Saturday, 28 July 2012

And tearing them down



Now despite the impressive engineering and the incredible timeframe Caesar's first Rhine Bridge was built with...it didn't last all that long. Eighteen days to be exact. The German tribes he was pursuing vanished into the forests when they realised  the trouble that bridge was going to bring and the Roman army found itself with nothing to do when they crossed into Germany. On top of this, Caesar knew he was exceeding the authority he'd been given by the Senate - having entered territories beyond Gaul...which could mean prosecution when he returned to Rome (which is just what his politcal enemies intended). So having found the Germans unwilling to settle their account in battle, the legions were marched back across their new bridge and then ordered to tear it down ... after all, there was no point leaving it there for the Germans to use. But I'm sure there was some serious grumbling when the engineers got that order. Sometimes history making doesn't last for long.

Find out if Calvus was good at breaking things

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