1. Boudica was the leader of a tribe called the Iceni Tribe.

The people who lived in Britain before the Romans arrived are known as the Celts. The Celts were split into many different tribes that fought with each other a lot. And I mean a lot. Boudica’s tribe was called the Iceni. Her husband, named Prasutagus, was the chief of the Iceni Tribe before Boudica and left the gig to her after he died.

2. Boudica and her daughters were attacked by the Romans.

The Romans were in the process of steadily making Britain “more Roman”. This meant introducing exciting new festivals and entertainment, chucking up a bunch of fancy buildings, and, of course, digging never-ending mile after mile of straight road. So, when Boudica’s husband died, the Romans expected to take command of the Iceni Tribe. But instead, Prasutagus left everything to Boudica and their daughters. The Romans were pretty miffed at this, and ruthlessly attacked Boudica and her family.

3. Boudica’s army was bigger than the Roman Army.

After the Roman attack, Boudica swore revenge and led a huge army in a rebellion against the Romans. A Roman historian, Cassius Dio, claimed that Boudica had an army with hundreds of thousands of people! Meanwhile, the Roman army apparently only had around 10,000 soldiers. Of course, it’s worth remembering that Cassius Dio was Roman and probably tweaked these numbers to make the story more exciting for his Roman audience!

4. Boudica really scared Emperor Nero.

That’s right, the leader of the Roman Empire, Emperor Nero was so freaked out by Boudica’s rebellion that he almost pulled his whole army out of Britain! If the Roman Army hadn’t succeeded in defeating Boudica, that would have been the end of Roman Britain.

5. Despite its size, Boudica’s army was no match for the Roman Army.

Although the Celt tribes often went to war with each other (and as a result had lots of skilled warriors), the Roman army was packed full of trained soldiers.

Every soldier was well equipped with Gladius swords, Pilum spears, Scutum shields, and more. Not to mention the epic artillery they went to war with, like enormous catapults called Onagers and Ballistas. The Romans also sneakily used strategy in their battles, had a well organised army, and fought in special formations. Unfortunately, this meant Boudica’s army didn’t stand a chance against them. No-one knows what happened to Boudica. Perhaps she died in the battle or maybe, just maybe, she escaped and carried on being awesome someplace else.