a soldier or athlete but even in slow motion it barely spends a full second in air before hitting the target that was seemingly 10 feet away
You know how times have changed when you see Ray - but from an orbiting drone. I wish he would make a new survival series!! With todays ultra high rez cams and drones it would be epic. Attenborough is good but come on UK TV channels theres some others excellent Brits like Ray Mears and Jeremy Wade (River Monsters). Or how about you Netflix? Maybe give the make believe stuff a break and make a new series of Survival and River Monsters!
Looks like that Roman soldier has seen one too many winters
The ballista, the device which catapulted the inventor into the halls of fame
Or at least the guy who commissioned them XD
THE THINNEST SHIELD EVER!!!!
The idea warriors just ran at shield walls is rediculous
Where's Heyreddin Barbarossa?
I built a small balista, more like a desk toy, I can get the bolts to go between 5 to 7 meters,
Wait, so the Ballista shoots rocks ... and the Catapulta shoots bolts? ... My whole life is a lie :O
How'd you think the term "ballistic projectile" came around.
He meant the larger Ballistae, this one is one of the smaller versions that shot rocks. The much larger engines you're probably thinking of that were used for sieges were Onogers, akin to the medieval Mangonels and later Trebuchets.
Just like to point out the different grip Ray and the Roman soldier had on the javelin Rays being the correct way a full hand grip not fingers grip 😁
Dude in the armor reminds me of Octavian from Night At The Museum lol