Flavius belisarius biography of martin

Belisarius was recalled once again to Constantinople. Furthermore, he had a fine figure, and was tall and remarkably handsome. But his conduct was so meek, and his manners so affable, that he seemed like a very poor man, and one of no repute. However his main opponents were his own men. Somehow, he was yet again successful. However, Justinian refused to back him with horses, men and money.

Any sort of effective opposition to the resurgent Ostrogoths was impossible and he spent many years campaigning there to no great avail. He was recalled once more, and lived in semi-retirement. Yet when the Empire again faced peril, Belisarius was called upon once more. His final battle was against the semi-nomadic Turkic warrior tribes of the Bulgars in AD.

Shortly before the capture of Ravenna, the Ostrogoths offered Belisarius to make him the Western Emperor. Belisarius pretended to accept with the purpose of being allowed to enter Ravenna accompanied by his veteran troops. Once inside, however, Belisarius captured Vitiges and took advantage of the lack of leadership in the Ostrogothic troops to secure the city.

With this, he proclaimed the conquest of Ravenna in the name of his emperor, Justinian. It is possible that the offer of the Ostrogoths raised suspicions in Justinian's mind. The fact is that Belisarius was removed from the command of Italy, and called back to the East to take charge of the Persian conquest of Syria, a province that, on the other hand, was crucial for the Empire the Persians had returned to hostilities with Constantinople.

Belisarius arrived on the battlefield and carried out a brief and inconclusive military campaign during the years and He finally managed to negotiate a truce helped by the payment of a large sum of money, about pounds of gold , in the which the Persians promised not to attack Byzantine territories within a period of five years. Belisarius returned to Italy in , and found that the situation had changed enormously.

In the Ostrogoths had elected Totila as their new king, and had embarked on a new campaign against the Byzantines, recapturing all of northern Italy and even driving the Byzantines out of Rome. Belisarius managed to briefly retake Rome, but his campaign in Italy proved a failure, thanks largely to the lack of support in terms of supplies and reinforcements from Constantinople probably caused by the lack of imperial support, since Justinian I at the time he saw in Belisarius a dangerous potential candidate for the throne.

Justinian relieved him of office, leaving the eunuch Narses in command, who was able to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion in this case, with greater imperial support. For his part, Belisario retired from military life. On his final return to Constantinople he received the title of magister militum per Oriente. Belisarius was forced to return to military life in , because an army of Kutriguros led by a warlord named Zabergan crossed the Danube invading Byzantine territory this invasion is referred to by Byzantine sources as Huns and reaching the outskirts of Constantinople.

Justinian again called Belisarius, and commissioned him to defend the capital of the Empire against attack. In his last battle, Belisarius hastily assembled an army of veterans who had served under him, defeated the Kutriguros, and drove them back across the Danube. In the year Belisarius was tried in Constantinople accused of corruption.

While it is the view of many that Belisarius set sail for North Africa with "only" 15, soldiers to conquer the region, his force included more troops and many sailors. It was a well balanced force with quite possibly a larger percentage of high-quality troops than the armies facing Persia. Gelimer probably had only 20, men at his disposal at this time [ 19 ] and his force had no horse archers or units fit to fight them, and he had fewer [ 18 ] and lower-quality officers.

In June , the army embarked from Constantinople. The use of signals kept the fleet organized and sailing close together, even at night, and was praised heavily by Procopius. By the time they arrived at Sicily, men had died after eating improperly prepared bread. He would make several extra stops during his journey to acquire extra bread during the voyage.

Before the Byzantines could cross over to Gothic Sicily , where they were allowed to stop on their way to Africa by the pro-Byzantine, anti-Vandal queen Amalasuntha , they had to cross the Adriatic Sea. Despite acquiring fresh water, the weather caused the water supply to spoil before arrival, and only Belisarius and a select few others had access to unspoiled water.

In Sicily Procopius was sent to acquire supplies from Syracuse and gather intelligence about the Vandals' recent activities. At this point Dorotheus died and Belisarius and his troops were demoralized, but when they heard Procopius' discovery they quickly left for Africa. In total, unfavorable winds had protracted their journey to 80 days.

While the full conquest of Africa is often portrayed as the original objective of the campaign, it is unlikely this was actually the case. Since Justinian had been reluctant to launch a campaign in the first place and Hilderic was still alive at this point, conquest seems not to have been the absolute intention. As such, it is Belisarius' decision at Sicily that initiated Justinian's reconquest.

With Gelimer being four days inland and his troops scattered, Belisarius could have taken Carthage before the Vandals even knew he was coming and certainly before they were in a position to react. Belisarius ordered fortification to be constructed, guards to be posted and a screen of lightships to be deployed to defend the army and fleet, so that this invasion would not be a repeat of the Battle of Cape Bon where the Byzantines were defeated by fire ships.

During the construction of the base, a spring was found, which Procopius called a good omen from God. When he heard of the Byzantine landing, Gelimer rapidly moved to consolidate his position. Gelimer had instantly recognized that the Byzantines would move to Carthage via the coastal road, but still sent garrisons to guard other roads. At the same time that Gelimer was preparing his ambush, Belisarius was gathering information on the local inhabitants and preparing to move to Carthage via the coastal road, as Gelimer expected.

Only after he had already ordered the soldiers to be executed did Belisarius gather his men and tell them how to behave. He warned his men that if they didn't have the support from the locals, the expedition would end in defeat. Next, he sent a unit of his personal guards under Boriades to the town of Syllectus Salakta to test the willingness of the locals to join his side.

Boriades was denied entry to the town, but after three days eventually gained entry by joining a group of wagons entering the town. When the locals found out the Byzantines were in the town, they submitted without a fight. The Byzantines also captured a Vandal messenger whom Belisarius decided to release. The messenger was paid to spread the message that Justinian was only waging war on the man who had imprisoned their rightful king, and not against the Vandal people.

The messenger was too afraid of the possible repercussions to tell it to anyone but close friends. Even though this early attempt failed, Belisarius made it well known throughout the campaign that he was only there to restore the rightful king. When Belisarius advanced again, he positioned his troops in such a way that he and his guards could rapidly reinforce any position that could be attacked, especially the flank, as the last known Vandal position was to the south and the army moved north.

When the army arrived in Syllectus, their civilized behavior caused the city to give their full support to the Byzantines. This positive reputation of the Byzantine army began immediately spreading, causing much of the population to support the Byzantines. Marching at the speed of around 7 miles 11 km [ 18 ] to 9 miles 14 km [ 21 ] a day, the Byzantines advanced on Carthage, their speed dictated by the need to build a fortified camp every day.

When Belisarius was 40 miles 64 km away from Carthage, he knew the Vandals would be near at this point [ 21 ] and that they would act before he could reach Carthage, [ 18 ] but he was not aware of the location and wanted to gather information of his situation first. Part of the rearguard encountered a Vandal force sent ahead by Gelimer, which gave Belisarius the knowledge that at least some Vandal troops were behind his own force.

His journey now became increasingly dangerous as the fleet had to sail around Cape Bon and the road curved inland so it became impossible to rapidly evacuate, which he could have done at any time he wanted until this point. He advanced on land with about 18, men himself. Soon he would encounter Gelimer at Ad Decimum. The Byzantines were located in between the Vandal forces in the north and the south.

Numbering about 10,—12,, the Vandals were outnumbered. The valley in which the ambush was to take place was narrow, and as two of the three roads to Carthage became one in the valley, it seemed like a great spot for an ambush to Gelimer. Ammatus , with 6,—7, men, was ordered to block the northern exit and attack the Byzantines head-on, then drive them further back into the valley and cause disorder.

Meanwhile, 5,—6, Vandals under Gelimer were already advancing towards Belisarius from the south as the earlier clash showed; these would be in the near vicinity when Belisarius entered the valley and would attack them from behind, after all the Byzantines had moved into the valley. Brogna states that this plan was doomed to fail, as coordination over dozens of miles was needed, [ 18 ] however, Hughes disagrees and calls the plan "elegant and simple", but does state that the plan relied too much on hard-to-pull-off timing and synchronization.

The battle consisted of four separate stages. Leaving the infantry behind to build a camp, he rode out with his cavalry to meet the Vandals whom he suspected were nearby. This way he left his infantry, baggage, and wife in a secure position. The Byzantines sent ahead to scout and the Huns guarding the flank had routed the numerically superior forces opposing them.

As Belisarius arrived, Gelimer saw his brother Ammatus killed in combat. Mourning, he remained idle and allowed Belisarius to attack his force while it was in a disorganized state in the fourth and last stage of the battle. After this victory, Belisarius marched on Carthage. Belisarius ordered him to give everything back, even though Calonymus secretly managed to keep it.

Belisarius also had Carthage's wall repaired. Before making his next move, Gelimer had received reinforcements under Tzazo and tried to convince some of Belisarius' forces to desert. Belisarius prevented their desertion, but for example, the Huns would not take part in the battle until after the winner had been practically decided. When a Carthaginian civilian was caught working for the Vandals, Belisarius had him publicly executed.

Later a second battle was fought at Tricamarum. After winning that battle, Belisarius sent John the Armenian to chase Gelimer. John was killed by accident and Gelimer managed to escape to Medeus, a town on Mount Papua probably part of Mount Aurasius [ 30 ] The Heruls under Pharis were to besiege it. Gelimer's treasure failed to depart and was captured and the king of the Visigoths, Theudis , refused an alliance with Gelimer.

After a failed assault in which Pharis lost men, Gelimer surrendered. Meanwhile, Belisarius himself had been reorganizing the captured territory and had sent Cyril on a mission to capture Sardinia which would capture that island, and later also Corsica. The effort to locate and gather Vandal soldiers was still going on; in this way, the class on which the entire Vandal military and political systems were based could be wholly deported to the east and Vandal power forever broken.

If he wanted to rebel he was sure to choose the governorship, but instead he chose the triumph, convincing Justinian of his loyalty once again. The entire war was over before the end of While east, Belisarius was not only awarded a triumph but also made consul. Sometime after Belisarius left, a mutiny broke out in Africa. Belisarius would return for a short while, just before the Gothic War, to help fight the revolt.

When the rebels heard of his arrival, they lifted the siege of Carthage, which at the beginning of the siege had numbered 9, plus many slaves. Belisarius attacked them with just 2, troops, winning a victory in the Battle of the River Bagradas. During the battle, Stotzas , the rebel leader, tried to move his army into a new position in front of the Byzantine force.

When the units moved, Belisarius took advantage of their temporary disarray and launched a successful attack against them, which caused the entire rebel army to panic and flee. The rebels' power was broken and Belisarius left for Italy. The Ostrogothic king Theodahad had gained the throne by marriage. Belisarius pushed on in Sicily.

The only Ostrogothic resistance came at Panormus , which fell after a quick siege. Afterwards he returned to Sicily and then crossed into mainland Italy , where he captured Naples in November and Rome in December Then Belisarius cut the aqueduct, but the city had enough wells, so he resorted to making many costly, failed assaults.

After their failure, Belisarius planned on abandoning the siege and marching on Rome. By chance, however, an entrance to the city via an aqueduct was found and a small Byzantine force entered the city. When this force had entered the city, Belisarius launched an all-out assault so the Goths couldn't concentrate against the intruders. Despite having taken the city by force, he showed leniency to the city and garrison, so as to entice as many other Goths to join his side or surrender later on; this way he would avoid costly action as much as possible and preserve his small force.

While the new Gothic king, Vitiges , had sent a garrison to Rome, the city was left undefended as the troops fled after noticing the pro-Byzantine attitude of the population. From March to March Belisarius successfully defended Rome against the much larger army of Vitiges. While the range of the horse archers Belisarius used has often been credited with the success of these raids in the terrain around Rome, this wouldn't make sense.

Instead, it was the Gothic unpreparedness and the command expertise of Byzantine officers which made sure the Goths were unable to respond. Eighteen days into the siege, [ 18 ] the Goths launched an all-out assault, and Belisarius ordered a number of archers to shoot at the oxen pulling the siege equipment. As a result, the assault failed with heavy casualties.

When the Goths retreated from a certain section of the wall, Belisarius launched an attack on their rear, inflicting extra casualties. Regardless, Vitiges was losing the siege, so he decided to make one last attempt on the wall which ran along the Tiber , where the wall was much less formidable. He bribed men to give the guards drugged wine, but the plot was revealed and Belisarius had a traitor tortured and mutilated as a punishment.

Flavius belisarius biography of martin

An armistice had been signed shortly before, but with both the Goths and the Byzantines openly breaking it, the war continued. By then Byzantine forces had captured Ariminum Rimini [ 36 ] and approached Ravenna, so Vitiges was forced to retreat. Belisarius sent 1, men to support the population of Mediolanum Milan against the Goths. Belisarius captured Urbinum Urbino in December , when the Gothic garrison ran out of water after a three-day siege.

During the siege of Rome, an incident occurred for which the general would be long condemned: Belisarius was commanded by the Empress Theodora , who supported Miaphysite Christianity, to depose the reigning Pope, who had been installed by the Goths. In , at the height of the siege, Silverius was accused of conspiring with the Gothic king [ 38 ] [ 42 ] and several Roman senators to secretly open the gates of the city.

Belisarius, for his part, built a small oratory on the site of the present church of Santa Maria in Trivio in Rome as a sign of his repentance. Belisarius ordered the cavalry garrison of Ariminum to be replaced by infantry. Vitiges sent a large army to retake Mediolanum while he moved to besiege Ariminum himself. Vitiges tried to hinder the Byzantine movement by garrisoning an important tunnel on the road to Ancona.

This garrison was defeated, while Vitiges had to maneuver himself around a number of Byzantine garrisons to avoid losing time in fighting useless engagements. Ultimately, the Byzantines were successful in reinforcing Ariminum, however, John refused to leave the city. John managed to prevent the siege tower used by the Goths from reaching the walls which caused Vitiges to withdraw.

John wanted to prevent this withdrawal and sallied out but was, like Belisarius at Rome, defeated, which caused Vitiges to keep besieging the now weakened garrison. Needing fewer men, as no assault was to be made, Vitiges sent troops against Ancona and reinforced Auximus. Belisarius could either take Auximus and move on Ariminum with a secure rear, or bypass Auximus to save time.

If it took too long to get there, Ariminum might fall. The Byzantines were divided into two groups; one led by Narses who wanted to move on Ariminum immediately, while the other wanted to first take Auximus. A message from John eventually convinced Belisarius to move to Ariminum. During this operation Belisarius would station a part of his forces near Auximus to secure his rear.

The arrival of a Byzantine relief force under Belisarius and Narses compelled the Ostrogoths to give up the siege and retreat to their capital of Ravenna. Belisarius had approached from multiple sides including over the sea, which convinced the Goths they faced a huge force. John made it a point to thank Narses for his rescue instead of Belisarius or Ildiger , the first officer to reach the city.

This might have been to insult Belisarius or to avoid being indebted according to the Roman patronage tradition of which some remnants were probably still part of Byzantine culture. John and Narses might not have been convinced of Belisarius' competence, as the Vandals and Goths were by then perceived as weak, while he had been relatively unsuccessful against the Persians.

Narses' supporters tried to turn Narses against Belisarius, claiming that a close confidant of the emperor should not take orders from a "mere general". He pointed out that their current position was surrounded by Gothic garrisons, and proposed to relieve Mediolanum and besiege Auximus simultaneously. Narses accepted the plan, with the provision that he and his troops would move into the region of Aemilia.

This would pin down the Goths at Ravenna, and as such put Belisarius' forces in a secure position, as well as preventing the Goths from reclaiming Aemilia. Narses claimed that if this wasn't done, the rear of the troops besieging Auximus would be open to attack. Belisarius ultimately decided against this, as he was afraid this would spread his troops too thin.

He showed a letter from Justinian that said that he had absolute authority in Italy to act "in the best interests of the state" to force Narses into accepting the decision. Narses replied that Belisarius wasn't acting in the best interests of the state. From the later part of the siege of Rome onwards, reinforcements had arrived in Italy; [ 21 ] during the siege of Ariminum, another 5, reinforcements landed in Italy, close to the siege where they were needed, clearly by design.

Belisarius gave up his original plan and instead of sending forces to besiege Urviventus Orvieto and himself besieging Urbinus. As Belisarius sent the assault forwards, the garrison surrendered, as the well in the city stopped working. Narses reacted by sending John to take Caesena. While that attack failed miserably, John quickly moved to surprise the garrison at Forocornelius Imola , and so secured Aemilia for the Byzantines.

Shortly after Belisarius' arrival, the Urviventus garrison ran out of supplies and surrendered. In late December, shortly after the siege of Urbinus and Urviventus, Belisarius sent troops to reinforce Mediolanum. John and the other commanders refused to follow Belisarius' order to assist, stating that Narses was their commander. Narses repeated the order but John fell ill and they paused for him to recover.

Meanwhile, the revolt at Mediolanum was bloodily suppressed by the Goths. As the population had revolted, they were considered traitors and many were slaughtered. Subsequently, the other cities in Liguria surrendered to avoid the same fate. Narses was subsequently recalled. For instance, the cunning general conquered well-fortified Rome by using deception.

Meanwhile, he covertly sent a small company into the city via an aqueduct. Once inside, the soldiers quickly overcame the defenders and opened the city gates. From March to February , Belisarius and his soldiers defended the city from much larger forces. The campaign was in danger of turning into a stalemate, with both sides unable to score a decisive victory.

To break the siege and continue the campaign, Belisarius needed reinforcements. In early , Constantinople answered the plea and sent a relief force, led by the eunuch Narses. The imperial army in Italy now numbered 20, troops. However, the divided high command and the bickering between the commanders led to several setbacks. After the Goths captured and razed Mediolanum, Justinian recalled Narses and made Belisarius the sole commander of all the Roman forces in Italy again.

Finally, in , Belisarius reached his goal — Ravenna — the old capital of the Western Roman Empire, now the center of the Ostrogoth Kingdom. Little did he know that his greatest triumph would soon lead to his fall. Belisarius feigned acceptance and entered Ravenna , only to declare the city and all of Italy the rightful domain of Emperor Justinian.

After all, Roman history was full of successful generals who exploited their popularity in order to take the throne. Instead of a triumph, Belisarius was promptly recalled to Constantinople and swiftly dispatched to the eastern front, where hostilities with Persia had flared up again. By then, Belisarius was back in Italy, where the situation had rapidly deteriorated.

The imperial army, poorly paid and fed up with the corrupt government, was on the verge of mutiny. Many soldiers changed sides. Belisarius brought only limited reinforcements as the plague ravaged the entire Empire. The Goths, led by the new king Totila, exploited the situation and reconquered northern Italy, arriving at the gates of Rome.

Following a disappointing campaign, Justinian recalled his general two years later. Finally, in , Justinian dispatched around 30, troops led by Narses to finish the business in Italy. A year later, Narses defeated Totila in the Battle of Taginae, bringing the war to an end. The Ostrogoth Kingdom was no more, and Italy was entirely under imperial control.

However, the price of victory was high. The protracted war, plague, and depopulation ruined the once prosperous region. Rome, once the center of the Empire, was now a ruined town.