Belisarius: The Last Roman General (26 page)

Unfortunately, circumstances were to change the situation in Italy beyond all recognition. Amalasuintha, in a bid to maintain her position, chose to associate herself with Theodahad, who after the death of Athalaric was the only heir to the throne. She tried to persuade him to accept the throne, but be bound by solemn oaths to allow her to remain the political power in Ravenna. It was to be a massive mistake. After taking the necessary oaths, Theodahad immediately had Amalasuintha imprisoned and assumed personal control of Italy.

When Peter reached Theodahad he learned of Amalasuintha’s deposition and imprisonment. With such a drastic change of circumstances, Peter halted and waited for instructions from Justinian. The emperor decided to give his full support to Amalasuintha, in the knowledge that this would create immense internal political problems for the Goths, hopefully leading to divisions and strife throughout Italy. The message would be futile. Whilst the envoys waited and the message was composed, Amalasuintha was killed upon the advice of a handful of leading Goths; Theodahad does not appear to have resisted their demands to any great extent. When Amalasuintha was killed, Peter in effect declared war: ‘because this base deed had been committed by them, there would be war without truce between the emperor and themselves’ (Proc,
Wars,
V.iv.30).

Africa and Italy

The similarities between the events in Africa prior to the invasion and those in Italy are striking. In Africa a relative of the ruler had usurped the throne and given Justinian an excellent pretext for invasion: Theodahad had now done the same. The seizure of the throne had caused political divisions and so weakened the Vandals’ will to fight: the same could now be true in Italy.

There was one major difference: when Justinian had decided to invade Africa, he had freed troops by the use of diplomatic manoeuvrings to gain peace with Persia. The peace had also released a general who could be trusted to lead the expedition. For the invasion of Italy, the general in question was already free, having perfectly timed matters by recently defeating the Vandals, and there were no other wars to distract Justinian from his intentions. Belisarius would lead the expedition to Italy.

It is unlikely that Justinian in Constantinople had a hand in the events occurring in Italy. In Africa, he had been in contact with rebels in order to time their revolt with his invasion. It is possible that his agents now made moves to contact district leaders in Italy, but there was little likelihood of a well-timed rebellion in this instance. The invasion of Italy, if it occurred, would be a very different event to the invasion of Africa.

Justinian was not prepared to fight the war alone if he could obtain help from other quarters. Accordingly, he sent a message to the Franks. In this, he explained his reasons for declaring war. The recent behaviour of the Gothic nobles towards their leader Amalasuintha was a major theme in the letter, but the fact that Italy – and especially Rome – was the ancient core of the Roman Empire was also given as a reason for invasion. The ‘Romans’ were only reclaiming what was rightfully theirs. The fact that the Franks were in competition with the Goths in northern Italy further enabled Justinian to invite the Franks to take part in the invasion, suggesting that they attack in the north and so split the Gothic armies. To that end, Justinian sent a large sum of money as encouragement, promising more when the Franks actually became active in the field. He could now only wait to see if the Franks took the bait.

The war did not, however, begin with either Belisarius landing with his troops in Italy or a Frankish invasion from the north. The first conflict occurred in Dalmatia (see Map 9). In 536 Gripas and Asinarius led a Gothic army into Dalmatia with the task of capturing Salona. Near the city they defeated and killed the Byzantine general Mauricius. Although they were in turn defeated by Mauricius’ father, Mundus, and forced to withdraw, Mundus also died in the battle. Mundus’ reputation as a general had kept the barbarians north of the Danube in check, and helped to restrict their raids. With his death, the Balkans were again open to invasion and this was to prove a thorn in Justinian’s side in the coming years.

Sicily

For the proposed campaign, Belisarius was given fewer troops than for the African campaign. First among the troops listed by Procopius
(Wars,
V.v. 2–5) are ‘four thousand soldiers from the regular troops and the
foederati’
. Unfortunately, the wording does not make it clear whether the
foederati
were included in the 4,000 or were additional to it. The cavalry were led by Valentinus, Magnus and Innocentius; the infantry by Herodian, Paulus, Demetrius and Ursicinus. Above these and serving directly under Belisarius were Constantinus, Bessas and Peranias. Belisarius was further allocated 3,000 Isaurians under Ennes, along with 300 Moors and 200 Huns. Finally, he was accompanied by the traditional
comitatus
of
bucellarn,
Procopius later stating that he had 7,000
bucellarii
(Proc,
Wars,
VII.i.20). Belisarius was again given sole command of the expedition, retained his rank as
magister militum per Orientem,
and was accompanied by his step–son Photius, the son of Antonina by a previous marriage.

Although Procopius does not give us a breakdown of the troops, it is possible to estimate the proportions using the information given in Chapter 3. If we assume that the commanders listed as being in charge of the infantry and cavalry commanded separate units, the divisions may have been as follows: the cavalry consisted of two units, each of some 300 men, alongside approximately
600 foederati,
led by Valentinus, Magnus and Innocentius; the infantry consisted of four units of around 700 men each, led by Herodian, Paulus, Demetrius and Ursicinus. Although these numbers are clearly estimates, and may not be correct, they do give us a basis from which to understand Belisarius’ strategy and tactics.

With fewer troops than those given for the invasion of Africa, Belisarius was ordered to land in Sicily. However, Justinian was not prepared to fight a long war for the island. His instructions were to land in Sicily whilst declaring that he was heading for Carthage. Once on the island, he was to test the mood of the islanders. If they were loyal to the Goths, he was to sail on; if they were prone to accept imperial rule, he was to attempt to take the island. The reasons behind the strategy are simple: there were not enough troops available at such short notice to enable a full–scale campaign against the Goths of the sort that had been mounted against the Vandals.

It is probable that during his stopover in Sicily on the way to Africa, Belisarius had noticed that there were extremely few Gothic troops stationed on the island. Therefore, Belisarius was given what was available and ordered to test the islanders’ loyalty whilst they were unguarded and before the Goths could send large-scale reinforcements. The strategy was a risk, but only a small one. At the first sign of resistance, Belisarius could sail on to Africa without appearing to have suffered a defeat.

Although not mentioned by Procopius, it is likely that Belisarius, prior to the landing, had given orders to the troops regarding their behaviour towards the natives in Sicily. At all times the Sicilians were to be treated with respect, ensuring their support for the invasion, as had happened in Africa. Belisarius landed in Sicily close to the town of Catana. The town immediately surrendered to him, a capitulation that was mirrored by all of the other towns and cities on the island except for Panormus. This is the only town mentioned by Procopius as having a Gothic garrison prior to their surrender. If the towns were undefended, their surrender is understandable.

At Panormus, the Gothic garrison refused to surrender, since the walls appear to have been maintained and they believed that Belisarius did not have the forces to take the city by storm, a belief which Belisarius shared (Proc,
Wars,
V.v. 12-13). However, Belisarius had observed that the city walls did not surround the harbour. He therefore ordered his ships to sail into the harbour, where there was only a comparatively low wall. Once inside the harbour, it was realised that the masts of the ships were taller than the walls. Belisarius ordered small boats to be hoisted up to the height of the masts. When the boats were loaded with archers, they overlooked the city and the archers were able to fire down upon the defenders on the walls. Filled with fear at this development, the Goths quickly surrendered.

Within a very short space of time and with few, if any, losses, Belisarius had reconquered Sicily for the empire, his abilities as a general quickly overcoming the defences of the only town that had not immediately surrendered.

By coincidence, his arrival at Syracuse coincided with the end of his year serving as
consul ordmanus.
He entered the city amidst the applause of the army and citizens whilst distributing gold coins at random to the people and the troops. He remained at Syracuse for the winter, billeting the troops upon the population as was customary. As in Africa, there is no mention of troops behaving in an improper manner towards the natives of the island. Sicilian support for the invasion was assured.

Developments in Italy

When news of the reconquest of Sicily reached Theodahad and Justinian’s envoy, Peter the Illyrian, Peter immediately began to increase the pressure on Theodahad. In the ensuing negotiations Theodahad was urged to accept the loss of Sicily, send a large gold crown to the emperor (with obvious implications) and agree to send 3,000 Gothic troops to aid the emperor whenever he demanded them. In effect, Peter was attempting to persuade Theodahad to acknowledge the supremacy of the emperor in Constantinople. Theodahad did not have the strength of character necessary to resist these pressures and shortly afterwards, and in fear of open war, he agreed to abdicate in favour of Justinian.