The Vandal state is unique in many…
August 532 CE
The Vandal state is unique in many respects among the Germanic kingdoms that succeeded the Western Roman Empire: instead of respecting and continuing the established Roman sociopolitical order, they had completely replaced it with their own.
Whereas the kings of Western Europe continue to pay deference to the emperors and mint coinage with their portraits, the Vandal kings portray themselves as fully independent rulers.
In addition, the Vandals—like most Germanics, adherents of Arianism—have persecuted the Chalcedonian majority of the local population, especially in the reigns of Huneric (r. 477–484) and Gunthamund (r. 484–496).
The emperors at Constantinople had protested at this, but the peace has held for almost sixty years, and relations have often been friendly, especially between Emperor Anastasius I (r. 491–518) and Thrasamund (r. 496–523), who had largely ceased the persecutions.
Hilderic (r. 523–530), the son of Huneric, had ascended the throne at Carthage in 523.
Himself a descendant of Valentinian III, Hilderic had realigned his kingdom and brought it closer to the Roman Empire: according to the account of Procopius (The Vandalic War, I.9) he was an unwarlike, amiable person, who ceased the persecution of the Chalcedonians, exchanged gifts and embassies with Justinian I even before the latter's rise to the throne, and even replaced his image in his coins with that of the emperor.
Justinian had evidently hoped that this rapprochement would lead to the peaceful subordination of the Vandal state to his empire.
However, Hilderic's pro-Roman policies, coupled with a defeat suffered against the Moors in Byzacena, had led to opposition among the Vandal nobility, which resulted in his overthrow and imprisonment in 530 by his cousin, Gelimer.
Justinian had seized the opportunity, demanding Hilderic's restoration, with Gelimer predictably refusing to do so.
Justinian had then demanded Hilderic's release to Constantinople, threatening war otherwise.
Geiseric was unwilling to surrender a rival claimant to Justinian, who could use him to stir up trouble in his kingdom, and probably expected war to come either way, according to J. B. Bury.
He had consequently refused Justinian's demand on the grounds that this was an internal matter among the Vandals. (Bury, John Bagnell (1923). History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. London: MacMillan & Co.)
Justinian now had his pretext, and with peace restored on his eastern frontier with Sassanid Persia in 532, he started assembling an invasion force.
According to Procopius (The Vandalic War, I.10), the news of Justinian's decision to go to war with the Vandals caused great consternation among the capital's elites, in whose minds the disaster of 468 was still fresh.
The financial officials resent the expenditure involved, while the military is weary from the Persian war and fears the Vandals' sea-power.
The emperor's scheme receives support mostly from the Church, reinforced by the arrival of victims of renewed persecutions from Africa.
Only the powerful minister John the Cappadocian dares to openly voice his opposition to the expedition, however, and Justinian disregards it and presses on with his preparations.