Medieval Wars 500-1500 (eBook)

Wars of the Byzantine Empire 500–1000

■ AMIDA, 502–03
A Sassanian Persian siege of Byzantine-held Amida is noted for a spirited defence in which Byzantine soldiers undermined the Persian siege ramp from inside the walls until it collapsed. Nonetheless, the city fell.

■ DARA, 530
One of Byzantine Gen Belisarius’ earliest victories. The Byzantine field army of the east, about 25,000 men, was camped near Dara when a 40,000-strong Sassanian force under Firuz approached. Belisarius assumed defensive positions outside the town, digging a series of ditches with narrow passages left for his troops to cross. The Persians began with a cavalry charge that temporarily drove the Byzantine left flank back, but the Byzantines regrouped and the first day concluded with two fights between champions of each army. On the second day, 10,000 more Persians arrived. After arrow exchanges at midday, the Persians launched a general assault. The Byzantines threw them into confusion with a flank attack by cavalry that had been concealed. In the final phase, the Byzantines divided the Persian army into two parts and defeated each in turn.

■ CALLINICUM, 19 APRIL 531
A Sassanian cavalry force of 15,000 under Azarethes invaded Byzantine territory; Belisarius brought a mixed Byzantine force of 25,000 to challenge him, pursuing the withdrawing Persians. In an Easter Day battle, both sides began with arrow exchanges. Under their cover, Azarethes reinforced his left-wing cavalry. Their charge then crumbled the Byzantine right wing. The Byzantine cavalry fled. Belisarius’ infantry, in close formation, survived the attack until dark, then escaped.

■ CONSTANTINOPLE I, 532
In the Nika revolt, massive rioting and property destruction in Constantinople threatened Emperor Justinian. Eastern veterans under Belisarius and Herul mercenaries under Mundus charged the mob in the Hippodrome, slaughtering an estimated 30,000.

■ AD DECIMUM, 13 SEPTEMBER 533
In 533, a Byzantine army under the command of Belisarius invaded the former Roman province of Africa, currently ruled by Vandals under King Gelimer. After his unopposed landing, Belisarius marched rapidly toward Carthage. The Vandal army ambushed the Byzantine force on 13 September at Ad Decimum, the 10-mile marker on the road south of Carthage, at a point where the road passed through a narrow defile. Gelimer’s plan was apparently to bottle the Byzantine force in and attack it from both sides, but the Vandal attack was badly coordinated. The first Vandal contingent, commanded by Gelimer’s brother, Ammatas, was not yet organized for battle when it ran into the Byzantine advance guard. This force was almost completely destroyed, the dead including the Vandal prince. A second Vandal force soon engaged with Belisarius’ Hun mercenaries, but proved to be so terrified of the Hunnic force that they hardly fought back. The Byzantines pursued them nearly to the walls of Carthage.

Gelimer then appeared on the scene with the largest of the three Vandal forces. He drove the Byzantines back from the field, the Vandal cavalry routing Belisarius’ mercenary cavalry. Gelimer then discovered his brother’s body and stopped to bury it. Belisarius was able to regroup his forces and his counter-attack found the Vandal force completely unprepared. The Vandals were routed, Gelimer fleeing away from Carthage, apparently in the mistaken belief that Byzantine forces already blocked the way to his capital city. Belisarius lost at most 1800 men, while Vandal casualties numbered 10–12,000. Although most of the Vandal army still remained intact, Belisarius was able to march on to Carthage, which opened its gates to him.

■ TRICAMARUM, 15 DECEMBER 533
The Byzantine invasion army under Belisarius had taken Carthage, but the Vandal king Gelimer’s army was still largely intact. Belisarius marched out to meet Gelimer 27km from Carthage; the Byzantine force numbered about 8000 infantry and 5000 cavalry and the Vandal army was slightly larger.

Belisarius first tried to lure the Vandals into a disordered charge, but Gelimer held his ground. The Byzantines then attacked the Vandal centre. In a hard fight, the Vandals were driven back, but their wings did not come to support them. The Vandal centre eventually collapsed into a rout, whereupon the wings of the Vandal force also fled back to their camp. Belisarius began to organize an assault on the Vandals’ fortified camp. Before he could attack, Gelimer fled, precipitating a mass flight before the Byzantines stormed the by-then empty camp.

■ ROME III, 537–538
Byzantine general Belisarius defended Rome with 5000 soldiers. Vitigis, the Gothic king, established a partial siege, his seven fortified camps blocking supplies and breaking the aqueducts. An attempted assault in March 537 failed, but Vitigis’ seizure of Portus increased pressure on Rome. Belisarius offered battle, but was driven back into the city. Stalemate ended when Roman reinforcements arrived and the Goths were defeated as they withdrew.

■ ROME IV, 546–47
Gothic king Totila besieged Byzantine-held Rome. Gen Belisarius tried to break the siege, but his small army was driven off. Much of the population starved; others attempted flight, although most were killed. Finally, part of the garrison betrayed the city to Totila. Early in 547, Totila abandoned Rome and Belisarius reoccupied it, restoring the walls Totila had slighted. Totila tried and failed to force Belisarius out again.

■ SENA GALLICA, 551
A total of 50 Byzantine warships attacked 47 Gothic ships blockading Ancona. The Goths came out to meet the Byzantines; in missile exchange and then boarding, the Goths, inexperienced at sea, were completely defeated.

■ TADINAE, 552
Byzantine Gen Narses with 20,000–25,000 men met a somewhat smaller Gothic army under Totila. Battle commenced with the Goths’ unsuccessful attempt to take a gully and outflank the Byzantines, followed by single combats between champions. Totilo then launched an attack of cavalry with lances along the entire battle front, but the Byzantines held. The Byzantine advance then drove the Goths through their own infantry in a bloody rout.

■ MONS LACTARIUS, 552
A Byzantine army under the eunuch Narses trapped a Gothic force under King Teïas as it marched to relieve Cumae. In a two-day fight, Teïas and much of his army was killed.

■ CASILINUS, 554
Frankish raiders with some Goths invaded Byzantine-held Italy. Narses met them with 18,000 men near Capua; the Franks under Butilin had a similar force. When the Byzantines struck a Frankish foraging party, the Franks left their fortified camp to fight. The Franks, formed into a wedge (cuneus), broke through the Roman centre, only to be hit by Byzantine cavalry on their flanks and rear, suffering a massive defeat.

■ CONSTANTINOPLE II, 559
A Kotrigur Hun force of 7000 advanced on undefended Constantinople. Belisarius assembled a scratch force of guardsmen, veterans and volunteers and defeated the Huns in an ambush. Justinian then paid them to withdraw.

■ MELITENE I, 576
In a cavalry battle, Byzantine Gen Justinian defeated the Sassanian Persian king Khusrau near Melitene and sacked the Persian camp. Fleeing Persians looted Melitene, but many drowned in the Euphrates as they fled.

■ SOLACHON, 586
A Byzantine army under Philippicus halted a Persian invasion in northern Mesopotamia. Both armies were apparently all cavalry; the Byzantine right flank broke the Persian left; the Persians fled when threatened with double envelopment.

■ VIMINACIUM, 601
Part of a long campaign against the Avars, the Byzantine Balkan army heavily defeated the Avars at Viminacium by dismounting their cavalry and withstanding repeated Avar cavalry charges. Avar losses were heavy.

■ ANTIOCH, 613
Emperor Heraclius, personally commanding the Byzantine army, tried to stop invading Persians in a bloody battle that was at first indecisive, but the Persians regrouped and routed the Byzantines, consolidating their hold on Cilicia.

■ JERUSALEM V, 614
A Sassanian Persian army under Shahrbaraz invaded Byzantine Palestine. Jerusalem surrendered peacefully, but when Shahrbaraz marched on, the inhabitants expelled the Persian garrison. Shahrbaraz turned back and placed the city under siege. Strongly fortified, but with a mostly civilian and clerical populace, Jerusalem withstood the siege for 21 days, its garrison vastly outnumbered by the Persians and a large number of Jewish rebels under the command of Benjamin of Tiberias. When the wall was finally breached, Shahrbaraz took the city by storm. Many relics and churches were destroyed and priests killed in revenge for the Christians’ duplicity. The Persian conquerors deported much of the Christian population to Persia and also carried off the relic of the True Cross. They left the city under the control of their Jewish allies.

■ ALEXANDRIA, 619
The Sassanian Persian invasion of Byzantine Egypt began in 617 or 618. In 619, they reached Alexandria, which was highly defensible, but had a large civilian population that could not be fed since the Persians held the surrounding countryside. Byzantine governor Nicetas and Orthodox patriarch John the Almsgiver both soon fled to Cyprus. The city surrendered in June 619, although one source reports that it was betrayed to the Persians.

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