The Vandals and Alans numbered eighty thousand when they moved to North Africa, according to assertions by the historian Procopius.

Peter Heather will therefore estimate that they could have fielded an army of around fifteen thousand to twenty thousand, although numbers are unknown and some historians debate the validity of estimates.

According to Procopius, the Vandals came to Africa at the request of Bonifacius, who wished to use the military strength of the Vandals in his struggle against the imperial government.

However, it has been suggested that the Vandals migrated to Africa in search of safety; they had been attacked by a Roman army in 422 and had failed to seal a treaty with them.

The motley army of invaders comprises a mixed group of “barbarians” and adventurers searching for a home.

Most of those Alani who had not settled in Orléans and Valence go to North Africa with the Vandals, causing the official title of the Vandal kings in Africa to be “kings of the Vandals and the Alani.”