Summer 56 BC · Brittany (Armorica), Atlantic Coast Theater
Summer 56 BC
The Veneti of Brittany were the dominant maritime power of the Atlantic coast — their high-sided, oak-built sailing ships could operate in the heavy Atlantic swells that swamped Roman oared galleys, and they controlled the vital tin trade with Britain. When they seized Roman officers sent to requisition grain, Caesar ordered a fleet built on the Loire River and launched a combined land-sea campaign. In the decisive naval engagement in the Gulf of Morbihan, Roman galleys were initially outmatched by the Veneti's towering ships, which the Romans could neither ram nor board. Caesar's admiral Brutus invented a solution on the spot: iron hooks on long poles to cut the Veneti's rigging. When the wind died unexpectedly, the Veneti ships were left helpless and the Romans swarmed aboard them. The Veneti war fleet — more than 200 ships — was destroyed in a single afternoon.
Commanders