Rain and logistics break Henry II's Berwyn campaign

Eight years after his 1157 expedition, Henry II assembled a much larger force drawn from across his continental possessions and Britain. The campaign entered the Berwyn Mountains with ambitions the book characterizes as annihilating Welsh resistance. Heavy rain, failed logistics, and aggressive Welsh attacks instead broke the expedition before it could impose a settlement. Henry retaliated by blinding Welsh hostages, then withdrew and made no further military attempt to force his authority on Wales. The campaign shows why army size and imperial reach could not compensate for terrain, weather, supply, and a defender able to harass the march.