Vandalic War

The Vandalic War is a conflict fought in North Africa (largely in modern Tunisia) between the forces of the Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire and the Vandal Kingdom of Carthage, in 533–534.

It is the first of Justinian the Great's wars of reconquest of the lost Western Roman Empire, and is waged against the advice of most of his councilors.The Vandals had occupied Roman North Africa in the early 5th century, and established an independent kingdom there.

Under their first king, Genseric, the formidable Vandal navy carried out pirate attacks across the Mediterranean, sacked Rome and defeated a massive Roman invasion in 468.

After Genseric's death, relations with the surviving Eastern Roman Empire normalized, although tensions flared up occasionally due to the Vandals' militant adherence to Arianism and their persecution of the Chalcedonian native population.

In 530, a palace coup in Carthage overthrew the pro-Roman Hilderic and replaced him with his cousin Gelimer.

The Eastern Roman emperor Justinian took this as a pretext to interfere in Vandal affairs, and after he secured his eastern frontier with Sassanid Persia in 532, he began preparing an expedition under general Belisarius, whose secretary Procopius wrote the main historical narrative of the war.

In sending the expedition, Justinian takes advantage of, or even instigates, rebellions in the remote Vandal provinces of Sardinia and Tripolitania.

These not only distract Gelimer from the Emperor's preparations, but also necessitate the dispatch of the bulk of the Vandal navy and a large portion of their army under Gelimer's brother Tzazon to Sardinia.The Roman expeditionary force sets sail from Constantinople in late June 533, and after a sea voyage along the coasts of Greece and southern Italy, lands on the African coast at Caputvada in early September, to Gelimer's complete surprise.

The Vandal king gathers his forces and meets the Roman army at the Battle of Ad Decimum, near Carthage, on September 13.

Gelimer's elaborate plan to encircle and destroy the Roman army comes close to success, but Belisarius is able to drive the Vandal army to flight and occupy Carthage.

Gelimer withdraws to Bulla Regia, where he gathers his remaining strength, including the army of Tzazon, which has returned from Sardinia.

In December, Gelimer advances towards Carthage, and meets the Romans at the Battle of Tricamarum.

The battle once again results in a Roman victory and the death of Tzazon, forcing Gelimer to flee to a remote mountain fortress, where he is blockaded until he surrenders in the spring.Belisarius returns with the Vandals' royal treasure and the captive Gelimer to enjoy a Roman triumph in Constantinople, while Africa is formally restored to imperial rule as the praetorian prefecture of Africa.

Imperial control scarcely reaches beyond the old Vandal kingdom, however, and the Moorish tribes of the interior prove unwilling to accept imperial rule and soon rise up in rebellion.

The new province is shaken by the recurring wars with the Moors and military rebellions, and it is not until 548 that the Roman government is firmly re-established in Africa.

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