The Vandals sacked Rome and opened up a kingdom in North Africa .
We can see the Vandals marching on Rome in 455 AD.
The Vandals were a Germanic people who sacked Rome and established a kingdom in North Africa that flourished for about a century until they were conquered by the Byzantine Empire in 534 AD.
History has not been kind to the Vandals. The word "vandal" has become synonymous with destruction, in part because texts about them were written primarily by Romans and other non-Vandals.
Despite their modern name, the Vandals were probably no more violent or destructive than their contemporaries. While the Vandals did sack Rome in 455 AD, they spared most of the city's inhabitants and did not burn its buildings. Although the Vandals' name now carries a negative connotation, they fared much better than many other invading barbarians during the sack of Rome.
Vandalism
It was not until the late 18th century and the French Revolution that the name "vandal" became widely associated with destruction.
Frenchman Henri Grégoire de Blois used the term "Vandalisme" to describe the destruction of art during and after the French Revolution, referring to the sacking of "civilized" ancient Rome by "barbarians". The term "vandalism" subsequently came to be widely used to describe acts of vandalism and vandalism.
Map of the routes taken by the Vandals and other barbarians into the Roman Empire
Early history of the Vandals
Around the 4th century AD, the name "Vandal" tended to be applied to two tribal confederations, the Hastings and Silin Vandals , but in the early days, it may have included more tribes with the name "Vandal".
The Vandals may have originated from southern Scandinavia and the name Vandal appears in the parish of Vendel in central Sweden, the ancient Swedish Vendel.
There are few records of the early life of the Vandals. The oldest written record of the Vandals comes from the Roman writer Cassius Dio. He tells of a group of Vandals, led by two chiefs, Raüs and Raptus, who invaded Dacia (near present-day Romania) and eventually made a deal with the Romans to gain land.
Another writer named Jordanes (a descendant of Goths who lived in the 6th century AD) claimed that in the 4th century AD the Vandals controlled a large amount of territory north of the Danube but were overrun by the Goths Defeated, and sought refuge with the Romans. Today, some scholars believe this statement to be untrue. Recent historians are roughly evenly split on whether to accept the Jordanians account of the defeat and resettlement (in Roman territory).
Ultimately, written records of the early life of the Vandals remain sparse, and there are few early archaeological remains to help fill out the record.
From their first appearance on the Danube border in the 2nd century AD to their defeat of the Romans in southern Spain in 422 AD, the Vandals only appear briefly in our written sources and leave almost no trace in the archaeological record.
Across the Rhine
Around AD 375, a people called the Huns came from the Eurasian steppes to the north of the Danube River. They drove away many other peoples (possibly including the Vandals) and migrated to the Roman Empire. . This put tremendous pressure on the Roman Empire, which was facing frequent crises at this time and had split into eastern and western parts in order to better control the vast territory of the empire.
401, the Vandal-born (Roman general) Stilicho managed to prevent the predatory migration of the Vandals through the province of Rhaedia and formed an alliance with them at Vendelica, close to the Roman border in Central Europe. The provinces of Noricum and Noricum were settled in the region which now includes parts of Germany and Austria.
Hand-colored woodcut of the Roman general Flavius Stilicho during his confrontation with the Ostrogothic leader Radagasius at Fiso, AD 406.
This arrangement failed quickly.On December 31, 406, a group of Vandals successfully crossed the Rhine and entered the Roman territory of Gaul (now France, part of Belgium, and parts of western Germany). National Franks combat. The Franks had crossed into Roman territory and formed an alliance with them.
Roman inaction and counterattacks
At first, the Vandal advance into Roman territory did not attract much attention, as the Western Roman Emperor Honorius faced more pressing problems: one of his generals captured Britain and part of the High Control of the Lu region, calling himself Emperor Constantine III.
The usurpation of Constantine III and the invasion of British troops were considered greater threats to the stability of the empire than the activities of some northern barbarians.
In the chaos that swept the Western Roman Empire , the Vandals came to Iberia (today's Spain and Portugal) around 410 AD. There, the Silinian Vandals occupied the province of Baetica (south-central Spain), while the Hastine Vandals occupied part of Gallaecia (northwestern Spain).
In 418 AD, the Vandals of Silin were defeated by the Visigoths. Goffat writes that the Hardings were later driven out of Galecia by Roman troops.
Bust of the Western Roman Emperor Honorius (384-423 AD). He was the son of Emperor Theodosius I.
After these defeats, the Vandal survivors banded together in southern Spain to fight the Romans again in 422. This time, they won a crucial victory near the Spanish port city of Tarragona (now Tarragona). This victory saved the Vandals from destruction.
The Vandal army was led or co-led by a man named Gundrich, while the Roman army was led by a general named Castinus, who attempted to starve the Vandal army by cutting off their supply lines.
At first, this strategy was successful. However, the Visigoths, allied with the Romans, abandoned the Roman detachments and reduced the size of the Roman army. Then, instead of continuing to cut off the Vandals' supply lines, Castinus launched a full-scale attack on them.
The Romans were "completely defeated" in this attack, and the Vandals won their first major victory since crossing the Rhine and clearly established their dominance in southern Spain. In the years following their victory, the Vandals consolidated their control of Spain, launching two campaigns against Seville in 425 and 428, capturing the city.
The Vandals conquered North Africa
In 428 AD, a new Vandal leader named Genseric came to the throne and led the Vandals to North Africa. Under Genseric's rule, which lasted about 50 years, the Vandals conquered much of North Africa and established a kingdom there.
Infighting among the Romans made conquest easier. In 429 AD, the Western Roman Empire was ruled by a child named Valentini III, who relied on his mother Gala Placidia for advice. A Roman general named Aetius got her ear and plotted against the governor of North Africa, a powerful rival named Bonifatius. This resulted in Bonifatius being considered an enemy of the Western Roman Empire.
When the Vandals invaded North Africa, Bonifatiusius's army had repelled two attacks launched by the Western Roman Empire.
Some ancient writers claim that Bonifatiusius invited the Vandals to North Africa to represent him against the Western Roman Empire. However, the ancient writers who made this claim lived at least a century after the event, while the ancient writers who lived in Africa around the time of the invasion did not make this claim.
Whether Boniface Ursius invited them or not, the Vandals hardly needed an invitation. At the time, North Africa was a wealthy region that provided Rome with most of its food.
The Vandals quickly entered North Africa and surrounded Hippolygus (now Annaba in Algeria) in 430 AD. Even in the best-case scenario, Bonifatiusius's army would be outnumbered 3 to 1.
Hippolegius, a Phoenician, Berber and Roman city in the province of Annaba, Algeria.
The Vandals besieged Hipporegis for more than a year, but failed to capture the city, and they were eventually forced to retreat. The writer Procopius who lived in the sixth century wrote that the Vandals "unable to defend Hipporegis by force or surrender, for they were at the same time oppressed by hunger, and they launched a siege."
Reinforcements from the Eastern Roman Empire arrived, and together with Bonifatiusius' troops, directly attacked the retreating Vandal army. The attack was a disaster for the Romans. Procopius wrote: "In a fierce battle they were badly beaten by their enemies, and they fled hastily." After this defeat, the Romans abandoned Hipporegis and the Vandals sacked this city.
In 435 AD, the Romans signed a peace treaty with the Vandals, ceding parts of North Africa - now Morocco and Algeria - to the Vandals. But in 439 AD, the Vandals broke the treaty, occupied Carthage (now Tunisia), and then entered Sicily.
After the Vandals occupied the North African territory, they persecuted the Catholic clergy. The Vandals followed another form of Christianity, Arianism.
Arianism was the teachings of Father Arius (250-336 AD), who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, in the early 4th century AD. His main belief is that the Son Jesus was created by his father God. Therefore, God is self-generated and has always existed, and is therefore superior to the Son. The Holy Spirit was created by Jesus under the auspices of the Father, so it is subject to both of them, Catholic belief (Trinity) is a little different and holds that God exists in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, making them one and equal.
These different beliefs separated the Vandals from the Romans, leading the Vandals to persecute the Roman clergy and the Romans to denounce the Vandals as heretics.
The Destroyers of Rome
At its height, the Vandal Kingdom centered around the region of North Africa along the Mediterranean coast that is today Tunisia and Algeria, and included Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica , Malta , Mallorca and many islands including Ibiza. This gave them control of much of Rome's food supply.
By AD 455, the Vandal king Genseric had become so powerful and influential that his son, Huneric, was preparing to marry a Roman princess named Eudocia. When Valentinian III was murdered that year, he had come of age, and Eudocia was betrothed to another man. In response to this attack, an enraged Genseric moved his army to Rome.
The Romans were powerless to stop him. According to one tradition, the Romans didn't even bother sending troops, instead sending Pope Leo I to reason with Genseric. Whether this actually happened is unknown, but the Vandals were allowed to enter Rome and pillage it without resistance, as long as they avoided killing the inhabitants and burning the city.
Painting of Genseric the Cripple's invasion of Rome.
For fourteen days the Vandals slowly and leisurely plundered the city's riches. Everything in the palace on the Palatine Hill was demolished, and the churches were emptied of their treasures.
Although the sack of Rome was a great insult, it seems that Gentheric kept his word and did not destroy the buildings. And, we didn’t hear any news of any killings. However, in some ancient accounts, Genseric captured Romans and brought them back to North Africa as slaves.
After their raids, the Vandals returned to their kingdom in North Africa. However, North Africa was a major source of food and the Romans made several attempts to recapture it. Emperor Avitus (r. 455-456 AD) launched a failed campaign against the Vandals, who responded by cutting off Italy's food supplies, exacerbating civil strife in Rome .Avitus' successor Majoran (r. 457-461) launched a campaign against the Vandals, which also failed, and he was forced to sign a peace treaty with them. Emperor Procopius Anthemius (r. 467-472) launched another campaign to retake North Africa with the help of the Eastern Roman Empire's army, which included a fleet of 1,100 ships. After some initial successes, the fleet suffered heavy losses due to the Vandals' use of fireships (ships loaded with flammable materials that were set on fire near enemy ships), and ultimately the campaign failed and the Romans was forced to sign another peace treaty.
The Decline of the Vandals
Genseric died in AD 476, ultimately outliving the Western Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire ended in AD 476 when the last Roman emperor was deposed. For nearly fifty years he ruled over the Vandals, transforming them from an insignificant wandering tribe into the masters of a great kingdom in the wealthy province of Roman North Africa.
However, Genserik's successors faced financial problems, squabbles over succession (Vandal rules dictated that the eldest male in the family should become king), and conflicts with the Byzantine Empire (based on Constantinople of the Eastern Roman Empire).
Illustration of the surrender of Vandal King Grimmer. Here he was forced to kneel before the Byzantine general Belisel.
Later the Vandal rulers tried various remedies to solve the precarious situation of the kingdom. The Vandal ruler Thrasamund (died in 523 AD) formed an alliance with the Ostrogoths who controlled Italy. Another Vandal ruler Childeric (died 533 AD) tried to improve relations with the Byzantine Empire, but was forced to step down during a rebellion.
After Childeric's death, the Byzantines successfully invaded the Vandal kingdom, and the last Vandal king, Grimmer, was captured and taken to Constantinople. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I respected Grimmer and offered to be made a high noble if Grimmer gave up his Arian Christianity and converted to Catholicism. However, Grimmer declined the offer.
Grimmer rejected noble status because he would have to renounce his Arian faith, but he was nevertheless invited by Justinian to live in seclusion at a manor in Greece - for the last Vandal king, It's a pretty depressing ending.
