NEOS Julius Agricola would make a name for himself etched forever in the history books as the Roman who conquered Caledonia though he didn’t fully seize what we know today as Scotland his invasion would prove to be a significant event in both Roman and Scottish history for many years after the governor of Britain and a seasoned military commander Agricola was a man of a few goals first in the late 70s A.D he focused his military efforts on strengthening the Roman grip over Wales he soon turns to England with the same intentions but by this point, in time Scotland was yet to succumb to a Roman assault thus Agricola sought to change that fact by launching his own Invasion into Caledonia immediately after his successes in Wales and England at first the native tribes put up a respectable fight and even launched a nighttime attack on Rome’s Leggie the ninth Hispania although this Ambush was broken down by Agricola’s order to send in the Cavalry for backup despite routing the Caledonians.
In this instance however the natives had amassed an army estimated to have contained roughly 30 000 troops these forces were numerically capable of going Toe to Toe with Agricola’s details of similar Manpower but the Caledonians knew that the Romans would prove Superior in an all-out battle subsequently the former attempted to maintain a guerrilla strategy as opposed to fighting a pitched battle this wish of the Caledonians nevertheless would not come true due to a Greek olla’s tactic of capturing Caledonian storehouses and essentially forcing his opponents to either fight or starve to death of course they preferred not to starve Agricola would come face to face with his counterpart Cicada at the Battle of mons Grau Pius in 83 A.D as the massive Caledonian force clashed with that of the Romans while the natives put up a considerable fight once again the Romans found fairly Swift Victory as over half of the Caledonian Army fled whilst the rest were slain in battle by now the Romans had pushed far north into Caledonia farther than any of the previous Governors had ventured to do but it speculated that this remarkable success from Agricola may have actually been the exact reason why Emperor dormition recalled him from Britain in 85 A.D preventing the complete subjugation of the Caledonians.
As this would have too greatly overshadowed Domitian’s own wins over in Germany following Agricola’s departure from the British Isles vast swaths of Roman troops were withdrawn from the Scottish territories as the Romans retreated to a pre previously established Border in response to a need to send forces elsewhere crushing defeats in modern dayTransylvania required Rome to shift its focus and at least for the time being leave Caledonia alone once more the decan war was on the horizon and Scotland simply wasn’t a high enough priority especially given how viciously the native tribes continued to fight back additionally there wasn’t a very strong motivation for the Romans to risk resources and Manpower for Caledonia economically there were potentially some possible benefits due to the availability of certain natural resources throughout the Scottish lands such as silver and gold if the Romans could truly subdue the Caledonians furthermore there was the potential for taxing a whole new land of people however while Scotland did have some untapped resources it wasn’t necessarily rich in them nor did it seem likely that the Romans could ever fully subdue the local tribes the this meant that putting more effort into truly conqueringCaledonia wouldn’t entirely be a lost cause and could end up being a rewarding one but it wouldn’t be easy and Rome had to focus elsewhere for the time being that is of course until a new ruler came to the throne and decided to reconsider.
Lucia’s Septimius Severus was the next of the Romans who hoped to Wrangle the Caledonians over his early years as emperor of the Roman Empire in Roman Britain the unconquered northern tribes were becoming increasingly combative and raids on Roman controlled territories were beginning to become more and more frequent the Caledonians were essentially taking advantage of a newly developed weakness in Rome’s British defenses that had developed after the rebellion of Governor ClaudiusAlbinus against Septimius Severus back in 195 A.D although Albinus would be dealt with by the emperor by the time that troops he’d utilized were sent back to their posts in Britain massive casualties meant that the Hadrian Wall and general Roman defenses were dangerously undermanned eventually in 207 A.D the new governor of Roman Britain Sancho sent a letter to the emperor warning him that the remaining Roman defenses may not manage to hold back the Caledonians for much longer a year later Septimius Severus and 50 000 men landed on British soil upon arrival the emperor LED his troops up to the Hadrian Wall where the first priority was to fortify it next Severus moved North to capture the Territory between the current border at the Hadrian Wall and the old border of the Antonina wall which he did successfully now strengthening the new old Border the emperor had his eyes pointed farther north looking along a similar path as the one taken by Agricola following in his footsteps however would not be as simple for Severus as he may have hoped despite the sudden arrival with a mass of troops for what was likely an attempt at a shock and awe campaign the Caledonians had not been deterred and still knew better than to face the Romans in any pitched battles guerrilla warfare abounded and the local tribes were remarkably good at it the Romans quickly took heavy casualties and the emperor was forced to re-strategize thus his new plan was a bit Tamer now Severus aims to recapture all of the forts Agricola had previously held and essentially employ a scorched Earth policy everywhere else Rome’s new strategy actually seemed to have somewhat of an effect on the Caledonians as many of the tribes now proposed peace talks with their Invaders in hopes of preventing total Destruction of their own land and forces Severus however was not open to such negotiations he not only wanted the Northern Territories but he furthermore aimed to see the Caledonians annihilated by 210 A.D.
Severus had recalibrated his forces and a chunk of the army was now under the command of his son Karkalla who would lead his campaign Beyond the Antonina Wall it was around this time allegedly Emperor Septimius Severus had ordered the genocide of the local Caledonian tribes and Karkalla was meant to carry this out Severus had then plans to join his son with the remainder of the troops so they could more easily Annex Scotland in its entirety the plan, however, would hit a roadblock when the Wily ruler fell ill and opted to return for some rest and recuperation the latter would never happen though and Septimius Severus would eventually succumb to his ailment in February of 211 A.D leaving the weight of the invasion now solely on his son and heir to the throne back home as a result caracal saw no wise reason to remain in Caledonia.
He swiftly called off the war and began the journey back to Rome marking the end of the Empire’s notable attempts to capture the Scottish lands eventually due to the lack of Roman interest and efforts the troops at the northern border were forced to withdraw back to the Hadrian Wall and instead simply upholds the original border of Roman British no one after Severus would truly try to capture Caledonia and instead the priority Remains the Manning and defending of the Hadrian edge once the Caledonians were capable of launching their raids yet again and the reason why the Romans were okay with this new Arrangement and never returns to Scotland with real conquering efforts can be debated in the details such as whether terrain played a role or not but it’s undeniable that Caledonia was simply not worth the Roman time money and Manpower there weren’t enough natural resources agriculture or other benefits to make the brutal war with the locals worth continuing especially when Rome already had to focus on more pressing issues and conflicts such as the previously mentioned decan War so the short answer to why didn’t Rome conquer Scotland is simply that they couldn’t.
