How did the Eastern Romans try to Retake their former Empire?

the third Century A.D saw the shattering of the  Roman Empire after the murder of Emperor Severus   Alexander in 235 the leadership of Rome fell into  utter disarray this instability would begin to   crack the foundation of the Empire's strength and  these cracks would soon sever Rome's lands into   two three and four parts this would eventually  evolve into the two halves we recognized today the   Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire  known more commonly as the Byzantine Empire while   the Western portion was on a rapid decline during  the fourth and early fifth centuries the East was   doing all right thus when the Western Roman Empire  completely collapsed before the start of the 6th   Century a burning question quickly Rose would  the Byzantines attempt to reclaim the Fallen   half of the once United Empire at first no  but the succession of Justinian the first to   the throne in Byzantium would suddenly change  that answer Justinian the first later known as   Justinian the Great became the Byzantine emperor  in 527. his Reign would be marked by his effort   of renovachio imperi or restoration of the Empire  and this began with the invasion of Rome's former   Holdings in North Africa in 530 Justinian's Ally  and Vandal King Hilderic was overthrown and put in   jail by his power-hungry cousin Gallimore hilderic  reached out to the byzantines for help and three   years later Justinian decided to take advantage  of the situation in 533 he sent one of his best   commanders who would later become known as one of  history's most remarkable Men of War belisarius   sailing to the African Coast with roughly fifteen  thousand men belisarias had one goal and that was   to defeat the vandals and take as many former  Roman lands as humanly possible and he did just   that the vandals were downright blindsided by The  Invasion and the byzantines routed their Defenders   with relative ease Carthage the Vandal Kingdom's  Capital was captured by belisarius and his men in   short order King Gelimer surrendered the following  spring and even the western territories of Corsica   and Sardinia fell back into Roman hands running  on the high of this early success Justinian turned   next to the literal West belisarius was ready  to launch a new campaign this time in Italy on   the behalf of the Eastern Empire thus he next  sailed to Sicily which was rapidly retaken by   the byzantines in part due to the citizens  General inclination in favor of the remains   of their former Roman overlords this prompted  the Contemporary ostrogoths ruler to send word   to Justinian hoping to broker a deal in Sicily  so he could maintain some level of overlordship   instead the byzantines pushed forward militarily  East Roman general Mundus charged into Dalmatia   in 536 while belisarius moved deeper into Italy  over in Dalmatia Mundus found some Triumph but   overall failed fatally and was soon replaced  on the campaign by another Byzantine Commander   constantinius the latter was much more successful  and by summer had captured the whole of Dalmatia   from the Goths all the while belisarius was  drawing closer and closer to Rome itself as   the famed Byzantine General and his men marched  through Italy They seized and sacked city after   City big beginning with regium by the time  belisarius reached Rome its citizens had   already heard of the plunder he and his men had  caused in the surrounding cities and thus wasted   no time in trying to resist the invader's efforts  by December belisarius had taken Rome by now King   theodahad had been ousted for failing to prevent  the startlingly rapid advance of the byzantines   Vitiges would be his successor and quickly put  a plan into motion to fight back against their   attackers but repelling the Romans would be far  from Easy nevertheless Vitiges eventually marched   on Rome with his gathered Force to confront the  occupying byzantines who had remained within the   city upon arrival the Goths laid Siege to the  city beginning in the spring of 537 The Siege   would last for a brutal year only ending  the following spring after reinforcements   from Constantinople helped by capturing more  surrounding towns and cutting the Goths off   from their own reinforcements and supplies via the  sea as the situation around Rome worsened for the   Goths Vitiges began to debate whether remaining  around the Empire's former capital was worth the   consequences. Eventually in March in 538 he called  off The Siege and looked instead to Arminum the   Romans already had an occupying force in Arminum  but were running low in supplies meaning that even   if they had the manpower to withstand a Gothic  Siege they may not actually be able to survive   it subsequently Belisarius met with a new batch of  reinforcements led by the Arminum commander by the   name of Narses the latter pressed for support  to be sent to Arminum but Belisarius wasn't   sold until their counterpart in the city sent a  letter essentially begging for assistance. Now   in agreement, Belisarius and Narses divided their  forces in three and marched off to surround the   Ostrogoth forces under Vitiges. When he heard word  of the nearing Byzantine troops the exacerbated   Gothic ruler realized that he would once again  need to withdraw and thus retreated this time   to Ravenna. In the following weeks, the three  generals Belisarius Narses and John continued to   take more Italian cities from Aemelia to Urbinum.  From there though disputes between the various   Roman commanders caused disastrous indecision  which would allow the Goths to seize Mediolanum   back from the Byzantine troops under Mundilas.  The city was not only taken but plundered and   the civilians massacred despite attempts by the  Romans to broker a peace deal that would protect   them this was a wake-up call for the Byzantine  Authority hence the chain of command issue was   swiftly rectified giving full control back to  Belisarius as attention shifted over to Ravenna   before Belisarius could capture yet an another  city however a massive wrench was thrown into   both Army's plans as the Roman generals were  scattered attempting to seize a handful of   territories simultaneously King Theudebert I of  Austrasia suddenly entered the scene at the head   of a daunting Frankish Army both the Byzantines  and Goths assumes that these would be allies of   the latter which meant everyone was caught off  guard when they ambushed the Goths on the bank of   the Po River the stunned forces under Vitiges were  humiliatingly defeated and the Romans on the other   bank were left in utter shock attempting to defeat  the new invader then and there the Byzantines were   also routed and forced to retreat toward Tuscany.  In yet another jaw dropper, however, the Franks   were next vanished not by any army or fourth  Invader but by a brutal outbreak of dysentery   following the entire fiasco the Byzantines finally  felt ready to regroup and march on Ravenna. As   Belisarius prepared to lay Siege an embassy from  Emperor Justinian himself arrived in Ravenna with   a hard-to-ignore offer for the Goths the embassy  proposed that if the Ostrogoths gave in now the   Byzantines would partition Italy and share control  of the region if there have been fine print it   would have ended with "so that way we can focus  on our war with the Persians". The reality was   that Justinian as determined as he was to rebuild  the Western Roman Empire was concerned about the   Persian threat inching nearer and hopes to wrap up  conflict with the Goths. Belisarius on the other   hand was infuriated by the strategy so close  to taking the Ostrogoth capital he refused to   back down many of his men agreed with the emperor  and the Goths too were quick to accept the terms   but Belisarius just wouldn't give in that  is at least until the Ostrogoths offered   a counter deal promising to make the renowned  Commander the new ruler of the Western Empire.   In the end he still took the city  in the name of the Byzantine Empire   and returned back to Constantinople for  what should have been a hero's welcome   but instead he was met with significant distrust  from Emperor Justinian nevertheless with immense   credit being owed to Belisarius the Byzantines had  more or less recaptured the Western Roman Empire   unfortunately for the legacy of the Romans this  Triumph even if Justinian wouldn't call it that   didn't last for very long. Too preoccupied  elsewhere the Byzantines failed to establish   any kind of strong or reliable authority and  the newly conquered territories and with the   Ostrogoths feeling betrayed by Belisarius this  was a rookie mistake it wouldn't take long for   the Goths to begin regaining their lost cities  and even when Belisarius returns to counteract   this sabotage from his own leadership made  it impossible to secure the previously   conquered territories the back and forth would  continue into the 550s until the Byzantines did   eventually retake the Italian holdings in what  is often described as a phyrric war but this   would only last now until the Lombards  decided to take Italy all for their own.

Channel: Knowledgia

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Length: 10min 47sec (647 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 21 2022