Vandalic War

The Vandalic War of 533 to 534 was the first campaign of the Emperor Justinian I's attempt to restore Roman rule over the lands of the former Western Empire. It was fought in North Africa between the Byzantine Empire, also called the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Germanic Vandal Kingdom that had held Roman Africa since the early fifth century. The pretext was the overthrow of the pro-Roman king Hilderic by his cousin Gelimer in 530. Justinian made peace with Sassanid Persia in 532 to free his hands and sent an expedition under the general Belisarius, whose secretary Procopius wrote the main narrative of the war. The Vandals had weakened themselves by sending much of their fleet and army under Gelimer's brother Tzazo to put down a revolt in Sardinia. The Byzantine force landed near Caputvada in September 533 and won at Ad Decimum, near Carthage, which it then occupied. Gelimer was beaten again at Tricamarum in December, where Tzazo was killed, and he surrendered in the spring of 534 after a blockade in a mountain fortress. Africa became a praetorian prefecture, though imperial control beyond the old Vandal kingdom stayed thin.