Did the Romans conquer the whole of Britain?
The Romans gradually conquered the whole of England and Wales, partly through battle and partly by making political arrangements with some of the Celtic chieftains. When the Romans reached the north of England, however, they stopped. The Picts from Scotland fought the Romans fiercely, raiding their farms and garrisons. The Roman lines were over-extended and it was difficult to supply troops so far north. The soldiers were mostly from warm Mediterranean countries and they found the cold, wet northern climate of northern England difficult to adapt to.
The Romans built Hadrian’s Wall to keep the Picts out of the occupied territory. This huge structure stretched from east to west across northern Britain. The wall was garrisoned by soldiers and supported by a string of military forts.
Why did the Romans abandon most of their empire?
In the first few centuries AD, it became clear that the Roman Empire was far too big and unwieldy to survive in its original form. A huge civil service and army were needed to maintain the empire, and these became extremely expensive.
In addition, there were numerous rebellions in different parts of the empire, mostly headed by army commanders with designs on becoming emperor. Eventually, in AD284, Emperor Diocletian broke the Roman Empire into smaller self-governing units, each with its own army. The whole empire was split into two sections: Eastern and Western. The decline of the empire halted for a while, but soon the fighting resumed. Eventually the Roman Empire was weakened to such an extent that it was successfully attacked and overrun by invading barbarians.
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