In 55 BC Britain was still very much unknown territory to the Romans. Caesar sent a warship under Volusenus to reconnoitre the British coast. Meanwhile, Caesar began preparing a fleet based upon the warships used against the Veneti the previous summer. The Britons learned of these preparations and sent envoys to offer allegiance. After extracting promises of good behaviour from them, Caesar sent them back accompanied by Commius, a king of the Belgic Atrebates, who was to encourage British leaders to ally with Rome; but Commius was taken prisoner and only returned after Caesar had landed.
At midnight on 26 August the expedition set sail in eighty transports carrying two legions and eighteen for the cavalry, accompanied by a large number of warships. At 9:00 the next morning local warriors armed with javelins were seen on the cliff tops at Dover. Caesar waited for suitable conditions and then beached his ships at 15:00, probably at Walmer, about seven miles northeast of Dover.
The British put up fierce opposition but were eventually subdued with catapultae and slings fired from the Roman warships, but managed to escape because the transports carrying the cavalry had been delayed by adverse winds. There followed a series of land engagements with victories on both sides before the Romans gained the upper hand. Caesar began negotiating terms but realised to complete the subjugation of the British he needed to return with a larger force.
In 54 BC some six hundred transports of all types and sizes and twenty-eight warships were concentrated at Gesoriacum (=Boulogne). At the end of July the fleet sailed at sunset carrying five legions and two thousand cavalry. The following midday the fleet landed unopposed at its intended landing place (between modern Deal and Sandwich). A force of ten cohorts and three hundred cavalry were left behind under Quintus Atrius to guard the fleet and its crews, while Caesar and the army marched inland.
Before the invasions a local king, Cassivellaunus, whose territory appears to have lain north of the Thames, had been warring with neighbouring tribes. He killed the king of the Trinovantes (Essex) and drove out his son Mandubracius, who fled to Caesar in Gaul. As soon as the Roman threat appeared, local difficulties were forgotten and Cassivellaunus was elected the overall leader of a vast confederate army.
Caesar cut his way through Kent, crossed the Thames and took the battle into Cassivellaunus’ kingdom. British resistance crumbled and they were reduced to guerrilla tactics and a scorched-earth policy. The alliance broke up and the Trinovantes sent envoys promising to surrender if the tribe was protected against Cassivellaunus. The success of these negotiations brought over other tribes
Cassivellaunus responded to Caesar’s successes by rushing orders to Kent ordering the four kings of the region, Cingetorix, Carvilius, Taximagulus and Segovax, to assault Caesar’s naval base. When this attack failed, Cassivellaunus sued for peace, which Caesar granted in return for hostages, the assurance of an annual tribute to Rome, and a promise to leave the Trinovantes in peace. After these arrangements had been settled, Caesar departed for Gaul.
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