Belisarius: The Last Roman General (38 page)

Although a failure, the attack had made it clear how important the water supply in the cistern was to the defenders, so Belisarius ordered animal carcasses and lime thrown in to the water to make it unfit to drink. The Goths now had to rely on a small well within the city which did not fulfil their needs, but still they held out.

As the siege of Auximus progressed, the Gothic garrison of Fisula finally surrendered to Cyprian and Justinus. Leaving a garrison in the city, Cyprian and Justinus moved to Auximus and joined Belisarius for the siege there. Belisarius paraded the leaders of the garrison from Fisula outside the walls of Auximus. As a consequence, the garrison began to negotiate for their surrender. Originally, they demanded to be freed and allowed to retire to Ravenna, taking all of their belongings. Yet Belisarius was uncertain what course to take. His next move would be to advance on Ravenna, so it would be a mistake to allow the garrison, who had already proved themselves resourceful and brave, to join Witigis and fight him again. On the other hand, speed was needed, in case the Franks should decide to cross the Alps again and join with the Goths. Belisarius needed to secure Auximus to prevent the Goths attacking him from the rear. Finally, the Byzantine troops, having received the news of the Gothic terms for surrender, were unhappy since they would not receive any rewards for their bravery. Eventually, a compromise was reached in which the Goths kept half of their property, the other half being distributed as booty to the troops, and the Gothic garrison was to join forces with Belisarius, being distributed amongst the Byzantine army. It was now October or November 539 and the siege had lasted for seven months.

The Siege of Ravenna

In haste, as it was now late in the campaign season, either late 539 or early 540, Belisarius advanced towards Ravenna. He dispatched the general Magnus with a large force to go to the farther side of the city and patrol the south banks of the River Po to ensure that no supplies reached the city. Furthermore, Vitalius had meanwhile advanced from Dalmatia and was now in a position to patrol north of the river. It was as Vitalius approached the river that Belisarius’ luck helped him again. Vitalius discovered boats loaded with grain that were destined for Ravenna. They had been unable to navigate to the city due to the river falling to a very low level, the cause of which is unknown. Shortly after, the river rose again and the grain was sent to Belisarius for distribution to the troops.

The Goths in Ravenna began to suffer from the perils of starvation, as their supplies had been captured and the Byzantines had control of the sea, so cutting of the supplies usually transported by ship. Seeing that the Gothic position was becoming desperate, King Theudibert of the Franks sent messengers to Witigis, offering his military support in return for a share in the kingship of Italy. Hearing of the offer, Belisarius sent Theodosius, the head of his household, to Witigis to remind him of the Franks’ recent invasion and reinforce the belief that they could not be trusted. After deliberating on the matter, Witigis decided to open negotiations with Belisarius with a view to surrender. Whilst Witigis’ was considering his options, Belisarius used the pause in the conflict to send Vitalius to Venetia to secure as many towns as he could in that region.

Procopius reports that it was about this time that the grain stores in Ravenna caught fire and were burnt down, all of the grain in them being lost. Although the cause of the fire is unknown, Procopius suggests that the most likely causes are either that Belisarius bribed a citizen of the town to start the fires, or that they were ordered by Matasuintha, the wife of Witigis, who was unhappy because he had forced her to marry him to cement his position on the throne.

Hearing of the siege of Ravenna, and convinced that their cause was now lost, the Goths garrisoning the passes through the Cottian Alps decided that the time had come to surrender. When the news reached him, Belisarius sent Thomas and a force of troops to accept the surrender and secure the passes. When Thomas arrived, Sisigis, the Gothic commander in the region, surrendered himself and ordered all of the garrisons in the region to surrender at the same time. However, Uraias, who had gathered a force of 4,000 men in Liguria after his defeat by Theudibert, was moving towards Ravenna in order to help fight in the siege. When news of the surrender reached him, his troops demanded action, since most of them had families in the Alps who were now in the hands of the Byzantines. As a consequence, Uraias changed direction and immediately laid siege to Thomas and Sisigis.

When word of Thomas’ plight reached Martinus and John, who following their defeat had returned to Dorthon, they moved north to help him, taking many Goths captive on the way. By chance, these included many of the wives and children of the troops under Uraias, who immediately deserted and surrendered to the Byzantines. As his force melted away, Uraias retired with his remaining force to Liguria and remained there quietly until later in the year. There was now no source of help for the Goths trapped in Ravenna.

The End of the Belisarian War

It was now that Justinian’s envoys arrived at Ravenna and conveyed the emperor’s offer to the Goths. The Goths would have agreed to the treaty, but Belisarius, as the general on the spot, refused to ratify it. The army commanders were unhappy with his decision, so Belisarius had a conference during the course of which they agreed to sign a declaration stating that, when the emperor’s offer had arrived, there was no real chance of the Byzantines completing the conquest of Italy. Belisarius was very close to a total victory and did not want to leave them with the opportunity to later declare that he could easily have completed the conquest, but lacked either the will or the ability to do so. The officers agreed, and Belisarius was happy since they would not be able to lay charges against him.

Yet even at this late stage the situation changed drastically. The Gothic nobles, who had become disillusioned with Witigis, feared that their surrender would result in their being transported to the east and not allowed to return. In secret, they sent a messenger to Belisarius and offered him the title Emperor of the West. When Witigis heard of the plan, he gave it his whole-hearted support.

Belisarius did not want the position, but believed that he could manipulate the situation to his advantage. He agreed to the deal in principle, and then dismissed the messenger and called a meeting of his officers. He asked them if the capture of the whole of Italy and the surrender of the Goths would be a good thing for the emperor. When they agreed, he set the wheels in motion for the Gothic surrender.

When the Gothic envoys arrived, they made vague statements about surrender, but in secret asked for pledges from Belisarius concerning both their safety and his acceptance of the kingship. Belisarius gave all of the pledges they required except for the ones about the kingship, stating that these should be made later in the presence of Witigis and the Gothic nobles. As the envoys could not believe that he would refuse the kingship, they agreed to his terms and returned to the town.

For his part, Belisarius did not trust those commanders who had previously followed Narses to accept his plan, and believed that they may make a mistake, either on purpose or by accident, that would ruin the plot. As a consequence, he ordered Bessas, John, Narses the Armenian and Aratius his brother to take their troops and disperse amongst Italy’s towns, both in order to maintain control as well as to ease the burden of supply on the city of Ravenna.

With everything ready, he ordered a fleet full of grain to land their cargoes at Classis, the suburb of Ravenna which included the port, and, with the remainder of the army, Belisarius entered the city in triumph, watched by the Goths. The Goths had told their women that the Byzantines were ‘giants’ and that their army was ‘vast’. When the women saw normal-sized men enter the city, and in such small numbers, they turned on their menfolk and berated them for their cowardice. The date was sometime in May 540: the Gothic War, which had begun in 535, had lasted longer than either Belisarius or Justinian had hoped.

The War Unfinished

Belisarius now put everything in order in Ravenna. Witigis was kept under guard, but treated in a dignified manner, and Belisarius urged the Goths from districts south of the Po to return home in peace. As the Byzantines had garrisons in all of the major towns, such a move did not threaten the security of Italy, since it was unlikely that the Goths would be able to rebel without a central base to store supplies of food and weapons. On the other hand, as a result of this measure the Byzantines now outnumbered the Goths in Ravenna itself. Belisarius also took control of the Gothic treasury and prepared it for transport to Justinian.

When they heard of the fall of Ravenna, those towns still held by the Goths in Italy made haste to surrender, their leaders travelling to Ravenna for meetings with Belisarius. The only exception was Ildibadus of Verona. He agreed to surrender, but, due to circumstances, was never to reach Ravenna. For when they saw Belisarius preparing the treasury for the trip to Justinian, the Goths realised that he was not going to accept their offer of the kingship. Therefore, they sent envoys to Uraias at Ticinum and offered him the throne instead. He refused, both because the Byzantines would treat him lightly as a relative of the defeated Witigis, and also because he would not win favour by usurping his uncle’s throne. He suggested that they offer the throne to Ildibadus, who was energetic, an excellent leader, and, as a nephew of King Theudis in Spain, could expect support from the Visigoths in the ensuing war.

So Ildibadus was summoned to Ticinum to be made the king of the Goths. Although he accepted the throne, he advised the Goths to again offer the throne to Belisarius. When Belisarius refused, stating that he would always be loyal to Justinian, they returned to Ticinum and Ildibadus was recognised as king. Shortly afterwards, at around midsummer 540, Belisarius boarded ship and sailed to Constantinople, ready to go east to deal with the Persians.

Antonina and Theodosius

Whilst in Sicily, Belisarius was approached by a slave called Macedonia and informed of the continued affair of Antonina and Theodosius. Belisarius ordered the death of Theodosius, who fled to Ephesus for safety. However, Antonina managed to convince Belisarius of her innocence, later having Macedonia and her accomplices killed. She also persuaded him to forgive Theodosius and invite him to return. However, Theodosius was worried by the presence of her son Photius and refused. Finally, Antonina pressured Photius into returning to Constantinople and Theodosius rejoined her in Italy.

As the war drew to a close, Antonina and Theodosius, who were continuing their affair, moved with Belisarius into Ravenna. As well as having an affair with his adoptive parent, Theodosius began to gain a reputation for greed. In the wake of the victory in Africa, he made his fortune by dubious means whilst in Carthage. In Ravenna, he continued in a like manner. Fortunately, the stay in the city was to be a short one; when Belisarius was recalled to Constantinople, Antonina and Theodosius returned with him.

The conquest of Italy assessed

The conquest of Africa took less than a year. The conquest of Italy took approximately five years. Yet it is obvious that Justinian expected the war to be over quickly, just like the Vandalic War. This can be seen by the small number of troops allocated and the slow arrival of requested reinforcements. It is possible that the similarities between the events in Africa and the events in Italy prior to the respective invasions had led Justinian to believe that the conquest of Italy would be easy.

The rapid capture of Sicily and the capitulation of Ebrimuth would have been seen as symptomatic of the empty threat of the Goths, hinting that the conquest would be similar to that of Africa. The emperor’s hopes were to be unfulfilled. It would appear that he had underestimated the stubbornness of the Goths, especially in their northern homeland.

In one respect the situation in the north of the peninsula proved to be completely different to that in the south, or even in Africa. The lack of defensible towns in the south resulted in a collapse as spectacular as that in Africa. In the north, many towns had built and maintained walls as a response to the crises brought about by barbarian invasions from as early as the second and third centuries. These required time and troops to reduce, both of which were in short supply for much of the campaign. When the reinforcements arrived, Belisarius was able to take the cities one by one, but he still needed a large amount of luck.

Belisarius as a general

If the invasion of Africa gives an indication of Belisarius’ abilities in the field, the ‘conquest’ of Italy demonstrates his abilities at siege warfare. His conduct in siege operations, both defensive and offensive, shows an imagination and a variety of strategies which is almost completely the opposite of Witigis.

Witigis relied mainly on attempting to starve the opposition into surrender, with infrequent assaults being mounted to test the quality of the defence. In some instances, such as in the occupation of Portus with the simultaneous recognition that Ostia was not suitable for supplying Rome, Witigis did display quality strategic abilities. Yet by allowing the roles to be reversed, with Belisarius trapping his forces within their camps at the siege of Rome, and his almost total inactivity in the later stages of the war, Witigis surrendered the initiative without a fight. He seems to have relied upon capturing Belisarius at Rome, and, when this failed to materialise, he did not devise a viable alternative and so lost the war.