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Belisarius (505-565) was probably the
greatest general of the Byzantine Empire. He is not very well known
today, but this is due more to a lack of attention to Byzantine history than to his skill and accomplishments, which were matched
by few, if any, military
commanders.
Early life and career
Belisarius was born in Germane, Illyria (modern day Yugoslavia), though we are not
sure of the exact date. He entered the Byzantine army as a young man and seems to have risen to the rank of general during the
reign of the emperor Justin I. Following Justin I's death in 527, the new emperor, Justinian I, gave Belisarius command of
part of his army and sent the general east to deal with skirmishes on the Persian border. His novel disposition of troops and
territory initially bewildered the opposing generals, and he easily repelled their initial forays and ended up routing the much
larger Persian army. In June, 530 he led the Byzantines to a victory over the Persians at
Dara, followed by a near defeat (really a mutual escape) at Callinicum on the Euphrates River in 531, followed by the negotiation of an "Endless Peace" with the Persians.
In 532, he was the ranking military officer in the capital of Constantinople when the Nika
riots (among factions of chariot racing fans) broke out in the city
and nearly toppled the emperor Justinian I. Belisarius, with the help the
magister militum of Illyria, Mundus, suppressed the rebellion in a bloodbath that is said to have claimed the lives of 20,000 people.
Campaigns against the Vandals
For his efforts, Belisarius was rewarded by Justinian with the command of a great land and sea expedition against the Kingdom
of the Vandals, whose king Gelimer had
recently offended Justinian by deposing and imprisoning Vandal king Hilderic, and
whose territory (much of the northern coast of Africa) Justinian coveted anyway because, while barbarian tribes held both Africa
and Italy, Byzantium had little access to the western Mediterranean. In the late summer of 533, Belisarius sailed to Africa and landed near the city of Lepcis Magna, from which he marched along the coastal highway toward the Vandal
capital of Carthage.
Ten miles from Carthage, the forces of Gelimer (who had just executed Hilderic) and Belisarius finally met at the Battle of Ad Decimium (Tenth Milestone). Ironically, it nearly
turned into a devastating defeat for the Byzantines. Gelimer had chosen his position well and was hammering Belisarius' forces
along the main road. But when he was on the verge of victory, he became distraught upon learning of the death of his nephew in
battle. This gave Belisarius a chance to regroup, and he went on to win the battle and capture Carthage. A second victory, at the
Battle of Ticameron later in the year caused Gelimer to
surrender early in 534 at Mt. Papua, permitting the lost Roman provinces of north Africa to
be restored the empire. Belisarius was given a triumph in Constantinople in 534.
Campaigns against the Ostrogoths
Justinian now resolved to restore as much of the western Roman Empire as
he could. In 535, he commissioned Belisarius to attack the Ostrogoths. Again, he chose well, as Belisarius quickly captured Sicily and then crossed into Italy proper, where he captured Naples and Rome in 536 and then moved north, taking Mediolanum (Milan) and the Ostrogoth capital
of Ravenna in 540.
At this point Justinian offered the Goths a generous settlement, too generous by far in Belisarius' eyes: the right to
maintain an independent kingdom in the Northwest of Italy, with the requirement that they merely give half of all their
treasure to the empire. Belisarius conveyed the message to the Goths, although he himself refrained from endorsing it. The Goths,
on the other hand felt that there must be a snare somewhere. They didn't trust Justinian, but because Belisarius had been so
well-mannered in his conquest they had more faith in him and agreed to the terms on the condition that Belisarius endorsed it.
This led to an impasse.
Some enterprising Goth pointed out that their own king, who had just lost, was something of a weakling, and they would need a
new one. He endorsed Belisarius, and the rest of the kingdom agreed, so they offered him their crown. Belisarius was a soldier,
not a statesman, and still loyal to Justinian. He pretended to accept the offer, rode to Ravenna to be crowned, and promptly
arrested the leaders of the Goths and reclaimed their entire kingdom - no halfway settlement - for Byzantium.
Justinian was furious. The Persians had been attacking in the east, and he wanted a stable neutral country separating his
western border from the Franks, who weren't so friendly. Belisarius returned expecting honours; he was coldly received and sent
off to the eastern frontier. Persia had already broken their Eternal Peace treaty and
overrun Syria, a crucial province of the empire. Belisarius took the field and waged a
brief, inconclusive campaign against them, but ultimately (545) was able to negotiate a peace
(aided with payment of a large sum of money, 5000 pounds of gold), in which the Persians agreed not to attack Roman territory,
not for eternity, but for five years. It is interesting that in the meantime (542) the
bubonic plague had broken out in Constantinople for the first time in history, spreading through Europe.
Belisarius then returned to Italy, where he found the situation had changed greatly. In 541 the Ostrogoths had elected a new leader, known to history as Totila, and
this brilliant commander had recaptured all of northern Italy and even driven the Byzantines out of Rome. Belisarius took the
offensive, tricked Totila into yielding Rome along the way, but then lost it again after a jealous Justinian, fearful of
Belisarius' power, starved him of supplies and reinforcements. Belisarius was forced to go on the defensive, and in 548, Justinian relieved him in favor of Narses, of whom he
was more trustful.
His later life and campaigns
However, Belisarius was too valuable to leave on the shelf, and Justinian called upon him again in 559, when the Bulgars crossed the Danube River for the first time and raided Byzantine territory. Belisarius accepted the command, defeated the
Bulgars, and drove them back across the river. It was his last victory.
In 562, Belisarius stood trial in Constantinople on a charge of corruption. Probably, the
charge was trumped-up, and modern research even suggests that his bitter enemy, his former secretary Procopius of Caesarea, the author of the Secret History, may have judged his case. Belisarius was found guilty and imprisoned,
but not long after, Justinian pardoned him, ordered his release, and restored him to favor at the imperial court.
Fittingly, Belisarius and Justinian, whose sometimes strained partnership doubled the size of the empire, died within a few
weeks of one another in 565.
Belisarius in fiction
The life of Belisarius was the subject of the historical novel Count Belisarius (1938) by noted classical scholar Robert Graves. This book, ostensibly written from the viewpoint of the eunuch Eugenius, servant to
Belisarius'wife (and based on the actual history thereby), portrays Belisarius as a solitary honorable man in a corrupt world,
and paints a vivid picture of not only his startling military feats but also the colorful characters and events of his day (such
as the savage Hippodrome politics of the
Constantinople chariot races, which regularly escalated to open street battles between fans of opposing factions, or the intrigue
between the emperor Justinian and the empress Theodora).
Belisarius was also featured in Belisario, an opera by Gaetano Donizetti.
Belisarius is a main character of the Belisarius series of
science fiction novels by Eric Flint and David Drake, an alternate history exploring what might have
happened if Belisarius (and a rival) were granted knowledge of future events and technologies.
Isaac Asimov, who was very familiar with Roman history, seems to have loosely based the character of General Bel Riose, "The Last Great General" of the late Galactic Empire in the Foundation
Series, on Belisarius.
Reference
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