Why the Romans conquered England, but failed to cope with Ireland and Scotland (8 photos)

These territories proved too tough for the iron legions.





The large-scale conquest of the territory of modern England began in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Emperor Claudius. The operation had several goals: firstly, to cut off the Britons from any attempts to help the Gauls - and they constantly sent them weapons and took part in minor skirmishes with the Romans. Secondly, to capture tin and silver mines. Thirdly, to confirm the greatness of Rome and strengthen the authority of Claudius.

All this did not bode well for the Celtic tribes.



And so it happened: the legionnaires marched with fire and sword across the territory of England and Wales (we give them their modern names, it’s easier that way) and subjugated them. Along the way, they founded Londinium: initially it was a military camp, over time it became London and grew into the capital of the country.





But there was a misfire with northern Scotland and Ireland - they never became part of the empire.



To deal with Scotland, they allocated an entire IXth legion, it was commanded by the governor of Roman Britain Gnaeus Agricola. And for supplies, they pulled up a navy. And in fact, the fighters crossed the entire country: from the south to the north, defeating the Pictish tribes. But soon they changed tactics, switched to guerrilla warfare and began to harass the legionnaires with small raids.



Later, the command calculated that at least 3 legions would be needed to conquer this land. The Empire could not allocate such a number of manpower, so it marked time for many years. And later it switched to the defense of the already captured territory: this is how the famous Hadrian's Wall appeared.



It was different with Ireland.

The lands there were poor, there was nothing particularly valuable. In addition, there lived extremely evil and warlike relatives of the Celts, with whom no one really wanted to mess. Therefore, there was no point in capturing them: the Romans simply established regular trade with these territories and left them alone.



But if Scotland and Ireland had any rich deposits or very fertile soils, Rome would have thrown all its forces into conquering them. And no evil Celts could have prevented this. But as it was, they turned into the elusive Joe, who was simply of no use to anyone.



But the Romans mastered England and ruled it for about 400 years - almost until the fall of the Western Roman Empire.