How Did Roman Soldiers Survive Harsh Northern Winters?

Rome's army conquered the frozen north - and what kept its soldiers alive was not courage, but trousers, socks and paperwork. Follow one soldier from sunny Italy posted to the northern frontier: the frozen-river lesson of the Trebia (218 BC), Hadrian's Wall and Tacitus' rain-soaked Britain, the sagum, the hooded birrus Britannicus and Augustus' four tunics, the 'barbarian' trousers Romans swore they would never wear, the Vindolanda tablets with their parcel of socks and underpants, the beer request, the Saturnalia radishes and the strength report of the First Cohort of Tungrians, hypocausts and Julian's near-fatal brazier in Paris, Ovid's frozen wine at Tomis, the battle on the frozen Danube under Marcus Aurelius, Caesar in the Cevennes snow, Corbulo's winter in Armenia and Severus in Caledonia - and how an empire built in the sun learned to run a winter. Sources: Polybius, Histories 3.72; Tacitus, Agricola 12, Annals 1.17, 1.28-30 and 13.35, Histories 2.20; Suetonius, Augustus 82; Caesar, Gallic War 5.26-37, 5.43 and 7.8; Vegetius, Epitome of Military Science 1.2, 3.2-3.3 and 4.39; Ovid, Tristia 3.10; Strabo, Geography 7.3.18; Cassius Dio 72(71).7 and 77(76).13; Julian, Misopogon 341-342; Vindolanda tablets 154, 291, 301, 343, 346 and 628 (Bowman & Thomas); Vitruvius 5.10; K. Harper, The Fate of Rome (2017); C. van Driel-Murray on Roman footwear. Ancient quotes are paraphrased; ancient figures (e.g. Dio's 50,000 in Caledonia) and dates are estimates or disputed. Subscribe for more stories from ancient Rome. #RomanHistory #AncientRome #RomanEmpire #HistoryDocumentary #RomanHistory #RomanArmy