Chen has marched his army into Vạn Xuân territory by spring of 545 and laid siege and devastation to many cities.

His initial invasion had been stalled by Ly imperial forces for months.

However, in the winter of 545, Chen lays a surprise attack on the capital during the monsoon season.

Ly Nam De's forces are caught off guard and the imperial administration is forced to abandon Long Biên and flee westward into the region of present-day Laos, where communities along the Mekong River have begun to form into townships called muang.

Justinian, after a serious attack in Thrace by the Kutrigur Bulgars in 540, has worked to extend a system of fortifications that run in three zones through the Balkans and as far south as the Pass of Thermopylae.

Fortresses, strongholds, and watchtowers are not, however, enough: the Slavs, known to Constantinople as Sclaveni, plunder Thrace in 545.

Successful Persian campaigns against Constantinople’s forces in Mesopotamia, on the Black Sea, and in Lazica (Colchis, in present western Georgia) lead to a five year truce in 545, but …

…war continues to ravage the Caucasus region, especially in Armenia.

Totila establishes his military base at Tivoli in central Italy and prepares a campaign to reconquer the region of Latium.

Areobindus, a man of senatorial rank and husband to his niece Praejecta but otherwise undistinguished, is sent by Justinian with a few men to Africa, not to replace Sergius, but to share command with him.

Sergius is entrusted with the war in Numidia, while Areobindus undertakes to subdue Byzacena.

Areobindus sends out a force under the able general John against Antalas and Stotzas.

Because Sergius does not come to their aid as requested, the Romans are routed at Thacia, but not before John mortally wounds Stotzas in single combat.

The effects of this disaster at least force Justinian to recall Sergius and restore unity of command in the hands of Areobindus.

The origins of the First Türk Empire, the Gökturk Khaganate, trace back to 546 when Bumin Qaghan makes a preemptive strike against the Tiele groups who are planning a revolt against their overlords, the Rouran.

He expects to be rewarded for this service with a Rouran princess, i.e., to marry into the royal family.

The Rouran khaghan, Anagui, sends an emissary to Bumin to rebuke him, however, saying, "You are my blacksmith slave. How dare you utter these words?”

As Anagui's "blacksmith slave" comment is recorded in Chinese chronicles, some claim that the Göktürks were indeed blacksmith servants for the Rouran elite, and that "blacksmith slavery" may indicate a form of vassalage within Rouran society.

This reference according to Denis Sinor indicates that the Türks specialized in metallurgy, although it is unclear if they were miners or, indeed, blacksmiths.

A disappointed Bumin allies with the Wei state against the Rouran, making the khaganate their common enemy.

Lombard chief Audoin begins a new royal dynasty in 546, at which time the Lombards begin to adapt their tribal organization and institutions to the imperial military system of the period, in which a hierarchy of dukes, counts, and others commands warrior bands formed from related families or kin groups.

Audoin, receiving subsidies from Justinian I, who encourages him to battle the Gepids in the Carpathian Mountains, leads the Lombards across the Danube into Pannonia and becomes an ally of Constantinople.

The Ostrogoths capture city after city in Italy.

Pope Vigilius, who has fled Rome to the safety of Syracuse, sends a flotilla of grain ships to feed Rome, but Totila's navy intercepts them near the mouth of the Tiber and captures the fleet.

The imperial fleet, led by Belisarius, fails to relieve the city.

Areobindus is overthrown soon after and murdered in March 546 by Guntharic, the dux Numidiae, who had come into negotiations with the Moors and intends to set himself up as an independent king.

Guntharic himself is overthrown by loyal troops under the Armenian Artabanes in early May.

Artabanes is elevated to the office of magister militum Africae, but is soon recalled to Constantinople.

The man Justinian sends to replace him is the talented general John Troglita, whose exploits are celebrated in the epic poem Iohannis, written by Flavius Cresconius Corippus.

Troglita had already served in Africa under Belisarius and Solomon, and had had a distinguished career in the East, where he had been appointed dux Mesopotamiae.

Despite his numerically weak forces, he manages to win over several Moorish tribes.