Lesson video

Hello there and welcome to today's history lesson.

I'm Mr. Moss.

I'm really passionate about history and I'm also really looking forward to teaching you.

With you today, you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains.

As well as that, having something to write with and write on and someone or something to talk to would also be really helpful.

All right then, let's get straight into today's history lesson.

In this history lesson, we're going to be thinking about the Roman invasion of Britain.

And this is all part of our unit on The Romans: what impact did the Romans have on Britain? And today, we're going to be considering how they took over Britain.

The outcome will be: I can explain how the Romans invaded Britain during the reign of Emperor Claudius.

Here are the key words for today's learning.

My turn, your turn.

Triumph.

Invade.

Legionaries.

Tactics.

So keep an eye and ear out for these keywords in today's learning.

A triumph was a celebration in the streets of Rome when the emperor returned from winning a war.

This would be a large celebration.

An army would march down the streets.

And often, the Romans would build triumphal arches to then march through to celebrate their great victories.

Invade: to go somewhere with an army to try to take over is to invade.

And so today, we are looking at the Roman invasion of Britain.

Legionaries were well-trained ancient Roman soldiers, highly skilled and highly trained with great tactical knowledge.

And that brings us onto our final keyword: tactics.

Tactics are plans an army users to defeat their enemies.

So, we're gonna be looking at some of the Roman tactics today in their successful invasion of Britain.

Here's the outline for today's lesson then, just two learning cycles.

Remember, we're looking at the Roman invasion of Britain.

We're going to first of all look at why Emperor Claudius invaded Britain.

And then, we're going to look at how Britain was invaded.

Let's get on with answering this question then: Why did Emperor Claudius invade Britain? So, invade in 41 CE, the disastrous reign of the Emperor Caligula came to an end.

You can see here an image to the left.

This is an illustration of Caligula and Roman soldiers.

Caligula in the center.

The soldiers surrounding him with their weapons raised ready to strike.

Look carefully at this source.

What do you think happened to the Emperor Caligula? Fantastic.

Indeed, he was murdered by his own senators.

Caligula was not a popular emperor, an emperor being a ruler of Rome at that time.

And because of his lack of popularity, he was, in fact, murdered by his own people.

And we can see that happening in this illustration here.

A weak emperor could end up dead.

The next emperor would need to be much stronger so that he would not be murdered.

And this is our next emperor of Rome.

Here we can see a bust of the Emperor Claudius.

Can you say that for me? Emperor Claudius.

So, he followed on from Caligula.

However, he had a limp and slight deafness.

Because of this, Claudius worried about seeming weak and not strong and he needed to prove that he was strong.

Hmm, I wonder how a Roman emperor might prove their strength.

Who became the Roman emperor after the murder of Caligula in 41 CE? Was it A, Tiberius; B, Claudius; or C, Nero? Select the correct answer now.

Off you go.

Great job, team.

It was, indeed, Claudius.

And remember, he thought he might have appeared weak due to some physical ailments and he wanted to prove that he was a strong and good emperor.

So, let's think about how Claudius would prove his strength.

The way the ancient Roman emperors proved their strength was through invasion and conquest of other lands; so, going and taking control of other places.

Here on the left, we can see an illustration of an emperor riding a chariot during a triumph.

Remember, triumphs are these large celebrations that would be held in the streets of Rome to celebrate Rome's victories in war.

You can see here he's being pulled along by a chariot.

Someone's playing a musical instrument.

This was a great celebration of Rome's greatness.

When they returned to Rome after winning a war, emperors were ride on a chariot through the city.

The streets would be filled with people who had come to celebrate.

These parades would show the captives, spoils of war, animals, and armor of the defeated enemy.

Indeed, they would often end in sacrifices at the temple of Jupiter.

They were called triumphs and they celebrated Rome's triumphs in war.

Complete the following sentence.

Roman emperors proved their strength through: A, trade and conquest; B, invasion and conquest; or C, wealth and conquest.

Think about what we've learned about.

Complete the sentence now.

Off you go.

Great job, team.

It is B.

Roman emperors prove their strength through invasion and conquest.

And remember they celebrated these with triumphs, those parades through the streets of Rome.

So, the Emperor Claudius knew that nobody would think he was weak if he could win a famous victory and return to Rome to hold a triumph.

Remember, he's trying to find a way to show his strength as a leader.

He doesn't want to be seen as weak.

Think about what happened to Caligula before him.

So, Claudius needed somewhere to invade.

He looked to the northwest edge of his empire, to a place of wild Celtic tribes.

You can see our arrow here pointing to the northwestern edge of the Roman Empire at this time, what would be modern-day France.

You can actually see not in red because it wasn't, at this point, part of the Roman Empire, Britain or the United Kingdom above.

And here, we have a map showing the size of the Roman empire, the red and the yellow at this point in 41 CE when Claudius had taken control.

Can you guess then where Claudius wanted to invade? Think about what our lesson is all about.

Great, you've got it.

He chose to invade the island the ancient Romans called Britannia.

Can you say that for me? Britannia.

Brilliant, sounds very similar to Britain, doesn't it? And that's where we get that word Britain from.

Here we can see a painting of men from tribes in Britannia.

And the Romans considered these people to be wild savages.

Today, we call it Britain.

If Claudius could conquer these savage tribes, he would prove he was a strong emperor.

There were many Iron Age tribes living in Britain this time.

Many people call them the Celts.

And you can see here, they wore body paint.

And these tribes fought amongst themselves.

So, they were used to battle.

Claudius wanted to conquer Britain to prove he was not weak.

True or false? And then, can you justify your answer? Pause the video.

Off you go.

Well, great job.

This is true.

He wanted to prove that he was not weak.

Let's think about a justification for our answer from the learning that we've done so far.

Claudius wanted to conquer Britain because it was wealthy.

Hmm, it's not something I think I've taught you.

Claudius wanted to conquer Britain because it had not been conquered before.

This is true.

He wanted to prove his strength.

He wanted to be able to have a triumph through the streets of Rome to show that he was a strong ruler.

So, for our practice task now, what I'd like you to do for me is to consider all that we've learned so far in this learning cycle.

I'd like you to write two or three sentences to explain why Emperor Claudius wanted to invade Britain.

You could use these words to help you: weak, strong, savage tribes, triumph.

Remember to consider the fact that Britannia or Britain, up until this point, had not been conquered.

So, write me two or three sentences to explain why the Emperor Claudius wanted to invade Britain.

Pause the video.

Off you go.

Excellent job, team.

I'm so, so impressed.

Some really great thinking and some really great learning.

You're clearly paying a lot of attention so far in this learning cycle.

So, why did the Emperor Claudius want to invade Britain? You could have included: Emperor Claudius wanted to invade Britain because he was worried about appearing weak.

If he could defeat the savage tribes who lived there, he could return to Rome with a triumph through the streets and show that he was a strong emperor.

Did you manage to include all of these points? Don't worry if you didn't.

But if you wanted to refine or add your answer now, take the time to do so now.

Great job.

Onto our next learning cycle then, which is how did Emperor Claudius invade Britain? We know why he wanted to invade it, but now let's consider how the Romans invaded Britain.

So, in 43 CE, Claudius's army successfully invaded Britannia, arriving with a thousand ships.

This was a very large fleet at the time.

Here to the left, we can see a model of an ancient Roman ship.

There were 20,000 legionaries.

Remember legionaries, one of our key words, were those well-trained Roman soldiers.

And these were some of the best trained soldiers in the world at this time.

So about a thousand ships and 20,000 soldiers invaded Britain in 43 CE.

Quite a large force for this time.

When did Emperor Claudius invade Britain? Think about the learning that we just did.

23 CE; 43 CE; or 63 CE? Pause the video and set up the correct- Ancient Roman legionaries had to be very strong because they carried a lot of equipment.

Here we have an illustration of a legionary.

Take some time to look at this legionary.

Can you see what he's holding? Can you see what he's wearing? Take a moment to just study the image.

Brilliant.

So, we can see here attached with a strap around his shoulder, this soldier, this legionary has a gladius or a sword.

We can see he also has a javelin, which was one of the Roman's weapons of choice.

This javelin was called the pilum.

And then, we can see this large shield, almost in the shape of rectangle, called a scutum.

We're going to be talking more about the importance of these shields in Roman tactics in a moment.

But as we can see here, legionaries had to be well-trained and strong because they had a lot of equipment to carry.

This equipment, they could use to both protect themselves and to attack their enemies.

And remember, at this point in history, the Roman army was one of the most advanced and highly trained in the world.

So the tribes in Britain were also strong though here.

We're going to now consider some of the Roman tactics that they would use.

The ancient Roman legionaries had a secret weapon.

We can see here a photo of modern era reenacted using something called; my turn, your turn: the testudo tactic.

Brilliant.

They use tactics like this, tortoise or testudo, which is our Latin for tortoise here.

And you can see here, all the soldiers within it are very well protected, aren't they? They are using their scutum, their shields, to protect themselves.

Every soldier was protected by a shield.

And if the enemy attacked, they will bounce off of them.

Romans were incredibly ingenious with their tactics and they used these tactics to great effect against the British warriors.

Why were the legionaries strong soldiers? Choose two options from below: They use tactics like the testudo.

They often use war chariots.

They carried lots of weapons.

Pause the video now and select the two correct options.

Why were the legionnaires or legionaries strong soldiers? Brilliant.

Well, these soldiers, these legionaries that were part of the Roman legions, used tactics like the testudo, making them formidable and strong opponents.

They also had to carry lots of weapons, but it was the British tribes people that often use war chariots.

So, the British tribes changed their tactics and tried to ambush the legionaries when they were resting.

So, they tried to attack them and surprise attacked them whilst they were either sleeping or resting.

However, the ancient Romans had built forts with ditches and fences and you can see a photo of a ditch and wooden fence here.

So, they would create these defensive positions so that they couldn't be ambushed or surprise attacked by the British tribes.

Eventually, the ancient Romans rebuilt some of their forts in stone, like the one in Burgh le Marsh in Norfolk that you can see here.

If you look very carefully, you can see a rectangular stone outline of a wall.

So, these are remains of a Roman fort in Norfolk.

So when they first arrived, the Romans would build their forts in wood 'cause they were quick and easy to set up.

But after they conquered or invaded and then incorporated Rome Britain into the empire and lived there and stayed there more permanently, they then rebuilt many of them in stone as these could be stronger fortifications against British attack.

The remains of some of the walls are still there today.

They've lasted a very long time.

So, who is correct about the forts built by the ancient Roman legionaries? "When they arrived in Britain, the legionaries built stone forts for protection!" That's what Izzy says.

So she's saying when they first arrived, they built stone forts.

Hmm, Sam says, "When they arrived in Britain, the legionaries built wooden forts with ditches and eventually rebuilt them in stone." Who is correct? Izzy or Sam? Consider what we've learned.

Off you go.

Brilliant job, team.

Clearly, you've been paying a lot of attention.

Sam is correct.

When they arrived in Britain, the legionaries first built wooden forts and ditches to stop them from being ambushed and surprise attacked.

And after they then completed their invasion or the regions they wanted to conquer, they would rebuild them in stone.

They didn't first build them in stone when they arrived as this would've taken too long.

So for our practice task now, what I'd like you to do is explain how these two factors helped Emperor Claudius to invade Britain.

Write one or two sentences for each factor.

The first factor: Roman legionaries were strong soldiers.

Consider their weapons and tactics.

And factor two: Roman legionaries built forts to protect themselves.

Consider that's how this helped them to invade Britain.

So, write me a couple of sentences to explain why each factor was important in helping the Emperor Claudius invade Britain.

Off you go.

Excellent job, team.

I'm super impressed.

You've clearly paid a lot of attention during this learning cycle, and you've learned a lot to prove that you know how both of these factors helped the Emperor Claudius to invade Britain.

So, you could have included, for factor one, Roman legionaries strong soldiers, something like this: The Roman legionaries helped Emperor Claudius to invade Britain.

They were very strong and carried heavy weapons such as the gladius and pilum.

They were well-trained to use tactics like the testudo in battle to protect everyone.

So, you could have spoken about their weaponry and you could have also spoken about the tactics they used to help protect them and be successful against the British tribes.

Factor two, Roman legionaries built forts to protect themselves.

You could have included: Forts helped Emperor Claudius to invade Britain.

They protected the legionaries from surprise attacks or ambushes.

At first, they were made with wood and ditches, but later they were built with stone.

And we still have evidence of these stone forts to this day in Britain.

So, how did you get on with your two answers there? Do you need to add any more detail? Pause the video now and add some detail if you need to.

Off you go.

Excellent job in today's lesson, team.

We've been looking at the Roman invasion of Britain.

We considered why and how the Romans invaded Britain.

Emperor Claudius wanted to invade Britain to prove his strength as a new Roman emperor.

He successfully invaded Britain in 43 CE with 20,000 legionaries and around a thousand ships.

Legionaries were well-trained soldiers who used special tactics like the testudo or tortoise to defeat their enemies.

Legionaries also built forts to protect them from the fierce British tribes.

Much of Southern Britain was conquered within weeks.

Keep up the great history learning and I'll see you again soon.